Sandra Goettling Rich

Growing up in New Jersey, Barbara’s interest in art was evident early. As a child and into her teens she was always drawing or painting. She sketched with pencil and chalk and painted with watercolor, oils, and acrylics. When deciding which direction to go after high school, she knew she wanted to do an art form, one that actually paid. She decided on going to the Lincoln Technical School for Drafting in New Jersey to learn the ‘art’ of drafting architectural plans. After one year of schooling and receiving her certificate she got her first job in a civil engineering firm as a drafter. Through the years she learned the trade and became a design drafter, first drafting by hand then using AutoCAD software. All the time she worked she still kept her hand in art with sketching and painting, then added photography to the list.

In 2002 she and her husband, Ed, and daughter Bridget moved from New Jersey to Las Vegas for their new jobs and their new home being built in North Las Vegas. Barbara’s job kept her very busy but she still made time to decorate her new home. Pieces of her photography and her decorative painting were hung but she wanted stained glass for the two large windows in her living room. After doing some shopping for glass she decided rather than buy someone else’s work, she would create her own. So, in 2006 she and her husband signed up for a class through UNLV - Las Vegas and her love of working in glass began. As soon as she cut that first piece of glass, she knew this was the art form that she wanted to put all of her artistic energy and imagination into.

Barbara and Ed signed up for classes to learn how to create a small window using the Tiffany copper foil technique, then learned how to use this technique to make a larger window. They walked into the class with their patterns and glass for their projects, each with over 200 pieces, whereas the other students were doing patterns with less than 50 pieces. They became known as the “over-achievers.” Next came fused glass where they found with a little bit of imagination and a whole lot of heat, they could create even more glass art.

From these classes their hobby began. Pieces were made for their home as well as gifts for family and friends. Next thing, friends were asking Barbara and Ed to create pieces for them to have or to give as gifts. Very soon they began selling their work. It was exciting but hard to keep up with while they both worked full time. Then Barbara became a victim of the economy and was laid off from her job. A friend of hers, trying to cheer her up, said, “When one door closes, another opens.” Her husband laughed and said, “There you go, honey. You love doing your stained glass and fused glass, why not work on selling some of it and start up your own business?” With that, she started Those in Glass Houses...

Barbara now uses Glass Eye 2000 from Dragonfly Software to design her original pieces of stained glass. Ed is still very much involved; he is her framing guy and helps with the naming of her designs. To see more of her work, check out her website: www.Thoseinglasshouses.com