LIVE Magazine Issue #269 April 13, 2018

Levvy: Where were you born?
John: Irvington, NJ
L: How did you learn that you loved stained glass art and
decide to create with it as art?
J: It was 2012 when I was visiting my mother's grave at St. Michael’s
Church, in Garston, Liverpool, England. I was putting
flowers on her grave on a nice sunny day. The church was having
church services. We went in and sat down, said a prayer,
and the glass from the windows were just gleaming onto me. I
walked up and had this feeling that I was supposed to do this
artform and make it my own. I wanted to do it my way. When
I got back to the states, I found Don Dietz at Desert Art Center,
here in Palm Springs, who taught me how to do stained glass.
“I was putting flowers on
my Mother’s grave on a
nice sunny day in Liverpool,
England. The St Michael’s
Church in Garston, was
having church services. We
went in and sat down, said
a prayer, and the glass
from the windows were just
gleaming onto me. I walked
up and had this feeling that I
was supposed to do this artform
and make it my own. I
wanted to do it my way.”
L: What was your first piece and what inspired it?
J: My first piece was a butterfly. I was at a coffee shop with
Michael Maler, the owner of Espresso Cielo. I told Michael
that I wanted to do some charity and he suggested DAP and
we sold over a hundred butterflies displayed in his coffee shop.
L: You do a lot of charity work. What are some of the other
organizations that you support?
J: Christopher's Clubhouse (founder Mika Moulton), The
Flower Bank, the Bianca Rae Foundation, Desert Arc, Breast
Cancer Awareness, ACT for MS, Painted Hills Middle School
in Desert Hot Springs, Wounded Warrior Project, American
Outreach, and the Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert.
L: Where do you sell your work?
J: You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and the Desert
Art Center in Palm Springs.
L: Tell me about the Desert Art Center?
J: The Desert Art Center is the oldest community based art
organization in the Coachella Valley. Their mission is to stimulate,
educate, and nurture the visual arts through a collaborative
effort of membership programs, art education, and gallery
space for emerging and established artists. The DAC supports
children's art education through their Middle School Art Project,
LIVEMAGAZINETV 33