Inside the home, delights are beyond all wild imaginings. Every window is adorned with elaborate stained glass murals. The walls are covered with the works of some of Denver’s most famous Chicano artists and even the furniture is hand-crafted work of art. Welcome to Casa de Cel Roybal, master craftsman. He is a painter, a sculptor and most notably one of the finest stained glass window makers in the Southwest.

Roybal at 60 something years old, comes by his talent naturally. The son of farmers from the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado, he grew up surrounded in the wealth of a people who valued the richness of the earth’s bounty, the warmth of sunshine on your face and the cacophony of nature’s palate.

“My mother and father raised seven children and were starkly aware of economic hardship. They were from the era of the Great Depression. If we wanted something we could not buy, we made it,” said Roybal. “We were not rich but we were loved and we were encouraged to read about the world.”

Roybal, who began to drawing at 10 years old, recalls the first time he saw his brothers home-made soap box derby. “My brother Joe made this great soap box derby. It was red and shiny and the craftsmanship that went into it stunned me. I knew then that human beings were blessed with an ability to create beauty.”

This fascination with color, line and structure fueled in Roybal a burning desire to experience first-hand the great works of the masters. After he got out of the Navy in the late 1960s he worked to save money and then took off on what he calls his “Grand Tour” of Europe. He spent months traveling Holland, Germany, Italy and France. There he fell in with the grandeur of stained glass windows that adorn nearly every church and significant building.

After returning home, he enrolled at C.U. Boulder and majored in history. For Roybal this was an epiphany; he began his life-long journey perfecting an art form that is both ancient and misunderstood by today’s instant gratification craft-in-a-box crowd.

While the mention of stained glass conjures visions of grand cathedrals and Victorian mansions, it in fact has its beginnings from jewelry making, cloisonné and mosaics of Egypt and Mesopotamia as early as 2750 BC. By the 10th century, depictions of Christ and biblical scenes were found in French and German churches and decoratively in England. In the 15th century, the apex of the high Gothic era, stained glass became so sophisticated that even today this period is considered the crowning glory of the art form.

The Renaissance era sadly brought the art of stained glass into a 300-year period where windows were only heavily painted white glass and the original symbolism and innate beauty of stained glass was forgotten.

Roybal is, in a way, a modern day version of the old masters. He has spent his adulthood making a livelihood in the personal care industry, but every spare moment before and after his day job is spent on his passion: recreating and redefining the art of stained glass.

“His techniques are meticulous; his attention to detail, his design, and his mastery of the art form are unsurpassed. I believe he is one of the last of the true modern day master.” Said Stevon Lucero, nationally celebrated Chicano painter, “I have never seen any one with his skill and he should be creating Cathedral windows. He at the same time is a very humble man and continually pushes the art form to a new level. We are very fortunate to have a master of this quality living in Colorado.”

Roybal’s skill may match that of the great European masters but his images are definitely today and cutting edge. He is comfortable with classic designs and iconology but also brings a Hispanic flair to his work that is undeniable. His larger than life renditions of Quetzalcoatl, La Muertes, and Frieda Kahlo grace some of Denvers most famous galleries.

Every Dia de Los Muertos he creates new windows for the Chicano Humanities Arts Council and the Pirate Gallery. He is a legendary figure among the movers and shakers of Chicano art in Colorado.

When asked about his most prolific pieces, he shies away from the overwhelming task he must describe. Perhaps one eight foot by seven foot window contained over a 1,300 pieces of cut glass, and took over a year to create working night and day. When asked about how his culture influences him, he smiles and says “I am a product of my familia and all we are. Their images are my images, this is my life.”

He has produced over 1000 stained glass windows in the past 30 years, most of them taking between four to five months to complete. He is a painter who uses finger sized pieces of cut glass to paint breathtaking images of beauty in motion. He describes stained glass as the frosting on the cake. “I have a gift and I use it to celebrate life. For me everything glorious and sacred comes alive in the stained glass. Every day is a holiday with stained glass. I never grow weary of creating with it.”

To contact Cel Roybal call his studio at 303-455-4805.