Peggy Pettigrew Stewart, the owner and curator of Desert Glasshopper Studio, knows glass and knows it well. Glasshopper’s Flagstaff location, which opened in September, acts as a second home for Stewart’s large, beautiful glass plates with faces and intricate designs.

“Glass is fascinating,” Stewart said. “Glass is sensuous and sexy, and there are only two other things that have the beauty and brilliance of glass: diamonds and ice.”

Stewart traveled the country doing solo shows of her art, and numerous media outlets such as TV, radio and magazines featured her work. But Stewart may owe more to glass than worldwide fame — she may owe it her life. When Stewart received a diagnosis of ovarian cancer almost 15 years ago, she left the corporate world of car rental to recuperate from chemotherapy. It was then that she started stringing glass beads.

“If it weren’t for glass, I may not be here today,” Stewart said. “I was so depressed from being sick that I really had thought my husband and daughter would be better off with my life insurance proceeds than with me.”

Her glass bead stringing turned into a glass bead-making class, and at the request of her husband, she started Desert Glasshopper in order to make money with her glass art at the Carefree Resort in the Sonoron Desert. For nearly 10 years, Glasshopper’s sole location was in Carefree, but the recent studio opening has brought Stewart’s unique and beautiful glass art to Flagstaff.

The store’s main focus revolves around the classes they teach, which helps students learn to make their own pieces of glass art. The gallery also participates in First Friday Art Walks, during which Stewart’s apprentice, Lance Polingyouma, DJs outside the storefront. He also does glasswork, incorporating his Hopi background and cultural experience in his work.

“Most everyone I know is an artist,” Polingyouma said. “So it just seems to be a natural extension.”

Polingyouma explained there are three glass-making techniques: cold, warm and hot. Cold glass, which doesn’t use any heat, involves chipping, painting, sandblasting and carving the piece. Warm glass is made using a kiln. Hot glass is the most recognized type — glassblowing — but Glasshopper doesn’t use this method.

“We specialize in cold and warm,” Polingyouma explained. “However, you have to have a certain competency for any type. It’s personal preference. In some cases, sandblasting is a lot harder than blowing. You can’t compare one to another. That’s what I think is so awesome about it.”

Stewart said she is not a crowd follower and found her own unique way to make her glass art. First, she draws out the design, cuts it out of vinyl, sandblasts it, paints the back and finally puts metal leafing — such as gold or copper — on the back.

Cheryl Berman, one of Stewart’s students, is a glassfuser from New York and traveled out to study under Stewart for 10 days.

“Anyone who’s seen them loves the technique,” Berman said. “[Her method is] not done on the East Coast. I was able to bring something back that was new and beautiful.”

Desert Glasshopper is located at 27 S. Mike’s Pike. Classes are $150 and $75 for NAU students.