A Portrait of the Artist: Tony Glander

Tony Glander became an artist-in-residence at The Arts Barn in Gaithersburg in 2002. Before that he owned Glass Fantasies, a stained glass shop in Olde Towne Gaithersburg on East Diamond Avenue, a few doors down from Growler's Pub.

"The studio that was attached to the shop had excellent resources for the time. It was hard to find a studio with a kiln and a sand blaster in those days," said Glander during an interview in his Arts Barn studio, which is fully equipped for students to have access to a computerized kiln and to be able to manipulate glass in all of its states. 

Glass Fantasies, a stained glass shop, gallery and studio, which the artist humorously refers to as a three-ring circus, became his training ground for an eclectic career as a glass artist and stained-glass art commissions supplier.

"The woman who owned the shop offered me a part-time job. I took it and did everything from sweeping the floors to going to trade shows across the country to find vendors whose work we could carry in our store," said Glander who learned the value of networking early on in his career.

According to Glander, one of the major perks of working at Glass Fantasies were the workshops and lectures by visiting artists. Among these was Narcissus Quagliata, an internationally-renowned Italian glass artist who has designed the ground floor facade for the Discovery Center in Silver Spring. After Glander purchased the studio, the venue attracted prestigious glass artists on a regular basis and provided exposure to their work and techniques for other emerging artists and entrepreneurs like Glander.

With a store of experience in the glass art trade, Glander set out to get his own commissions in the field. Church stained glass windows and residential stained glass provide the most consistent long-term work and the best financial rewards, so when Shady Grove Hospital in Gaithersburg hired him as a local artist to work on his first commercial commission, Glander was ecstatic. 

"It was one of these incredible jobs," he said. "I was able to work independently throughout the entire process. I worked with the architect's design, fabricated it, and it was done, and it is now at the main chapel of the hospital."

Several of his other commercial commissions have included work at Saint Mary's Church in Arlington and Redland Baptist Church on Muncaster Mill Road.

Currently, Glander offers classes and workshops at The Arts Barn in Gaithersburg. He also travels around the country teaching  glass art workshops in places like Houston and Las Vegas. He regularly attends craft shows and conferences and recently has become editor of the Batch section of Glass Craftsman Magazine, a quarterly glass art publication. Alongside Eileen Martin, featured earlier in this weekly column, Glander served as Chair of the Creative Arts Council for twelve consecutive years.  He is on the City of Gaithersburg's Cultural Arts Advisory Committee.

At this point in his career, Glander only sells work on a commission basis. Above all he prizes collaboration.

"You team up with other artists, and the work is so much better," he said.

He still thinks of his life as a three-ring circus encompassing family, teaching and glass commissions.