Left to right : Gary Beecham, Maurine Littleton, Harvey Littleton, Wayne Ledford circa 1983
June 14 marks the birthday anniversary of Harvey Littleton (1922–2013), the artist, educator, and visionary whose influence forever transformed the world of contemporary glass.
Widely recognized as the Father of the Studio Glass Movement, Littleton challenged the notion that glass belonged exclusively to factories and industrial production. Instead, he believed artists should have direct access to the material itself—working with molten glass as a medium for personal expression, experimentation, and fine art.
Born in Corning, New York, on June 14, 1922, Harvey Littleton grew up immersed in glass. His father, Dr. Jesse T. Littleton, headed research at Corning Glass Works, and a scientific career seemed a natural path. Yet Harvey chose art, first establishing himself as a ceramist before turning his attention to glass.
That decision would change the course of art history.
By developing small-scale glass furnaces suitable for artists’ studios and universities, Littleton helped move glassmaking out of the factory and into the hands of individual creators. His groundbreaking workshops in 1962 ignited what would become the Studio Glass Movement, inspiring generations of artists to explore the expressive possibilities of hot glass.
A photograph from around 1983, shared by his daughter Maurine, captures a remarkable moment in this journey. By that time, Harvey had already spent two decades reshaping the field. The studio environment depicted in the image embodies the values he championed: experimentation, collaboration, mentorship, and the endless pursuit of discovery through making.
The early 1980s represented a particularly significant period in Littleton’s artistic career. He was creating some of his most celebrated sculptural works, including pieces from his Crown series and dynamic geometric forms that pushed the boundaries of glass as a sculptural material. In 1983, he received the American Craft Council Gold Medal, one of the highest honors in American craft.
Equally important was his role as an educator. At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Littleton established the first university-level glass program in the United States. His students included many of the artists who would define the field, among them Dale Chihuly, Marvin Lipofsky, Fritz Dreisbach, and countless others who carried his ideas into studios and classrooms around the world.
His legacy continues through institutions, artists, educators, and advocates who remain committed to the creative freedom he envisioned. Among them is his daughter, Maurine Littleton, whose gallery in Washington, D.C., has championed studio glass artists for decades, helping preserve and advance the movement her father helped launch.
On this June 14 birthday anniversary, we celebrate more than Harvey Littleton’s achievements. We honor a spirit of innovation, generosity, and artistic courage that continues to inspire glass artists today.
Every artist who gathers around a furnace, every student who discovers the magic of molten glass, and every studio dedicated to creative exploration owes something to Harvey Littleton’s vision.
Happy Birthday, Harvey. Your influence continues to glow.
Every fall Chicago, IL hosts the critically acclaimed Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Expo, more commonly known as SOFA. SOFA Chicago 2015 will be held November 6 – 8, 2015 at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, where masterworks from top international galleries and dealers from numerous countries will exhibit. An opening night preview will be held Thursday, November 5. On par with Art Basel and TEFAF Maastricht, the critically acclaimed art fair has been continuously run every year since 1994. What distinguishes SOFA from other top art events is its focus on three-dimensional artworks that cross the boundaries of fine art, decorative art and design. SOFA is noted for its exceptional presentation of artwork by international galleries and it is enhanced by the many talks to attend in the Lecture Series given by award-wining designers and artists.
This year, a number of Washington Glass School artists will be featured at the art fair, and the artists are bringing new works that have taken them in new directions. Tim Tate will be giving a “Booth Talk” at Habatat Galleries (space #1400) on Saturday, Nov 7 @ 1:00 pm. Just after that talk, at 2:00 pm, Sean Hennessey and Michael Janis will be featured at the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG) Ice Cream Social on the terrace at Navy Pier.
Allegra Marquart, “The Princess and the Pea”, Cast glass shapes wall mounted over a sewn panel, 14″x 28″ photo: Pete Duvall
Allegra Marquart (Maurine Littleton Gallery, Space #821) has mixed her cast glass with textile, exploring the new possibilities for color, texture and especially line. Allegra has been stitching connections that create open, delicate looking backgrounds that complements and comments on the bolder glass shapes which are mounted slightly in front. The glass and the threads compliment concepts of fragility and ambiguity.
