Clarence Center creator takes top prize in first Lewiston Art Festival appearance

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

Renee Arno made a grand debut at the 57th annual Lewiston Art Festival, with her stained-glass lamp earning Best of Show on Saturday.

“I've been making stained-glass projects for about 20 years now – anything from lamps to window panels to suncatchers,” Arno said. “I have seven children, so it's given me some time to do things on my own. I just started a new Etsy shop, and we came to the festival just to bring out some of the pieces and see what the interest would be. It’s been really, really nice meeting everybody.”

Arno’s award-winning creation is an 18-inch Tiffany Wisteria reproduction lamp. She said the piece took about a year to come together.

“It's all reproduction glass,” she said. “I buy it from a company near New York City. It's been really fun to make.”

She explained it was, “Very exciting” to learn of her awards. “It's definitely a classic piece of art to make. Tiffany Wisteria is probably the most difficult, challenging lamp you can build.”

Arno operates Timeless Glass Art, a stained-glass workshop.

In addition to the lamp, she brought “a little bit of a sampling of everything that we do” to the Lewiston Art Festival. Glass pieces included a “Tree of Life,” as well as Buffalo Bills, golf and Celtic-themed objects, all custom-framed.

A Lewiston friend and some family members convinced Arno to participate in the popular, two-day showcase: “They just told me that it was really popular, and had a lot of different types of media, between paintings and glass art ceramics. So, I just figured it would be a good fit,” she said.

Arno’s lamp also took first place in the “Artistic Crafts II: Ceramic, Glass, Metal” category.

Click HERE for the full list of Lewiston Art Festival winners (PDF).

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