Alan Kaplan, Bob Banford, and Gordon Smith talk about Delmo and Debbie Tarsitano, discussing their evolution and creativity as paperweight makers. Oral history interview with Alan Kaplan by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, April 25, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Oral history interview with Bob Banford by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, December 19, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Oral history interview with Gordon Smith by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, November 26, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 01:44.

Time stamp: 00:00
Clip 1: Dealer Alan Kaplan discusses Debbie Tarsitano’s paperweights. Clip length: 00:43.

Alan Kaplan: Same thing early Debbie. And Debbie really started—I mean, the first time I met her was in Boston in ’77, well, but I knew her from the store, but she used to come in, but the first weights she made were in Boston. She had three weights, and that was May of ’77, and by The Great American Paperweight Show at Corning Flowers that [which] Clothe the Meadow[s]—which Paul Hollister and Dwight Lanmon did the book on—she had a roomful of weights for sale like 15 months later. It was unbelievable. I remember she sold Ambassador [Amory] Houghton who was the owner of Corning [Corning Glass Works, later Corning, Inc]. I think a 24-flower bouquet, which was really impressive, in a fairly short period of time, to be—and it wasn’t a huge weight, but to get that much lampwork encased was really—it was fun to watch her, evolve that fast—in that short a period of time.

Time stamp: 00:46
Clip 2: Bob Banford speaks about the Tarsitanos watching him and his father, Ray, make paperweights. Clip length: 00:22.

Bob Banford: Tarsitanos [Delmo and Debbie] actually came down, and I didn’t teach them how to make paperweights, but they watched my father and I work, and that was a big thing to help them get started on how they learned. Because as I said, there’s no schools or anywhere you can go, go learn. And at that point, everything was a big secret.

Time stamp: 01:10
Clip 3: Gordon Smith discusses Delmo and Debbie Tarsitano. Clip length: 00:33.

Gordon Smith: Del Tarsitano and Debbie Tarsitano. Debbie was so creative and so different. Her color palette, her choice of how to go about creating flameworked flowers and designs was very unique. And Del Tarsitano, he and I had very similar interests. I think we both liked lizards and snakes and bugs and spiders and all that sort of thing. He did a lot of very earthy motifs in his paperweights, which I have done throughout my entire career.