Sean Hennessey, clockwise from top left: “The Doors that May Open”, “The Relentless Path Upward”, “The Gift of Time”, “From Mud and Soap”, cast glass, imagery, steel, LED; 24″ x 36
Sean Hennessey (Habatat Galleries, Space #1400) will be presenting works that take him in a new direction, both in terms of the brightness of the colors and in the use of a separate panel that incorporates photographed and drawn imagery, telling a slightly different side of the story from the larger panel.
Audrey Wilson (Alida Anderson Art Projects, Space #402) makes her debut at the art fair. Her new mixed media works explore alternate and extraordinary realms.
Audrey Wilson, ” Luminiferous Aether Electrode”, Cast glass, electronics, found objects, photo Pete Duvall
Michael Janis (Maurine Littleton Gallery, Space #821) explores concepts of identity with his frit powder (sgraffito) drawings with cast glass elements. New this year are his ceramic and glass sculptures.
Michael Janis, “Regeneration”, cast glass, ceramic, 14” x 16” x 12” photo: Pete Duvall
Tim Tate (Habatat Galleries, Space #1400) is showing his new illuminated pieces, his infinity series. Tim entices the viewer to look deeply into his created environments, create an optical and physical illusion of infinity through apparent limitless space. There is an intimacy created by viewing deeply into a circular opening, as if peering through a portal to another reality.
Tim Tate, “Violet Tattoo Infinity”, Cast Poly-Vitro, Glass, Lighting; photo: Pete Duvall
We mourn the passing of the “Father” of the American Studio Glass Movement, without whom none of us glass artists would be where we are now.
Harvey K. Littleton (1922-2013) was the seminal glass artist whose work ranged from functional vessels to sculptural forms. His father was a physicist at Corning Glass Works providing him early exposure to glass in the factories. Trained as a ceramicist, he began experimenting with hot glass in his studio in the 1950’s. Through two landmark workshops and by establishing the first Studio Glass curriculum at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he helped to bring glass out of the factory and into the artists’ studio. Harvey died on December 13, 2013, at his home in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, at the age of 91. A letter circulated by his family states that his death came “after a long decline.” A private celebration of his life, and that of his wife, Bess, who died in October 2009, will be held by the family on January 11th.
He attended Brighton School of Art in England, received his Bachelors of Design at the University of Michigan, and received his M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Harvey Littleton, left, with student Dale Chihuly, right, in 1974. Photo courtesy of Chihuly Inc.
In his role as an educator, Harvey was an “…outspoken and eloquent advocate of university education in the arts.” He organized the first hot glass program at an American university (the University of Wisconsin–Madison) and promoted the idea of glass as a course of study in university art departments in the Midwest and northeastern United States. Several of Harvey Littleton’s students went on to disseminate the study of glass art throughout the U.S., including Marvin Lipofsky, who started a glass program at the University of California at Berkeley and Dale Chihuly, who developed the glass program at the Rhode Island School of Design and later was a founder of Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington.
Harvey retired from teaching in 1976 to focus on his own art. Exploring the inherent qualities of the medium, he worked in series with simple forms to draw attention to the complex interplay of transparent glass with multiple overlays of thin color. Harvey was married to Bess Tamura Littleton in 1947. She died on October 8, 2009.The couple had four children: Carol L. Shay, Thomas Littleton, Maurine Littleton and John Littleton. All work in the field of glass art. Carol L. Shay is the curator at Littleton Studios; Tom Littleton owns and manages Spruce Pine Batch Company, which supplies batch (the dry ingredients of which glass is made) to artists and art departments around the U.S.; Maurine Littleton is the owner and director of Maurine Littleton Gallery which specializes in glass art, in Washington, DC. With his wife and collaborative partner, Kate Vogel, John Littleton is a glass artist in Bakersville, NC.
Harvey’s work can be found in the collection of the High Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, the Victoria & Albert Museum in England, amongst others.
