Kate Vogel and John Littleton discuss West Coast glass and Havery Littleton’s connections with European glassmakers outside of Italy. Oral history interview with Kate Vogel and John Littleton by Barb Elam and Caleb Weintraub-Weissman, conducted via telephone, December 12, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 01:02.

Kate Vogel (KV): I think that the West Coast was much more influenced by the Italian style of glassmaking than the Southeast was. And part of that is both who Penland brought in as teachers, and also who Harvey had connections with. Harvey was much more connected with the Swedish and the German—maybe even some of the people from the Czech Republic. His stronger connections in the eighties were not with the Italian artists.  

John Littleton (JL): He was kicked out of all the studios in Murano. 

KV: Because of his name being Littleton, they were concerned about his connection to Corning, and his father’s reputation. Cause his father had been the chief—

JL: And that was in the late fifties, so—

KV: Yeah.

JL: He never really made the connections with the individuals in Italy, where he did with the individuals in Germany and in Sweden, and—

KV: Amsterdam and—

JL: Yeah, other places. 

KV: Yeah.