Stellathena Vartheyanyos Gregory is a native and life-long resident of Braxton County WV. Her art and her passion is stained glass using the Tiffany Technique developed by Comfort Tiffany in the 19th Century. She uses West Virginia made glass from Wissmach Glass in Paden City, WV.
She has been doing this art for almost 30 years. Her work has appeared in juried art and craft venues such as Tamarack the Best of West Virginia, Augusta Festival in Elkins WV, Mountain State Arts and Craft Fair, Ripley and many others. She does custom work. She makes stained glass panels, doorway transoms, stained glass for kitchen cabinets, interior sliding barn door murals in glass or paint,3-D pieces such as terrariums, kaleidoscopes, boxes and lamps, Christmas villages and more. Her motto is: I do windows and much more. You dream it, I can do it in stained glass. She also paints portraits in oil.
She has a masters degree in Deaf Education. She recently retired from teaching after 32 years. She now teaches her craft in her studio in Braxton County WV, and The Augusta Festival in Elkins WV. Her classes take students from zero to hero in stained glass. She schedules group parties as well as private classes. She also offers YouTube tutorials. Follow her YouTube channel: Athena’s Stained Glass.
“I am an artist. I have been since I was a child. I have no formal training, only a tender introduction and encouragement by my mother and steady observation of other skillful artists. What I lack in formal training I make up for with many decades of experience and attentive practice. Art offered an escape from chaotic childhood. I began with drawings, then oil painting, then stained glass, then watercolor painting. Art has shaped and saved me from a lifelong struggle with anxiety. There has been no better therapy for me.
Aside from my family, stained glass is my passion. It allows me a continuous opportunity to incorporate all the mediums I love while developing stained glass designs. I often use my family and nature for inspiration in my work. I especially use my husband’s blue eyes and other features of strength and character in my work using glass as my paint. I often use mirrors in the eyes of my subject matter to remind us to self-reflect and be mindful of our role and impact as humans on each other and on this planet.
As I plan and draw out my designs, I face my fears while talking myself through complicated feelings and cementing my stance on issues involving politics, religion, extinction and climate change. I find myself (a speck in a vast universe) looking for magic and hope while feeling deep roots tendrilling deeper and deeper beside my husband and son.
Stained glass challenges me with a fragile medium that often bites back with cracked and broken glass that cuts and burns me over and again, but I persist as I bleed in so many ways and struggle to the beautiful end with an enduring glad result that lasts for generations if properly cared for. Such is life.” - Stellathena Gregory.
