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Ross Mason photo

Carefree glass artist Peggy Pettigrew Stewart works with optical glass, like the kind used in telescopes, because “it not only reflects and transmits light, it absorbs and diffuses it,” she explains. “No one knows what it will or will not do.”
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Ross Mason photo

Creating her glassworks as artist‑in‑residence at Carefree Resort & Villas, Peggy Pettigrew Stewart feels a connection to Native American culture and the desert. “The glass is made of fire and sand and minerals that all tie in with the area,” she says. “Everything is tied in.”
(Click picture for full size image)

Lady with a red hot passion for glass
Desert inspiration keeps optical artist well focused
by Jennifer Krahe

CAREFREE – Glass artist Peggy Pettigrew Stewart will tell you she considers herself a technician instead of an artist even though her works are on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. and in galleries worldwide.

The California native, who is artist‑in‑residence at Carefree Resort & Villas, likens the excitement of her job to “being invited to play on stage with Eric Clapton.”

“Pinch me,” Stewart said of her experiences.

During her career, Stewart has taught the New York Jets football team how to make fused glass jewelry.

Software giant Microsoft once asked her to teach their employees how to make glass sculptures inside a two‑hour time frame.

And Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer, known for the hit television crime drama “CSI” and the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean,” has nine of Stewart’s pieces in his private art collection.

Stewart spoke to The Desert Advocate about her work and her experiences.

TDA: Tell me a little bit about the time before you delved into glass.

I had been a car rental industry executive for many years. I started a small car rental company here in Cave Creek and we opened a car wash. Right after 9/11, tourism dropped and I found out that I had cancer. I didn’t have the strength to run the businesses and we had to close them, which was very depressing. I went through chemotherapy and radiation. I would look in the mirror and ask, who is this woman?

I felt at one time that my husband and young daughter would have been better off with the insurance policy instead of me. I’d lost my identity. I didn’t know who I was, what I was, what I was supposed to be doing.

“

TDA: How did you get into this specific medium?

I grew up in the bay area of San Francisco and of course I knew how to string beads. (After I got cancer) a friend told me that you could make beads yourself and I signed up for a class. I tried to make a bead, and could not make one to save my life. I didn’t have the dexterity for that. The second part of the bead‑making process was fusing and I fell madly in love with that. It was like being shot with the most addictive drug. A glass studio in Cave Creek closed and I rented space in there–I needed big kilns that would fit in a place other than my bedroom. I brought in some of the best instructors. I kept trying to break outside the box.

Glass brought me back.

TDA: Tell me about your craft.

I don’t have a college degree in art. My art is from a technical perspective–from science, pushing the envelope with what you can do. I think that’s why I’ve been successful. It’s basically a process, an invention or creation of my own.

My husband is an engineer and he works with me on a frequent basis when I need some technical or scientific help. What is the physics? What’s the chemistry? Is there a danger? You always have to know what the risks are.

It’s frightening, fun, and exciting because sometimes I feel like I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. I’m not a trade artist, I’m a technician. I grew up doing photography. I just have this passion for glass. I want it to move in ways that it doesn’t move. And I wanted to use glass that wasn’t traditionally used. I found optical glass–what’s used in telescopes. It’s similar to dichroic glass, but it has a much more specific use and quality‑it’s a much finer product; it not only reflects and transmits light, it absorbs and diffuses light. It’s like the Hubble telescope. No one knows what it will or will not do.

Most of my glass is 5/8 of an inch thick. You can’t bend that in a kiln. But I’m doing it.

TDA: What sets you apart from other glass artists?

All of my work is seen here at Carefree Resort & Villas before it goes anywhere. It is probably the only situation like this in the world. I am at a beautiful resort in the middle of the Sonoran desert. Quite a few fellow artists and gallery owners have flown out to see this because they don’t believe it.

TDA: What is your inspiration?

The cultural conversation here at the resort has given me inspiration. I’ve always felt kind of touched by the Native American spirit. There’s something about the desert. The stories–the wind as a tattle tale–I find myself trying to create those stories in the glass. I’ve joked that there’s a glass goddess named Amphora and she has taken over and makes my hands do what they want to do. I don’t sketch my stuff out. Everything is one of a kind, by hand–even the real precise pieces.

The glass is made of fire and sand and minerals that all tie in with the area. Everything is tied in.

Carefree Resort & Villas is located at 37220 Mule Train Rd. in Carefree.

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