From our friends at the Corning Museum of Glass: Donations in Harvey Littleton’s name can be made to The Hospice and Palliative Care Center of Mitchell County that provided invaluable support to his family in the care for Harvey, and/or to the Penland School of Crafts “Harvey and Bess Littleton Scholarship Fund” that provides one full scholarship for a two-week summer session in hot glass.
The works are all finished and packed – and on their way to Chicago’s Navy Pier for the huge arts fair: S.O.F.A. (Sculptural Objects and Functional Art)!
Michael Janis “When She Was There” detail, kilnformed glass, frit powder imagery
WGS’ Tim Tate will have his new glass/video works on exhibit at Habatat Galleries (space # 1100); Michael Janis and Allegra Marquart will both be featured at Maurine Littleton Gallery (space #403).
Allegra Marquart “Cow Over The Moon”, kilncast glass
Tim will also be part of a series of lectures and booth events. He will be part of the Saturday Nov 2 talk about developing new audiences, titled: “Through A Glass, Brightly“ He also will be giving a booth lecture at Habatat’s space titled “Video as the Next Craft Medium” on Saturday at 1:30 pm.
Tim Tate “Guardians of Nature”, Cast Glass, Video
Glass Secessionism will have a talk hosted by William Warmus and Tim Tate in Room 323, from 3-4pm on Saturday. Titled ‘The Gathering: Glass Landscape in the 21st Century’, it will be a round table discussion centered on Post-Studio Glass and Glass Secessionism.For more info – check out the Facebook event posting online HERE. SOFA CHICAGO opens Thursday, October 31 and runs through Sunday, November 3, 2013 at Chicago’s historic Navy Pier.
The Katzen Arts Center will host the third in a series of panel discussions designed to encourage collecting fine art with advisefrom established Washington area gallery directors, who will share their knowledge and expertise.
Each panel will feature presentations by gallery directors, who are members of the ArtDealers Association of Greater Washington [ADAGW]. ADAGW galleries represent a broad spectrum of fine art, from established masters to contemporary art, in all media, by artists known locally, nationally and internationally. These art experts will share theirknowledge and offer guidelines
“ON COLLECTING FINE ART.”
Tim Tate, Dreams of a Lost Love Found,Blown and cast glass, electronics, found objects, video
Maurine Littleton Gallery Exhibit at Washington Convention Center.
The Washington Craft Show was just held this past weekend. The juried event brings nearly 200 Contemporary Craft Artists (glass; furniture; ceramics; silver, bronze, and copper; mixed media; decorative and wearable textiles; jewelry; paper; and wood) to the WashingtonConvention Center, with an emphasis on quality and originality.
The Washington Craft Show 2012 included a special 50th Anniversary glass exhibit.
This year, Washington, DC’s celebrated glass gallery – the Maurine Littleton Gallery held a special exhibit that was dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the American Studio Glass Movement.
Dale Chihuly glass artwork next to a Thermon Statom ladder.
As a show-within-the-show, the center of the Convention center featured seminal works by the man considered to be the father of the studio glass movement, Harvey Littleton. The show included works from the famed 1962 Toledo Workshop, where artists were invited to look at glass as a viable sculpture medium.
Michael Janis examines one of the 1962 Harvey Littleton original blown glass pieces from the Toledo Museum workshop – shown in period photo (inset).
Some pix from the show:
William Morris glass artwork foreground.
Visitors gather around Joan Falconer Byrd, author of the new book “Harvey K Littleton: A Life in Glass“. Ms Byrd was one of the show’s speakers at the event. She was one of the first students in the Toledo workshops and was Professor of Art at Western Carolina University.
Contemporary works by the artists of the Washington Glass School were included in the Maurine Littleton exhibit. L-R in above photo, works by Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers & Allegra Marquart.
Alison Sigethy’s glass sculpture.
The show also had some favorite DC craft based media artists exhibiting, like Ani Kasten showing her great ceramics, or Alison Sigethy’s recycled glass sculptures.
Ani Kasten’s ceramic works.
