Mary Shaffer discusses how Hardu Keck introduced Dale Chihuly to Italo Scanga. Oral history interview with Mary Shaffer by Catherine Whalen and Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, March 21, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 01:58.

Mary Shaffer: You wanted to know about Hardu Keck, K-E-C-K, which was my first and only husband, former husband, he’s dead now, and he and I introduced—because I loved to cook and still do and have people all the time for dinner. And, and so we introduced Dale and Italo [Scanga]—at a dinner at our house—and they became really, really close friends. You know, and Hardu actually spoke at Italo’s funeral—and I just got a really nice letter from Italo’s kids wanting me to identify people in a photograph. So that was Bruce, Bruce Helander and in fact, people in this photograph ‘cause he ran the Provincetown Arts Center—one summer and everybody came out. Italo came out. I don’t think Dale came out, but Italo was there, Bruce Helander, who writes art criticism for The Huffington Post. He was in that photograph. Anyhow, let’s see. Yeah, no, Italo was an important person in the glass world—because he started using tools. He used glass. He loved to play in the hot shop and he was good. And then they started blowing these vases for him that he would put in front of his paintings. You know, these sort of installations, and he was very influential because—he was just so out there. I mean, I would be walking down the street in Providence, Rhode Island, a public street with traffic going to both the directions and he would be on the opposite side. He would drive his car across traffic—go up on the sidewalk and say, ‘Hey, Mary, how are you doing?’ That was Italo. You know? Wonderful.