Paul Stankard discusses meeting Paul Hollister for the first time. Oral history interview with Paul Stankard, March 23, 2018, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 03:00.

Paul Stankard: I first met Paul Hollister in—I believe was 1970, ‘76, ‘77, at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum [Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass, Neenah, Wisconsin]. The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum in Neenah, Wisconsin has a world class paperweight collection, and they were hosting a glass weekend and I believe it might have been contemporary glass. I was included in this survey. And I was there, and I was walked in, and Paul Hollister was sitting on the floor in front of a display case full of antique French paperweights. And he was busy with his notes and he was kind of evaluating the—I’m not sure, I’m sure he was maybe evaluating the rarity of this work. He’s very scholarly. So I didn’t disturb him, I said, ‘Mr Hollister, My name is Paul Stankard. I’m so happy to meet you.’ ‘Hm. Okay. Mh-mm.’ [laughs] He was very formal. So anyway, [laughs] he knew my work though. And so I got to know him at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum a little bit. And then I would see him at Corning [Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York] and places. What was so interesting, he would go to Gem Antiques [Now closed, Gem Antiques, New York, New York] on Madison Avenue. Gem Antiques was a shop that specialized in antique French paperweight. American art pottery and paperweights, glass paperweights. So he followed my work by visiting Gem Antiques and then in the late seventies he followed my work being exhibited at Heller Gallery [Heller Gallery, New York, New York]. So he was very complimentary. He appreciated my point of view. He liked the idea that I wasn’t—he liked the idea that I wasn’t copying the French, and bringing this whole idea of native flowers and bringing native flower motifs into my work. And he was—and I don’t know when we started talking over the phone but we would call each other up. And we would talk and he would call me about contemporary glass. Interestingly enough I collected contemporary glass. As a paperweight maker, I wasn’t emotionally involved in the artists’—I wasn’t competing with any of the artists doing contemporary glass. I was kind of in my own realm, the paperweight world. I didn’t feel—so I enjoyed collecting contemporary glass. And Paul and I had that in common, and also Paul had his, his knowledge and interest in the paperweights.