00:01:48.085 --> 00:01:52.410
- You know, I sometimes
smile to myself knowing

00:01:52.410 --> 00:01:57.300
that I've been sitting behind
a bench torch for 62 years,

00:01:58.770 --> 00:02:01.980
and I have as much interest

00:02:01.980 --> 00:02:03.840
and enthusiasm

00:02:04.830 --> 00:02:07.500
and hopes for the future today

00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:11.550
as I had, you know, the
beginning of my career,

00:02:16.110 --> 00:02:20.670
when I think back over
my career, what really

00:02:20.670 --> 00:02:22.710
excited me, motivated me,

00:02:22.710 --> 00:02:27.270
it was so important to me
to invent a new language,

00:02:27.270 --> 00:02:29.670
to interpret native flowers in glass.

00:02:37.320 --> 00:02:40.020
- He transcended the paperweight world.

00:02:40.020 --> 00:02:42.480
The form, the scale is

00:02:42.480 --> 00:02:45.120
what most traditionally is a paperweight,

00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:48.000
but Paul takes it
somewhere else completely.

00:02:49.830 --> 00:02:52.740
Some of them are just absolute treasures.

00:02:52.740 --> 00:02:56.940
I mean, they make people
suspend their sense of reality.

00:02:56.940 --> 00:03:00.310
You look at it and you'll see
a plant that you recognize

00:03:00.310 --> 00:03:03.640
and you go, how did that get in there?

00:03:03.640 --> 00:03:07.210
- His work for me evokes
this childlike wonder,

00:03:07.210 --> 00:03:09.975
a little world that you can
hold in your hand that you know,

00:03:09.975 --> 00:03:12.910
the closer you look at it,
the more there is to uncover.

00:03:12.910 --> 00:03:14.470
It's undeniably exciting.

00:03:15.610 --> 00:03:19.480
- He's someone that's
being recognized worldwide

00:03:19.480 --> 00:03:20.830
for his art form.

00:03:22.150 --> 00:03:24.435
To see the beauty in it and the realism

00:03:24.435 --> 00:03:26.050
and the different techniques.

00:03:26.050 --> 00:03:30.880
It just becomes this almost
miracle inside of glass.

00:04:10.750 --> 00:04:13.990
- Well, I was aware of paperweights,

00:04:13.990 --> 00:04:17.560
but it certainly did not
hold an interest to me.

00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:20.680
What I saw was primarily
the historical weights,

00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:24.795
which were purely
decorative objects, which

00:04:24.795 --> 00:04:28.480
to my knowledge at that time,
didn't carry any message

00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:31.390
beyond being a desk object

00:04:31.390 --> 00:04:34.630
or an actual functional paperweight.

00:04:34.630 --> 00:04:36.910
So the world of Paperweights,

00:04:36.910 --> 00:04:38.590
which was already highly developed,

00:04:38.590 --> 00:04:42.130
it had a big collecting
community of people like Colette,

00:04:43.150 --> 00:04:45.370
Truman Capote, collected Paperweights.

00:04:45.370 --> 00:04:47.140
You know, there was a lot there,

00:04:47.140 --> 00:04:49.750
but it was not my cup of tea at all.

00:04:54.280 --> 00:04:56.680
- Well, paperweights were a phenomenon

00:04:56.680 --> 00:05:01.680
of the 19th century in France,
and in England and Bohemia

00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:03.700
and a paperweight,

00:05:03.700 --> 00:05:06.550
the concept of it is that

00:05:07.450 --> 00:05:11.950
a glass decoration is encased
in a really high quality dome,

00:05:11.950 --> 00:05:13.870
they call it, of crystal.

00:05:13.870 --> 00:05:17.110
And the shape of the
dome magnifies the stuff

00:05:17.110 --> 00:05:18.910
that is being shown off.

00:05:19.870 --> 00:05:23.710
- Most paperweights I
had an anathema towards,

00:05:23.710 --> 00:05:26.020
I just didn't care for them.

00:05:26.020 --> 00:05:29.620
But then I was introduced to Paul

00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:35.080
and Paul's work immediately drew me in,

00:05:35.080 --> 00:05:37.570
and I started to go

00:05:37.570 --> 00:05:39.730
and look further into
the paperweight world

00:05:39.730 --> 00:05:42.190
to see if I had been missing something.

