The new world-wide studio glass movement traces its beginning back to 1962 when the Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio) offered a seminar workshop in glass blowing. Harvey Littleton, the workshop leader, whose Master of Fine Arts was in ceramics, was already looking for ways to enable an artist to blow glass on his own, without the huge batches of glass, and the 6-man teams used in factories.

Dominick Labino was Director of Research & Development for Johns-Manville Corp, in the glass fibers division and was acquainted with Littleton. When Littleton had trouble constructing a furnace that would melt glass, Labino suggested a tank furnace be used and provided a glass formula and the #475 glass marbles that would efficiently melt at a lower temperature. A tank furnace has glass melted in the crucible which is not removeable. Both the development of a small furnace and a lower temperature melt enabled an individual to blow glass. Littleton and Labino are considered to be the fathers of the studio glass movement.

"From the first, two views regarding priorities for the artist clashed: that the sculptor who wanted to push glass in new directions and that of the craftsman who strove to create a perfectly executed functional object from the finest glass possible." That tension explains the vast range of studio glass from "sculptural" pieces meant to be looked at, to beautifully executed vessels that could actually be used.

The current better known studio glass creators include Chihuly, the Pilchuck Glass School, and locally, Hans Frabel and Don Lillie. In the metro Atlanta area, studio glass can be seen at the Lowe Gallery for Chihuly, Vespermanns in Buckhead, and of course Don Lillie in Smyrna. Other notable and widely respected artists in the studio glass world are Joel Philip Myers, Hank Murta Adams, John Nickerson, and Don Shepherd. They all worked at Blenko Glass in Huntington, WV.

Deborah showed many examples of studio glass and shared her numerous books for us to see.

If you are interested in acquiring studio glass on a budget, you might consider going to local art shows. Paperweights are a less expensive way to collect studio glass. Remember to always buy what you like or love and pay as little as possible for it even if you never plan to resell any of it.