Image courtesy of Robert Levin. Photo: Frederick Park.

Robert Levin

American artist Robert Levin (1948– ) studied ceramics and sculpture as an undergraduate at Denison University in Ohio, earning his BFA in 1971. He discovered glass while taking a clay class at the Penland School of Craft and earned his MFA in glass from Southern Illinois University in 1974. Levin was an assistant to Fritz Dreisbach before returning to Penland to teach and work as an artist-in-residence from 1976 to 1980. Levin stayed in the Penland region, living and working near Burnsville, North Carolina. He is known for boldly colored blown-glass sculptures and vessels, as well as mixed-media works.

Works

Bumblesnorts and Snakes, 2018. Hand-blown, frosted glass. H: 5.5 in, W: 16.5 in, D: 14 in. Image courtesy of Robert Levin.

Bird Goblet, 2009. Hand-blown, frosted glass. H: 14 in. Image courtesy of Robert Levin

Creature Vessel, 1990. Glass. H. 12 in. Image courtesy of Robert Levin.

Robert Levin talks about Penland classes coming to visit his and other artists’ studios.

Playing02:03 Transcript
Robert Levin

Robert Levin talks about Penland classes coming to visit his and other artists’ studios. Oral history interview with Robert Levin by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, December 10, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 02:02.

Robert Levin: The classes at Penland, would come over periodically to visit studios in our area. And, at that time, I’m trying to remember, let’s see, the, the, the, the Bernsteins [William and Katherine Bernstein] their studio has been in our area for quite a while, and then my studio, and then I think Gil—Gilbert Johnson had a studio. And then I can’t remember when Jeff and Yaffa [Todd] built theirs. I think it would’ve been early eighties, maybe. So, anyway, yeah, classes with come into the studio sometimes, I would do a demo or, you know, actual glassblowing demo and often, though it was just a question of showing people around the studio is explaining equipment and talking about the work and kind of where the ideas for the work come from and things like that. So that, I mean, that’s kind of the basic idea of these visits. I had finished my residency at Penland in 1980 so I was still, I guess you could say I had some connections to the school and I would go back and teach periodically, you know, after we moved over here. Just so you know, our area, where we live and where the Bernsteins have their studio and Jeff and Yaffa, it’s about a half an hour from Penland. So it’s kind of in the area, but, you know, removed enough so that it’s not like we’re not directly at the school, but most of the people who have studios in the general area, that’s true even today, have had some connection with Penland. So there’s—people feel a connection with the school. So the part that you see in the, in the picture is, it’s the hot shop and you can see there’s a high roof there. It slopes up towards, towards the left. And that, that’s the end of the studio where the furnaces are. And that’s, you know, you can see the windows open there for—to let out the heat from the furnaces.

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Robert Levin talks about the supportive environment of Penland through the residency program.

Playing01:40 Transcript
Robert Levin

Robert Levin talks about the supportive environment of Penland through the residency program. Oral history interview with Robert Levin by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, December 10, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 01:40.

Robert Levin: Well, I mean, overall, I guess it’s, it’s been a major force in the craft movement and especially the revival of traditional craft media and in terms of pushing that, pushing the traditional craft media into other directions, or kind of opening up the possibilities of using traditional craft media in a number of new ways. And then for us, the importance is that it really became the place where I was first teaching, and then it was a very supportive environment when I was a resident there which would have been from ‘76 to ‘80. And just, the real supportive environment because the resident program is, I guess you could say, kind of a subsidized program. You’re renting a house and a studio from the, the school, but it’s a very reasonable rate, and, and you’re paying all your own bills, but it basically gives you a way to get your feet on the ground in terms of producing your work and kind of finding your way with your work, but without the huge expenses that it takes to go out and build the, the studio from scratch. So, you know, we—and of course our daughters were born there while we were living there. So we have a lot of, sort of both artistic and personal connection to the school.

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Robert Levin talks about women glassmakers in the Penland and Asheville area.

Playing0:47 Transcript
Robert Levin

Robert Levin talks about the supportive environment of Penland through the residency program. Oral history interview with Robert Levin by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, December 10, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 01:40.

