Donny Burton, Port Huron’s renowned stained glass artist, is leaving his mark on the community.
You may know him from the intricate stained glass work he's restored, or maybe his home and studio. It's also possible you've caught him on television.
He contacted HGTV in 2004, inviting their crews to check out his unique home.
“Perhaps you’d like to see the studio and home I built within my grandparents’ barn.”
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Donny Burton works to restore a stained glass window.
Photo courtesy of Burton Studios FacebookTelevision personalities responded quickly … too quickly, in fact. They wanted to bring their crew to his Church Street restoration wonder immediately, saying, “It would be perfect for our feature called ‘Building Character episode 209.’ The focus is on people who live ‘differently.’ We can be there by Wednesday.”
“That shook me up. I was nowhere near ready. I was in the middle of the five to 10 pieces that my artists and I work simultaneously. We’ve had to juggle many jobs at one time to stay in business. Works in progress are particularly fragile. Would a television crew respect my precious inventory? Accidental breakage happens. How could I protect my pieces? What about the safety of the crew? My flooring was uneven. There were tasks I needed to complete to make the structure sound, to have a finished look. Fortunately, I held them off a little.
“Mark Hearns, my dear friend and fellow artist, helped me prepare. I wrote many pages of punch lists. We worked through them all in three weeks. We worked day and night.
“We completed the stonework, trim, and the upstairs deck. We sorted and secured the reclaimed stained glass I purchased. No small task! All my materials are rare. In the last 30 years, I’ve purchased seven studios for their equipment and inventory. I bought a 100-year-old studio out of Akron, Ohio. It took eight van loads for me to bring their goods to my studio. Their materials were priceless. The older glass has some chemicals we can’t use today.
“Mark and I displayed my restorations and commissioned work to showcase the craft. We cleaned. We installed barn wood inside and out. We spruced up the fountain I built with my brother when we were young.
It’s always been important to me to enter through a serene scene…even when we walk by the quiet fountain before coming in through a barn door.
To complete the landscape, we laid sod.
“It was well worth all the time and effort. The HGTV cast and crew were impressed by the beauty of stained glass work and fascinated by the process that it requires. They respected the integrity of the art and shot the scenes with great care. You’ll see what I mean. Here’s a CD of their outstanding feature of Burton Studio as episode 209.”
Watching the production, we grinned as the television producers interspersed family snapshots of toddler Donny Burton playing in his grandparents’ barn contrasted with the current state of the former haystack.
Doing his own construction work, Donny converted the haystack into an 800-foot living space complete with cathedral ceiling. His massive stained glass piece hangs in front of the floor-to-ceiling window illuminating the alcove which encases the bed. What was once the barn floor is now covered by gleaming hardwood reclaimed from the Garfield School gymnasium.
“By coincidence, my grandmother was in the first class to attend the Garfield School.”
Donny and his wife, Gail, are seen on HGTV relaxing in their master bedroom/sitting room reading and gazing out of tall windows with magnificent views.
Stained glass art speckles their living/working quarters on both the first and second floors.
Other shots include Gail grinning in her small, but efficient, galley kitchen. Gail tells the HGTV television viewers, “Donny reclaimed cabinets, floors, drawers, and shelves, installing them in a seamless fashion.” Their snug galley kitchen resembles that of a very small boat.
Still grinning years later, Gail dropped by the studio. Within minutes of our introduction I sensed the uncommon bond between this married couple. An old-fashioned word came to mind. It is “cherish” and it signifies the sentiment that added yet another layer of glow to the gleaming stained glass art.
They lived in a barn, albeit a barn with a view from an upstairs deck jutting out as if from a tree house with which to take in the nightly lights twinkling off the Blue Water Bridge.
Over the years, Gail and Donny have alternated living in their house and in his studio. As recently as last March, Gail’s mother lived in their home while they lived in his studio, approximately 90 feet away. Now Donny can walk those few feet of their property to stay in their home or to commute by walking to his studio to work and perhaps to sleep overnight.
Sometimes he’s consumed by a stained-glass piece and works with short naps between efforts.
In 1976 Donny Burton established his stained-glass business. The only exception to his full-service policy is that of hand-painted glass.
“Ann Baxter Glass of Grosse Pointe creates the hand-painted glass with which I fashion some of my commission work,” Burton says.
Who can say what catapulted Donny Burton’s Studio into the worldwide business market? His work is as close as Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois and as far as in Bermuda, Catalina Island, and Germany. Maybe HGTV television viewers were as impressed as its producers. It might have been the word of mouth most often responsible for recognition of exquisite art.
