New Beginnings

On August 10th, 2008, I closed Off the Wall Craft Gallery in Allentown, NJ, after almost 32 years. It was a wonderful lifestyle: working with artists, selling my own work, collecting jewelry and crafts, being a part of fashion and lifestyle trends, being a business anchor and respected in my local community. It all ended when the county government deemed it necessary to empty the 19th century grist mill, in anticipation of bridge construction.

There were things about my former lifestyle that I do not miss: time consuming business management, employee issues, operating expenses, and things you would not know about such as phone calls in the middle of the night from the security company causing me to throw on clothes, drive to the store, meet the police, and make sure the alarm was not a real burglary.

I have reinvented myself from gallery owner/glass gift maker to full time glass artist: learning new skills, using new equipment and technology - making lemonade out of lemons. In a few months I have made a lot of progress.

For more information about Karen Deets Stained Glass go to http://www.karendeets.com/.