Click HERE to jump to a photo gallery of artwork seen at the 2012 Washington Craft Show.
>A highlight every fall, the 25th Annual Washington Craft Show comes to Washington, D.C.‘s Convention Center November 16-18.
Washington DC Convention Center
This premier showcase of contemporary craft in Americais nationally recognized for presenting masterful work, designed and made in artists’ studios across America. If you’re an avid collector, or you simply appreciate quality and beauty, this is your chance to view and purchase the latest works by nearly 200 of the nation’s top contemporary craft artists. Come meet the people who create the art and hear their stories of inspiration. All weekend there will be additional happenings to enjoy; special exhibitions, artist’s talks and fashion shows. Included with admission to the show:
SPECIAL GLASS EXHIBIT
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of studio art glass, the Washington Craft Show has provided the Maurine Littleton Gallery with an 800 square-foot space to illustrate the history of glass. The exhibit will feature work from Harvey K. Littleton, the founder of the American glass movement, and next generation artists Dale Chihuly, Fritz Dreisbach, Michael Janis, Allegra Marquart, Joel Myers, Ginny Ruffner, Therman Statom, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Sean Hennessey and more. Maurine Littleton is the daughter of Harvey K. Littleton.
“A Life In Glass”
MEET THE AUTHOR
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16 5PM- 8PM & SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17 NOON-3PM
Book signings by art professor and author Joan Falconer Byrd: Harvey K. Littleton: A Life in Glass (Rizzoli, 2012). A member of Harvey Littleton’s first glassblowing class at the University of Wisconsin in 1962, Byrd is the author of numerous essays and articles on glass and ceramics.
On Saturday, Professor Byrd will sign copies of her book following a joint lecture with Maurine Littleton (start time 11a.m.). Book signings both days will take place in the Maurine Littleton Special Exhibit space.
DAILY SCREENINGS OF “A NOT SO STILL LIFE” THE GINNY RUFFNER STORY
Recipient of Golden Space Needle as the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary, Seattle International Film Festival. Seattle artist Ginny Ruffner is best known for a pair of remarkable accomplishments: her well-regarded body of “lampworking” glass art and her miraculous, self-willed recovery from a near-fatal car crash that rendered her unable to walk or talk. These stories and dozens of others are illuminated from the inside in Karen Stanton’s moving and inspiring documentary.
“There’s more to Ruffner’s story than art, glorious as it is: “A Not So Still Life” is also an inspiring tale of rehabilitation and recovery.” ~ Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times. Run time 84 minutes.
WEEKEND LECTURE SERIES
Our Weekend Lecture Series provides unique opportunities for show visitors to hear from leaders in the field of Fine Craft. The lectures are educational, informative and interactive. This year’s lineup includes a gallery owner, author, museum curator, and an artist.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 11 AM
“Contemporary Textile Art – Past, Present, and Future”
Rebecca A.T. Stevens, Consulting Curator, Contemporary Textiles, The TextileMuseum
Katy Clune, Communications Manager, The TextileMuseum
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 11 AM
“The Life and Work of Harvey K. Littleton”
Maureen Littleton and Joan Falconer Byrd: Moderator: Elizabeth Blair, senior producer NPR (Morning Edition, All Things Considered)
Sean Hennessey “That Worlds Unseen Surround the World We Know“
IF YOU GO
Friday, November 16 • 10am-8pm
Saturday, November 17 • 10am-6pm
Sunday, November 18 • 11am-5pm (note: Screening of “A Not So Still Life” will begin at 10am in a room adjacent to the show floor. See box office attendant.)
Tickets $15 / seniors $14 / under 12 free with paid adult
Gateway artists and their work will be amongst crowds at the international art show SOFA CHICAGO, the annual arts expo devoted to Sculpture Objects and Functional Art (SOFA). Celebrating its 19th year, SOFA CHICAGO is one of the world's foremost contemporary art fairs, featuring nearly 70 art galleries and dealers from 10 countries along with special exhibits by renowned museums, universities and arts organizations, and an extensive lecture series.
