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Object Name:

Goblet

Title:

Commemorative Pokal Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the 1962 Toledo Glass Workshops and Fritz Dreisbach's 30 Years of Working with Glass

Maker(s):

Dreisbach, Fritz (American, b. 1941), Artist

Dalton, Lark, Assistant

Pilchuck Glass School, Studio

Place Made:

United States, WA, Lopez Island

United States, WA, Seattle

Accession Number:

93.4.26

Dimensions:

Overall H: 54.8 cm; Rim Diam: 16.2 cm

Location:

On Display

Date:

1993

Credit Line:

8th Rakow Commission, purchased with funds from the Juliette K. and Leonard S. Rakow Endowment Fund

Web Description:

A studio glass pioneer, Fritz Dreisbach is an influential teacher, artist, and historian. He has spent his career teaching and demonstrating glassblowing across the United States and around the world. Dreisbach has also devoted much of his time to documenting the American Studio Glass movement's early years. The images and inscriptions on this Pokal chronicle important names and events in the history of American studio glass. This Pokal was inspired by the large toasting vessels made in Germany from the 17th to mid-19th centuries. These vessels were often decorated with elaborate motifs and inscriptions. Like its precursors, the Dreisbach Pokal has both Hochschnitt (relief) and Tiefschnitt (intaglio) engraving. Images include the American eagle holding a blowpipe, jacks, ladle, and shears in its talons; the hot shop at the Pilchuck Glass School; and Dominick Labino's furnace for melting glass. The applied and carved colorless snake wrap on the stem symbolizes the ancient Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio. The inscriptions mention the seminal 1962 Toledo Glass Workshops at The Toledo Museum of Art, the first important studio glass exhibitions, influential artists in the early days, and university and summer glass programs across the United States.

More Info

Department:

Postwar and Contemporary

Provenance:

Dreisbach, Fritz (American, b. 1941), Source

1993

Category:

Contemporary

Studio Glass

Color:

Colorless, cobalt blue, purple

colorless

cobalt blue

Technique:

blown, applied, cut, engraved

cut glass

Inscription:

Front center quadrant: (In rectangular box) THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATING/XXX (first and last "X" have linear decoration, center "X" is carved in relief)/ AMERICAN ARTISTS BLOWING GLASS (in a rectangular box) Intaglio carved American eagle with outstretched wings and turned head, breastplate in form of shield enclosing the letters): U.S.A.; (talons of eagle hold blowpipe and jacks, ladle and shears) Front Left quadrant: (Drawing of a small electric kiln with open door radiating "heat waves" and encloses a rectangle of melted glass enamels, gloved hand of artist reaches into kiln with dental pick to swirl the enamel colors): MY 1st HOT GLASS/K.H.S. ART/1958/Dental Pick Swirls/in glass enamels on/copper plate./Lots of encouragement/and instruction from/ Mr. Dennis Chassick at/ Kenmore High School 1954-1958 (At right: Drawing of a small Fritz Dreisbach vessel enclosing inscription): 1966/TOLEDO/GLASS/NATIONAL./ (Down left side of vessel): U. of Wisconsin; (Down right side of vessel): TOLEDO (Drawing of two-handled vessels with "+" patterned decoration, inscription down sides): Penland/Cu + Ag in 475/1968/TMA (Drawing of 10th Anniversary goblet made for the Toledo Museum of Art: Down left side): GLASS EXHIBITION 1972/ (Down right side): A.C.C./& T.M.A./ (below): Haystack/w/Jack/Schmidt (Drawing of a building with pitched roof enclosing inscription): SUI (State University of Iowa)/OLD FOUNDRY/ (At left side): 1st DAY: A 1" gas line/and a big big/pile of bricks!/On the other side of/the Iowa River/from "real" art we/have ceramics,/glass, foundry/in W.W. II temp./buildings (At right side): Stuart Eddy would not let me in the painting/class of David Hockney 1964, SUI/HEY Tom (arrow) let me unload the annealer. T om McGlauchlin, Clayton Bailey, Jim McKinnell & Dr. Seiberling/were my teachers & support at Iowa. (Group of Fritz Dreisbach objects with inscriptions): (Lobster, inscribed above): Haystack School/(below) Francis Merritt (Sack-shaped vessel): MARQUIS/STUDIO/FREELAND (Palm tree): FLORIDA/Boy,/it sure looks easy !! (Turtle): Harvey Leafgreen's/turtle (Snail-cup): PILCHUCK (Fish): Stan (Westlung) & Harvey (Goblet with flamingo stem inscribed down both sides): 20 Year dream/finally realized/Dante Marioni (The Farm): O.U. w/Rob Levin This might be worse than a retrospective! (Pair of "Lariat" goblets with loops enclosing): CRAFT/ART Bill Brown's Penland ("Mongo" vase): Ben Moore Studio/Thanks for/the WET FOOT/idea, Ben! TRAPED (sic), EMPTY, SPACE (Drawing of stained glass window): Gary Noffke & I both wanted to do a/stained glass window; but he was afraid/of the glass & I was afraid of the metal. Noffke Guerin/Manusos Dreisbach Front Right quadrant: SEMINAL TOLEDO GLASS WORKSHOPS/1962/MARCH & JUNE/BRINGING HOT GLASS TO THE ARTISTS Some laughed & said it couldn't be done/BUT IT WORKS/see (with arrow)/It looks so/easy &/obvious/now (Drawing of furnace and annealer designed and built by Dominick Labino):

