Voices Behind the Glass IIII

An Inside Look at the Sphere of Light from One of Its Visionary Creators

Today, we’re excited to introduce another incredible artist bringing the Sphere of Light to life — Jordan Ring-Sakabe. A gifted oil painter, Jordan contributes his talents to both the design and creation teams, helping shape this project from concept to completion.

About the Artist

Q: Can you share a bit about your background and how you got started in stained glass? When I’m not here having fun painting on stained glass and stuff like that, I do oil painting. Mostly sacred art for devotional and liturgical purposes. I’ve done a lot of paintings, churches and stuff like that. I actually learned how to do a lot of art here. I worked here part-time through high school and college and learned how to do stained glass. I did a lot of painting training, more self-taught, and then at a place called the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, Washington. I studied a little bit of plein-air painting, portrait painting, and kind of just like an introduction to oil painting.

At that time I learned how to paint in layers—how to do an underpainting, how to paint a grisaille, and then glaze colors on top, which really translated well when Tom Holdman contacted me and asked if I wanted to come and paint on stained glass. Here as well we tend to paint in different layers. It translates pretty well, and I just have the funnest time doing it.

Q: What inspires your artistic style and approach to working with glass?

Number one, it’s such a unique medium, right? But it has a lot of tradition. Tradition that I really like, and frankly, that in America we don’t necessarily have the same exposure to like you would in Europe. So many cities and towns that you can just go to if you’re living in France or wherever, and you can see centuries-old stained glass, and you might be tempted to take it for granted. But here in the States, we don’t have that same sort of background and access to stained glass.

What I’m hoping for is that the kind of stuff that we do here will help reconnect people who have a similar heritage with some of that traditional artistic expression found in stained glass.

Q: Do you have a favorite technique or process in your work? I think it’s fun doing what I’m doing right now. I’ve applied an enamel to this piece of glass, and it’s similar to glazing in oil painting. But unlike an oil painting where you have immediate results and you know how it looks and can modify it there on the spot, here we apply the paint, remove areas that aren’t needed, and then we just have to put it into the kiln and fire it overnight. Then we come the next day to see how it turned out.

About the Sphere of Light

Q: What challenges have you faced while creating your work for this project? There is a lot more planning involved. You have to think two or three steps ahead all the time. I think a lot of people, when they imagine art, they imagine an artist just comes in with whatever they’re feeling and throws paint at a canvas, and it’s this very immersive, subjective emotional experience—and that can be therapeutic. But what we do here is much more calculated and requires planning. I think that’s actually suited to a more professional approach to doing art. I’m personally interested in that, and I think it’s a fun challenge.

We might have different opinions, but one thing that’s really important is to be aware of how other people might be thinking about something and maybe preemptively make sure you’re giving good and specific comments, advice, or questions as opposed to value statements like, “This sucks,” or, “This looks like a hack job.” Instead, you can ask, “Why was this decision made on this part, and what is going to happen moving forward?” Being able to communicate in specific terms definitely makes it a lot easier and better. Luckily people here have that awareness, and we get along really well. I know it hasn’t always been that way, but the crew we have right now is awesome. I love working with all these people, and the communication is great.

Q: What does it mean to you to be part of the Sphere of Light project? When I was painting by myself, I really wanted to go big. I was doing a lot of 16-by-20 canvases, then moved up to 18-by-30, and eventually tried going to six feet. I was having fun doing that, but pretty soon I realized that what I could do by myself was quite limited. If I wanted to compete with a screen—a smartphone screen, a computer screen, or a TV screen—as a visual artist, one of the most important things you have to focus on is actual size. That has impact and presence, something a screen just can’t compete with in the same way.

I wanted to make big works of art but didn’t have the studio space or know if I would even be able to sell them. So when Tom Holdman contacted me and invited me to join this project, I thought, “This is already where I want to be.” The reach I have as an individual artist to make an impact on the art scene and help keep this beautiful, traditional medium in the culture and keep it relevant is something that really needs to be done as a communal effort with a lot of other people. Being able to participate in this aligns perfectly with my goals.

Personal Connection & Impact

Q: What emotions or messages do you hope people will take away from the Sphere of Light? One thing I hear often is “Your truth is your truth.” Sure, there’s subjectivity in life, but some things feel universally true. Climb any mountain, look out at the valley, and almost everyone will agree—it’s beautiful. You go through something hard and see something breathtaking. That’s objective beauty.

With the Sphere of Light, I hope people come away realizing beauty is real. We can discuss the subjective aspects, but denying beauty exists feels naïve. Stained glass embodies this—it’s a traditional, centuries-old medium, but we’re approaching it with contemporary, innovative methods.

Q: If you could describe the Sphere of Light in three words, what would they be?Tradition, innovation, and beauty—those are what I hope people carry with them.

Until our next artist interview series! Want to see more? Stay up to date with the progress on the Sphere of Light and how we are on a mission to unity humanity HERE.

Best,

• Roots of Humanity