Title

Heart of Glass - Blenko Glass

Blenko Glass is a West Virginia treasure that spans generations. Nothing symbolizes the state of West Virginia better or more beautifully than Blenko Glass. We will discuss current and former craftsmen and designers and how important it is that Blenko and West Virginia glass be appreciated and valued by the younger generation.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

MEN IN PRINT - Alan Greenspan & Marvin Lipofsky

I'll add photos tomorrow scanner isn't working! Great photos coming!!!
This week Ms. B and I reviewed two awesome books, the first Alan Greenspan's The Age Of Turbulence this book because economics fascinates me and Alan Greenspan like me is a Libertarian. This is a 'must read' before the November election.

The second book Marvin Lipofsky: A Glass Odyssey Editor Suzanne Baizerman. Publisher: University of Washington Press. The book was described as a catalogue that provides an opportunity to examine the full range of lipofsky's work, including his less well known early sculpture, his early series- such as the California Loop Series and the Gream American Food Series - conceptual works and works on paper.

California artist Marvin Lipofsky has achieved international stature in the studio glass movement as an artist, an educator, and a global ambassador. his art has taken him on an odyssey across the world- from the Czech Republic to the People's Republic of China and many point in between ( Milton, WVa). In his travels he has worked with master glassblowers and factors workers (BLENKO GLASS), forming the basis for his sculpture. Back in his studio in Berkeley, California, keeping a steady focus on the sculptural potential of the material, he works with the glass, cutting, etching, polishing until it reaches to final form.

Lipofsky began his forty-year career in glass at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in the first group of students taught by Harvey Littleton, the pioneering teacher of studio glass. From there Lipofsky established the second studio glass program in the country at the University of California, Berkeley. Later he founded the glass program at the California College of Arts and Crafts. In addition to college-level teaching. Lipofsky has lectured and lead workshop throughout the world.

The Book is a PHOTO BOOK of Lipofsky work. It contains a brief biography of Lipofsky .Delightful, Beautiful Photos and lots of information about the early Glass Movement. The hardbound copy would make a great coffee table book, or a wonderful gift for a glass enthusiast.
Available on amazon.com and www.washington.edu/uwpress

Lipofsky has a WV connection - during his first trip to Blenko (1968) to work with Joel Phillip Myers making sevral glass sculptures that were exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in NYC he became friends with the Factory Workers ( Shorty Finley, Jarfly, Lewis Powers, Jessie Carpenter) and with Mr. WH BLenko (who was to become the CEO) Marvin maintained those friendships.

Marvin Lipofsky (b. September 1, 1938) is an American glass artist. He was a central figure inthe spread of the American studio glass movement, introducing it to California.

Lipofsky was born in Barrington, Illinois. In 1962, he earned a BFA in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois, and he went on to earn both an MS and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1964. There he studied under Harvey Littleton, the founder of the studio glass movement. He would introduce the concepts of the movement during his subsequent stint as a Design instructor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught until 1972. During this time, he was responsible for training many studio artists.
In 1967, he founded the glass program at the California College of Arts and Crafts, which he headed for two decades. He was also a founder of the Glass Art Society, and has served as editor of its journal.
Lipofsky was one of the first American glass artists to travel to Czechoslovakia, where a studio glass movement had arisen in the 1950s. This would prove to be the first of many trips he would take; he became well-known for his journeys abroad and his collaboration with numerous glass artists around the world.
Many of Lipofsky's works are colorful "bubbles" of glass, often semi-translucent to allow the viewer to examine their depths. He is also known for works inspired by pop culture he crafted in the 1970s; these include the "Great American Food Series," consisting of sculptures such as hamburgers and pickles crafted from glass. He is known for his surface treatments and for the organic form of his pieces.
(internet info on Lipofsky / Greenspan)
Lipofsky's work is exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Japan, the Museums of Decorative Arts in both Bulgaria and Canada, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
He resides in Berkeley, California.

.Alan Greenspan (born March 6, 1926 in New York City) is an American economist and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. Following his retirement as Fed chairman, the self-described "lifelong libertarian Republican ," accepted an honorary (unpaid) position at HM Treasury in the United Kingdom.
First appointed Fed chairman by President Ronald Reagan in August 1987, he was reappointed at successive four-year intervals until retiring after a record-setting tenure on January 31, 2006, at which time he relinquished the chairmanship to Ben Bernanke. Greenspan was lauded for his handling of the Black Monday stock market crash that occurred very shortly after he first became chairman, as well as for his stewardship of the Internet-driven, "dot-com" economic boom of the 1990s. However, this expansion culminated in a stock market bubble burst in March 2000 followed by a recession beginning in late 2000 and continuing through 2002.
From 2001 until his retirement, he was increasingly criticized for some statements seen as overstepping the Fed's traditional purview of monetary policy, and viewed by others as overly supportive of the policies of President George W. Bush, as well as for policies seen as leading to a housing bubble. Greenspan was nonetheless still generally considered during that time to be the leading authority on American domestic economic and monetary policy, and his active influence continues to this day.
Biography
Greenspan was born in 1926 to a German Jewish family in the Washington Heights area of New York City. He studied clarinet at The Juilliard School from 1943 to 1944. He is an accomplished saxophone player who has played with Stan Getz. While in college, he played in a jazz band. He then attended New York University (NYU), and received a B.S. in Economics (summa cum laude) in 1948, and an M.A in Economics in 1950. Greenspan went on to Columbia University, intending to pursue advanced economic studies, but subsequently dropped out. Much later, in 1977, NYU also awarded him a Ph.D. in Economics. He did not complete a dissertation,[citation needed] normally required for that degree. On December 14, 2005, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science from NYU, his fourth degree from that institution.
Starting in 1950, Greenspan began a 20-year association with famed novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand. He wrote for Rand’s newsletters and authored several essays in her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.
From 1948 to 1953, Greenspan worked as an economic analyst at The Conference Board, a business and industry oriented think-tank in New York City. From 1955 to 1987, Greenspan was Chairman and President of Townsend-Greenspan & Co., Inc., an economic consulting firm in New York City, a 33-year stint interrupted only from 1974 to 1977 by his service as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford. In the summer of 1968, Greenspan agreed to serve Richard Nixon and the rest is HIS(s)TORY.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did this man design for Blenko?
Are those items still in the line?
Karen Stowers
East Lynn,WV

Anonymous said...

Hillary
This new print is much too
small for me
can you once again write larger.
I read at the senior center
and even with my 'readers'
on I cant see this.
Bob W.
ps the time on this is messed
up I write one day and It shows
up another.

Anonymous said...

economics?
R U really
interested?
and a Liberterian?
BUT U LUV
JOE MANCHIN?
A.E.

Anonymous said...

are you recommending both of these
books
because
these men are almost 80
and they are also Jewish?
Solomon
where's the Blenko connection?

Heart of Glass said...

RESPONSE:
1. Karen, Marvin did not design for Blenko, he was the friend of Joel Myers and became friends with the Blenko Factory Workers.
2. Bob - I'll make Herald aware of the print problem. (cant guarantee change)
3.Yes, I do find economics fascinating. I am a Liberterian and I did Vote for Joe Manchin and I do admire Gayle and Joe Manchin.
4.Solomon, Established fact I find older people (70+) to be extremely interesting and fun to be with. Intelligence is important. .race, creed, etc doesn't matter - .. - these books are about economics which is important to all business and Glass. Blenko is connected to both.