00:05:42.190 --> 00:05:46.600
And I found out that
Paul was a totally unique

00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:49.630
person in this field,

00:05:49.630 --> 00:05:52.750
and that he was  taking, let's say,

00:05:52.750 --> 00:05:56.680
a traditional craft form
someplace it had never gone before.

00:05:56.680 --> 00:05:57.950
- And it was remarkable.

00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:05.990
- Paul started out making
very simple designs.

00:06:09.110 --> 00:06:13.190
He then moved to different
forms, mastered flowers,

00:06:13.190 --> 00:06:16.520
and then continued on until
he makes the masterpieces

00:06:16.520 --> 00:06:17.870
that he does today.

00:06:24.860 --> 00:06:28.670
I think that Paul's impact
is that he exposed artists

00:06:28.670 --> 00:06:32.240
to become flame workers,
to show that realism

00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:35.450
and absolute beauty has a place in the

00:06:35.450 --> 00:06:36.980
studio glass movement.

00:06:36.980 --> 00:06:39.140
It doesn't have to be a large sculpture.

00:06:39.140 --> 00:06:41.810
It could be small and full of beauty.

00:06:49.700 --> 00:06:52.760
- I never call Paul a paperweight artist

00:06:52.760 --> 00:06:54.680
because it's just too limiting for him.

00:06:57.920 --> 00:06:59.660
His productivity

00:06:59.660 --> 00:07:03.830
and his boundless energy
has given him the time

00:07:03.830 --> 00:07:08.090
to just get phenomenally
skilled at what he does,

00:07:08.090 --> 00:07:10.970
and it's left him, I think,

00:07:10.970 --> 00:07:13.100
possibly a ahead of anybody else.

00:07:25.310 --> 00:07:29.293
- The supreme question about
a work of art is

00:07:29.293 --> 00:07:31.928
out of how deep a life does it spring?

00:07:33.380 --> 00:07:34.520
James Joyce.

00:07:50.135 --> 00:07:51.620
- Growing up in North Attleborough,

00:07:51.620 --> 00:07:55.315
Massachusetts on Division Street,
I had a very short walk to

00:07:55.315 --> 00:07:57.680
what I thought was an endless forest,

00:07:58.820 --> 00:08:03.110
and there was ponds, streams, hills,

00:08:03.110 --> 00:08:05.810
and I was fascinated by that.

00:08:08.750 --> 00:08:12.320
I remember I would pick
flowers for my mom, mostly,

00:08:12.320 --> 00:08:15.145
probably daisies, and bring 'em home,

00:08:15.145 --> 00:08:16.880
and was so proud to give 'em to mom.

00:08:21.710 --> 00:08:25.310
There was a curiosity that I'm
not sure where it came from,

00:08:25.310 --> 00:08:28.190
but I would leave the
house around seven o'clock.

00:08:28.190 --> 00:08:29.570
You know, growing up with seven

00:08:29.570 --> 00:08:32.150
or eight kids at the time,
you know, you'd just walk out

00:08:32.150 --> 00:08:34.565
and show up at lunch.

00:08:34.565 --> 00:08:37.520
You know, it was so,
you had so much freedom.

00:08:43.130 --> 00:08:47.540
I really enjoyed picking
blueberries in July and swamps.

00:08:47.540 --> 00:08:50.810
I loved the swamp. I could
get lost in the swamp.

00:08:50.810 --> 00:08:55.650
It was fascinating to
paddle your duck boat around

00:08:55.650 --> 00:08:58.140
and you felt you were a pioneer.

00:09:04.500 --> 00:09:07.290
You know, I think now maybe
it all came together into

00:09:07.290 --> 00:09:10.260
what nurtured this obsession with me

00:09:10.260 --> 00:09:12.285
to interpret nature in class.

00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:40.685
I feel fortunate here I am, you know,

00:09:40.685 --> 00:09:42.840
reliving my childhood every day.

00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:47.190
Here I am pushing 80, you know, I'm

00:09:47.190 --> 00:09:50.250
thinking about childhood experiences

00:09:50.250 --> 00:09:54.360
and looking at past work
based on childhood experiences.

00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:57.240
It's like, gosh, it's
kind of strange in a way,

00:09:57.240 --> 00:09:59.855
but that's what art is about,

00:09:59.855 --> 00:10:01.230
expressing what you care about.

