Andy Young strode through the campus of connecting buildings at Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson with the easy comfort of decades, the anticipation of impending celebration and, much like the striking stained glass windows the studio creates and restores, a keen sense of pieces falling into place.

The studio’s founder, lead designer and artist checked in on the latest progress. Colorful glass mosaics, including the studio’s iconic spirit bird, spiff up the floor of a renovated bathroom. A new kitchen awaits catered events, and the reworked marketing space holds stained glass windows studio visitors always want to see. A former ceiling joist is charred and treated for a second life in a window. Young happily demonstrated an ADA accessible automatic door, among upgrades possible by a Mississippi Arts Commission Building Fund for the Arts grant, for the relatively new Pearl River Glass Conservatory, a sister nonprofit with glass art classes for the public. 

A huge window, encased in a steel frame Young salvaged from a downtown office demo 21 years ago, streams natural light for the new ceramics studio. Asiatic jasmine twigs peek up from a thick blanket of pinestraw in a sidewalk bed with two young tulip poplars, and transplanted irises settle into their new home along a border. 

All point to a visionary creative, businessman, gardener even, playing the long game.

A golden anniversary salute to that long game happens Saturday as the studio celebrates 50 years in business with a reception that honors its past and looks to the future. The 2-6 p.m. event is free, welcoming the public to its home at 142 Millsaps Ave. in Jackson, with a live demonstration of leaded stained glass window construction, refreshments, music, door prizes and giveaways. 

Tickets are on sale now for an accompanying raffle with the grand prize of a year of free classes (a $1,340 value) at the Pearl River Glass Conservatory. Proceeds from the raffle and a 4-6 p.m. silent auction at Saturday’s event benefit the conservatory.

“My legacy project” is how Young, 73, describes the Pearl River Glass Conservatory, started two years ago this January. With its own dedicated space in the Wesley Avenue building that once held Patton Publishing and Offbeat, the conservatory is dedicated to preserving and advancing the art of glass. 

“We have spent all this time learning how to do all these wonderful things,” Young said of studio innovations in fused glass, acid etching and more that pushed the expressive potential of the medium. “I didn’t want it to just disappear without making an effort.

“It’s always been about creativity,” he described the studio renowned for church window creation and restoration, architectural installments, contemporary art works in glass and home and garden decor. 

“We wanted to find a way to share that with the community at large, too.” 

Weekly classes do that, from introduction to leaded glass to fun seasonal projects like fused pumpkins or spooky garden stakes this month. Christmas ornament classes start in November, and plans are to expand offerings in the coming year.

Such efforts address multiple fronts, from providing an authentic, creative experience increasingly rare in today’s consumer society, to giving back to a community for their decades of support, Young said. He sees a deeper value as well. 

“As we move forward, people are going to need to have as many creative skills as they can, to cope with the changing dynamic of our society.

“And also, I’m a businessperson, so I’m always interested in trying to ingratiate myself with the public as much as possible,” he confessed with a chuckle. “That’s how we stay alive, you know?”

Pearl River Glass Studio began in a one-car garage in downtown Jackson in 1975, and within the next year moved to what became its forever home in the city’s Midtown neighborhood, drawn by cheap rent and available space in what was the city’s first industrial and wholesale commercial district.

It started with a single building on Millsaps Avenue, rented for $200 a month.

“If the rent hadn’t been so cheap, I don’t think we would have been able to last in business,” he said with a fond look back at the cozy, efficient, 2,000-square-foot starter space. 

One Christmas break, his drive-around survey of the area’s empty buildings found about 200,000 square feet of vacant space in a few blocks. “I realized if there was going to be an arts district, it could be here.” 

Additional artists moved into studio spaces in the area, with a Midtown Arts District heyday in the 1990s and early 2000s. Though the scene is quieter now, it remains abuzz with working artists and other creative professionals, and continues to inspire the next generation of artists.

The studio bought its home building from the landlord’s heirs in 1985, renovated a second building in 1995 and bought more property and continued to expand about 15 years later. It remains a high-profile art anchor in the district.

 “We are proud to celebrate Pearl River Glass Studio’s 50 years of creativity and excellence!” Midtown Partners Executive Director Kristi Hendrix said in an email. “They have long embodied the spirit of innovation, craftsmanship, and even planted the early seeds for what has now developed into Midtown’s Creative Economy Initiative.”

The studio’s visitorship and artist support demonstrate the impact a creative enterprise can have within a community.

“They have also been a constant reminder of what’s possible when creativity and community grow side by side,” she said.

Over the years, Pearl River Glass Studio has grown to its current 17 employees and 17,000 square feet across multiple buildings in a campus that spreads from the original Millsaps Avenue building north to Wesley Avenue, which the conservatory fronts.

The studio has always been a collaborative, Young said. The nature of the art form, and the series of functions it requires, demands more people. 

“It was never just me,” he said. 

Many area artists have worked there at one time or another, including Bebe Wolfe, Jerrod Partridge, Ron Lindsey and more, and so have successful lawyers downtown when they were students at Millsaps College, Young said. The different contributions feed an atmosphere of creative problem-solving.

“The creativity part of it is a key component in the success of the company — the idea of innovation,” Young said. “All of that is a sort of cornerstone to how we operate, and so, having the various creative artists as part of that has been part of the special sauce.”

Glass painter and artist Rob Cooper came to Pearl River Glass Studio first as a Forest Hill senior and an internship through APAC in 1994. This year he marks 31 years at the studio. Stained glass church work is the studio’s bread and butter. 

“Andy was keeping up with design work, and meeting the churches in a more modern way,” he said. “Innovation is one thing Andy likes to do — leaning into the curve of what glass can do.” 

That was a key spark for Cooper’s imagination as well. 

From the early days of fusing glass to create imagery (now a big staple), to painting, acid etching and different mark making techniques, “I got to be on the ground floor of trying new things,” Cooper said.

Some key projects over the years include Pearl River Glass Studio’s 2015 restoration of the more than 100 outside stained glass windows in the 1903 Mississippi State Capitol, including the three stunning monumental figures that grace its staircase landing, and the restoration of the House of Representatives Chamber stained glass skylight dome, completed last July (now safely stored and awaiting reinstallation).

 “Mississippians should really be proud of that structure,” he said of the historical building. “It’s really a tour de force as far as design and execution.” 

The commission for stained glass windows for Christ United in Jackson ranked among Young’s favorites, for their large size, the creativity required and the way it suited his skills. 

“The stained glass windows were my particular style — kind of contemporary with Christian symbols,” Young said. “The stained glass windows are always telling a story.”

He also noted the windows at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Madison, another large-scale commission for a new church and point of pride, with stained glass windows that told the saint’s story.

While the studio remains interested in new church commissions, church construction seems less robust than in years past. The business has adapted, focusing on repair, restoration and maintenance of church windows around the state.

“We’ve had wonderful opportunities over the years,” Young said, highlighting the conservatory as a way to continue engaging with a community that has embraced their art from the start, and continues to a half century later.