Gateway Arts Featured at the SOFA include:
"Unhemmed" Ani Kasten, ceramic, reclaimed wood, plaster, photo by anythingphoto.net
Ceramic artist Ani Kasten will have her work at Massachusetts’ Lacoste Gallery space (#508). Ani’s ceramic and mixed media work takes their influence from nature as well as the nature of change.
"Skyline", Ani Kasten, ceramic, reclaimed wood, plaster, photo by anythingphoto.net
Infused with a modern, minimal aesthetic, her - amazingly structured and unstructured at the same time - work references the built world as well as reminding one of a natural or ancient object exposed to the rigors of time.
Glass Artists Allegra Marquart and Michael Janis are both featured at Georgetown’s Maurine Littleton Gallery space (#408).
"Gecko Gets Told" Allegra Marquart, sandcarved fused glass and enamel,photo by anythingphoto.net
Allegra Marquarts’ colorful artwork delights in storytelling and mines fables and fairy tale for both content and imagery. Allegra sandcarves the panels of glass she fuses at the Washington Glass School, working on both sides of the glass slabs, playing with the translucent quality of the medium.
3 separate works - "Flying in Place", "Lessons Learned and Unlearned", "The Optimism of Language", Michael Janis, fused glass imagery, silver and steel,photo by anythingphoto.net
Michael Janis’ glass sculpture works are also at Maurine Littleton Gallery space His new works show how perceptions are based on perspective, where the mirrored glass cylinders refigure the distorted glass frit images into new shapes.
"Flying in Place" Michael Janis, photo by anythingphoto.net
Both Allegra and Michael work from the Washington Glass School, located in Mount Rainier, MD.
"21st Century Dadaism", Tim Tate, cast glass, video, electronics, photo by anythingphoto.net
detail "21st Century Dadaism", Tim Tate
Another Washington Glass School artist – Tim Tate – is featured at Michigan’s Habatat Galleries space (#1100). Tim’s incredible mixed media works exploit the beauty of glass and invests it with a narrative that takes the work to a new level. One work – “21st Century Dadaism” incorporates video projection onto cast glass components, with the effect of producing a disembodied human face, created from the disjointed. If Dadaism had occurred today, it might have resembled this.
"Vegetable Peddler And Her Son", Tim Tate, cast and blown glass, photo by anythingphoto.net
His other sculpture works, from a series he calls his “Cabinet of Curiosities”, incorporate cast glass elements made from the “lost wax” process are a delight in creating surreal worlds. This is a breakout year for Tim, whose work is currently on exhibit at Mesa, Arizona’s Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum.
Tim Tate in front of Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, AZ.
SOFA Chicago 2012 - Friday, Nov. 2 through Sunday, Nov. 4; Preview Thursday, Nov 1.
SOFA CHICAGO From Technique to Artistic Expression
The critically acclaimed international art fair SOFACHICAGO returns to historic Navy Pier Friday, Nov 2 through Sunday, Nov 4, 2012, with an Opening Night Preview on Thursday, Nov 1. The exhibition features masterworks of contemporary and modern arts and design, sculpture, functional art, and visionary art, plus related special exhibitions and lecture series. SOFA CHICAGO promises to be theworld hot spot for international studio glass art. The American Studio Glass Movement is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year and the acclaimed art and design fair at Navy Pier will be center-stage. New this year, iPhone and iPad users can use the free SOFA FAIR App to browse the works on display at the show and identify works or contact galleries, simply by pointing their phone at artworks and adding them or instantly receiving information about that work. To download the SOFA FAIR App visit sofaexpo.com.
Harvey Littleton,
Yellow Crown II, 1984, glass
From the SOFA CHICAGO 2012 website: Art “dealer Maurine Littleton of Maurine LittletonGallery(Washington, D.C.), daughter of Harvey Littletonreports that half her booth space (#408) will feature “a selection of rarely seen (and first-time offered) pieces” by her father, including a “spectacular example” from his signature Arc series entitled Yellow Crown II (1984), direct from its exhibition at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wis. Littleton says it is the only one of its type still available; similar works can be found at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery of the American Art Museum and in major national public and private art collections.”
