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Sally Kimmel has been creating stained glass since 1985.  Her interest in the medium began in childhood when she was introduced to her grandmother’s collection of bohemian red glass.  This was to set in motion a lifelong fascination with the concept of using glass to create imagesLater influences include the designs and techniques employed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and glass sculptor Dale Chihuly.

Along with her identity as a contemporary stained glass artist, Kimmel can lay claim to a few other titles.  These include, but are not limited to, bookkeeper, belly dancer, inventor, mask maker, bridge player and world traveler. Her enthusiasm for life is eclipsed only by the passion she feels for her art.

“No matter what else is happening, and something always is, making stained glass is one of my favorite reasons to get up in the morning.  I enjoy every aspect of the process from sketching the first rough design to soldering the last corner.  But what I love most of all is the way glass allows an artist to express color with unconditional intensity.  There’s just nothing else like it.”

In the early 80s, while earning a degree in Secondary Education at Maryland’s Montgomery College, Sally worked as a glass builder at a professional studio.  There she mastered the Tiffany style of glassmaking using the copper foil method and gained proficiency in the repair of leaded windows. 

 In the late 80s and early 90s, while working as a marketing manager, she taught glassmaking at a retail gallery in Gaithersburg, MD, as well as a series of private classes in Harpers Ferry, WV. 

Since moving to WV in 1989, while working as a bookkeeper, Sally has created custom work for homes and business in the U.S. and abroad, and regularly exhibits at local studio tours, art fairs and exhibitions.

“I’ve always walked the fence between the bohemian realm of creative expression and the practical world of commerce.   The net result of this is that both sides of my brain get plenty of exercise.”