By Brandi Watters
The Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON, Ind. —
When Anderson Art Glass closed its doors in 1983 after 83 years in business, it seemed the business was gone for good.
The building where the glass company was housed at the corner of Seventh and Main in downtown Anderson was converted into the Christian Center.
All evidence of its existence had faded with time.
In July, the Anderson institution was reborn just a few blocks away from its original downtown location.
Jim Peters worked for the original Anderson Art Glass in the 1980s and lost his job went the company closed shop.
Over the summer, Peters brought the business back to life, pulling out his glass cutter, sheets of stained glass and a determination to revive the art of stained glass in Anderson.
When Anderson Art Glass closed, Peters says he moved his operation to his personal garage, crafting stained glass art for friends and family in his spare time.
He’s been in the business for 35 years. “I enjoy doing stained glass,” Peters said while arranging a table of cut glass pieces like a jigsaw puzzle.
He works in a small space in an office at 211 Martin Luther King Blvd.
Motorists and pedestrians passing by can watch him work, hovering over a pile of broken glass, shaping it into a piece of art.
His work is time consuming, and precise.
In order to create a stained glass piece of art, Peters must first sketch a design.
On Tuesday, he was finishing a butterfly design.
Once the design is sketched, Peters must draw lines throughout the sketch, creating a space for separate pieces of stained glass.
He numbers each piece, choosing the appropriate color of glass to complement the overall image.
After determining the shape of each piece, Peters uses scissors to cut each piece of the puzzle from the paper, and heads to a shelf stacked wide with 5-foot sheets of colored glass.
Standing before the collection, Peters carefully selects shades of blue and red hues.
Using the oddly shaped pieces of paper he’s just created, Peters then uses a glass cutter to shape the glass, cutting each piece with precision.
After arranging the pieces to form his vision, Peters wraps the piece in copper and solders the glass together.
When the Indianapolis Colts came to Anderson for training camp, Peters constructed an 8-foot tall stained glass horseshoe sign welcoming the team back.
It took him 50 hours to complete.
Anderson firefighter Skip Ockomon said Peters helped out the county’s fire rescue house by creating a stained glass sign that now hangs in the rescue house.
He recently created a second one for the newest fire rescue house, the Caldwell House, in Alexandria.
“He’s just one of those guys you can make a phone call and he’ll come give you what you need,” Ockomon said.
Contact Brandi Watters 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com.
