Voices Behind the Glass VI

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

Today we’re excited to introduce artist Mason Winter, one of the glass pickers and artists at Holdman Studios. Mason goes into detail about the many aspects of his job and what being part of this project means to him. We are so grateful to have him on our team, along with others who are truly shaping the Sphere of Light into a reality!

About the Artist

Q: Can you share a bit about your background and how you got started in stained glass? My name is Mason Winter. I am a glass picker here at Holdman Studios. My creative background is in film, audio, and visual art. I’ve worked in advertising and marketing for years. I’ve done countless paintings that don’t sell. I’ve just always had a deep love and interest in art. I got started in stained glass through my friend Dallin, who is a designer here. I called him and asked if there was any work for me, and I’ve been here about five months now.

Q: Do you have a favorite technique or process in your work? I really like selecting pieces and trying to get as detailed as possible in the selecting so that it looks like it’s been painted. I think each little piece is almost like an abstract piece in and of itself. So you have, you know, hundreds of these little abstract pieces that make something that’s a bit more legible to the eye. I love picking the glass. I love focusing on specific spots whether that’s an animal, the sky, or a tree. I like to focus on that one thing and then build out from there.

Q: What makes glass unique compared with other mediums you’ve worked with? Stained glass seems a lot more serendipitous. You stumble upon the perfect spot because somebody else made the pane of glass. In our case, when someone else designs the actual piece, it’s my job to transfer it from the digital rendering into glass. I’m just one piece in the whole process. I like that it’s not completely on my shoulders to get it totally right, but at the same time, there’s an important aspect to everybody’s job. It’s a bigger thing than just me sitting down with a paintbrush and an easel, it’s more of a team effort.

About the Sphere of Light

Q: What challenges have you faced while creating your work for this project? Oh, man. I cut myself all the time all the time. It’s a lot more physically demanding than most other art forms, especially picking glass because you’re on your feet all day. It’s not like sitting down and painting, even though that’s demanding in a different way. I go home at the end of the day and I’m tired. So that’s always hard sometimes.

Q: What does it mean to you to be part of the Sphere of Light project? I think it’s kind of crazy. It’s funny because I’ve actually been thinking about this. If you’ve spent any time in Europe or in big cathedrals that are historical monuments, we often think of the designers or architects—we know their names. But there were so many people who worked on those projects. As one person who works here doing my best to bring things to life, I feel a lot of responsibility to hopefully make something that lives up to those same buildings or pieces. Who knows if I can do that, but that’s the goal.

Q: If you could describe the Sphere of Light in three words, what would they be? It is ambitious. It will be beautiful. And it’s a must-see.

Q: Can you walk us through what you’re working on right now for this project? Okay, so we are working on the second panel. This is a really fun one. I’m really excited about it because we have a few different animals. This last Friday I did this parrot, which I’m very excited about. I love how that turned out. All of this is just coming together. It’s exciting.

This is the palette. I know it doesn’t look like a traditional painting palette, but this is what we work from. It’s all individualized, and you go through and try to figure out what the best pieces are, right Meg?

So actually, I was just pulling all of this out. Right now I’m going to start working on this big banana tree and some of the leaves of this palm tree back here. All these different glass types—I’ve been walking around the shop pulling out pieces of glass to get an idea of what I can use for this next part of the window. We’ll come over to the vinyl, which we’ve marked specifically so we can get the right direction for the grain, and I’ll pick according to whatever the rendering looks like—trying to get it to read like a bird, a plant, the sky, or some flowers.

It’s all just a process.

We will see you all next month for another Artist Interview! Make sure to Follow Us online to stay up to date on all the things happening with the Sphere.

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