Bringing Color and Light Home: The Art of Fulcrum Stained Glass
For Renee, stained glass has never been simply about
For the home, she sees stained glass as a way to bring something original into a space. That individuality is part of what makes her work different from simply purchasing something mass-produced. A custom piece can be designed specifically for a particular window, room or purpose, allowing homeowners to incorporate artwork that also becomes part of the architecture and everyday experience of the space. Renee’s own work demonstrates just how functional stained glass can be. She has created pieces that go beyond traditional window panels, including a book-shaped jewelry box made from stacked glass with a working lock, as well as plant propagation pieces. Her approach is less about following a single idea of what stained glass should be and more about figuring out what the material can do. “I think that’s what’s great about it,” she says. “If you are creative, you can definitely do anything you want in stained glass.” That spirit of experimentation is also at the heart of Fulcrum Stained Glass, the Rhode Island studio Renee established as a business in 2018. She initially sold her work through Instagram before opening her first brick-and-mortar studio in Warwick in 2023. The original 500-square-foot space eventually became too limiting. Renee could accommodate only a small number of students and had little room to expand either her classes or inventory. After participating in a six-month grant program that helped make a larger space possible, she moved Fulcrum Stained Glass to its current 2,000-square- foot studio at 500 Main Street in East Greenwich in 2024. The additional space has allowed Renee to expand what she offers, including classes, glass and supplies, commissions and repairs. The studio's current
offerings include beginner classes, supervised studio time and workshops, with instruction designed for different experience levels. Teaching has become an important part of Renee’s work. Although she can accommodate larger groups depending on the class, she generally keeps her weekly classes small so students can receive individual attention. She has welcomed students as young as 10 when accompanied by a parent, and says some of the connections she has made through teaching have extended well beyond the studio. Fulcrum also offers commissions and repairs, giving homeowners an opportunity to preserve or create pieces that have personal meaning. Repairs can be particularly involved, sometimes requiring a damaged window or panel to be carefully taken apart and rebuilt. Whether she is teaching someone who has never touched a piece of stained glass before, repairing an older work or creating something entirely new, Renee approaches the material with the same curiosity that first drew her to it as a teenager. And for homeowners looking for a way to make a space feel more personal, stained glass offers something that changes with the light: a functional piece of original art that can bring color, character and a little bit of surprise into the everyday home.
making something beautiful. It is about color, light, creativity and creating something that feels completely personal to the person who brings it home. Renee has been working with stained glass for nearly three decades, first discovering the craft at 15 years old while spending time in her high school art classroom. One summer, her art teacher was cleaning out a closet and came across an unfamiliar piece of equipment. “She said, ‘Do you know what this is?’” Renee recalls. “And I said, ‘No, do you?’” Her teacher offered it to her, and Renee decided to take it home. She eventually discovered that it was equipment used for stained glass and began teaching herself how the craft worked. At the time, she already had some familiarity with soldering because her father had taught her how to solder electronics when she was young. She quickly realized, however, that stained glass was considerably more complicated than she had initially assumed. For three years, Renee experimented on her own before taking formal classes for her 18th birthday. That experience opened up an entirely new side of the craft, introducing her to techniques and processes she had not yet discovered on her own. Since then, she has continued learning from different teachers and artists, building her own approach along the way. “I love color and light,” Renee says. “That’s kind of what drew me to glass in the first place.” It is easy to see why. When sunlight passes through colored glass, it can cast changing hues and patterns throughout a room. Renee is particularly drawn to the way light interacts with the glass, creating refractions and revealing textures that can change depending on the time of day.
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