Mary Shaffer discusses the Corning ‘79 exhibition and its international artists. Oral history interview with Mary Shaffer by Catherine Whalen and Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, March 21, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 01:45.

Mary Shaffer: Well, that was earlier. Exhibition—oh, that was an incredible—that was done by Bill [William] Warmus and he’s actually doing a report on that now and that was ’79. The Corning show was like the first show where Americans glassmakers from all across the country got to meet each other, like Marvin Lipofsky and people on the East Coast, the West Coast. And we all met each other. And international ones and that’s when I was first introduced in ‘79 to these Czech artists that I then went to visit [a year] later because I had this grant and could go. And [Stanislov] Libenský was amazing. I mean, he was such a big influence on people and still is. I mean I think Lino [Tagliapietra] is the pretty glass. The virtuoso kind of thing. And Libenský was much more of a sculptor and concept—he wasn’t a conceptual artist, but I’m sure you know his pieces—those last pieces he made, the angels. I mean, he was sick. You know, he had this bad, bad cancer and he was making these angels of death which were so powerful. You know, even before he realized, and his wife realized that he was sick and they both became very close friends of mine. I met them and stayed with them and he said, ‘Mary, I love your work. I want you to come here,’ and actually after he died, [Jaroslava] Brychtová [his wife] said, ‘Why don’t you take over our studio?’ You know, ‘Why don’t you come here, live here, and take over the studio?’ I mean, what an opportunity—but I never had enough money to do stuff like that.