Since first picking up a paintbrush as a child, Tim Carey's guiding preoccupation as an artist has been light. "How can I make this image more luminous?" — a question that has followed him through every painting, and later, every pane of glass. 

Carey trained in traditional drawing and painting at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and spent the first five years of his career as a figurative oil painter and muralist. In 2003, a chance visit to Judson Studios in Los Angeles introduced him to stained glass, and he was immediately captivated. A part-time job as a glass painter quickly grew into a full-time calling, and he would go on to spend 14 years at the Studios. 

During his time at Judson, Carey served as lead artist on a number of monumental projects. The most rewarding part of that work, he says, was collaborating with communities — both religious and secular — to bring their visions to life in glass. That path led to his defining project: the 3,400- square-foot Resurrection Window at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. After designing the piece in 2014, Carey realized it could not be executed through traditional methods alone, and sought out glass master Narcissus Quagliata, whose "painting with light" fusing technique offered a solution. Together, the two developed a custom fabrication process and completed the window in February 2017 — a collaboration that deepened into a lasting connection built on their shared love of image-making in fused glass. 

Fused glass — a technique only about 40 years old — allows glass of different colors and styles to be melted together in a kiln to form a single image. For Carey, it is the ultimate painting medium for installations, indoors and out. Because glass transmits, reflects, and refracts light, a fused glass piece is never static: it shifts with the daylight, responds to its environment — a tree swaying in the wind, a shadow creeping from a neighboring building — and can be brought to life after dark through specialized lighting, drawing people toward a space. 

Glass is also one of the most time-tested, archival materials available. Its color is permanent, resistant to fading and scratching, and — with the right safety measures — able to withstand touch, moisture, and impact. It is a noble medium with a history spanning over a thousand years, since the earliest stained glass windows appeared in Europe — windows that still dazzle with color and narrative power today. 

Through Tim Carey Studio, Carey continues his mission: pushing glass to the forefront as an image- making medium, and using light and color to enliven the world around us.