Stained glass artist, 2005 Guggenheim Fellow, and 2014 American Craft Council Fellow, Judith Schaechter was born in 1961 in Gainesville, Florida. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating with a BFA in 1983. On track to be a painter, Schaechter decided to take a stained glass course while at RISD, and though she enjoyed it, she did not actively pursue glass until after she graduated. Starting out with little formal training, Schaechter soon mastered traditional practices of stained glass. Schaechter is intrigued by the juxtapositions inherent in the idea of beauty, and her work takes the traditional context of stained glass in religious institutions and gives it a secular bent - addressing themes not only of religion, but also of fairytales and the everyday. Represented by the Claire Oliver Gallery in New York, Schaechter’s work can be found in numerous permanent collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.