We were lucky to catch up with Thomas Reich recently and have shared our conversation below.

Thomas, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

For Stained Glass: For many years I had an interest in the art of Stained Glass. At one point in time I decided that a beginning class would be appropriate step to take. This allowed me to ascertain a level of continued interest with a low level of both a time and financial investment. I still have my very first, very small project on my work table and it is definitely not a work of art, It did however solidify my interest in and commitment to the art form. I continued to take additional classes which included; creating glass panels, and creating and building kaleidoscopes. This process of working defined projects in ever increasing size and complexity has evolved to point where I do my own designs. I am a Minnesota State Fair Champion in Creative Activities, and, the very same year, even more importantly according to Stained Glass Endeavors of Minneapolis another of my panels was the first ever stained glass panel accepted in the Fine Arts Building at the Minnesota State Fair.

Certainly, more time on task would have sped up my learning process.

My most essential skill was allowing, and accepting failure as part of the learning process..

The primary obstacles were my full time job and my interest in other art forms, primarily photography at that time and now I have added wood turning projects that incorporate stained glass components.

Thomas, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I entered Stained Glass as a hobby for self interest. It was many years before considered myself an artist instead of a hobbyist, The arc of my career took me from and through; machinist, machine builder, machine designer, design engineer, and design engineering manger. Being involved in a craft, hobby, or art-form became essential in maintaining a life balance. Those occupations taught me the value of precision in planning and execution.

The most challenging projects that I completed were restoration of damages stained glass panels. There is a high degree of risk involved; don’t cause further damage as damage pieces must be removed while preserving all adjacent parts and the need to match the skill level and look of the previous artist. The finished product must not look as if repaired.

Currently, I am retired and I am my only client. That being said I do occasionally sell apiece of my artwork. I have a reputation for doing fine work. I approach, to my art, has been described by others as being “fussy” and I take that as a compliment.

What am I most proud of? Occasionally I teach a class for building kaleidoscopes> I get a real thrill out of watching students look through their very own, self constructed k-scopes, for their very first time

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The lesson that caused me the most problems “pushing through” to finish. Sometimes you go faster by slowing down.

I was working on a large panel that was almost done. I just had to fit one more complex part into the panel. So I went ahead and tried to force it in and broke the newly created part and two adjacent pieces. My wife understood that I had a problem when the air turned “blue” in my workshop. She was upstairs heard me even though my shop door was closed. It took a long time for me to understand that the need to “walk away” is essential to success.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me the most rewarding aspect is the process of creating the piece of art. I’m sure many of you have created an artful project and you were asked “what are you going to do with that?” Now whether I am engaged in creating a stained glass panel, a kaleidoscope, a wood chalice, or chasing a great landscape photo the end product is never as important or fulfilling as the process of doing.

I also believe that the synergy created by working in multiple art-forms enhances each of the individual disciplines and drives further innovation by interlocking and transferring what seem to be unrelated skill sets into one’s own repertoire of skills.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tomr.smugmug.com
• Other: I have a very small and limited presence in the social media world.

Image Credits
All of the images are my own