Oral history interview with Harvey K. Littleton
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hrs., 10 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Littleton, Harvey K.
label: Interviewer
content: Byrd, Joan Falconer
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: American Craft Council
label: Names
content: Ann Arbor Potters Guild
label: Names
content: Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.)
label: Names
content: Corning Glass Works
label: Names
content: Cranbrook Academy of Art -- Students
label: Names
content: Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
label: Names
content: Midwest Designer-Craftsmen
label: Names
content: Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Penland School of Handicrafts
label: Names
content: Pilchuck School
label: Names
content: Renwick Gallery
label: Names
content: University of Michigan -- Students
label: Names
content: Braden, Norah, 1901-
label: Names
content: Brown, William J. (William Joseph), 1923-1992
label: Names
content: Dreisbach, Fritz
label: Names
content: Eames, Charles
label: Names
content: Eisch, Erwin, 1927-
label: Names
content: Fredericks, Marshall M., 1908-1998
label: Names
content: Hamada, Shōji, 1894-1978
label: Names
content: Marioni, Dante, 1964-
label: Names
content: Milles, Carl, 1875-1955
label: Names
content: Turner, Robert Chapman, 1913-2005
label: Names
content: Voulkos, Peter, 1924-2002
topic: label: Topic
content: Glass artists -- North Carolina -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Potters -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Printmakers -- North Carolina -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Prints -- Technique
label: Topic
content: Decorative arts
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Littleton, Harvey K.
label: Interviewer
content: Byrd, Joan Falconer
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Harvey K. Littleton (1922- ) is a glass artist, potter, sculptor, and printmaker from Wisconsin and Spruce Pine, N.C. Joan Falconer Byrd (1939-) ia a professor in the art department of Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, N.C.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 36 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2001 March 15
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.little01
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Harvey K. Littleton conducted 2001 March 15, by Joan Falconer Byrd, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Littleton's home, Spruce Pine, N.C.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Littleton speaks of his family background including the work of his father [Jesse Talbot Littleton] at Corning Glassworks, and his early experiences with glass at Corning. He discusses his studies at the University of Michigan in physics and his switch to sculpture; his studies at Cranbrook Academy, in 1941, and his teachers Marshall Fredericks and Carl Milles; his studies on industrial design; becoming a potter; and working at Corning Glassworks, in the summers, inspecting hand-blown coffee pots and top-of-the-stove ware. He discusses his service in the 849th Signal Intelligence Unit in North Africa and Italy during WWII; studying with Norah Braden, at the Brighton School of Art, in England; the importance of, "A Potter's Book," by Bernard Leach; teaching pottery at night, in Ann Arbor, Michigan; the beginnings of the Ann Arbor Potters Guild; making his own potters' wheels; serving on the board of Penland School of Crafts; the development of "American" art and the impact of the GI Bill on the creation and expansion of art departments; the "master-slave apprentice system"; "the genius of Shoji Hamada"; the properties of porcelain; artist communities at Penland and Cranbrook; the influence of Bill Brown, director of the Penland School of Crafts; art education and the impact of the MFA; Black Mountain College, Pilchuck Glass School, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; problems with the European educational system; the importance of Erwin Eisch's work on his development; his relationship with galleries and museums, particularly the Museum of Modern Art, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and American Craft Museum; and consignment laws. He also comments on the founding of the Midwest Designer Craftsmen; his involvement with the American Crafts Council (ACC) and the distinction between "the indigenous craftsman" and the "artist-craftsman"; American Crafts Council fairs; his printmaking; his techniques of sandblasting; teaching vitreography; and his plans for opening a print gallery. He recalls Charles Eames, Peter Voulkos, Shoji Hamada, Robert Turner, Dante Marioni, Fritz Dreisbach, and others.