inscription

Engraved Front center and right quadrant

THE/FAMOUS/LABINO/GLASS/FURNACE& ANNEALING OVEN J.M. #/475/ MARBLES (upside down)/This furnace became the benchmark/of the GLASS artists all over/America. SMALL; COMPACT/MELTER and REHEATING TOO!/ (drawing of a mechanical device): Simple clock and variable transformer/TURN DOWN/MECHANISM/ with EXCENTRIC (sic)/wheel and string/to achieve ideal/annealing cycles/Labino's designs were used in most/institutions (arrow) Including the First/World Crafts Council Meeting in N.Y.C./at Columbia University in 1964./Including over 100 schools and hundreds/of private glass studios too!/E.D. Libby founded the T.M.A. to promote EDUCATION/appreciation/of all/ARTS (arrow) and esp./GLASS T.M.A./ (depiction of Museum facade): TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART - TOLEDO, OHIO The real important unsung heros (sic) of/1962 workshops: they insured the sucess (sic) !!/ *NORM SCHULMAN****/HARVEY LEAFGREEN/AND/it was H.K./Littleton who/carried little glass/nuggets to all the/conferences in the 1950s (late)/and early 1960s to "show/that he melted/glass without industry!/Both Alfred U. & Corning Museum/said "No thanks," but then museum/Toledo said "ok."/Littleton worked in the/University Art Schools/to promote himself and/glass. He sent/students all over/the U.S.A. to/start glass! Back quadrant: (In a rectangular box): CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS BLOWING GLASS/XXX (first X engraved with "martelé" surface, second deeply channel carved, third incised with parallel lines) (In a rectangular box): EXHIBITIONS, LECTURES, DEMONSTRATIONS, CONFERENCES (In center section of raised horizontal ribbon motif): POKAL/DREISBACH (Map of United States in relief with engraved dot at points of Dreisbach-related events) (Beneath map inscribed in script): My Road Show/1964-1994+/drawing of two vehicles-Yellow Lion Blue Malibu (At right side of map): Gesunhuits glas/mit Tiefchnitt u Hockschnitt (Near base): inscribed self-portrait silhouette of artist The decoration of the stem and base is divided into front and back halves Reading from top to bottom: Stem front half: (Hollow baluster-shaped stem (five sections) and base, top of stem decorated with applied colorless crimped ruffled band; beginning at second section from top are two somewhat symmetrical applied looped handles of colorless) *THE FIRST IMPORTANT*/GLASS EXHIBITIONS/were in the Toledo Museum/in 1966 & 68 (1970 was an/invitational (arrow) NOT open/like '66 & '68) The Chicago Art/Institute and the American/Craft Council Museum/also held early shows/for Littleton, Joel Myers/Dale Chihuly & James S./Carpenter and others./Toledo discontinued the/support of our new glass/work BUT Corning/increased their interest/AND support just in time/In addition to glass exhibitions C.M.G./ also supported the GLASS ART SOCIETY/Founded in 1971 with support & lots/of encouragement from Bill Brown at/Penland School. G.A.S. continues to/promote the glass arts worldwide/G.A.S. would not exist today without/the high energy of Marvin Lipofsky Henry Halem/Sylvia Vigiletti Audrey Handler Bill Warmus (Mid-section of stem decorated with crisscross chain decoration of applied colorless above inscribed words that begin on opposite side and spiral all the way around and down the stem between the coils of an applied and carved colorless snake wrap representing Ohio's "Great Serpent Mound", beneath head of snake are two carved concentric rings also symbolizing the Ohio archaeological site) ERWIN EISCH is a very important figure in the contemporary/glass art world because he is an artist working with glass (arrow) trained as a/painter and sculptor but with sensitivity and compassion for all humanity/Erwin's work is a strong influence on ALL glass artists AND on me too; so therefore/his text must surround this entire piece (arrow) Das ist Alles. Danke, Grüs Got (sic)! Wiedersehen

