Three artists at Waco’s Stanton Glass Studio show their skill in Art Center Waco’s current show, but it’s a fourth participant — light — that makes their works come to life.

Stanton Glass Studio founder and owner Bryant Stanton, his company’s lead painter Joe Barbieri and Stanton’s 21-year-old son Jordan all have works in the exhibit, which employ light in various ways, from reflection to refraction.

There’s standard reflection of light off oil painting, with roughly a dozen canvases of cowboy and western scenes painted by Barbieri. There’s light passing through clear and colored glass, seen in several stained glass windows crafted by Stanton and his studio as well as glass sculpture blown and shaped by Jordan. And there’s light both reflected and glowing through Bryant’s fused glass panels where touches of dichroic glass change their color depending on the viewing angle.

Three artists at Waco’s Stanton Glass Studio are showing their skill in Art Center Waco’s current show.
Duane A. Laverty / Waco Tribune-Herald

It’s that combination of glass skills and creativity that has made Stanton’s 32-year-old firm, a member of the Stained Glass Association of America, known across the state. Churches call on the firm to restore damaged antique windows or craft contemporary ones for new buildings. Austin’s historic Driskill Hotel hired Stanton to craft some 20 doors and windows.

McLennan Community College commissioned the company for a soaring spiral sculpture in its new science building, a piece suggesting the DNA molecule’s double helix and one, because of its dichroic glass, changes colors throughout the day. Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center has a Stanton piece in its chapel.

A Massachusetts native, Stanton originally wanted to work in agriculture, then as an architect. The expansion of his business over the years has allowed him to spend more time on artistic design. One can see the would-be architect, who studied at Texas Tech University and Baylor University, in the lines and symmetry of his windows, most commissioned and crafted for specific spaces.

While the artist knows what he intends for a piece, like any glassmaker or ceramicist knows, the high temperatures of a kiln — 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit to start his panels, cooling to 960 degrees overnight —always produce surprises.

“We never know what it’s going to look like when we take it out,” he said.

A clear-glass Lone Star, cut and beveled from a single piece of glass, shines in many homes and businesses of Bryant Stanton’s clients. (Duane A. Laverty photo)

Bryant Stanton’s “Pain,” with its sharp, bright streaks, started his series of fused glass panels. (Duane A. Laverty photo)

Brightly colored oak leaves of dichroic glass float in a bowl crafted for use as a sink. (Duane A. Laverty photo)

Painter Joe Barbieri’s technique for glass panels has light pass through his image instead of being reflected from it. (Duane A. Laverty photo)

Bryant Stanton, owner of the Gholson-area Stanton Glass Studio, points out the image of a nautilus fused from cut glass and scraps. (Duane A. Laverty photo)

Blown Christmas ornaments and fused “handkerchief” bowls by Jordan and Bryant Stanton brighten Art Center Waco’s smaller gallery. (Duane A. Laverty photo)