Marvin Lipofsky - Living Legend

April 25, 11:18 AMSF Contemporary Art ExaminerMicaela Van Zwoll

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Photo courtesy of Marvin Lipofsky Studio.

Fine art glass sculptors, such as Dale Chihuly, and his proteges at the Pilchuk Glass School, line the Pacific Northwest from Washington, all the way down to Jamex and Einar de la Torre’s studios, traversing California’s southernmost border town and a sliver of Mexico.  In between lies the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the richest repositories of award-winning glass sculpture in the world.  Local glass artists such as Julie Alland, Jaime Guerrero, John Lewis, Clifford Rainey, Randy Strong, Pamina Traylor, Chuck Vannatta, and Dana Zed, are but a few.  The most exciting of these artists is Berkeley resident, Marvin Lipofsky, an internationally recognized, and understated, pioneer of the contemporary glass movement, whose sculpture and educational efforts over the past 40+ years are fundamental to establishing glass as a fine art medium.

Originally from Chicago, Marvin Lipofsky lives in his beautifully modern Berkeley home studio, where he continues to sculpt.  He arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1964, right after becoming one of Harvey Littleton's first graduate students in glass at the University of Wisconsin in 1964 with MS and MFA degrees in sculpture.  Attracted to the newfound freedoms that were shaping San Francisco as the destination for an elite and liberal intelligentsia, Lipofsky made his way to the West Coast.  He built a glass blowing studio and introduced glass as a fine art material at the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Design in 1964, where he taught until 1972.  Concurrently, he founded the glass department at the California College of Arts and Crafts (CCA) in 1967, and headed the department as a full professor until 1987.

Lipofsky’s interest in the international community and his many travels, set an educational standard that many young glass artists continue to emulate in their own explorations in glass.  By mining the riches of diverse cultural environments, from Asia to Europe, Lipofsky imbued his work with impressions of each culture.  Collaborations with master glassblowers such as Leendert van der Linden in Holland, Gianni Toso and Lino Tagliapietra in Italy, Petr Novotny and Stefan Stefko in Czech Republic, Jan-Erik Reitzman in Sweden, Unto Suominen in Finland and Mitsunobu Sagawa in Japan are an important aspect of his collection, resulting in sculptures created at glass blowing factories and studios in Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Peoples Republic of China, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, and the USA.

A prestigiously honored artist, Lipofsky was bestowed with two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, the Living Treasure of California Award, and an Honorary Member of the Hungarian Glass Society.  In 1992, he was elected to the American Craft Council College of Fellows, and in 1998, was named trustee emeritus of the American Crafts Council.  He is also a founding member of the Glass Art Society (GAS), and counts among his GAS awards a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.  He serves as a trustee for the Board of Trustees of the American Craft Council, The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, as the President of the Faculty Assembly, and as a faculty representative on the Board of Trustees of the California College of Arts.

Marvin Lipofsky’s next solo exhibition takes place in San Francisco in September 2009.