We recently connected with Sara Smigle and have shared our conversation below.

Sara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I don’t think there was this great defining moment that I can pinpoint, it’s something I think maybe I was born with. When I was very young, ages 2-5, I lived with my grandparents, and spent each day in utter comfort and peace. I started drawing and painting with watercolor with my grandmother, who is quite talented. She said I would sit and do this for hours and hours. So much so that she would worry, because was this a normal thing for a 3 year old? I remember very fondly getting the “Crayola Fashion Designer Drawing Kit” and endlessly tracing figures, and designing and drawing outfits and scenery. I think living in an environment where creativity was praised and encouraged allowed any talent I innately had to flourish.

When I was 5 I moved back in with my mom and my love and fascination for art just followed me. Throughout my life art was always my favorite subject in school and something I spent hours doing in my free time. It was a place where I could go to escape chaos and find peace again if I needed to. I took every art class I could and also poured myself into photography in high school.

When I went to college I ended up with a degree in early childhood education against the advice of my grandfather to pursue art. And while I loved kids and teaching, I do sometimes wish I would have gone to art school instead. I spent 8 years teaching preschool. In that time I got a continuing education course book from CCBC in the mail and decided to take the beginner stained glass class and loved it. It became a hobby and I made Christmas gifts for people with glass. During this time I also started working for a party planner part time who needed someone to create artwork for centerpieces for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. My last year of teaching I got pregnant with my son and was working 40 hours teaching preschool and then another 40 on artwork for the parties. I saved enough money to take an extended (not paid) maternity leave and then decided not to go back. I kept working for the party planner after having my son, and nannied as well.

When my son was 3 his dad and I separated and painting became my way to cope with pent up emotions from a tumultuous relationship. It completely overtook me. After my son was asleep for the night I would stay up all hours of night painting, rarely noticing the time that had passed. It was very reminiscent of how I felt as a kid spending hours and hours drawing with my grandmother. At that point I was consumed. I started doing glass work more as well and even started to sell my work.

Fast forward to 2020, my son is 6, I’m working for the party planner, and creating stained glass to sell. Well, as we all know Covid hit and wreaked havoc, eliminating my work with the party planner completely. So as a blessing in disguise, stained glass became my one and only full time job. Had Covid never happened, I never would’ve taken that leap on my own.

So that is the very long way to say that while my love of art has always been with me, it took an act of god to push me into really fully committing myself to pursuing my artistic path professionally. Now I even teach beginner and intermediate stained glass classes so in way I’m using my teaching skills as well and have reached a bit of a full circle moment.

Sara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

So now I’ve been creating stained glass full time for 6 years and teaching beginner stained glass classes at Manor Mill in Monkton for about 3 years.

I create modern stained glass sun catchers, my most popular pieces being corn, lemon sticks, and 3D cicadas. I also do custom work, with glass pet portraits being my main area of expertise. I have created custom window installations at Manor Mill and even an elementary school, as well as many transom windows in the city. These larger projects are my favorite, and I would love to do more of these!

I love working with glass for so many reasons and I absolutely love passing on that joy to my students. When you work with glass you’re not just choosing color, but texture, pattern, and finishes as well, like opaque, transparent, and even iridescent glass. My favorite thing to do is find a texture of glass that mimics a real life object and create a design as simple and clean as possible while still getting the point across.

Stained glass is very hands on and each step is extremely satisfying in its own way. There are many steps to the process so there’s no time to get bored, and you’re using a lot of problem solving, so not only are your hands getting a work out, but your brain is too.

I get so excited talking about glass and the process, and I think that’s something that my students can really feel when they’re in class. Everyone is so thrilled at the end of the day when they’ve finished their piece and nothing makes me feel better than passing on this love to the next generation of glass artists to come.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me art has always been a form of therapy. It’s held me in my hardest chapters of life. It’s been a way for me to express my emotions and traumas so they’re not stuck in my body. I can create something beautiful from pain. Even when I can’t find words to describe it, I can find art.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I am currently in a time where I’m trying to learn how to pivot my business. Instagram used to be my bread and butter, where I’d post new pieces and they would sell immediately. Nowadays, between instagram changing and becoming Meta, which isn’t promoting artists and small businesses like it used to, and the economy and world becoming so scary, art sales just aren’t happening.

I am still teaching sold out classes at Manor Mill and currently looking for other opportunities to teach. Stained glass is such a fun and rewarding craft that I would love to bring to more people, so I’m hoping to expand this part of the business.

I am also looking to dive more into larger custom projects, like transom windows, which I’m not sure how I’ll advertise quite yet. Being an artist, the business aspect doesn’t exactly come naturally.

So for now I am hanging on, but there is definitely going to be a major pivot in the next couple of months, mainly with my online business and website for premade items closing. I am a fighter though, and I am so passionate about glass as an art form that I know I will find another way to bring it to the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.smiggart.com
• Instagram: @smiggart

Image Credits

Laura McMullin Photography (main image and first image of me in group 4-8)