Sue Chreszczyk creates beautiful stained glass mosaics in her Hoppers Crossing studio. 75814 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Alesha Capone
YOU could say Hoppers Crossing artist Sue Chreszczyk has a heart of glass.
The mother-of-two has been creating stained glass mosiacs in her home studio for the past eight years, and she spent the previous 13 years studying lead lighting.
She took up the art form after a friend took her along to a lead lighting class.
“Then I did one class of mosaics with a group of people from my normal class when we got together one Saturday, and I had a ball,” Ms Chreszczyk said.
“The first piece I did, a tulip, I’ve got and I still cringe every time I look at it.”
However nowadays, the talented grandmother creates everything from mosaic mirrors, garden features and house signs to tables and lamps.
“A lot of people comment that I do a lot of Asian-style pieces and geishas, but I also do Art Deco, Australian birds, a koala – he turned out nicely – and Art Noveau is another style I really love,” Ms Chreszczyk said.
“I have a lot of people ask how I got to this stage and I say, ‘Practice practice practice’.
“I love getting a sense of achievement when you’ve done something and the idea comes from a simple thing you thought of.” Ms Chreszczyk is not the only artistic member of her family – her son is studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts at a San Francisco university.
“My husband Paul makes my bases for me, he loves to build things, he said when he’s retired he wouldn’t mind having a go at tiles,” she said.
Ms Chreszczyk regularly sells her art at the Craft Markets Australia event at Werribee Park and the Flemington Racecourse market, and she will also appear at the Festival of Glass in Drysdale on 19 February.
See www.harlequinmosaics.com.au for more information.
