Janae Lynn Polish – Glass Artist

Janae Polish is an artist living in Los Angeles, California. She graduated with a B.S. from California State University Northridge and attended UCLA where she worked for twenty-seven years as a Recreational Therapist/Sr. Mental Health Practitioner and is currently a Recreation Therapy Consultant.

Janae has an extensive and varied background pursuing such artistic endeavors as stained glass, glass fusing, painting, jewelry design and photography. She has a passion for music (playing the harp and violin), and studies “dressage” privately with the world class horse trainer and olympian, Mette Rosencrantz. Her adventurous spirit has compelled her to travel to six continents particularly to remote areas of the world, from the Mountains of Nepal to the jungles of New Guinea where she stayed with cannibals and head-hunters. Her travels have brought her face to face with the brightly adorned faces and bodies of tribes in Africa, Borneo, Sulawesi and Vietnam among others. She has tried to capture the spirit of these people of tradition in her photography, videos and stained glass.

Her life long love of music has led her to collaborate with world renowned violinist and author Sherry Kloss. Janae’s photography is featured in Ms. Kloss’s book “Jascha Heifetz Through My Eyes” as well as in promotional media for her concerts throughout the world. Janae’s most recent photo of Ms. Kloss can be seen in the January 2007 issue of the “Strad Magazine”. Janae has also video-documented Ms. Kloss conducting master classes in St. Petersburg, Russia as well as concerts and master classes in a number of countries. These videos will soon be released. Her photography of equestrian competitions has appeared in “Horseplay Magazine.” She is currently working on getting a documentary made about the relationship between student and teacher with an emphasis of carrying on the Heifetz legacy through videos she has documented of Ms. Kloss’s work.

As a Recreational Therapist for many years, she specialized in working with people with disabilities of all ages introducing them to art as a medium for self expression and as a conduit for healing body, mind and spirit. As she witnessed the creative spark develop in both young and old, she realized that nothing is impossible. She learned that each individual has the potential to create something wonderful and fulfilling. This belief has inspired her to continue to grow and expand her abilities by challenging herself to take the next step, thus opening the door of creativity where a new world offers many surprises.

Her fascination with glass has brought her under the tutelage of internationally acclaimed stained glass artists such as Ben Takeuchi, Amir Chafai, and Tim Carey, as well as with glass fusers Dan Fenton and Kristin DuCharme. Janae also studied at the Otis College of Art and Design. In 2007 she took numerous workshops with world renowned stained glass artist Peter McGrain and in June 2008 she took a five day intensive workshop in Pittsburgh, PA with stained glass artist Judith Schaechter (whose work can be seen in major museums throughout the world). Janae has also found that by teaching stained glass it is another means to learning. In 2008 she taught a workshop on “how to make Kaleidoscopes out of fused and stained glass” at the Fire Works Glass Studio in Los Angeles. Janae’s exploration of art glass reflects a broad range of styles, media and techniques such as: stained glass (emphasizing the traditional painting on glass), sandblasting and acid etching glass, layering glass, glass fusing, using glass in jewelry, and creating furniture incorporating fused glass. Her inclusion of various elements such as shells, stones, jewels, wood, and metal has resulted in pieces that are unique and aesthetically pleasing. Janae is excited about commencing her new series of light boxes and stained glass windows showing religious people in worship of different world religions, tribal people she has encountered in her numerous trips, the women and children of Africa, jazz and gypsy musicians, and a Native American series. Other subjects will include a combination of fuzed and stained glass windows of wild animals and the underwater world. Janae’s donation to the L.A. Zoo of a stained glass window of a “leopard in a tree” was auctioned off at the annual “Beastly Ball” in 2007 to help raise funds for the zoo.

Janae has won numerous 1st & 2nd place awards at juried art shows in California as well as at the 2012 prestigious International Glass Competition at the Las Vegas Glass craft and Bead show from the “Gallery of Excellence” winning 1st place with one of her stained glass windows.

Her next big show will be a display of 10 stained glass windows with accompanying violin concert played by Sherry Kloss.

Her Las Vegas winning window will be shown in the magazine “GLASS  PATTERNS QUARTERLY” in September 2012. She will also be writing an article with accompanying pictures on “glass painting”. 

Janae continues to work as a Recreation Therapy Consultant with Developmentally Disabled adults/seniors and has created a very successful ongoing glass workshop with her clients. She will also be teaching a “Stained glass painting workshop” at Firework Studio in the summer of 2012.

Janae’s children’s murals can be seen at the Neuropsychiatric Institute, UCLA. Her work is in private collections and has sold in numerous galleries.

If you would like to contact Janae about future projects or commission work, you can reach her at:

Janae Polish
P.O. Box 11656
Marina del Rey, CA  90295
tel. (310) 823-3215
E-mail: pebsprecious@hotmail.com