00:10:08.585 --> 00:10:09.418
- Oh, beautiful!

00:10:27.285 --> 00:10:30.660
- When I walk in my studio,
I feel like I'm a monk.

00:10:32.250 --> 00:10:34.440
Both my parents were devout Catholics.

00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:36.840
So that was the background. From day one.

00:10:37.950 --> 00:10:42.030
I've been dedicated to the
idea of interpreting nature

00:10:42.030 --> 00:10:44.370
in glass as a prayer.

00:10:44.370 --> 00:10:46.710
In a way, my labor is my prayer.

00:10:47.850 --> 00:10:51.480
The Benedictine monastery
has that at their motto,

00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:55.290
and I love that concept,
to labor is to pray.

00:11:03.510 --> 00:11:07.350
My prayer is that the
excellence that I pursue

00:11:08.310 --> 00:11:13.310
will bring joy to people, you
know, and, in a simple way.

00:11:13.650 --> 00:11:15.990
I want to do excellent work in order

00:11:15.990 --> 00:11:19.650
to respect God's beautiful creations.

00:11:43.590 --> 00:11:47.485
I feel so thankful that at 79,

00:11:47.485 --> 00:11:49.380
I still am very much in the game.

00:11:56.140 --> 00:11:59.110
At this stage, I'm
working on a new design,

00:12:00.010 --> 00:12:02.950
and I'm titling it Celestial Bouquet.

00:12:06.910 --> 00:12:11.440
I wanted the design to
be ethereal, heavenly,

00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:13.900
and outside of earth, you know?

00:12:15.010 --> 00:12:19.450
And I started to really experiment

00:12:19.450 --> 00:12:22.420
and I wasn't happy with how it was going.

00:12:22.420 --> 00:12:25.330
And I made a breakthrough
recently with Gold Leaf

00:12:27.130 --> 00:12:30.280
and Dave Graeber, he is very skilled.

00:12:30.280 --> 00:12:32.560
Dave helps me with the gold leaf.

00:12:36.460 --> 00:12:38.530
I'm handing him the
gold leaf with tweezers,

00:12:38.530 --> 00:12:40.155
and it's floating in the air,

00:12:40.155 --> 00:12:45.155
and he taps it with the hot
glass and then he rolls it up.

00:12:45.310 --> 00:12:47.440
So I said, Dave, how many,

00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:50.110
how many leaves have we put on this one?

00:12:50.110 --> 00:12:53.590
He said, I think six. I said,
let's put a few more on there.

00:12:54.460 --> 00:12:58.510
And so this series with the golden cup

00:12:59.650 --> 00:13:01.605
is really special

00:13:01.605 --> 00:13:05.920
because I think it suggests
the sacred, sacred art.

00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:20.680
This is my week's work in preparation

00:13:20.680 --> 00:13:23.770
for this morning when we
encapsulate it in clear glass.

00:13:25.540 --> 00:13:30.540
Now Dave's taking the moss
material that we pulled down

00:13:31.030 --> 00:13:34.060
and we're tucking it
around the golden orb,

00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:39.400
and then I'll use that as a way

00:13:39.400 --> 00:13:43.030
to seal on the colored glass
flowers and the leaves.

00:13:45.010 --> 00:13:49.900
I've been innovative within
that very, very small parameter.

00:13:49.900 --> 00:13:51.700
You know, I'm working with a two

00:13:51.700 --> 00:13:54.880
and a half, three inch
diameter format, trying

00:13:54.880 --> 00:13:57.790
to do something that is poetic,

00:13:58.870 --> 00:14:03.295
I like the word intelligent,
and make it happen.

00:14:29.645 --> 00:14:30.855
- Okay, We're ready!

00:14:49.660 --> 00:14:50.740
- When we're putting together work,

00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:52.040
you're working all your senses.

00:14:52.040 --> 00:14:55.280
So you can't have any distractions

00:14:55.280 --> 00:14:59.540
because the actual process
itself doesn't take that long.

00:14:59.540 --> 00:15:03.950
You know, you're working
hours and hours making components,

00:15:03.950 --> 00:15:05.270
and then you switch that gear.

00:15:05.270 --> 00:15:07.850
You go from artists to craftsmen.

00:15:07.850 --> 00:15:08.965
Totally two different mindsets.

00:15:08.965 --> 00:15:10.790
You have to have those two mindsets.

