You can create gorgeous stained glass and more at Samford Academy of the Arts this fall

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Have you ever admired beautiful stained glass windows at churches or period homes in Birmingham, and thought – I’d like something like that for my house! We found out how you can make your own stained glass window and more, at fall classes offered by Samford Academy of the Arts.

Samford Academy of the Arts

Samford Academy of the Arts is part of the Samford University School of the Arts and offers a variety of high quality arts and music programs to the community. 

Classes are taught in relaxed settings with people who share common interests. You can make friends as well as art!

Meet stained glass window instructor Nicki Masterson 

Nicki Masterson began teaching at Samford Academy of the Arts in Spring 2019 and brings 19 years of experience teaching stained glass, mosaics, fused glass, and glass painting techniques and has studied under various stained glass industry leaders.

“I have been creating stained glass for about 22 years. I undertook an art degree at Montevallo and my concentration was ceramics. I took a stained glass class as a senior and just loved it! I started teaching and opened my studio in 2000”.

Masterson closed her studio in 2017 and has enjoyed sharing her love of stained glass, as well as pottery.

“I always thought it would be a difficult process, but if you are patient enough, you can build stained glass windows quite easily” said Masterson.

Masterson explained that students of the Stained Glass Window class will normally complete one window over the duration of the 8 session program, “the pieces will be primarily a decorative hanging piece or installed in an existing window frame. We teach a lot about sizing so that students can set the stained glass into an existing window frame.”

“A lot of students have been motivated to take the class by wanting stained glass in their homes.  They have priced it and found it to be very expensive so they decided to learn how to do it themselves,” said Masterson.

Masterson is excited about a brand new fused glass class that she will be teaching this fall, “We’re getting a new dual-media kiln that can also do pottery, which I teach, and we’ll be able to do kiln fired glass which is where you melt colorful glass together to make different things. We’ll be making jewelry, paper weights, and tiles in this class”.  

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I asked Nicki Masterson what makes Samford Academy of the Arts such a great place to learn a new skill, “We have wonderful facilities and equipment to learn with. It’s a good relaxed atmosphere. People come here and make friends as well as art. Many who take classes get to know each other well and end up registering for other classes together. It’s such a wonderful community to be part of. It’s a happy place!”

Fall classes start soon – register now!

While most of the fall ‘A’ classes have commenced, it’s not too late to sign up for many of the fall ‘B Session’ classes which commence mid-October. These are small classroom daytime and evening classes.

Masterson is looking forward to teaching Arts students at:

• Art for Children (Mondays, 3:30-5PM., October 21-December 2)
• Art Studio for Teens (Thursdays, 4-5:30PM., October 24 – December 19)
• Introduction to Fused Glass (Tuesdays, 6-8PM., October 22-December 10 *no class November 26)
• Introduction to Pottery (Mondays, 1-3PM, October 21-December 2)
• Stained Glass (Thursdays, 6-8PM, October 24-December 12)

“Even if a class you are interested in is full, please register an interest. If there is enough interest we’ll see if we can arrange another session,” says Masterson.

Check out the full list of Arts classes HERE.

There are more than just Arts classes though, there are also Language, Music, and Photography classes too.

Find out more and register now at www.samford.edu/academy-of-the-arts

Top Tip – follow Samford University Academy of the Arts on their Facebook page.

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