Robert Levin: Well, I mean, overall, I guess it’s, it’s been a major force in the craft movement and especially the revival of traditional craft media and in terms of pushing that, pushing the traditional craft media into other directions, or kind of opening up the possibilities of using traditional craft media in a number of new ways. And then for us, the importance is that it really became the place where I was first teaching, and then it was a very supportive environment when I was a resident there which would have been from ‘76 to ‘80. And just, the real supportive environment because the resident program is, I guess you could say, kind of a subsidized program. You’re renting a house and a studio from the, the school, but it’s a very reasonable rate, and, and you’re paying all your own bills, but it basically gives you a way to get your feet on the ground in terms of producing your work and kind of finding your way with your work, but without the huge expenses that it takes to go out and build the, the studio from scratch. So, you know, we—and of course our daughters were born there while we were living there. So we have a lot of, sort of both artistic and personal connection to the school.

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Robert Levin talks about his experiences at Penland and the school’s importance to studio glass.

Playing02:19 Transcript
Robert Levin

Robert Levin talks about his experiences at Penland and the school’s importance to studio glass. Oral history interview with Robert Levin by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, December 10, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 02:19.

Robert Levin: Yeah, I think kind of the whole time I felt like I was part of a continuum, because when I went to grad school, the man that was teaching there, Bill Boysen—B-O-Y-S-E-N—he was one of Harvey’s [Littleton] students out of Wisconsin. And then Bill had built the first glass studio at Penland in the late sixties. So that was just kind of coincidental. So I went to Penland and took a glass course and my teacher at Penland for my one glass course that I took was Audrey Handler, who was also a student of Harvey Littleton’s at Wisconsin. And then I went to grad school, and Bill Boysen was my teacher and he was one of Harvey’s students. So the whole kind of lineage with Harvey Littleton and the people coming out of his program and teaching. And then when I was finishing grad school, I worked with Fritz Dreisbach, who was, I believe, another one of [laughs] Harvey’s students. And that’s where I worked out at Pilchuck with Fritz, and Pilchuck was founded by Dale Chihuly, who was another one of Harvey’s students. So anyway, that kind of lineage was apparent to me. And then also there was a lineage that was the residency at Penland. So when I went into the glass residency at Penland, that was part of a heritage or a lineage, you could say, that was started by Mark Peiser, who was the first Penland resident, and then I believe this is the correct chronology, then Bill Bernstein was the Penland resident, and then George Thiewes, who—I’m not sure if George is still involved in glass. And then Fritz Dreisbach, and then Richard Ritter. I might be leaving somebody out in there. And Fritz might’ve been in there before George, that might be reversed. Anyway, but then—and then I followed Richard Ritter into the glass residency. So I was aware of a kind of a lineage that way too.

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Robert Levin talks about his experiences at Penland and the school’s importance to studio glass. Oral history interview with Robert Levin by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, December 10, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 02:19.

Robert Levin: Yeah, I think kind of the whole time I felt like I was part of a continuum, because when I went to grad school, the man that was teaching there, Bill Boysen—B-O-Y-S-E-N—he was one of Harvey’s [Littleton] students out of Wisconsin. And then Bill had built the first glass studio at Penland in the late sixties. So that was just kind of coincidental. So I went to Penland and took a glass course and my teacher at Penland for my one glass course that I took was Audrey Handler, who was also a student of Harvey Littleton’s at Wisconsin. And then I went to grad school, and Bill Boysen was my teacher and he was one of Harvey’s students. So the whole kind of lineage with Harvey Littleton and the people coming out of his program and teaching. And then when I was finishing grad school, I worked with Fritz Dreisbach, who was, I believe, another one of [laughs] Harvey’s students. And that’s where I worked out at Pilchuck with Fritz, and Pilchuck was founded by Dale Chihuly, who was another one of Harvey’s students. So anyway, that kind of lineage was apparent to me. And then also there was a lineage that was the residency at Penland. So when I went into the glass residency at Penland, that was part of a heritage or a lineage, you could say, that was started by Mark Peiser, who was the first Penland resident, and then I believe this is the correct chronology, then Bill Bernstein was the Penland resident, and then George Thiewes, who—I’m not sure if George is still involved in glass. And then Fritz Dreisbach, and then Richard Ritter. I might be leaving somebody out in there. And Fritz might’ve been in there before George, that might be reversed. Anyway, but then—and then I followed Richard Ritter into the glass residency. So I was aware of a kind of a lineage that way too.

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