Fused Glass Artist: Michael Novak

Here is the first "Divine Intersection" post where we feature a local artist and hear about how their creativity intersects with their journey with Jesus.

This month: Michael Novak ~ here you will see a smattering of his amazing fused glass work and below you can read his story.

A beautiful fused glass plate.

A stunning fused glass pendant he made (and I now own!).

In his words...by Michael:

When I had to stop working because of my illness, I initially felt a real sense of identity loss. I loved my work, the people I worked with and the challenge of my job! Who was I now in God’s kingdom? My hospitalizations gave me the opportunity to share God’s grace with the many people I would come in contact with at the hospital. But what about the time when I was not in the hospital? I continued my daily time of reading and prayer, but I felt a lot of “empty” time when I was not conversing with The Lord. Then I found myself having more conversations with Jesus during the day. They would be conversations of thanks for things that were going on. When I was confused by what was going on, we had conversations offering peace and less anxiety from current happenings. Then I realized it was turning into many conversations during the day over many topics. Maybe because I live alone, and don’t talk to many people on a daily basis, these conversations became a way to share my life with my Lord. He knew my sense of identity loss and at some point I felt the push to try something else to fill my time. I had done copper foil stained glass for several years, but because of the advancement of my illness and medications, my hands shook too much to be able to solder the way you needed to. I still loved the beauty of glass, but was frustrated by the inability to do it as I had before. At about this same time, I had seen a couple of craft shows about “kiln-fired” glass, and the beautiful results available. We had many conversations of thanks and how could I possibly try this new “old” technique. I read some books and borrowed time in a small kiln to get a feel for it. From that point on it was just a continual time of trying new techniques, having good and bad results and continuing conversations with my "mentor."

I call my studio work "by His hands." I truly feel that my inspiration for new designs, trying new glass colors and techniques and having some favorable results have all come from my relationship with my business partner, Jesus! How can you go wrong with a designer that designed the world, a research partner that knows all the techniques, and your inspiration that comes from all the colors in the universe! Everyday I take my cue for the day from God, put the glass pieces together and put them in the kiln and wait to see the incredible magic that the Lord does to that simple glass while it is "in His hands."

If you are interested in seeing more of Michael's work, contact him at: mnovak52@comcast.net.

Thank you for taking time to read about an artist's Divine Intersection.