Paul Stankard talks about Paul Hollister lamenting that Charles Kaziun was not making modern examples of weights.

01:26
Paul Stankard

Paul Stankard talks about Paul Hollister lamenting that Charles Kaziun was not making modern examples of weights. Oral history interview with Paul Stankard by Catherine Whalen and Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, April 28, 2016, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 01:26.

Paul Stankard: So Paul is introduced to the paperweights as a young man, and his interest translated into this Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights. And that was a contribution to the collectors, and especially the collectors of the antique French paperweights. So Paul was interested in the contemporary work, and he went to visit Charles Kaziun, who was the most respected contemporary paperweight maker. And he visited Kaziun at his studio. And I read his critique of Kaziun’s career in The Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights, and he lamented that—I was amazed, he lamented the fact that Kaziun wasn’t doing modern examples; he was re-creating what had been done by the French. And that really made a big impression on me, because I didn’t have an art background at all. I came out of a vocational school and worked in industry, worked as a scientific glassblower, and wanted to make paperweights and these expectations—Paul Hollister really introduced me to creative expectations, or expectations that would allow me to grow and mature as a maker.