Retired Cortez general surgeon William Rainer has reached the quarterfinals for The People’s Artist online competition.
Rainer practiced medicine in Cortez for 30 years and later part-time in Monticello. Now, he pours his time into his passion for glass art.
The competition began with roughly 1,600 artists total but has narrowed significantly. Rainer has advanced to the quarterfinals, and only 14 artists remain in his group. Public voting, including daily free votes and additional votes through charitable donations to The Art of Elysium, determines which seven will advance to the next round. As of this writing, Rainer sits in fifth.
One can cast their vote for Rainer at peoplesartist.org/2026/bill-rainer.
The People’s Artist competition supports The Art of Elysium charity. Rainer said The Art of Elysium charity will use the funds raised to bring creative arts programming to hospitals, shelters and underserved communities.
Rainer said he may have taken up stained glass art at a more serious level in retirement, but some of his early memories are of his mother creating stained glass herself. His mother, who was self-taught, taught him the skills of glass art during his medical residency in Denver. During that time, they completed a large window together.
“My mother was very interested in glass, so I was exposed to it from a very young age,” Rainer told The Journal. “I really paid attention and watched everything she did, and when I finished my medical school and moved back to Denver and I was in my residency … whatever little free time I had, she would teach me.”
Rainer said he draws heavily on Southwest themes, most recently replicas of Navajo rugs in stained glass form. One of his biggest projects was installing the stained glass windows at the Methodist Church in Cortez, a process that took place over the course of 15 years.
He also creates smaller pieces such as hanging art for family and friends, glass bead work and custom guitar straps for guitars, mandolins and banjos.
Just like his mother passed her passion down to him, Rainer has passed his passion down to his daughter, Noah Rainer. During COVID-19, while taking her Colorado School of Mines classes online, William Rainer and Noah began creating glass art together. Now as an alumna, Noah works at Scottish Stained Glass in Denver.
“My daughter has been the same as I was, she just always paid attention to what I was doing,” Rainer said. Then during the pandemic, she had to move down here to do a year and a half's worth of her college, so we worked side by side with stained glass while she was studying for college. Now she's working in a very fancy studio up in Denver, and she's teaching me things now.”
The father and daughter operate Three Shields Glass Works together and have plans to grow their business. Those interested in learning more about Three Shields Glass Works or who wish to commission a piece can email threeshieldsglassworks@gmail.com.
bduran@the-journal.com
