As the sun travels across the sky each day, the changing angles of light pour through the living room of Palisade, Colorado artists Dawn Stutz and Shea Harrington. Dozens of colorful original stained-glass mosaics hang in the large windows of their peaceful space, and each hour of daylight shifts the color expression and energy that radiates from every piece.

“When that light comes through, the color light therapy is very healing,” Stutz says.

Photos by Kaia Hofmeister.

Some colors, like oranges and reds and yellows, give the body energy, so Stutz often designs bright glass pieces that incorporate these colors to bring happiness to kitchen spaces. Other hues give the body balance, like green. And blues and purples? They help the body calm down, she says.

Stutz and Harrington co-own Horizon Acres Stained Glass Mosaics, a vibrant property nestled in the backcountry of Palisade’s peach orchards and grape vineyards. In addition to their home, their property features a small gallery for displaying their work as well as a garage art studio space with, of course, gigantic windows facing the mountains. Their work doesn’t usually stay in the studio for long, however, as they sell their nature scene mosaics through word of mouth, some local farmers markets and now at The Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade.

Stutz and Harrington’s art studio evolved from a hobby they both just couldn’t get enough of to a desire for creative exploration and their full-time business.

When the pandemic started in 2020, the couple took a stained-glass class at the Working Artists Gallery in Grand Junction, Colorado. A few months later, Stutz took a mosaic class at the same gallery, and soon, they both were hooked on the beauty and self-therapy of expressing
their creativity through glass.

The idea to merge mosaics with stained glass happened one day when the couple’s neighbor was throwing out some old window panes.

“We went and got all of the windows,” Harrington says. “Those were the first four mosaics we did on see-through glass. Typical mosaics are not see-through, but we wanted them to be see-through and have light therapy [properties]. We wanted to have the effect of stained glass, but we wanted to have the finesse and detail that you can get with mosaic. So, that’s what started it. We just get to glue [colored] glass onto [clear] glass, and then we grout it.”

Harrington and Stutz coined the term “stained glass mosaic” for the type of art they do as they evolved their unique mosaic process.

They work most afternoons in their brightly lit studio. Over the past three years, they have collected nearly every hue of glass imaginable in all shapes and sizes. They use tools like mosaic wheeled glass nippers, glass running breaking pliers, oil fed glass cutters, stained glass grinders and diamond ring saws to craft the exact sizes of glass needed to create each piece. They attach the glass with Weld Bond or Mac Glue, and after the pieces have dried for a few weeks, they use various shades of sanded tile grout to finish the images, Stutz explains.

They oscillate between big and small projects and are inspired by all types of imagery, both imagined and from real life. If a piece includes an animal, Harrington starts with the eyes. He points to a woodland scene he crafted with deer.

“So, I will just do the [central focal point] first, the deer,” he says. “Then, I did the oak brush, and the sky was next. I always start
with the eyes and then the face of any of the animals. If you get those right, it makes the rest of it a lot easier.”

To find the art of Stutz and Harrington, check out The Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade. The artists also create commissioned work, and they offer
classes. For more information, email Dawn at pogosdream@yahoo.com or call or text her at 970.270.7466.

Originally published in Winter + Spring 2023-24 issue of Well.