inscription

Engraved Front right and part of stem

(Fifth knop inscription beginning at tip of snake tongue): An extremely important influence on the American scene: /was the monumental sculpture of (in circle) MONTREAL/EXPO 1966 (sic: Montreal Expo was 1967)/Jaroslava Brychtová and/Stanislav Libenský Conferences and Organizations like G.A.S.,G.A.A.C., B.A.G., NCECA, Frauenau, Nový Bor & many others/were very important to the development of the glass movement - and to all craft areas too./The inner action and influences and dynamics broaden the scope and breadth of the glass work./When we see how other artist work it helps everyone grow & expand./Notice: MARVIN LIPOFSKY IS THE AMBASSADOR of GLASS/decreed 1978 F.D. pres. G.A.S. Stem back half: THE IMPORTANT/EARLY INFLUENCES/ON MY ART CAREER/ Dale A. & Ruthana Dreisbach/my parents encouraged my/artistic trials and even sent me/to the Akron Art Institute/for "oil painting classes" Their/support made it possible/for me to study art/instead of continuing a dull/mathematics job in Elyria H.S./DAD gave me the help I needed./Aunt Eleanor Dreisbach was/and is like a second mom AND/Her naivite (sic) and discipline were strong/inspirations. Mom Dad & Aunt E were great/role model teachers: also Profs. Shaw/and Johnson at Hiram College '62/My artists influences: Picasso, Van Gogh/Rodin, Monet, Oldenberg (sic), Pollack/Don Reitz, Gary Lee Noffke, Rob Adamson/have all been big inspiration to me. Base front half: The glass community/is spread all over/The world now!/Conferences and exhibitions in the U.S.A., Europe and beyond and in Japan too. (Script is interspersed among depictions of works by: Marvin Lipofsky, Robert "Bob" Naess, Dan Dailey, Dale Chihuly, Colin Reid, Richard Marquis, Erwin Eisch, Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová, Claus Moje, Bertil Vallien, Henry Halem) There is so much to record/in 30 years/that I need a much/bigger goblet and smaller diamonds. And the school programs are/too numerous to list, but here goes: / Pilchuck, Haystack, Vail (with diagonal slash), Penland, RISD/RIT-SAC, Illinois: So & Normal & U of IL/Kent State, CIA, Bowling Green, OSU,/Alfred, Newcomb, Mass Art, CCAC/San Francisco State, Chico, San Jose, Cal. Poly, Bakersfield/Palomar College San Bernardino UCSD/UGA Americas, Kansas (with diagonal slash), Washington Univ. Tyler Detroit Center for Crafts/U of Wisc-Madison & River Falls Virginia Commonwealth U. Appalachian Center for Crafts/Pratt Fine Art Center, Studio Access to Glass, Glass Axis, NY Experimental, Wheaton Base back half: THIS POKAL WAS BLOWN IN/LARK DALTON'S STUDIO ON/Lopez Island Washington and/engraved at Pilchuck,RIT-SAC & Maya's. (Inscribed drawing of Pilchuck Glass School blowing pad and other buildings amid pine trees) DALE CHIHULY/ANNE HAUBERG/JOHN HAUBERG/1971 (Rim of base has been cut, ground, and polished, in scallop pattern with interspersed with sections of single, triple, five-notches; base is ground flat, wide ground and polished concave are, pontil inscribed "7" within pontil); signed with inscribed silhouette self-portrait near base of bowl of back quadrant.

inscription

Engraved Stem and base

Description

Primary Description:

Goblet, "Commemorative Pokal Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the 1962 Toledo Glass Workshops and Fritz Dreisbach's 30 Years of Working with Glass". Colorless, cobalt blue, manganese purple non-lead glass; some "Bondo" polymer on inside of joint for cushioning; blown with hot applications, hochschnitt (ribbon and map in relief), tiefschnitt (intaglio eagle) engraving and carving, diamond wheels and burrs, alumina and silica carbide wheels, polished with cerium oxide, pumice, wooden wheels, felt and horsehair wheels, some engraving with flexible shaft, some diamond stylus stippling and scratching, "matting" of map was done with a blend of diamond and cereum grits. Large amethyst goblet in two parts (bowl, hollow stem/foot), with overall engraving and carving (polished and unpolished); deep ovoid bowl with fire polished lipless rim; directly below rim is band of cut decoration of alternating large polished prunties and non-repeating pattern of lines and smaller prunties; bowl tapers sharply towards solid colorless ground shank that fits into hollow baluster-shaped stem with hollow conical foot; stem decorated with applied colorless decoration including ruffled and crimped wrap at top, two semi-symmetrical multiple-looped handles on upper half of stem, lower half of stem wound with snake in high relief with facet-carving to resemble scales, forked tongue, below head are shallow carved concentric circles. The decoration of the bowl is divided into four quadrants.