the green cat studio history

Read more of Steph's musings, 1, 2, 3

I think I was in the second grade when I heard the first rendition of the book Heidi. I read it to myself two more times before 6th grade, and even did a book report on it in the 7th. That book changed my life forever. I always saw myself sitting there with Grandpa and Heidi eating bread, cheese and milk in the mountains. Little things have changed since then. Now I get to actually live in the mountains instead of the plains of Western Kansas. They may not be the Swiss Alps but they are my mountains. I still love to eat bread and cheese but maybe with a glass of wine instead of milk. (There! Now that I got the artist’s “bs.” out of the way, here are some facts about my life.)

Hi, my name is Steph Brady. I have 3 children, Callie, Skylar, and Boz. My husband’s name is Joe and my dog’s name is Mud. Besides working at my studio, raising a family and being a wife, I also teach Water Aerobics and the Arthritis Class at the Salida Hot Springs Pool. I have a BSE in Psychology, Education and Special Education. I wanted to be a stay-at-home Mom with my children when they were little so I never did pursue a career with my degrees. While at home, I did start teaching myself how to do stain glass in 1976. In 1979, I started my own glass store in Dodge City, KS. While my children were in grade school, I would go and teach art classes to my kid’s homeroom every month. Dodge City did not have any art classes at that time so I tried to fill the void with my experiences and knowledge. The children knew me as the art lady and the adults called me the glass lady.

It was like throwing 20 years of my art reputation away and starting over when we first moved here to Colorado. At first, I was in a couple of galleries around town, but I always knew in my heart that I needed to have my own gallery. I had a patron farmer from Montezuma, Kansas help back me along with all my 17 years of savings from my glass retail business. I discarded my old business name,“Winda Stains,” and became “the green cat.”

For the past 4 years, I have concentrated mostly on the watercolor/pastels because I felt that the art world here in Salida was not ready for the glass. I did a glass sculpture here and there but nothing like the glass I had done in Kansas. I love to do it all but my forte is really GLASS. I guess it should be after spending 20 years of my life living, breathing and buying glass.

Glass is an expensive art form and so delicate. It takes a lot of practice, skill, tools, money, and patience. I have to think twice as hard on my glass art as I do the 2-dimensional painted pieces. It takes 3 times as long to finish a glass artpiece and throughout the process the piece can be broken at any point.

Now I’m back on top again and I hope you enjoy the whole experience. Enjoy your stay in Salida.

Can you feel the magic?