Visions in Glass...continued

   The marbles proved to be an invaluable addition to the workshop. Easier to re-melt than making a batch from scratchwas, they offered a workable range in temperature once molten. The resultant batches were exactly what Littleton had been looking for: highly workable and of manageable quantities, and workshop members were able to devote time to working the glass rather than producing it. A second workshop was planned for June.
   After the second workshop, Littleton took the Toledo furnace back to the University of Wisconsin, where he began the first glassblowing graduate program in the country. But the future of studio glass was anything but secure. Glassblowing facilities required space and money. The first benefactor of studio glass surfaced when Dominick Labino donated $1,000 toward the University of Wisconsin's glassblowing program. "Nick's gift allowed us to get space on campus. It was one of several factors that got things going. Nick understood the difficulty we would have in doing this on a university campus, so he helped us do it. His contribution was the seed," recalls Littleton.
   Through Labino, Littleton acquired the support of an industry member--the same support he sought but failed to receive from his father. As Littleton explains, his father "really felt that I was trying to turn the clock back. Well, Nick, I thik, understood that was not our interest, so Nick was able to do what my father couldn't. Nick was able to help us, encourage us and a year later, Nick was doing it on his own," he says. With Labino's backing, Littleton pursued his goal of educating students in the use of glass as an artistic medium. "It was my interest to bring glass into the hands of young art students to see what they could do with the material," explains Littleton.
   Within a few years, a diaspora of Littleton's students (Tom McGlauchlin, Iowa University; Robert Fritz, San Jose State University; Marvin Lipofsky, University of California at Berkeley; and workshop administrator and member, Norm Schulman, Rhode Island School of Design) carried glassblowing programs across the country. And as studio glassblowing lured increasing numbers of students, programs sprouted up at more universities nationwide.

Continued