Fran Asbeck

Having misspent most of his working life in high-tech industry, and certain there was more to his calling, he discovered an artisan hiding within, and has been hurrying to make up for lost time, spending full time in the study and practice of the craft of glass.

His introduction to glass crafting was through a Montgomery County Recreation Department class. He has continued to study privately; design, copper foil fabrication, painting, etching and kilnforming with local artist Tony Glander; lead fabrication with Charles Devillier; glass painting with local artist Warren Porter and with Ken Leap of Wheaton Village, New Jersey; and patina methods with Joe Porcelli of Richboro, PA.

He works exclusively in the medium of stained glass, both leaded and copper foiled, and prefers to work in lead in the classic manner. He has made hanging and skylight panels, windows and window inserts, and three dimensional artifacts including lamps and boxes. He seeks to broaden his crafts practice by increasingly using fired paint on glass, employing etching, and by adding kiln working to his repertoire of techniques.

He has been practicing his craft professionally since 1995 and is a member of the Association of Stained Glass Lamp Artists, the Metropolitan Stained Glass Association, the National Capital Art Glass Guild, the Art League of Germantown, and The Hyattstown Mill Arts Project.

He has shown at Kentlands Mansion, at the Art League of Germantown shows where he is a frequent Peoples’ Choice award winner, at the Maryland College of Art and Design, at Glen Echo Park, and at other juried and non-juried shows in the area.  His work can be found in private collections locally, throughout the United States, and in Europe and Australia.

Besides working in his studio in Boyds, MD, he teaches glass arts for the Montgomery County Recreation Department and for The Black Rock Center for the Arts, and is an occasional guest instructor at The Stained Glass Window in Damascus.

His major work to date is a 35 square foot window in the entry courtyard and lobby of N Street Village, Washington DC.  He has executed commercial commissions for Global Database Systems, Inc. in Rockville and for Barry’s Magic Shop in Wheaton, and for the Montgomery County Historical Society’s Waters House.

Administrative Office: 4010 Randolph Road, Silver Spring, MD 20902
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