00:15:10.790 --> 00:15:14.540
So within that time period, you
really have to stay focused.

00:15:14.540 --> 00:15:15.680
A lot of things are go wrong.

00:15:17.330 --> 00:15:21.950
- Thank you Lord. Woo!
It's going to be a major piece.

00:15:21.950 --> 00:15:24.020
- I got it. Close...perfect.

00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:33.650
- When I look at a flower,
I don't think that God,

00:15:34.790 --> 00:15:37.460
after creating man, took a rest

00:15:37.460 --> 00:15:40.550
and then went around creating the plants.

00:15:40.550 --> 00:15:43.850
I think that he worked
just as hard on the flower,

00:15:43.850 --> 00:15:46.790
the plant kingdom, as he
did on the human kingdom.

00:15:59.270 --> 00:16:01.086
- Alright, here we go.

00:16:01.086 --> 00:16:01.919
- Let me see it.

00:16:10.805 --> 00:16:15.230
- Perfect. Whoa. Woo hoo. Woo. We did it.

00:16:15.230 --> 00:16:19.175
We put it to bed. We did it. Woo.

00:16:20.395 --> 00:16:21.395
We did it.

00:16:32.235 --> 00:16:36.285
- This is exciting. Ah, okay.

00:16:42.410 --> 00:16:43.243
Hmm.

00:16:47.630 --> 00:16:52.630
Wow. I like the gold in
there. I really like the gold.

00:16:53.330 --> 00:16:57.475
I'm disappointed with
the color of the flower

00:16:57.475 --> 00:16:59.180
inside the golden cup.

00:17:00.350 --> 00:17:03.680
I thought it was going to
translate into something very

00:17:03.680 --> 00:17:06.170
intelligent, but it didn't.

00:17:07.220 --> 00:17:10.730
And I put a lot of
emotional energy into this.

00:17:10.730 --> 00:17:14.240
I was on a high, when this went
in the oven, I was buzzing.

00:17:15.530 --> 00:17:17.078
I thought, whoa, I did it.

00:17:18.170 --> 00:17:22.970
- I did it.
- 40 hours. I was, I was floating.

00:17:24.320 --> 00:17:25.610
Took it out of the oven, looked at it,

00:17:25.610 --> 00:17:29.960
and thought...didn't do it,

00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:31.225
didn't do it, but I will do it.

00:17:31.225 --> 00:17:33.110
I'll benefit a great
deal from this effort.

00:17:34.070 --> 00:17:39.070
I'm trying to develop a
new aesthetic in the floral

00:17:39.110 --> 00:17:41.030
paperweight tradition,

00:17:43.670 --> 00:17:44.780
and this falls short.

00:17:44.780 --> 00:17:48.710
So, you know, it's, it's a disappointment.

00:17:48.710 --> 00:17:52.680
But still, you know, my failures lead

00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:54.450
to my successes.

00:18:12.210 --> 00:18:14.520
Growing up in the Stankard household,

00:18:14.520 --> 00:18:16.560
my parents promoted the idea

00:18:16.560 --> 00:18:18.360
that education was very important.

00:18:19.290 --> 00:18:23.250
And I felt, I felt a little awkward

00:18:23.250 --> 00:18:26.880
because I wanted to be an educated person,

00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:29.160
but my grades were like a disaster.

00:18:34.080 --> 00:18:36.990
I went through school as
an undiagnosed dyslexic,

00:18:37.860 --> 00:18:39.060
and that was difficult.

00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:44.670
My mother would tutor me
reading, and it was torture.

00:18:49.740 --> 00:18:52.440
What dyslexia strengthened

00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:57.990
in in me is this, this idea of focus

00:18:57.990 --> 00:18:59.400
and persevere.

00:19:02.250 --> 00:19:03.990
In addition, I had a paper route,

00:19:04.890 --> 00:19:08.220
and that nurtured discipline.

00:19:08.220 --> 00:19:10.980
And I think when I look over my career,

00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:13.830
it's about perseverance and discipline.

00:19:13.830 --> 00:19:15.270
Get the job done, you know.

00:19:18.930 --> 00:19:20.940
I was a poor student in high school,

00:19:20.940 --> 00:19:23.970
and so the guidance council
said, what do you want

00:19:23.970 --> 00:19:26.280
to be Paul, Beyond high school?

