Marjory Clay has had artistic yearnings since her high school days in Poland, Ohio, despite the “misguided” art teacher who suggested she look elsewhere for a profession.

She did look elsewhere: earning a teaching certificate at Miami of Ohio, marrying, teaching, and having four children, an art form in its own right. While at home, now in Michigan, she began a small commercial stained glass business that only whette her appetite for learning other art forms.

Subsequently, she earned two Master degrees and became, in rapid succession, a community education director, and then an elementary principal in Okemos. Despite her fondness for and the demands of these professions, she discovered that when you really love doing something you can squeeze it into the busiest of days.

She therefore took classes or learned from “how to” books or other artists the skills of watercolor painting, portrait painting, welding, textile art, painted furniture, broken pottery art, stained glass and a few others. Clay has sold her creations all over the country.

Clay is very well known for transforming antique windows into batik looking pieces, using acrylic paint. She uses the reverse painting method on the glass, followed by a batik-like technique that she developed herself. The only difficulty is her tendency to now view her friends’ windows speculatively, as if wondering why they haven’t been removed, and made available for “batiking.” In truth, some of the aforementioned friends have done just that. Who knows, more may follow.

It continues to be an exquisite pleasure for Clay to learn a new methodology, craft, or style. She hopes the old “misguided” art teacher is having as good of a time.