Michael Glancy discusses Paul Hollister’s article on Glancy in which he compares Glancy’s work to “Sasanian and Islamic wheel-cut Persian vessels.” Oral history interview with Michael Glancy by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, October 9, 2018, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 02:01.

Michael Glancy: August/September ’82, he actually says, ‘Who would have thought’—these are his, Paul Hollister’s, words—‘Who would have thought, for example, that the young American glassblower Michael Glancy had no familiarity with Sasanian and Islamic wheel-cut Persian vessels of the sixth to tenth century, which appear to have influenced his work.’ Now, I can remember, you know, going to Paul’s apartment in New York to be interviewed, and Paul was like, really excited, you know, and it was a guarded excitement, cause he had these Sasanian books, and he wanted to know if I knew about this work. And 1982, no, I did not know about this work. And to me it was a major epiphany and validation that what I was doing—I was emulating my—my mentor was really Maurice Marinot, from the 1920s, and so this actually pre-dated Marinot and in my mind, this was inspiration for Marinot and possibly Art Deco. I mean, as a student, I was searching for things that would resonate with me as a practitioner. This resonated in a gigantic way. And Paul goes on to say that I was traveling a lot and taking a lot of influences, including Maurice Marinot, but it was a particular—he was so excited to share this. And I was excited for the information, for sure.