Pedro Lujano won’t be able to show his favorite piece of artwork during this weekend’s studio tour as it is now part of the Washington Library, but he promises there will be plenty of his fused glass art in his home workshop for people to see.
For the fourth year, Lujano will display his glassware as part of the South East Iowa Artists Studio Tour. He said that he started working in glass about 12 years ago. It seemed like a natural extension to his art of making jewelry. Saying he was inspired while working on a stained glass window during a restoration, he found himself enchanted with the way fused glass artists were able to combine different colors of glass to create one solid piece.
“It starts like a normal process for stained glass – just cutting the glass piece by piece,” he said. “You combine two or three layers together and fuse them.”
Lujano created the leaded glass window that is now in the foyer at the Washington Library.
He said that he has his own kilns at his workshop at 944 South Iowa Avenue. During the studio tour he plans to show people some of the ins and outs of making leaded glass artwork.
This is one of five galleries that will be on display in Washington County this weekend as part of the tour. The tour will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Studio tours will be held in Washington, Brighton, Fairfield, Olds, Mt. Pleasant, Burlington, West Burlington, Wever, Fort Madison, and Keokuk.
In Washington County, the studios include: Lujanoís; Kathleen Almelein at 921 East Main Street in Washington; Doris Park and Steve Maxon at 611 B Avenue in Kalona; Barb and Craig Swift at 909 S. Iowa Avenue; Donna Guy and JoAnne Worley at 300 Jefferson Street in Brighton; and artists Linda Brown, Carol Ray, Kathleen Almelien, Robert Bell, Sallie Graves and Lynda Black-Smith will all display at Blair House, Highway 92 and South Second in Washington,
Ray said the tour will be self-guided and the ìonly expense will be gas.î She did say much of the artwork would be for sale.
Maps of the full tour are available at the Washington Library, many businesses in Washington and Kalona, the Kalona Public Library or online at <www.iowastudiotour.org>. Ray said people wanting more information should call her at 653-6387.