Harvey littleton

Molly Chmiel Kate Schaefer Visual Merchandising I 15 March 2018 Harvey Littleton Harvey Littleton is an American glass artist who was born in 1922 in Corning, New York. From an early age, he was fascinated by glass and was able to observe and learn about glass properties at Corning Glass Works. At Corning Glass Works, his father was the first physicist to join the newly established research team. Saturday morning visits to Corning Glass Works were routine to Littleton and his father. Later, as a college student at University of Michigan, Littleton worked during the summer at the Corning Glass Works’ Fallbrook Plant.

Here he inspected mold blown coffee pots. The following year, he worked as a mold maker where he made mechanical and electrical parts. Post graduation in 1947, with a degree in industrial design, Littleton made a proposal to the company to create an experimental studio in the factory open to all departments to develop new concepts. To the company glass was seen as an industrial tool rather than an art and after his proposal was shot down, he left the company and turned away from glass. He received his MFA in Ceramics from the Cranbrook Academy of Fine Art in 1951 and shortly after began teaching at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Later, in 1957, he left to study ceramics in Europe where he was reintroduced to blowing glass in a studio. While in Europe he visited artist Jean Sala’s studio and watched him blow glass which proved to Littleton that he could create glass art on his own. Throughout his time in Europe, he visited many glasswork shops and ended up purchasing the tools needed to create glasswork.

When he returned back to America, he opened up an experimental glass workshop in the Toledo Museum of Art. Here, the American Glass Studio movement began. After success with his workshops, he began to integrate glass blowing classes into art schools and universities in order to make glass a normal art medium. After the 1960’s, Littleton began to create many different glass sculptures such as vessels, spheres and tubes. He spent his life learning everything there is to know about glass and experimenting with all kinds of techniques. He passed away on December 13, 2013.

Harvey Littleton is best known for his glass sculptures. He is known as “the father of art glass” Throughout his glass sculpting career, he created many pieces of work that incorporate bright colors. His work typically consists of stripes of solid or multi colored pieces of glass encased in a clear outer layer. Some of these sculptures have pieces sliced off which reveals the colorful middle. Much of his work is curved in shape and is also very abstract.

I had seen Harvey Littleton’s work at the Milwaukee Art Museum without even knowing it. I always thought his glass work was very beautiful. His glass work, especially in person, reminds me of giant pieces of hard candy. I especially love his use of color in his work. The colors selected always look pretty together. I am also a fan of his work because of how clean it looks. His glass tube sculptures always look so smooth and perfect. When he slices a part off, both parts of the work are interesting to look at. Overall, I think Harvey Littleton’s glass work is beautiful especially because of his choice of colors and the sleekness of his designs.

In my prop and two bust forms, I decided to create my designs completely out of smooth glass because it is what Littleton is most famous for. I mimicked his use of clear glass encasing opaque colored glass in my first bust form. My designs also featured curved lines which were

featured in Littleton’s work along with his infamous bright eye catching colors. The sliced look was mimicked in my prop, where a piece of the base is missing. The sliced look was also featured in my first bust form which was shown in the bands of color. Some of Littleton’s work includes tubular glass shapes which inspired me to create the first bust form and the prop to go along with it which both incorporate tubular shapes. The second bust form was inspired by his circular glass work. This bust form was also made completely of glass as well and also features bright and bold colors. The circular pieces of glass are fused together to create a bust form and clear glass is incorporated in the neck and base of the bust form. Through the use of glass and by taking inspiration from Littleton’s designs, I believe my bust form and prop designs represented Harvey Littleton’s work well.

Works Cited “Corning Museum of Glass.” ​All About Glass | Corning Museum of Glass​, www.cmog.org/article/harvey-k-littleton-and-american-studio-glass-movement.

Powley, Tammy. “Alumni Association University of Michigan - Winter 2009.” ​The Father of Art Glass​, University of Michigan, 30 Nov. -1, digitaledition.qwinc.com/publication/?i=13203&article_id=119743&view=articleBrowser&ver= html5#{"issue_id":13203,"view":"articleBrowser","article_id":"119716"}