Custom Stained Glass

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 successful corporate career, but art was always the deeper pull — the 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 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 an artist in residence 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 studio, 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 more examples of my work. 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 form below.

A woman with long, light brown hair smiling, wearing a red and black striped dress and a name tag that says Vanessa Watkins, stands inside near a large window with a stained glass pendant hanging above her. Outside the window, a city street is visible with a 'Road Closed' sign on the sidewalk, trees, and buildings across the street.