Bea Bennett and Karen Scott showcase their stained glass wares at ARTE in June 2012

Here is another artisan pair who decided to come together to showcase their work at ARTE, united by their common love for a particular craft.  Bea Bennett from Germany and Karen Scott from the US.

Stained Glass work by Karen. These are pretty, little things that can be hung at your windows.

According to Karen Scott, stained glass is both an art and a craft. It has a lot of technical aspects to it because the glass needs to be cut and then soldered according to the pattern. “However, it is also an art,” Karen says, “figuring out what patterns to create and use or draw, what types of glass to use and how to put it together.”

A recent series by Karen Scott called tropical life. The glass pictures can be purchased independently or purchased in a series and hung in a row.

Karen got into stained glass because “I love glass and color and was intrigued by stained glass windows. I simply had to learn how to do it.” It was 15 years ago when she chanced upon an advertisement in a local community newspaper for a class teaching people how to do it. There was no looking back once she signed up for the classes. And we, at ARTE, are glad she didn’t because we now have her lovely stained glass work to look forward to.

Keep up with time in the London Taxi. A stained glass clock made by Bea

According to Karen, Bea is one of the best stained glass craftspeople she has ever met. “I wanted to get better so I took classes and traded ideas with other artists such as Bea Bennett to get better.” Like many ARTE-sans, Karen can boast of a repertoire of art and craft talent. She is a photographer and published author. She also enjoys making jewelry, needlework, crochet as well as mosaics. Looks like her creative life is a mosaic in itself!  She however believes that while she has a great eye for colour and proportion, that she is unable to draw.

A stained glass jewelry box made by Bea. The wire crochet jewelry piece courtesy Janys De.

Sun or Moon? This work by Bea was sold.

Bea has been doing stained glass work for only 4 years but she is already reached a high level of proficiency. She had trained as a draughtsman and as a result you can see the technical aspects of her design (clocks, kaleidoscopes, lamps and more). In fact one of the frequent ARTE visitors, Dheeraj Rupani, owner of Veesham Printing Press, was happy to demonstrate how the kaleidoscope created by Bea works. Thanks Dheeraj for being a sport when we took the photos.

Demonstrating the use of the kaleidoscope made by Bea Bennett

Bea teachers beginner’s class so if you are interested in trying your hand at stained glass making, she is the person to contact.

The facebook page dedicated to their work is yet to be set up. We will update this slot once their facebook page is up and running (and of course, ready to be ‘liked’).