Former nurse Norma Geddes took a 10-day stained-glass course on a whim and found her passion. Now she exhibits widely and her work sells out
The first time Norma Geddes successfully cut and shaped a piece of glass, at the age of 69, she was so elated it shocked her. “I was one of five people in a class where we were learning how to make stained-glass panels and everyone was 30 years younger than me,” says the former nurse and healthcare manager. “I became so excited at seeing this moon-shaped piece of glass come to life in my hands that it almost made me feel embarrassed. I didn’t know doing something so simple could be so fulfilling. I knew I had to carry on.”
Geddes had become interested in glass artistry only a few weeks previously, while she was overseeing the renovation of her kitchen in Richmond, Virginia, in 2010. “I told my carpenter I wanted him to build two cabinets with textured glass and he said I needed to go to the glass shop to pick it out,” she says. “I spent five minutes finding some plain, textured glass and when I went to pay I noticed a small note advertising local stained-glass classes. It was so unusual I decided I had to try it out.”
