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by Arlene Wright-Correll

This week’s Kentucky artists are John Diebold and Bonnie Skees

by Arlene Wright-Correll

The sign said, "We Know our Glass From a Hole-In-The-Ground!" and the store front was loaded with all kinds of beautiful stained glass pieces. I could not resist stopping by and finding out about the people that were inside Aardvark Art Glass, Inc. last week when I was over in Louisville since I am constantly learning that Kentucky abounds with talented artists.

Two such people are John Diebold and Bonnie Skees, stained glass artisans, partners and owners of Aardvark Art Glass, Inc..

John graduated as an art major from the University of Louisville in 1985, thus bringing with him a lot of artistic talent for pattern design. He says he never did any stained glass work, but when his parents were remodeling their home he saw his first piece of stained glass and loved what he saw. This caused him to become an apprentice at another studio.

Bonnie worked for 17 years with Anthem and she did stained glass as a hobby and after becoming quite good at it she started to teach night classes. It was during that time that she met John at the studio he was working at.

One thing led to another and they decided to open up their own studio in 2000. Bonnie said it took a lot of courage on her part to decide to leave a good paying day job of long standing to start out on her own with John in their new venture. Both of their spouses were supportive and help out when needed.

Bonnie likes the teaching end of the business best and John likes the art creativity and designing best, so it makes for a winning combination.

They give classes, sell supplies, do custom work and make repairs. However, they have created some interesting pieces that I had never seen before, such as stained glass memorial inserts for cemetery head stones or stained glass pieces with your pet’s image in stained glass, plus it’s photo inserted in part of it and the pet’s name engraved on another part.

These two artists are easy to talk with and their humor comes across instantly. They have good communications with their customers whether they are long standing or with someone like me who just walked in out of curiosity. Their work is traditional yet original and of fine quality and you are instantly greeted with a smile.

So the next time you are in Louisville, stop in at Aardvark Art Glass, Inc. at 3310 Preston Hwy and meet stained glass artists John Diebold and Bonnie Skees because as they say, "We Know our Glass From a Hole-In-The-Ground!".

(Contact Arlene Wright-Correll at 270 524 9567 or email her at askarlene@scrtc.com  if you want to be next week’s column of Who’s Who in KY Art’s and Crafts)