Artist Profile: Geraldine Ensminger

Geraldine Ensminger grew up in the Midwest. “I think there was something in my DNA that didn't cope well with the snow,” she says. She vowed to be in California by age 30 and moved to Benicia with two weeks to spare. It was her work on a Birth Project piece with Judy Chicago that brought her here.

Ensminger got her MFA from University of Wisconsin in Madison. “It's a lovely place, but it's so cold. Cover your nose, it may fall off,” she warns. In Madison, her emphasis was on ceramics and sculpture. Ensminger got into glass when artisan George McKeever recruited her help on a 30x30-foot stained glass piece for a church.

“He was a great fabricator but couldn't draw so I became the designer and learned the trade,” explains Ensminger. When McKeever retired in 1990, he sold her the Vallejo business. “I thought shoot, if I turn 91 and I'm sitting on my front porch, will I have regretted that I didn't try this or not?” McKeever owned the studio for 20 years as has Ensminger, so it's a 40-year-old tradition.

Ensminger makes custom design glass for private homes, businesses and churches. “It's fun. It's wonderful to see the look on people's faces,” she says. “I see it in my head all the time because I know which way the sun is coming and the way the color will transmit.” The biggest challenge is the installation because every one is different. A lot of it is problem solving.” Ensminger also has a contractors license.

Her piece at 's show is an armoire that opens to a lighted   stained glass carousel horse and music. The glass was made for a Benician woman named Mary and was broken while being moving to a new house. It was returned to Ensminger for repair and when Mary died, the piece stayed at the studio.

Ensminger decided to make it into The Seasons of My Content, Spring of 1992, the year she and her husband rode the carousel in Monterey. After years of making custom art for clients, this was the first piece she created for herself since her college days. It's the first of a series of stained-glass music boxes. She also hopes to exhibit old unique suitcases, trunks and jewelry boxes.

Working with stained glass requires patience and physical strength, so Ensminger has learned to pace herself. Also known as the clay lady at local schools, she does clay projects with kids of all ages. Ensminger says she plans to continue making art until she drops.

Open Studios location: The Faux Louvre Gallery, 117 East D St.