Carey Gustafson: Glass Action

By Jenn Goeddeke

Carey Gustafson has been a strong, ongoing creative energy behind several main, local grassroots productions since the early 2000s.

She is fundamentally an artist, musician, teacher, and mommy to Lucy (age 12). Her interests and activities have had a broad range, including curating art shows at The Majestic Cafe in Detroit, becoming VP of Defying The Law Bicycle Club, musical director for the DIY Street Fair in Ferndale (2008-2010), and even hosting some Zombie Dance Parties!

Gustafson was raised in the Clawson school system and currently resides in Oak Park. In between, she lived in Ferndale for 25 years. As a young child, Gustafson began collecting random items to create art and discovered the huge power of her imagination.

Immediately following high school, she completed courses in stained glass art and trained in fabrication plus large-scale projects. Gustafson's involvement in this form of art has spanned over 30 years, and has evolved into an impressive home studio named Glass Action. The studio is her main current focus as she runs several workshops each week, for beginners to “get their feet wet, and then leave with their treasures!” Her promotional style has been essentially word of mouth, and she has been building social media contacts for over ten years, person by person.

GUSTAFSON INITIALLY ENTERED INTO A “HUGE CREATIVE STRIDE” with local bands and the music scene in 2001. Then, after co-founding the company Handmade Detroit with four other ladies in 2005 came the formation of the Detroit Urban Craft Fair. This is the longest-running indie craft fair in Michigan, involving over 100 crafters/makers, and thousands of customers. It is hosted at the Masonic Temple in Detroit (which is the largest in the world). Gustafson explained, “It started as a telephone promotion game and then others came forward.”

Another impressive collaboration has been the Backyard Art Fair in Ferndale, which was arranged by Gustafson and one of her friends, Kelly Kaatz. This event began with creating a “safe space” to meet up with Kaatz and two other friends in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. Everything was changing quickly and events were getting “shuttered up.” So, they formed this outdoor event where people could split up and rotate around the neighborhood. Two versions were created: Spring and Fall, and the fair became very popular. For Spring 2022, Gustafson mentioned that the plans got “tweaked and downsized, so the audience could reach all homes involved.”

REGARDING HER STAINED GLASS ART CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS, Gustafson mentioned that “the reaction has been immediate!” She booked up quickly for March, April, and May, with several workshops held each week and an average of six people in each. These workshops include some important steps in the creation of stained glass, such as grinding, cutting the glass, and final assembly. The techniques taught include the use of adhesives and soldering. Gustafson keeps informed of current teaching trends which she believes are important. She also makes her own designs, and portraits, which are often inspired by pop-culture themes.

Certain crafts go through cycles of popularity and then make a comeback. For this reason, Gustafson often hears the phrase, “my grandma used to do this!” Some of her students were previously afraid to try out stained glass art, or they couldn’t figure it out completely. Frequently, this is a brand-new craft for a student and then leads to some finesse. Gustafson keeps it all affordable, with an average cost of $80 for a three-hour workshop, which includes all materials and instruction.

She added that she would be keeping a set teaching schedule into September, and then adjusting classes for the busy season, leading into Christmas and the New Year. Gustafson loves to keep her classes interesting. Every month can reveal a new project, and she is building a repertoire with few repeats. The age range is currently 17+, and a safety speech is always part of the class intro, as some chemicals are used. Gustafson added, “there’s lots of ventilation in the studio, and this is an in-depth dive into the art of stained glass.”

With a smile, she concluded, “It’s not exactly a class for a bachelorette crawl as it requires great focus. I have done a few craft pop-ups at school, for my daughter Lucy, where fifty 2nd graders are staring at me, waiting for instructions. If I can handle that, then I can handle any group of adults!

I found the dream- of making a living at what I love to do.” •

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