The Clubs of the Park…

The Glass Room

By

Dale Dauten

Knowing that our topic for this month’s Resorter would the stained glass group and their leader, Joanne McCarty, I did a little background reading and came across what surely is the only joke ever on the subject of stained glass (from someone named Chic Murray):

We’ve got stained glass windows in our house; it’s those damned pigeons.

Not bad. And to hear Joanne talk, there’s a lot of laughter going on in The Resort’s Glass Room: “it’s a great group; we get fun people.” That helps explain why it’s become a popular activity in the park. (By the way, it’s used to be The Stained Glass Room, but, as Joanne explained, the club decided to drop “stained” from their name because they were doing so much work that didn’t involve the old notion of what “stained glass” called to mind.)

If you’ve ever thought you might like to give working with glass a try, The Resort’s group offers regular Beginner’s classes. You pay your $20 annual membership, and everything is included for your first two projects. The first is to make a butterfly, and that means learning the basics of cutting, grinding and soldering. Then, as Joanne explained, “For their second project they expand to something else and pick their own pattern.”

Photos: That’s Joanne in the photo, holding a typical beginner’s project and below that, a look at a table full of other projects.

There’s another popular option for experimenting with glass work: Joanne leads evening classes where she teaches participants how to make jewelry. She says, “You don’t have to be a member and you don’t need any experience. You pick out the colors of the glass and you make earrings or a pendant. A lot of people like to make a pendant for themselves and ones to give to their children or grandchildren.” (The only cost is for the glass, about $2-4 per pendant.) “For those evenings we usually have 15 to 20 people and everyone has so much fun. It’s quite relaxing… [she laughs] except for me.”

Some of the other popular project involve fusing, which involves putting the glass into one of the park’s two kilns to let it soften and take on a new shape, such as a bowl. The group now offers both a Beginning and Intermediate Fusing class. Participants in the latter class often make lanterns, taking out the glass panels that come with the lantern and replacing them with their own creation.

The three photos: Sample of a bowls, a lantern, and a view into the kiln room

In addition to Joanne, there are three other volunteers who teach classes, and there are five monitors who keep The Glass Room open and who stand by to help participants. If you’re ready to give glasswork a try, the times for classes and hours for individual work are posted at The Glass Room (which faces the pool, down from the post office).

Joanne McCarty: A Brief Profile

Like many Resort residents, Joanne comes from the Dakotas, in her case, Powers Lake, North Dakota, a town of about 600 residents when she was growing up there, and it’s where her parents owned a furniture and appliance store. She left Powers Lake to go to college at the University of North Dakota, majoring in Elementary and Special Education. After a stint teaching in North Dakota, she took a job consulting in Special Ed in Minnesota. But she came back home: “I married a North Dakota farmer,” she explained. “The farm was near York, which had maybe 28 people.” It eventually had a couple more people – Joanne and her husband had a pair of daughters. (One of the daughters is a now teacher outside Bismarck and the other a nurse in Fargo.)

As for first learning to work with stained glass, Joanne says, “I took a class many years ago, maybe 30 years ago. But the kids were young, and it was too hard to find the time to work on it. Then, later, when my husband passed, I came back to it and found it therapeutic. I even opened a business out of my house. It was something to do and everyone loved my products.”

Joanne learned about The Resort from friends in York who had places in the park. “I came for a visit,” she said, “and before I left, they had me looking for places to buy.” That was eight years ago now, and she continues to split her time between Arizona and North Dakota.

UPDATE FROM THE ACTIVITIES OFFICE

Western week was a huge success and lots of fun for all. We started off on Sunday with a Golf Cart parade, then to the Ballroom for Happy hour and meet the candidates that were running for Mayor. Monday and Tuesday were voting days for your favorite candidate.

Monday we had the County Legends concert with Gordy and Debbie another great show.

Tuesday we gathered to hear who had won the Mayor race. Bill Henry was announced as the winner and Mayor for Western Week.

Wednesday we had a Chili Cook off, with Karen and Lee Bouma being the winners, everyone’s chili was great thanks to all that entered. Later we had a show put on by CJ and Woodie.

Thursday of course was bingo dinner and bingo.

Friday was our Western dance with Reign N Country.

During the week we had a “JAIL” which generated money for the Quilt Club to help purchase material for the wonderful Quilts of Valor they give to deserving Veterans. You could put someone in jail and they would have to either pay to get out or do silly things. The Mayor and his Deputies would go around and arrest you and take you to jail. Thanks to everyone that helped donate and made it a fun week. We could not do all of this without our GREAT VOLUNTEERS. Looking forward to next year’s Western Week.