Mary Shaffer talks about Dale Chihuly’s impact. Oral history interview with Mary Shaffer by Catherine Whalen and Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, March 21, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 01:14.

Mary Shaffer: And Dale was so generous. I mean, you talk to anybody—there was a guy in the Czech Republic and I said, ‘What are you doing here?’—he was going through my notebook, looking at all my drawings—and said, ‘What are you doing here? How can you afford to be here?’ He said, ‘Oh, Dale pays my salary. I’m just here to keep an eye on things.’ You know, I mean, that was incredible, and or—right in the beginning, I said to somebody, ‘God, what a great coat.’ He said, ‘Oh, Dale gave it to me.’ You know, I think it was—not Billy [William] Morris, but the other one that helped him so much—Richard Royal. I mean, that was the difference. And still is, ‘cause I went out to work at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma [Washington] I think two years ago, I’m not sure. And there were people coming that were there that had been invited there from, say, France or something, and Dale had said, ‘Oh, you know, just bring all your work. We’ll pack everything for you.’ You know, I mean, it’s just a great generosity.