I’m drawn to glass because it holds a kind of quiet magic - solid and fragile, ancient and alive, always waiting for light to reveal what’s hidden inside it. My work is a conversation with color, shadow, and mystery - a way of turning broken pieces into something luminous.

I came to stained glass after a modest corporate career, but art was always the deeper pull - a quiet, persistent light beneath the surface. Eventually, I chose to follow that light into a life built around making, teaching, and connecting people through creativity.

My glass journey has carried me through studios, traditions, and places that shaped both my hands and my heart. I apprenticed in Siena, Italy at Vetrate Artistiche Toscane, spent (very brief, very cold) time at Willet Hauser - the largest stained glass studio in the world, and went on to work with Atlantis Art Glass and as a glass art partner for Disney. I am also currently the resident stained glass artist at Florida Glass House, where I continue to grow, teach, and stay connected to the living tradition of stained glass.

Each chapter has taught me something different: patience, precision, history, imagination, and the strange magic that happens when color, light, and human hands meet.

VanWatki Workshop is my own working and teaching space, created as a place where stained glass can feel both meaningful and approachable. Here, beginners become artists, strangers become friends, and custom pieces become part of someone’s home, story, or memory.

The studio - and this page - are just getting started, so please check back soon for better examples of my work. I am not a web designer by any means, but I am currently available for custom stained glass windows, transoms, original artwork, repairs, and other glass commissions. To begin a custom project, please reach out via the contact page.