Perhaps patrons of Port Huron’s Lynch’s Bar, taken by the Burton Studio stained glass work above the doorway, purchased Burton Studio pieces for their homes, churches, or businesses. Donny Burton says he’s proud of Port Huron’s Lynch’s Bar piece. He loves the textures of the glass. He counts mixing textures as his talent.
Donny Burton does a lot of glass work in Port Huron. People seldom understand how much time and effort stained glass work requires a great deal of time; typically, a window will take four to six weeks.
Always generously sharing credit, Donny said, “I work closely with Steve Nordgren. He is the most spontaneous artist
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Stained glass restored by Donny Burton hangs above a doorway in church.
Photo courtesy of Burton Studios Facebookaround here. He can draw in a split second. We’re doing lots of work at Port Huron’s St. Mary’s Church on Ballantine. Steve helped me design many projects over the years. He does creative signs, murals, oil painting. We do lots of deep carved glass. Along Port Huron’s main street, Steve created landmarks: the “crow” in front of the Raven Coffee House and the “rodent” outside the Exquisite Corpse Coffee Shop.
Donny Burton praises Richard Hess, owner of Waldenberg Chairworks Custom Workshop in Emmett.
"We’ve worked together on restorations for 35 years. He’s a big part of Burton Studios success."
Warmth emanated from the tiled wood stove in his studio. Donny Burton responded to interview questions with a warmth even greater than the one that made his unique studio so welcoming.
When asked why he liked his work, he said, “I love being a stained-glass artist. In my studio, we work 12 hours a day. We do deep carved sand blasted glass,
“The time goes by too quickly for me. I love what I do. I sleep less because I want to work more. I’m 67 years old. I know my time on earth is limited. My mind creates images that fill me with wonder. When images come to me I want to produce with glass the scenes in my mind, the textures, combinations of shapes, and colors.”
Burton Studio is a banquet for the eye. In the 100-year-old Akron, Ohio studio, Donny Burton learned more about colors and hues.
“I try to make my glass ‘dance.’ The bevels throw out colors. Light off glass mesmerizes. The shining colors dance.”
Donny Burton has completely restored dozens of churches. Stained glass reinforces the Nicene Creed excerpt of “…God from God, Light from Light…”
The stained glass he restores is vintage. He’s experienced in working with antiques.
“I work with Frank Wright Glass in Detroit, one of the oldest beveling glass companies, possibly the oldest in the U.S.A. Their belt driven beveling equipment is from the 1800’s.”
Asked his age when he realized he was an artist, Donny Burton’s interview took off on another creative path. Glancing at his gleaming drum set positioned among his shining stained glass art in his studio, he said, “At 14, I got my first drum set. Soon after that I saw myself as a performing artist.”
Donny Burton has shared his musical talent in Port Huron for about 52 years. He toured for five years. He performed in North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida.
For the past four years, he’s played drums every weekend in the Jeff Hoagland Blues Band. From Jan. 31 through Feb. 4 the band will perform in Memphis, Tenn.
The Burton stained-glass studio is a magical space. It started out as Donny Burton’s grandparent’s barn. He transformed it into his studio and home. Likewise, he gave new life to the old gymnasium floor of Port Huron’s historic Garfield School. The very school his grandmother attended provided the gleaming hardwood floor space where his own grandchildren played. Happy children amuse themselves in the room their grandfather fashioned out of the hayloft where he played as a child. Donny and Gail now await another grandbaby.
Family history plays out in a structure Donny Burton built completely out of reclaimed materials. Everything once served a purpose somewhere else. Repurposing continues in the glass Donny Burton uses to create or restore stained glass art.
Aged equipment continues to be useful in the hands of this skilled artisan, recognizing its worth. He is willing. He is honored. He continues this labor-intensive process. His satisfaction lies in the perfection of each piece. He works however long it takes to reach that precision.
In addition to fashioning beauty out of found objects or antique items set into new patterns, or restored to their original beauty, Donny Burton makes music with the drumming skills he embraced as a child. And the music he makes as he practices in his studio becomes the background of the dance of light on his stained glass. And when the band plays, it celebrates the timeless and universal themes of blues music.
The band acknowledges its debt to the old masters of music. Donny Burton said the band goes to the Chicago Blues Festival annually.
Music plays in his mind as he and the band compose. Beauty shines in his eyes as he gazes at the glass with its colors and textures and combinations. When music reverberates and bevels dance in the light, creativity flows throughout his studio, a house of glass.