She Took Her Own Advice

Psychotherapist happy she pursued the art of glass fusing

By Mike Costanza

 

During 35 years as a psychotherapist, Marilynne Lipshutz often advised her clients to find a way to deal with stress.

“I was telling people ‘Why don’t you get a hobby, something to help you relax a little bit?’” the 76-year-old retired psychiatric nurse said.

Taking her own advice, Lipshutz learned how to shape glass into colorful, vibrant works of art.

As the founder and executive director of the Studio 34 Creative Arts Center, she has taught those skills to thousands of students and helped other instructors transmit their knowledge as well.

Lipshutz spent most of her career in private practice treating patients who chronically engaged in theft or had similar mental health problems.

“I specialized in people who stole things, shoplifted, embezzled and started my own practice around that,” Lipshutz said.

She particularly enjoyed helping her patients, who were generally reluctant to talk about their problems, open up in group therapy.

“You could sit back and watch the magic, because they would talk to each other and realize that they’re not the only person ashamed about their behavior,” Lipshutz said.

After deciding to follow her own advice, Lipshutz repeatedly visited Portland, Oregon, to take classes in the creation of glass art. In 1999, she set up a tiny studio in The Hungerford, a tall brick building on Rochester’s East Main Street. While continuing to work full-time as a therapist, she enjoyed using heat to turn glass into works of art.

“It’s a partnership between the media and the person,” Lipshutz said. “There’s never boredom when you’re working with glass.

Lipshutz left The Hungerford in 2000 for 34 Elton St., where she joined other artists who were renting workspaces in a 1,650 square foot studio. In 2001, she turned that studio into the Studio 34 Creative Arts Center. By then, Lipshutz had retired from providing mental health care and was free to concentrate upon running Studio 34 and creating her own distinctive works of art.

Walk into Studio 34 and you’re surrounded by different types of glass, the torches, hand tools, kilns and other devices that are used to shape them and the objects that have been made of them. Shelves brimming with thin rods of colorful Italian glass stand on one side of a large steel work table in a large, brightly lit room. Thicker, less colorful rods of Pyrex sit on shelves on the other side of the table waiting for an artist’s hand.

The separation is intentional. Italian glass melts at about 1,400 degrees. Pyrex, which is also used in common cookware, melts at 3,000 to 4,000 degrees. The temperature difference makes it impossible to combine the two.

“They don’t play well together,” Lipshutz said. “They’ll break apart.”

Sheets of glass are stored elsewhere. Some of them wait to be fused in one of the studio’s 12 kilns into colorful plates, dishes or other works and others are destined to become parts of stained glass works.

Though artists can arrange to make use of Studio 34’s work areas, the studio is primarily intended as an educational facility.

It offers about 20 classes a month on glass casting, fusing glass, flameworking, the creation of works of stained glass and other subjects. Flamework involves the use of a propane torch to melt and shape glass and fusing occurs when different sheets of glass are heated until they soften enough to bond. While most of Studio 34’s instructors work primarily with glass, the studio also offers classes in digital photography and basic metalsmithing for jewelry design. It currently has 12 part-time instructors on its staff.

Michele Ramsey took her first class in making stained glass artworks about 36 years ago. After working on her pieces at home for a number of years, the Palmyra resident discovered Studio 34. She then took every class Lipshutz offered and currently works in stained glass, fused glass and mosaics.

“You break things up and create new pictures out of broken pieces,” Ramsey said. “I just finished making two angels…out of broken glass.”

Ramsey has taught at Studio 34 for about 10 years.

One recent afternoon, she took a break from teaching four students how to use soldering flux to join pieces of stained glass together to talk about what it’s like to work with Lipshutz, whom she considers a friend.

“She’s open to new suggestions and new projects,” Ramsey said. “She’s a wonder to work with.”

Michelle Arena creates artistic stained glass artworks and mosaics and has taught at Studio 34 for about 12 years. The Pittsford resident said she values Lipshutz’s ability to work with students.

“She is very sweet, accommodating, willing to help anyone with getting into any kind of glass art that they want to do,” Arena said. “She is the most patient person I’ve ever met.”

Health issues have forced Lipshutz to slow down a bit though she’s cut back her time on-site, the married grandmother still manages Studio 34, creates her own works of art and teaches students how to turn glass into beautiful objects. For her, the best part of instruction is when the students pick up their finished works.

“The satisfaction on their faces, it really is a pleasure,” she said.

For more information on Studio 34, go to: https://studio34artists.com