Mosaic artist Sunny Jaye was born and raised in the mountains outside of Bozeman, and Montana has always been her playground. Fishing, hunting, snowshoeing, hiking, camping, skiing, and exploring gave her inspiration for her art from a very young age. She was blessed to be surrounded by encouragement and by the creation around her, which gave life to her mosaics. Her subjects are often trout, birds, wildflowers, and mountains.

It may be a church window—or perhaps you or someone you loved created a stained glass project—many of us connect emotionally with glass art. Stained glass mosaic is a much different technique than traditional stained glass. Instead of copper foil, soldering or lead caming, the pieces are broken, and arranged with grout. While Sunny certainly respects the accuracy and precision of traditional stained glass, she fears straight lines. Glass mosaics provide a more free flowing scene. Iridescent, opalescent, opaque, wispy, faceted, transparent, textured, vibrant; her glass brings color into a room even on a dreary day! 

An elementary teacher at Monforton School, Ms. Jaye has temporarily stepped aside from teaching to care for her father in this season of life. She misses her students and school in Bozeman, but is still inspired to create her mosaics in this time of connecting to what matters most. You might have seen her art at juried shows such as SLAM, Madison Valley Arts Festival, Big Sky Artisan Festival, and the Wretched Mess Fest.

Sunny is grateful to be part of such a talented group of local artists at the Artists’ Gallery Co-Op at the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture right here in Bozeman. You can see more of her glass art and other local art there! She gives all credit to Jesus for these opportunities. Sunny will be a featured artist at the Wretched Mess Fest Flyfishing Show in West Yellowstone in September. Follow her journey on Instagram @sunnyglassmosaics