A timely opportunity helped keep Adam Koci of Emporia working in stained glass.
Koci recently brought seven stained glass pieces to Council Grove, where they are now on display in the windows of the Council Grove Republican as part of the collection for sale through Street Gallery KS, a division of the Bowers Center.
Koci said he first learned stained glass several years ago from the person he was then married to. She had purchased supplies and become interested in the craft, and he asked her to teach him so they could share the activity together.
After that relationship ended, Koci said he was ready to put stained glass behind him.
“I was ready to kind of just hang up my hat on it and say, ‘That’s not my thing,’” he said.
Not long afterward, however, someone from whom they had previously purchased glass contacted him. She was getting out of stained glass and wanted to sell her glass and equipment.
Koci decided to take the opportunity. “I showed up and just offered a flat amount for everything,” he said. “It was one of those moments in life where something kind of shows up and you can take the opportunity or you cannot.”
He took the opportunity, hauling what he described as hundreds of pounds of glass out of a basement. The purchase allowed him to continue working in stained glass and helped keep his prices more affordable.
Koci said stained glass became therapeutic for him during that period of his life. He made some pieces while working through personal feelings, although those remain part of his private collection.
“It was something to focus on, and something to do that could kind of occupy some of the quiet time,” he said.
Now, he describes stained glass more as a hobby. It is something he can do while listening to music and concentrating on the work.
Koci said he has always been a tinkerer, though he does not necessarily describe himself as an artist. Stained glass appeals to him because it allows him to work within the limits of simple lines and shapes.
“I like stained glass because it is the max of my art skills,” he said. “You can’t make it too complicated, or else you have a ton of small pieces, or things don’t want to break the way you want.”
Several of Koci’s pieces begin with the glass itself. He said his favorite among the pieces on display is “Prairie Stroll,” a panel showing a woman in a field. The piece was inspired by a particular piece of glass he found during a sale at a glass business in Illinois.
“I found this piece of glass there and immediately was like, that looks like tall grass,” he said.
That impression led him to design the panel around the image of someone walking through tall grass and brushing a hand along the field. He said the piece presented technical challenges, including how to join sections of glass without an obvious seam. The position of the figure’s arms helped solve that problem.
Koci said stained glass often requires patience because glass does not always break or cut the way the artist hopes.
“Sometimes it doesn’t do what you want it to do,” he said. “That’s the journey of glass.”
He also enjoys using science fiction and fantasy influences in some of his work. Two of the pieces on display are steampunk-style airship suncatchers, one featuring green and purple glass and the other featuring green and amber glass.
Koci said those pieces are among his fun projects.
“I’m a bit of a sci-fi and fantasy geek, so I try to find ways to put that in my stained glass if I can,” he said.
Other pieces on display include “Heels,” a panel of legs with high heels; “Abstract Gulls,” a panel of an abstract sunrise or sunset over the sea; “Mobius Circle,” a red and yellow suncatcher; and “Woman with an Umbrella,” a panel of a woman in a rainstorm.
Koci said he does not usually give his pieces dramatic names, often keeping titles simple. Some pieces are his own designs, while others are based on common stained glass patterns or ideas he has adapted.
The stained glass display is part of Street Gallery KS, which offers artwork for sale in downtown Council Grove. The Council Grove Republican is just one window that displays stained glass. Another storefront that displays Street Gallery’s stained glass offerings is located at 207 W. Main. The windows are being used to help display the pieces where residents and visitors can see and purchase them.
For more information about the stained glass pieces or Street Gallery KS, inquire at the Council Grove Republican or call 620-767-5022.