Seattle artist Kelley Knickerbocker visited Mancos last weekend to teach a class through the Mancos School of the West.
Her two-day workshop was titled “Radical Dimensions in Glass Mosaics.” Knickerbocker, an artist who works mostly with stained glass, taught several students to work with stained glass in unconventional ways.
“We’re not just making mosaic,” Knickerbocker said. “We’re stacking layers of glass to blend colors and change what the light does when it goes through the glass.”
A small class of four students worked at Mount Lookout Grange in Mancos. The goal was to create a 6-by-6-inch piece of glass art by the end of the workshop.
When she started working with stained glass about 10 years ago, Knickerbocker said she thought it was silly that almost all stained glass art was flat. It took her about three years to develop a strategy for making two-dimensional art by building layers of glass.
Many of the pieces Knickerbocker creates — including two pieces she brought to Mancos — are built on a mirror base so that light can come through the stained glass, bounce off the mirror and pass through the glass a second time, she said.
“We’re playing with contrast, dimensionality and light transference,” Knickerbocker said.
The artist said she flew into Albuquerque from Seattle and drove up to Mancos with some friends. She said the drive was beautiful.
It was Knickerbocker’s first time in the area, and she didn’t know what to expect. But she said she was impressed.
“I’m blown away by the kernel of amazing-ness here,” Knickerbocker said. “I’m stunned by the amount and the quality of the arts zeitgeist here.”
Knickerbocker is the second visiting artist invited to Mancos through the School of the West, said Linda Rose, a steering committee member for the school who also participated in Knickerbocker’s workshop. Earlier this spring, the school invited artists from the Santa Fe Encaustic Art Institute to Mancos, Rose said.
The school is hoping to invite a third visiting artist from New York City later this summer, Rose said.
Rose thanked the Mount Lookout Grange for providing a space for Knickerbocker’s class.
“The Grange is very receptive to things that lift the community,” Rose said.
The Mancos School of the West is offering several classes throughout the summer. For more information, visit www.schoolofthewest.org.
