As a youngster, Laurel native John Whit had dreams of becoming an architect, but studied photography and film-making in college.

Oddly enough, however, at age 58, Whit chose neither interest as a career choice. Instead, he earns a living designing and creating stained glass.

Whit owns and operates Sweetwater Studios, Inc. Customed Stained Glass in Moselle. He’s been working with class for more than 30 years now and creates beautiful stained glass windows for churches and businesses, as well as stained and beveled glass to enhance residences.

“I never had an art lesson in high school,” explained Whit. “This is something I took an interest in and learned by trial and error, with the help of a few people along the way.

“We never thought we could make a living as artists in a small town in South Mississippi,” said Whit, referring to him and his wife Kim, who is a weaver. Kim Whit, a former teacher at Nora Davis Magnet School, is Arts Education Director for the Misses Arts Commission.

The couple met while attending the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Their plans were to graduate from college and then perhaps move to Oregon or California to pursue careers.

However, during John’s junior year in collage, Kim’s step father, who was owner of The Natchez Democrat, was in need of a photographer. “And I was in need of the experience,” asserted John. “I was getting a salary, rather getting paid by the hour.”

John explained that this was back in the ’70s when the average pay was about $2 an hour. While he was excited about having a salaried job, he soon discovered being on a salary was not as wonderful as he thought it would be.

“When I was hired, they got rid of the Associated Press photo wire, so that meant I was taking all of the photos for the daily paper,” he said. “If I didn’t take the photos, I had to develop the photos that were taken by the reporters.

“In addition to that, I had to cover five football games on Friday nights and have all of the photos in for the next day’s paper,” continued John. “What I learned from that newspaper job was that I didn’t want to work for anyone again.”

He considered it a valuable life’s lesson, one that caused him to strive to become a business owner. John worked at the newspaper for about six months and then worked for a pipeline for a couple of summers. After that, he and Kim started a bar in Hattiesburg called The Homestead.

“We sold beer for a quarter and supper for $1 a plate,” said John. “We only cooked one meal, something like red beans and rice or spaghetti and sold it to mostly USM students.”

They later opened a plant and craft shop in Hattiesburg and operated the two business simultaneously. However, after three years of operation, the couple decide to sell the bar and keep the plant and craft shop they called “The Greenery.”

“We actually did well with the bar,” said John. “I actually was able to pay off some of my student loans.”

The couple also was able to purchase the 17 acres in Moselle where their home and studio is located. They soon sold the plant and craft shop and started a nursery on the scenic property located on a winding road in the rural community.

“We actually bought 27 acres, but my folks (Fletcher and Betty Whit) wanted to move out here, too,” said John. “My mother passed a couple of years ago, but my father has the other 10 acres.”

John and Kim Whit started their nursery business in 1977 and were doing well until 1979. That’s when the winds of Hurricane Frederic swept through the area and destroyed about 300 trees on the Moselle property. This ended the couple’s nursery business.

This also motivated John to become serious about a hobby he had picked up in 1978 after reading an article in Mother Earth News magazine. Whit said the article was about a man in Canada who made sun catchers in the winter while he was snowed in and sold them at arts and crafts fairs during the summer.

“The article had an advertisement for a sun catcher kit and I decided to order it,” said John. “That’s how I became interested in stained class.”

He began to experiment with the craft and noticed that he was getting better. John also attended glass classes at Arrowmont School of Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tenn., and returned home to open Sweetwater Studios in 1978, completing commissions for residential, commercial, and ecclesiastical clients ever since.

A friend told him if he was really serious about the craft he needed to learn glass blowing, too. The friend told him about classes that were offered in New Orleans.

John and his son, Ian, enrolled in the classes and both are skilled glass blowers. Ian decided to perfect his skill even more and is now a student at the Appalachian School for Crafts in Smithville, Tenn., a satellite campus of Tennessee Tech, where he is working on a degree in glass blowing.

The father and son team creates unique bowls, vases and sculptural pieces out of glass. And for a piece to turn out right a strict step-by-step process must be followed. Once a project is started it must be carried through to completion, making working with the glass a hot and exhausting process.

“The temperature is about 2,100 degrees,” said John. “You can imagine how exhausting blowing glass is if you are doing it in the summer.

“It’s just really too hot. I prefer blowing glass in the winter time, but we have so many projects going on at that time of the year I just don’t have that much time to do so. With Ian being in school, it’s even harder.”

John likes to leave as much of the glass blowing work as possible to his son. He considers Ian to be the one gifted in glass blowing.

When Sweetwater Studios was selected to create seven pieces for the 2007 Governor’s Awards of Excellence in the Arts, it was Ian who created the pieces. The pieces were called “organic sea shapes” and were presented to award recipients, as well as Gov. Haley Barbour.

While Sweetwater Studios does creative blown glass art pieces like vases, bowls, chandeliers, lamps, etc., John said the bulk of the company’s work is in stained glass. Also, most of the work is done regionally.

“Most of our customers are churches,” said John. “Among those we have worked on are First United Methodist Church and St. Elmo Baptist Church in Laurel, Faith Presbyterian in Leaksville, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Columbia and Carterville Baptist Church in Petal.

“However, our biggest project was a residence in Hattiesburg,” added John. “All of the windows in the house are of leaded glass.”

Sweetwater Studios, which takes its name from a creek that runs in the back of the family’s property, also does work for casinos. John and Ian collaborated on a 10 1/2 foot tall blown glass sculpture called “Fire Storm” for the lobby of the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica. It took two months for Ian to blow the 400 flame-like glass pieces in shades of red and orange that attach to 200-pound steel frame. It took both of them 12 hours to assemble the masterpiece in the casino.

“I enjoy working with the churches the best,” said John. “There have been some that never thought they would be able to afford stained glass and we have been able to work with them to make it happen.”

Prices depend on the square foot and how fancy the churches want their windows. Therefore, prices can range in the hundreds and even tens of thousands of dollars.

By appointment, John works with church committees for a custom design to fit the church’s needs. He’s there throughout the completion and installation of the windows.

John noted that a protective and insulating clear plate or safety glass is added to provide longevity and security to the projects. Custom frames are built to order for new and remodeling churches. Whether the church’s needs are stained glass panels for the baptistery, windows for the entry, inviting doors of stained and/or beveled glass or a sanctuary filled with beautiful stained glass, satisfaction is guaranteed.

“We also help people add originality and value to their home, office, or businesses with our custom architectural installations,” said John. “Each commission is custom designed to fit their size and decorum.”

John explained that he goes through his design portfolio with customers. He then works with their choices of style, color, and size to produce beautiful installations designed specifically for their site.

It has been a labor of love.

“Things are going well for us now, but it hasn’t always been this way,” said John. “We struggled to make ends meet and we even had to live with my parents for a while.

“The only advertising I do is in the phone book. Everything else is by word of mouth.”

He holds a completed stained glass window, glances at it and smiles.

“I really enjoy my work,” said John. “It’s like a paid hobby.”