By Natalie Taylor
Stanley Levinson was born in upstate New York and began college intending to become an architect. All it took was a class visit to a large architecture firm, where he saw cubicle after cubicle with individuals working at their desks. Stan realized this was not something he wanted to do. Instead, he went to work for his father’s company that provided architectural metal, and glass to commercial firms. He eventually took over the firm and managed it for the next fifty years.
Stan, and his wife Carol first visited San Miguel in 1996, and both were enchanted with the city and its dynamics. They both loved the idea of moving here, but Stan was concerned: what would he do to keep busy, once he retired? He is the type of person who needs something to do at all times. Over the years, he had done several things beyond his primary work. He had built furniture, studied watercolor painting, and neon signs, but none of these seemed to captivate and impassion him. Stan and Carol began to come to San Miguel regularly, spending time here, and getting to know the environment better with each visit. On one of those visits they walked by a stained glass shop. Stan decided to take a lesson, and immediately liked the medium. Even though he was quite familiar with glass and its properties after years in his firm, but there was something intriguing in the play of colors and the reflection of light on them. One day at lunch at a restaurants in Centro, Stan noticed a painting of a fish hanging on the wall. The fish intrigued him, and not having a sketch pad in hand, he picked up a napkin and drew a crude outline of it. That fish became his first stained glass project, and it still hangs in his studio as a reminder of the beginning of a new project and a compelling artistic passion.
When they returned to New York, Stan continued doing stained glass, but he also tried other mediums—painting, sketching, jewelry making, and so on. Somehow, he always kept returning to stained glass. One year they stayed at the home of Toller Cranston, who encouraged Stan to continue doing stained glass projects. Cranston did some sketches and prompted Stan to do them as stained glass. Stan told him that he couldn’t do them, to which Cranston responded with “and why not?” To which Stan had no response, so he went ahead and refashioned the sketches on glass. Cranston liked the results so much, he went ahead and recreated them in oils on canvas. So it went from sketch, to stained glass, to an oil painting!
Finally, in 2017, Stan and Carol moved to San Miguel for good; here he has a wonderful studio space where he has a large collection of his stained glass works. I first met the Levinsons a few years ago, and I was very impressed with Stan’s work and encouraged him to do an exhibit. He did not feel ready at the time, but is now preparing his first solo exhibit in the city, and I was very happy to view the pieces at his studio.
The themes and varieties are quite extensive. A number of pieces are easily recognized as “Toller Cranston style,” others are stained glass interpretations of musical themes—a very stylized rendering of a Benny Goodman quartet, for example; or a stained glass interpretation of “Desiree,” the subject of Neil Diamond’s song. There is a lovely series of girls with flowers—flowers in their hair, flowers on their faces, flowers surrounding them. The primary colors are dazzling and playful when back lit, either with natural or artificial light. And then there are a few truly humorous creations, like one of a smiling, paunchy man with one hand resting on his enormous belly and holding a bottle (a real glass bottle) in his other hand.
For the first time, Stanley Levinson is doing an exhibit in San Miguel, where you can appreciate his excellent, one of a kind, stained glass works. The event will take place on March 3, 4, and 5, at his home and studio at Mesa Malanquin, Pueblo Antiguo 5, from 10am to 5pm. Come and enjoy the show, and like Stan says—Buy it only if it puts a smile on your face! But not the fish; the fish is not for sale. Natalie Taylor: BA in English Lit and Journalism, Loyola University, Chicago, 1995. MFA in Creative Writing, Vermont College, Montpelier, VT, 1999. Published writer, editor, journalist. Spanish teacher in the US, English teacher in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translator. www.natalietaylor.org Contact: tangonata@gmail.com
