On Wednesday evening the New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series (boo!). On Thursday I went to the City of Brotherly Love to visit with stained glass artist Judith Schaechter (below, Monument).
The city was quiet and morose in a way that I’ve only experienced one other time in San Francisco—the night the Giants fell to the Angels in the 2002 World Series. But Judith Schaechter is not one to let a baseball game bring her down and she greeted me at her door with all the good humor and joyful snark anyone who knows her might expect.
I was visiting Judith in preparation for the Renwick Gallery Craft Invitational, an exhibition I’m helping to curate in D.C. that will open in 2011. I’ve known Judith for a few years now and have always been a big fan of not only her intense, otherworldly, and often unsettling stained glass work but her uncanny ability to keep everyone around her smiling. Judith seems to have been able to keep from getting pigeon-holed into any particular genre which has helped keep her work continually fresh and exciting (below, Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife).
Judith has also always been remarkably giving of her time. Yesterday she took me through some of her works in progress like the ones below…
and the one below…
And she even patiently walked a stained glass rookie through the intricate process of piecing together one of her windows. Judith explained that she could probably finish a window in two to three weeks if she wasn’t so picky and didn’t put everything together only to pull it all apart and start over. Below is a shot of boxes containing her various miscues labeled “crap,” “rejects,” and my favorite, “bulk failure.”
And she even took the time to let me film her explaining “How To Make a Judith Schaechter” (below).
Of course I’m still far from grasping the finer points of Judith’s process but a visit to Schaechter-land is always inspiring. You may have lost the World Series Philadelphia, but you still have Judith Schaechter!
Wow, great piece and amazing images! I love “bulk failure” – think this will be my new favorite expression.
I am a huge fan. Go Judith. Go Phillies.
judith rulez
Judith is amazing and Bulk Failure is one of the best terms I’ve heard in a while!
This is an amazing process she does and as a glass artist, I really enjoyed it. I gotta say though, she loses me at the end when she answers a text message and loses both her train of thought and my attention!
Kara, yeah, I hear you but at least that came at a good point…she was just about at the end of her brief introduction to how-to make these pieces anyhow. I shot a bunch more video so hopefully will be able to post that as well soon…
Fantastic!!!
As a former film-stripper in the Printing Industry, turned Stained Glass Artist, I LOVE that she figured out how to do this!!! Brilliant creative woman!