Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mark Moody. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mark, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

In the early 80s we were strapped for spare cash for a Christmas gift for my sister. A friend suggested trying a simple glass project and let me use some basic tools that he had. That started everything. As a fully self taught artist, I wonder if classes at the early stage would have helped or hindered my vision arc. Since I wasn’t aware of the ” rules” of glass work, I went down paths that aren’t considered standard to the profession such as using lenses, hinges, old 45 RPM records and many other unglass things.
I think the biggest obstacles I’ve run into are rising materials costs and when I started, getting comfortable with breaking glass with bare hands. We’re taught from a very young age not to do that and I’ve had students that could not get past it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve just celebrated my 70th birthday and since my first exposure to stained glass art was in 1980, that puts us at 45 years in the craft. My partner Debee and I have made everything from small suncatcher type pieces to panels so large they had to be built in sections and transported to the install site for assembly.
Both of us have been fascinated by the never ending color play when light passes through glass! To this day I will spend hours picking the perfect color/style of glass that brings a project to life.
I feel that our ability and willingness to bend, break and distort rules and traditional boundaries set our small family studio apart from the mainstream.
Working closely with our clients to provide the perfect piece, whether it’s our design or theirs, comes naturally to us and the result is a client that displays the work with pride.
And that is our goal!

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

When we started our glass adventure the only phones were land line and personal computers were very scarce, so finding tools and materials was limited to what you found in your phone book ( remember those?). Shipping was a completely different thing back then.
Our artistic journey would have been much different with access to modern cell service. I honestly don’t know if or how that would have changed our work.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

A life change story? Here we go!
After going through a divorce that involved 2 young children I had to find a source of employment that allowed me to make a basic living and also let me work in stained glass. All while co parenting our two girls.
So I decided to open a daycare center!
To be brief, it was an amazing success. Friends told friends and so on, and at the peak I was caring for 12 kids at once. The oldest were early grade school while the youngest was 3 years old. My first daughter learned to ride a bike in the main room of the daycare and we did everything from exercises to art and singing, ( I’m also a life long guitarist).
All good things end at some point so I ended up getting back into the construction trades after 3 years taking care of the little ones!

Contact Info:

• Website: Moodystainedglass
• Other: Etsy
  Moodystainedglass

Image Credits

Credit to original artist of Marilyn drawing.