Michael Janis, Eclipse, 2012, glass powder imagery
Works by Michael Janis and Allegra Marquart will be amongst the artists featured in the other half.
Allegra Marquart, Monkey Girl, 2012, glass
Tim Tate will be featured in Habatat Galleries space (#1200) – which has expanded their SOFA booth to accommodate 18 solo exhibitions!
Tim Tate,
The Deconstruction Of George Melies,2012, Cast and Blown Glass, Video
Additionally, the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation will screen their new documentary, The Toledo Workshop Revisited, 1962-2012. In a March 2012 residency, three young artists at the Toledo Museum of Art rebuilt a small glass furnace modeled after the one Harvey Littleton and Dominick Labino designed 50 years earlier.
The 1962 workshop launched the Studio Glass Movement, and made it possible for individual artists to work directly with glass. This new film documents the week-long residency that honors the past and celebrates the future of creative experimentation in glass. Screenings will be followed by Q&A with Robert Minkoff, Managing Trustee of the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation; Andrew Page, Director of the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation.
SOFA Chicago 2012 Nov 1 – 4, 2012 Festival Hall, Navy Pier
>This Friday, September 14, the art galleries in Georgetown’s Book Hill (on upper Wisconsin Avenue in the antiques, library and museum district of Georgetown) kicks off the Fall Art Season with a Gallery Crawl from 6-8 PM. Click on the link to jump to the gallery association website: http://georgetowngalleries.com/
Maurine Littleton Galleryexhibits and represents leading contemporary artists in glass, metal, wood and ceramics – including Harvey Littleton, Dante Marioni, Dale Chihuly, Ginny Ruffner and others. For the start of the Fall Art Season, the gallery is showcasing Michael Janis, Allegra Marquart and Drew Storm Graham.
I stopped by for a quick sneak peak when the artwork was just finished being installed on the two levels and they look great! Here are some quick snaps (forgive the quality of the cell phone camera) :
Allegra Marquart’s new sandcarved glass panels showcase her quirky stories. Her work plays with the translucency of the glass medium so beautifully.
Drew Storm Graham’s colorful, wild, 3-D panels grab your attention!
Drew’s work references tattoo and graffiti art – very fresh and powerful!
Michael Janis’ panels look better than the photos – great depth to the pieces! Love the color!
This gallery crawl on Friday is a must!
Sept. 14 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Georgetown Galleries around the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and Reservoir Road
Other Georgetown Galleries and featured exhibits include:
ADDISON/RIPLEY FINE ARTS, GALERIE BLUE SQUARE, NEPTUNE FINE ART, ROBERT BROWN GALLERY, HEINER CONTEMPORARY and SUSAN CALLOWAY FINE ARTS.
Every fall Chicago, IL hosts the critically acclaimed Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Expo, more commonly known as SOFA. SOFA Chicago 2015 will be held November 6 – 8, 2015 at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, where masterworks from top international galleries and dealers from numerous countries will exhibit. An opening night preview will be held Thursday, November 5. On par with Art Basel and TEFAF Maastricht, the critically acclaimed art fair has been continuously run every year since 1994. What distinguishes SOFA from other top art events is its focus on three-dimensional artworks that cross the boundaries of fine art, decorative art and design. SOFA is noted for its exceptional presentation of artwork by international galleries and it is enhanced by the many talks to attend in the Lecture Series given by award-wining designers and artists. 
Harvey was married to Bess Tamura Littleton in 1947. She died on October 8, 2009.The couple had four children: Carol L. Shay, Thomas Littleton, Maurine Littleton and John Littleton. All work in the field of glass art. Carol L. Shay is the curator at Littleton Studios; Tom Littleton owns and manages Spruce Pine Batch Company, which supplies batch (the dry ingredients of which glass is made) to artists and art departments around the U.S.; Maurine Littleton is the owner and director of Maurine Littleton Gallery which specializes in glass art, in Washington, DC. With his wife and collaborative partner, Kate Vogel, John Littleton is a glass artist in Bakersville, NC.
