Josephine Geiger

Artist Statement and Biographical Sketch

Imagine a landscape: a forest of brilliant fall colors, a mountain stream surrounded by towering pines, a quiet stand of aspen, or a waterfall frozen in time. Now imagine that these shades of nature, recreated in glass and assembled as if seen through a fractured lens, create an abstract landscape dancing with color. . Fascinated by the impressions of beauty abstracted from life and experience, I create art that will last for generations.

Artistic inspiration is derived from infinite sources. I’ve been inspired by something as mundane as a TV commercial and as lofty as a masterpiece by the father of Impressionism. Inspiration results from a simple conversation about a travel destination, sunrays illuminating a lone pine, or even the glitter of a broken bottle on the street. My classical inspiration arises from my love of architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Arts and Crafts Movement to the Impressionists and even crazy quilts.

Structure, design and quality craftsmanship form the backbone of my art, while the color balance and play of light and pattern create the essence. Employing the traditional leaded art glass techniques, from choosing and cutting each piece of glass, fitting the lead, copper and zinc cames, soldering all of the joints, cementing the panel for stability to finally hanging the landscape to let the light shine through, I maintain a strict adherence to quality. Continually challenging myself to push the envelope of design, I incorporate unusual materials such as copper mesh or a unique glass and frequently mix techniques to add depth and texture. My signature, written in copper and fused between layers of glass, is placed in all of my work, sometimes hidden, and sometimes as an accent to the composition. Unlike conventional stained glass which cartoons an image with line and color – beautiful in the simplicity of a paint by number drawing - my art panels create an abstract collage which at first glance appear as a myriad palette of color and elusive form, and upon closer examination are revealed to be a landscape. I call them Landscape Mosaics.

I began my professional career as an architect. For fun, I decided to take a stained glass course. I was instantly hooked and after several years of creating stained glass art “on the side, “ I decided to give up my “day job” as a architect and transform myself into a full-time stained glass artist. My collectors are the happy beneficiaries of this decision.

My work has been shown in prestigious juried exhibitions including the annual American Craft Council show in St. Paul, Minnesota and the Minnesota Craft Council’s fall and summer festivals. I have also been the recipient of several prestigious awards including Best in Show at the Mabel Tainter Fine Arts and Crafts Faire in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and I have been chosen to do commissioned work both nationally and internationally.