Joanne Kozuchowski was born in raised in Chicago Illinois by an artist mother and an architect father. Her childhood environment was one that stressed creativity and artistic expression, characteristics she still values and exhibits.
In one way or another she has been creating works of art for as long as she can recall, selling her first piece at the age of 12.
Having worked with pastels, oil paints, charcoal, pencil, acrylic paints and watercolors, she decided to take a stained glass class in 2002. She fell in love with the craft immediately.
At about the same time she moved to Colorado to work for the National Park Service as a seasonal park ranger. In 2004, after a period of moving around and living the transient lifestyle of a seasonal ranger, she moved to Texas with her now-husband. She now had a permanent residence, so she decided to further explore the art of stained glass that had captivated her interest years before.
The rest, as they say, is history. Not content to be limited to commercially available patterns, and not interested in copying others' work, she immediately started designing her own pieces, and was taking orders for custom pieces not long afterwards.
With a background in biology and a love for all things natural, she finds that living in the wide open country of the west Texas mountains allows her to be close to her inspirations; to be part of the great mountains, cliffs and canyons. Here she sees and interprets the essence of nature and locks it in glass.
