Works in glass show touch of class

Leslie Rankin is the only Nevadan to earn a top honor in the national Best of the Best competition of the 2002 Home Book Design Excellence Awards. And she didn't just win one gold award, she won three.

Her entry, Red Theater Bar, was deemed the national winner for counter tops. It was composed of carved and painted glass, and molded to a curved wall. Rankin, 42, also earned two regional gold awards for her entries in decorative glass/mirrors, and the custom/unusual windows and doors categories.

The wins are a high point in a career that has spanned 20 years.

Rankin is well known in town for her artistic entry doors and other glass pieces. Her work appears in high-end homes in Spanish Trail, Canyon Gate, Seven Hills, Tournament Players Club and Southern Highlands, to name a few.

People see her handiwork at the Rio, Bellagio, Mirage and MGM Grand. Her business is Glassic Art, located at 5850 S. Polaris Ave., Suite 700. Besides her recent honors, she also was featured on HGTV's "Modern Masters."

Rankin was born to a military family and lived in various countries. Her mother was an opera singer who performed before kings and queens. Her father had an interest in art and would start drawings, which Rankin then finished. That pastime led her to art school, where she earned a fine arts degree from the University of Utah.

With her first husband, Rankin opened a glazier business and learned to etch glass. Overcoming the inherent difficulties of glass thrilled her.

"You literally have to engineer each piece you do," she said. "The glass has to be heated to 1,700 degrees just so you can work with it and then it takes two days (to get it that hot) or it'll break. It's a real challenge."

She began etching glass doors for the Tudor-style homes that dominate Salt Lake City, content to create while her husband handled the day to day dealings of the business.

But divorce changed everything. It changed things so drastically that Rankin ended up homeless, living in her car for a few months. She took a job in an accountant's office to get back on her feet.

While visiting Las Vegas, a friend of Rankin's mother asked her to etch a door. That small job drove home how much she enjoyed working with glass.

Rankin settled in Las Vegas, renting an apartment with a garage so she could work from there. Word of her talent spread and jobs began coming her way. Nowadays, her entry doors are in high demand.

"I've had people tell me, 'I wish I could photograph our door every half hour because, with the light, it changes all day long,' " she said. "And it's true, they do."

About a year and a half ago, Rankin opened Glassic Art, a shop with eight full-time employees. In 2002, she and her team worked on two houses in the Street of Dreams competition.

Her most elaborate work to date is a free-floating glass staircase that rises three stories. It wraps around an elevator and is etched with a bamboo design.

The impressive staircase needed building-code variances to be allowed. Rankin needed a year and half to complete it.

She estimated the elevator/stair area alone cost the homeowners $250,000.

Rankin and her husband of 10 years, Tim Yanchisin, live in the northwest and have 7-year-old twins, Jamie and Julia. Is their home filled with etched glass and special pieces?

"I have no glass, none, in my house, even though I want it everywhere," Rankin said with a laugh. "But I'll do it when I retire."


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