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FeedA Light Shines Through It
By Laine Bergeson
Photo by Courtesy of Aurinka Glass
Elliot began working steadily in stained glass about three years ago. Her designs fit the medium so well (per predictions), and her execution was so accomplished, she soon could not keep up with demand for her work. She taught her husband Jon the art of stained glass and together they turned her passion into a full-time business: Aurinka Glass. She concentrates on design and fabrication, while he helps with construction, installation, and handles the business side.
While Elliott has the technical skill and devotion to detail that begets quality designs, her creations would never have seen the light of day—literally—if not for her pure passion for the medium, and its eerie compatibility with her design inspiration.
“I am inspired by nature and the environment,” she says, “and glass has a kinetic quality—you get these amazing, beautiful changes throughout the day with the movement of the sun and the flow of light through the glass—and that gives the design an organic quality.”
What’s more, says Elliott, the light continuously flowing through the glass changes the quality of the color it throws off. In that way, stained-glass windows change the interior space of a room right along with the changing visual tenor of the glass itself.
“It is like a living being is in the room,” says Elliott.
In Aurinka—the Finnish word for sunlight—Beth and Jon have one goal: design gorgeous, non-traditional works of art. “We don’t sell supplies or teach classes, we just work on commissions and make new designs for galleries,” says Jon. “We tailor designs to our clients’ sense of style, but we also want them to have artistic merit in their own right. We are creating life in the glass and giving people something unique.”
They also try to push the envelope of what can be done in the medium. “When someone says ‘You can’t do that in glass,’ ” quips Beth, “we go right out and do it.”
To see more Aurinka Glass creations, visit the Elliotts’ website at www.aurinkaglass.com. Their works are also on display at the Seasons on St. Croix gallery in Stillwater.
LAINE BERGESON IS A MINNEAPOLIS FREELANCE WRITER AND EDITOR.
11 ISSUES (1 YEAR)
