about steph brady and the green cat studio
When I was around 10 or so I use to go to the Library and check out all the fairy tales and fable books. I think that I read every book available in the Liberal, Kansas Library. I use to dream about magical things and thought that someday I would be a part of something big.
Then I went off to college and got a BSE in Psychology, Education, Teaching, Special Ed. I also started on a LD degree but so wanted to marry my husband Joe that I wound it all up. I never did any art classes and never thought that I could draw.
I worked in the school system for a year, married Joe, and started reading art books. Joe got me started in glass and I taught myself how to draw and do glass. I started the glass in 1976. That's when I started to dream about being an artist and wanted to be able to put out the magical colors like the masters.
I've always thought that I would be famous. I'm not sure that I will ever get to that point but I certainly live the life of an artist! I feel it's more important that I concentrate on putting out good work and being happy rather than worrying about being famous. I don't have to read the books to dream or think of magical things anymore. I am blessed because I am living a dream of doing what I want to do.
Hi I'm steph brady. I'm the owner and artist at the green cat. My studio is located at 124 G. street, Salida, Colorado. I've always said the the universe revolves around G. street. I've been at this location for almost 11 years. But I've been showing my art in Salida for 18 years.
My gallery/studio includes the art of my husband Joe and my art. Joe does all the wood and the stone. I do all the glass, pastels, acrylics, oils, and beads. Joe started working in wood in the early 70's and then went on to do the stone in the late 80's. He found out that he loved working in stone because I asked him to put some fused glass into the stone.
I started doing glass in 1976, opened up a glass studio in 1979. I started doing the pastels, acrylics, oils in the late 80's. I have tried to merge what I do in glass to what I do on canvas. I'm starting to get there. It has been a challenge.
We bought our Colorado house in 1992. I went to town in Salida and started working with two other girls, Paulette Brodeur and Marcy in Salida. I then split from them and opened up my own gallery, the green cat a couple of years later. The two girls taught me a lot about the art business.
Being a gallery owner and a artists has been a challenging juggle. I have come a long way just by living and doing my art in Salida. There were a lot of us that came into Salida at the same time. We opened up our studios/galleries in the boarded downtown. The boards came off, the doors opened, and the art sifted into the mountain air. I started the Salida Artists later on so we could put our heads and our pockets together to advertise. We have all taught each of us to promote and be responsible artists by working together. Which was no easy task. A lot of us are women and artists. Trying to get us to make a decision is like trying to herd chickens.
Herding chickens and living the life of an artist in Salida has been a wonderful experience. Oh to dream the impossible dream!
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?
I was born and raised in Western Kansas. I have a BSE in Psychology, Education, and Special Ed. In addition to working 8 hours a day in my studio, raising 3 children and a husband, I teach water aerobic and the arthritis class at the Salida Hot Springs, Salida, Colorado.
Through the years of 1984 to 1994, I volunteered to teach two art classes once a month at Dodge City, Kansas because the school system did not have art programs for the grade schools. I also taught art classes at the Carnegie Center for the Arts in Dodge City, Kansas. In the community, I was known as the “Glass Lady” to the adults and the “Picture Lady” to the children.
When I first started showing my art at D. O.’s, They labeled me eclectic. (I had to go home and look up eclectic in the dictionary. You know, it’s not one of those everyday words. At least, not in my vocabulary). I don’t know if I’m eclectic but I do a variety of art mediums. With each medium, there is a different style because the handling or manipulation of each medium is different.
My first art medium started with my glass work in 1976 at Dodge City, Kansas. I opened a glass retail store on Gunsmoke St. in 1979. With my glass work, I expanded my train of thought with sandblasting, fuseing, kilnforming, slumping, and patte-de-verre. From there, I went on to acrylic paint on linen, watercolor, pastel and oil paints.
Each medium is a form of expression. I usually go full circle starting with some kind of glass work and ending up with watercolor/pastel. I go on binges where I will do series of certain images such as cows, chickens, cats, horses, lizards, sheep, women and nudes.
Hillary Clinton once said that it takes a village to raise a child. I would like to add that it also takes a village to make an artist famous. It's not just one gallery that makes Salida the great art town that it is, but the accumulation of all of us. A lot of us are specialized in our fields and that is what makes Salida so wonderful. There are a lot of other people working with the artists behind the scenes that make this all possible. Welcome to Salida's dream, welcome to "the green cat's dream," and welcome to my dream.
My name
is Steph Brady. My husband's name is Joe Brady. We have three
children, a new son-in-law, a grandbaby, a dog named Mudd, and
a cat named Stimpy. I graduated with a BSE (Bachelor of Science
and Education) degree in Psychology, Education and Special Ed.
I almost had enough credits to teach children who have learning
disabilities, but I decided after six years it was time to wind
it all up. I started my art career in 1976 because my husband
thought I needed something else to do other than teach high school
and run swim programs in the summer.
That something else turned out to be stained glass. It did give me something to do and let me be a stay-at-home mom with my children
In 1979 I started by first glass studio on Gunsmoke Street in Dodge City, Kansas. I went under the name Winda Stains. I also became the "art lady" in Dodge City at my kid's school because they didn't have a formal art program. I have been studying sandcarving and hot glass since the early 80's. I also added acrylics to my palette in 1989, pastels in 1993 and painting on glass in 2000.
We finally got to move to Colorado in 1992. I first started out just doing my paintings because I did not think Salida was quite ready for my glass even though my forte was glass. Also, people have more wall space than windows, so it was easier to sell paintings. I wandered from a couple of studios until I started my own studio on First Street in 1996. That's when I gave way to "the green cat." I just recently moved to the spot I'm in now and hope this will be my permanent home.
With this new move, I consolidated all of my 3 studios and finally got my materials and tools all under one roof and one state. I do so many media that it was hard to find room to do all of them. This building seemed to fit right into my wants and needs. See more of the gallery on our walk through.
All in all, I have had nine different studios. It usually takes me at least a year to feel comfortable and start rolling with my art. I think this studio might be different. I have already begun to roll and feel the freedom of the space. The natural light is just what I needed to show my glass and my husband's sculptures. I feel honored to be the caretaker of this building. After you visit my gallery, right across the street is Gallery 150, and wonderful gold jewelry by Jerry Scavezze.
Let there be light and let it shine thru you...