Gorgeous glass is so p len tifu l now that i t ’s hard to recall how recent a n d humble its beginnings were.
Harvey K. Littleton
Three Glass Vases,
1962
glass from #475
marbles colored with
metallic oxides
9.25 x 2.5 in. dia. (left)
6.5 x 1 x 1.75 in. (center)
8.75 x 2.5 in. dia. (right)
In 1964, Littleton’s glass
crusade conquered Manhattan.
He demonstrated and advocated
for glassblowing at the first
World Congress of Craftsmen,
to great acclaim. And New
York’s Museum of Contemp-
orary Crafts presented a solo
exhibition of his glass, includ-
ing “broken open” vessels that,
no longer functional, announced
themselves as sculpture, which
the Museum of Modern Art
soon affirmed by acquiring one.
That same year, another par-
ticipant in those first workshops,
Tom McGlauchlin, began teach-
ing glassblowing at the Univer-
sity of Iowa. (McGlauchlin died
last year, at 76.) Lipofsky car-
ried the crusade to the West
Coast, introducing studio glass
at the University of California,
Berkeley; three years later,
he established a glass program
at California College of Arts
and Crafts.
In 1965, Schulman established
a glass program at Rhode Island
School of Design, where he was
soon assisted by Littleton’s
graduate student, Dale Chihuly
- who would, in turn, establish
the Pilchuck Glass School out-
side Seattle. Labino retired
from industry and devoted his
time to creating glass sculpture
in his backyard studio.
Fast-forward 50 years, and
American studio glass seems
Littleton, c. 1978,
working at his studio
in Spruce Pine, NC.
He moved there to focus
on his art after retiring
from teaching in 1976.
to be evolving more than
exploding, as it re-melts and
reshapes itself to reflect such
21st-century issues as sustain-
ability and globalism.
About 100 miles north of
Littleton’s hometown, one of
his early students creates sleek
glass sculptures in his extensive
home studio outside Rochester,
New York. Michael Taylor, 68,
fondly recalls the early 1970s,
when he worked with Littleton
and lived with his family on
their Verona farm, sharing
meals and chores. “Harvey
cut my hair for my sister’s
wedding,” he says.
Inspired not only by Little-
ton’s holistic home life but
also by his outreach, Taylor
has helped establish nine glass
programs in various schools -
most recently at Portugal’s
New University of Lisbon.
As a visiting professor, Taylor
worked with physicist Antonio
Pires de Matos to launch its first
graduate program in the art and
science of glass in 2009. “I’ve
never forgotten the whole idea
that you go out and do what
disciples do - proselytize,”
says Taylor.
Key to what he preaches -
and practices - is freedom of
expression. Like Littleton and
Dreisbach, his other mentor,
Taylor urges students not to
become enslaved by glassblow-
ing and other technique, nor by
the seductive “shock and awe”
beauty of glass itself.
“It’s really important to
combine glass with a diversity
of materials,” says Taylor,
whose recent sculptures incor-
porate wood, rope, and metal.
“Today, we’re trying to be not
glass artists, but artists.”
+
Sebby Wilson Jacobson is a free-
lance writer and editor, and visit-
ing professor o f journalism at
Rochester Institute o f Technology.
Born and raised in Corning, New
T>rk, and the daughter of a Corn-
ing Glass Works physicist, Jacob-
son grew up across the street from
Frederick Carder and four doors
down from Harvey K. Littleton’s
childhood home.
050 american craft feb/mari2
R o ta tio n , Vases,
and
Spectrum
photos: Courtesy of Littleton Archives / Littleton photo: John C. Littleton
