Today we’d like to introduce you to Bradley Fiscus.
Hi Bradley, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have always be a fan of glass art. I grew up attending a rural Indiana church with beautiful stained glass windows. I was also very interested in how things are made. As the youngest of 4 children, I was a part of each of my older siblings activities. My oldest brother really enjoyed oil painting and was quite good. My other brother was more of a tinkerer and creator. My sister was a pianist and a baton twirler. I tried painting, I liked tinkering and creating. Definitely wasn’t a pianist. I tried a lot of different artistic endeavors while growing up but never really found the one. Instead, I followed both of my brothers and dedicated myself to athletics, playing football and wrestling.
I became a public school science teacher, coached football, wrestling, boys and girls track. My wife and I talked about things and experiences we’d like to do when we had time and money. We had neither, but we both had lots of ideas. We had moved to Tennessee and, when my wife found out she was pregnant with our daughter, we decided I would take a leave of absence from teaching for a year and be a stay-at-home dad. After about 6 months, my wife felt I needed a hobby.
Remembering our conversations about stained glass, she signed me up for a basic class. That class was the start of a whole new path– design, structure, color, ART– these were new areas for me and it became really exciting to figure out how to solve problems and push limits. That was 24 years ago. I’ve been creating stained glass art ever since.
I started out making small pieces on commission and putting pieces in charity auctions. I taught a small class here and there. I got completely burned out making 3-D stained glass reindeer for Christmas one year and put it all away for about 6 or 7 years, but drifted back to it when we moved to a new house and built a studio. By then, our daughter, Mare’, was old enough to begin learning the art, too. I did a few larger projects– big windows in homes. A large cross for the church we attended at the time. I started an annual series of nativity scenes based upon words like “Joy” and “Faith” and “Rejoice”.
When we decided to move to northern Virginia in 2021, my wife and I were walking in Old Town Alexandria and she said, “You know… if you ever wanted to really make a go of the stained glass thing, this would be the place.” We looked for a store front, signed a lease for a place on upper King Street, and opened in January 2022.
We’ve since changed locations to Jamison Ave off Duke Street where we’ve been supported by the residents of Carlyle Towers and have built a community of glass artists who come in, hang out, learn and share with us. That’s one of the things I’m most proud of– we have helped create artists who have grown to the point of putting pieces on commission in our gift shop and who sometimes get commission work themselves. They know Fiscus Glassworks is a place where they can come, get great advice on their projects, and leave a better glass artist than they were when they walked in.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In any life-change story, there are bumps in the road. Some bumps create roadblocks and some create momentum. Overall, I feel like the bumps we faced launching Fiscus Glassworks created much more momentum than they did roadblocks.. The challenges we faced with our first location on King Street and the decision to move to Jamieson Avenue only set us up for new opportunities and experiences. As a result, our capacity to create art and build community has given us incredible joy, and we hope to continue to do this work for as long as we have the support.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Since opening in Alexandria, we’ve added glass fusing, glass jewelry, and have other Virginia artists commission their work to our gift shop. We teach all levels of classes– from 2 hour suncatchers to large structure and design projects. And we continue to take in new commission work nearly every day and are excited to add our work to the streets of Alexandria and far beyond. From a renovation of a 1890s Miami church window to replacing broken light fixture panels from the era of Thomas Jefferson, we have been invited to assist with all kinds of interesting projects. We’ve made great partners along the way– we have a trim carpenter who helps us out with framing and installation, and we swap projects with Lamplighters on King Street— they repair the electrical parts of old lamps while we fix the broken stained glass in the shades. The work never gets boring and we’re always innovating and learning, which keeps the scientist in me happy.
And our daughter,Mare’, now 24 years old, is still beside me as our main class instructor, fused glass expert, and all-around store manager. She has become an amazing glass artist in her own right, with commission pieces that have been sent all over the world. She runs our summer children’s camps, creates new pieces to teach in workshops, and is the public face on our social media accounts.
Over the past 5 years, we’ve seen area stained glass shops close. That’s been sad to see, but also reaffirms our mission to support this art and ensure its continued longevity. We’ve become the go-to stained glass shop in the area and we’re so grateful for the support! It’s not easy running a “mom and pop shop” (or in this case, “young adult kid and pop shop”) but we love making our contribution to this community and hope to be around for many years to come.
The great thing about glasswork is that you don’t have to be an artist to get started, but you’ll be one by the time you leave.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
There’s an entire tribe of people who deserve credit in the success of Fiscus Glassworks.
My wife, Dr. Shelley Fiscus, is our chief financial officer (meaning she paid the bills for a long time while we were getting started). It’s not easy to open a non-essential business during a pandemic. She’s had to say “no” a lot, which isn’t easy for any of us, but the business is much less reliant on our personal financing now and she is able to spend her free time working on her own glass projects instead of stressing over the books. She makes nearly all of our glass jewlery and much of the work you’ll see in the gift shop is her work. She was new to the art form when we started 5 years ago and has grown into a talented fused glass artist. You’ll also see her glass art paired with her own watercolor paintings.
Mare’ Fiscus, our daughter, has also become quite an artist working in both fused glass and stained glass. Her focus on teaching and offering unique experiences for artists of all ages helps to expand our shared goal of inspiring and training new artists. She has developed a dynamic summer camp for kids ages 9-13 that fills quickly each summer.
Delphine Lawson brought Fiscus Glassworks into the world of glass fusing and has been a tremendous mentor and friend. Del also contributes to our custom projects and repairs, and is always available for advice when a kiln misbehaves or we have a new challenge to solve.
Sirena Morris wandered into the store a few years ago as a student and asked if she could be an apprentice. Since then, she has helped us out in countless ways– from helping out with an order of 1,400 fused glass awards for the North American Irish Dance Competition to helping out with classes, Sirena has become a dear friend and reliable colleague who is willing to help out with just about anything in exchange for knowledge. She’s become a talented glass artist and you can find some of her work in our gift shop.
Chip Markle is an outstanding woodworker and carpenter who has worked on many Fiscus Glassworks project installations, creates wooden bases for small projects, and helps troubleshoot challenging issues to help ensure our products are installed securely and stand the test of time.
Sneha Cherukuri helped to revolutionize our online class scheduling platform and make our back office work more efficiently. We miss her but she’s gone back to Mississippi to start medical school this fall and we couldn’t be more proud of her!
Our talented summer resident intern, Meera Trujillo, creates amazing art and assists with teaching and scheduling artists of all skill levels.
Our contributing artists, Potomac Sea Glass, Christy Gunkel Mosaics, Jim Weitekamp, Katie O’Connor, Sandi Cheski and Cameron Taylor help us fill our gift shop with their work in all kinds of unique ways and make Fiscus Glassworks a truly unique Virginia artist experience.
Pricing:
- 8 hour beginner stained glass class $195
- 2-hour stained glass experience $40
- 3-hour stained glass experience $60
- 4-hour stained glass experience $80
- Fusing workshops $50-150 depending on the project
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fiscusglassworks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiscusglassworks
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/14bJ4h9H11o/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: https://fiscus-glassworks.square.site/s/shop
