Show Low Commission

The town of Show Low, Arizona was established in 1870 and incorporated in 1953. It is located in southern Navajo Country, 174 miles northeast of Phoenix, 193 miles north of Tucson, and about 35 miles north of Fort Apache.

Corydon E. Cooley was a Native American scout in General Crook's campaigns, 1872 and 1873, during the Apache wars. C. E. Cooley lived with his two wives, Mollie and Cora , daughters of old Chief Pedro of the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

In 1875 Cooley and Marion Clark, another resident, decided that the tiny settlement along the Mormon Creek was too small for both of them. One of them had to move out. It was agreed that they would play the card game Seven-up to decide which of them would have to go. As the legend goes, they played all night. On the last hand, Cooley needed just one point to win. Clark turned his cards over and said, "If you can show low - you win." Cooley cut the deck, drew an unbeatable two of clubs and retorted, "Show low it is." And that was how the town was named.

My client traveled from her U.K. home to visit her father in Show Low, Arizona. She will be presenting him with this as a "surprise" gift, and couldn't be more thrilled.

In late May of 2004, my client introduced herself to my friend and associate Juli Stone, owner of Spellcast Stained Glass Studio located in West Sussex, England. She told Juli that her father lives in Show Low, Arizona and would like to commission a panel which she can present to him when she travels to visit him in July.

"What I am thinking of," she said, "is a vertical panel which depicts the mountains and the sun and somehow either the 2 of clubs or else something obviously a playing card."

Juli thought, rather than have the customer absorb higher shipping costs from the U.K., that she could assign the project to my studio here in the States.

Agreeing to work with them, I set off to do a google.com image search where I came upon the logo for Show Low's Unity of the White Mountains Church. It was from this image that we set in motion the process of design.

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Client's comment before final presentation of design options:
"I really like the design, the cards look great and the
rounded mountains are better and I love the water!!!!!!!!!!

One of the unique services I provide for my clients, whether they live locally or across the "big pond" in a distant land, is the benefit of receiving their own "Client Page" here on my web site, which has several advantages:

To use as a presentation of several design options from which they select the final design.

To present accurate photographs of glass samples to be used in the project.

I use a stained glass CAD type software called GlassEye2000 for drawing my designs. It is from this program that the above images were generated after creating the design. The program contains a library of 2,200 annotated glass image samples from nine major glass manufacturers, allowing me to select and "paint" the actual glass image directly into the draft. The digitally produced glass image is sometimes "stretched," however. Consequently, If a client would like to see an actual sample of the glass, I am able to present them with a credible image on their client page.

To show the status and progress of the commission during the construction phase.

We are currently in the point in this commission where a client page has been created with options from which she may make her final decision before we proceed with the project.

Client Page

Evolution of the Design