Yes Glass! By Merideth Davis 68 EAST ALABAMA LIVING
Photos provided by Sarah Beth Wheeler Finding work that you are passionate about and is also rewarding is precisely what Laura Bronson has done. Through what, looking back, seems like a twist of fate, Laura fell in love with the art of stained glass. After exhausting every art class that her high school in San Diego provided, the teacher allowed Laura to pick any other art form she desired to study for class credit. There was this stained-glass art shop she would often pass cruising around town and kept feeling drawn to. Maybe it was her love of shiny, pretty things. Perhaps it was fate, but Laura chose stained glass art to study. She knew she wanted to do this for the rest of her life. Laura was born in Houston, Texas, but moved with her family in third grade to Pasadena, Calif., for her dad to attend graduate school at Cal Tech. They later relocated to San Diego, where Laura would complete high school and find her passion for stained glass art. After high school, wanderlust took control of Laura, and she traveled across the globe, experiencing life to its fullest and learning things you cannot find in a classroom. Laura ended up settling in Hope, British Columbia, where she gave birth to her son, Brent and spent several years until the untimely death of her son's father, who passed when her son was only three years old. They relocated for some time to Toronto to be closer to her son's family. Since Laura had yet to establish her residency in Canada, they relocated again to Michigan, where her father lived. Now a single mother, she realized she had to get serious about her education. She started her journey at a local community college, Kalamazoo Valley, in Michigan, which allowed her to know it was time to pursue an advanced degree. Throughout all her previous years of travel, she fell in love with Tennessee and chose to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drawing) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She and her son relocated, and through hard work, determination, and the help of many babysitters, Laura graduated in 2000. In another twist of fate, a harpist/musician friend of Laura's was playing at a grand opening of a commercial glass studio just outside Knoxville, in Blaine, Tennessee. The friend suggested that Laura go there and tell them she was looking for a job. She did just that: landing a job at Goodson Design Studio and starting a five-year-old-fashioned apprenticeship. Her teacher, David Goodson, trained at the world-famous Judson Studios for many years. Judson Studios is the oldest familyrun, stained glass company in the United States, established in 1897 in Pasadena, Calif. Laura found herself in a full-circle moment. The paths where her love for stained glass art began were intersecting with the beginnings of her new career and destiny. After some time at Goodson Design Studio, the owners closed their operations following their divorce. Laura took a leap of EAST ALABAMA LIVING 69