A lot of times when people buy art, they’re looking for the perfect piece to, say, hang above their mantel or the perfect color to match their dining room walls.
However, for artist Becky Manson, her glass creations are about celebrating imperfections.
Her Imperfectly Beautiful line is “imperfectly beautiful just like you and me,” she said. “But it’s still beautiful.”
Manson has created a lot of pictures on clear glass featuring flowers, trees and whimsical buildings that are fun to put in windows so light can shine through them.
She also makes plant stakes, including some that look like mushrooms, which was someone else’s suggestion.
The glass holds up well outside, she said.
Manson finds a variety of inspirations for her glass pieces.
Manson always has dabbled in crafts, though never seriously until she retired six and a half years ago.
She’d been a physical therapist for almost four decades when she had to stop at age 62.
“I retired because my body was giving out on me. That’s a pretty physical career.”
She didn’t have specific plans for retirement, but Manson had kept artistic pursuits in mind. Even before creating anything or having a plan for a particular medium, Manson had an idea of what she wanted the outcome to be.
“I always thought it would be fun to make something that somebody else wanted,” she said. “It’s always been my dream to have somebody buy something I made.”
She took some CityArts glass classes that she said were a lot of fun. When the pandemic hit, and CityArts had to close, Manson still wanted to create, so she found a half-priced kiln, which she and her husband picked up from a woman in Tulsa who’d never taken it out of the box, and got to work.
“It was something kind of unique that a lot of people didn’t do,” Manson said.
A lot of artists keep their kilns outdoors, but Manson keeps hers in her basement.
“When I first got it and turned it on, it blew a fuse.”
She now has a dedicated plug for it. On hot summer afternoons, she can be in the cooler basement working.
She buys glass in sheets in all different colors. She also buys small pieces called frit. Then, she starts designing what she’ll fuse in the kiln.
“It’s just kind of creative. It’s just kind of what you want to do?”
A hazard of the trade is getting cut, Manson said.
“The little pieces will cut your fingers, and you don’t even notice it until you’ve got blood on something.”
She now keeps Band-Aids in the basement, and when she’s taught classes there, she makes sure participants wear closed-toe shoes.
She and some friends began selling their works in a variety of places, such as the Church of the Magdalen’s bazaar.
“It was really a rush. It was really exciting when people started buying it.”
Her glass ornaments have been popular there.
She’s also done artisan fairs at Grace Hill Winery.
“Those are really fun to do, too.”
Some of her pieces are in the Workroom on consignment and at the Wildflower Mercantile in Delano.
Manson said she gets checks once a month.
“It’s really cool. I’ve made some pretty good money over the months.”
She’s also sold her work at the Holiday Galleria and at the Women’s Fair. She
said she’d like to do more craft shows, too.
“It’s just life sometimes gets busy.”
Manson creates glass works usually about four days a week as her schedule allows.
She said she’ll take commissions. For instance, one person requested the K-State logo on glass. Manson said she always cautions buyers that her creations are one of a kind, and she can’t simply duplicate them. That’s all part of what makes them Imperfectly Beautiful.
Manson doesn’t have a website, and she admits she’s not so good about keeping up her Facebook page.
The various places she does find to sell are enough for her at this point, she said.
“It’s just nice to support my habit.”