00:19:26.280 --> 00:19:28.260
And I said, well, I think I'd like to go

00:19:28.260 --> 00:19:31.080
to a vocational school and learn a craft.

00:19:31.080 --> 00:19:34.805
So he gave me a brochure
that had machining

00:19:34.805 --> 00:19:37.395
and electronics and all
sorts of different skills,

00:19:37.395 --> 00:19:38.730
and they had glass blowing,

00:19:38.730 --> 00:19:39.960
but I didn't know anything about it.

00:19:42.540 --> 00:19:44.580
So I came home, showed it to my dad.

00:19:44.580 --> 00:19:48.090
I said, I'm thinking about
going to vocational school

00:19:48.090 --> 00:19:49.170
and being a machinist.

00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:51.720
He said, that's a good trade, son.

00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:55.560
I handed him the
brochure. He opened it up.

00:19:55.560 --> 00:19:58.951
He said, scientific glass blowing, wow!

00:19:58.951 --> 00:20:01.467
That's what you should be!

00:20:01.467 --> 00:20:02.883
He got so excited about it

00:20:02.883 --> 00:20:05.340
he took the next day off from work

00:20:05.340 --> 00:20:07.110
and drove me to Salem City.

00:20:07.110 --> 00:20:09.935
So we went in there and I saw these 10

00:20:09.935 --> 00:20:14.160
or 12 kids melting glass at a big flame.

00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:15.900
They were bending glass tubing.

00:20:15.900 --> 00:20:18.810
I thought, wow, that looks so interesting.

00:20:21.510 --> 00:20:23.280
That led to my signing up

00:20:23.280 --> 00:20:26.100
for the glass-blowing
program, and I loved it.

00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:46.800
I am very, very proud

00:20:46.800 --> 00:20:47.800
to be here.

00:20:47.800 --> 00:20:51.880
And you know, here I am near
the end of my career, talking

00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:55.690
to you talented people at
the beginning of your career.

00:20:55.690 --> 00:20:57.580
And I think that's so sweet.

00:20:57.580 --> 00:21:00.070
You're moving into a professional realm

00:21:00.070 --> 00:21:04.810
by dedicating your life to
an idea, having a vision,

00:21:04.810 --> 00:21:06.700
pursuing excellence.

00:21:06.700 --> 00:21:09.310
You are professionals.

00:21:09.310 --> 00:21:14.310
So it's very, very important
for you students to understand

00:21:14.350 --> 00:21:18.370
what craft is, what design
is, and what art is.

00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:20.720
Very important.

00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:25.270
- This is the best thing about
having Paul Stankard so close

00:21:25.270 --> 00:21:28.060
by and having access to Paul.

00:21:28.060 --> 00:21:29.740
He loves this school

00:21:29.740 --> 00:21:30.880
and he boosts the confidence

00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:32.590
of every student that's in here.

00:21:32.590 --> 00:21:35.590
To have somebody like
Paul Stankard come up

00:21:35.590 --> 00:21:37.930
and watch you work for a few minutes

00:21:37.930 --> 00:21:41.230
and just offer some solid
advice, that's a gift.

00:21:43.840 --> 00:21:46.840
- It is about the work.
It's always about the work.

00:21:46.840 --> 00:21:49.330
If you do great work,
you're invited to the party.

00:21:50.290 --> 00:21:52.570
- Yeah. The studio does bear Paul's name,

00:21:52.570 --> 00:21:55.240
and for good reason, we've grown with

00:21:55.240 --> 00:21:57.430
what he was able to imagine.

00:21:57.430 --> 00:21:59.170
He started the glass art program.

00:21:59.170 --> 00:22:01.660
It was his idea, you know, and not long

00:22:01.660 --> 00:22:04.270
after the glass art program, he said, hey,

00:22:04.270 --> 00:22:06.760
let's have a weekend event
where we bring in some artists

00:22:06.760 --> 00:22:09.610
and we'll have a flame working conference.

00:22:09.610 --> 00:22:12.400
We just did the 21st one.
So that's a big deal.

00:22:17.435 --> 00:22:21.130
- He's the patron saint
of SCC glass, really.

00:22:21.130 --> 00:22:22.210
He's trying to get us

00:22:22.210 --> 00:22:24.645
to ask ourselves, what do we want to be?

00:22:24.645 --> 00:22:27.610
Where do we want to go?
How daring do we want

00:22:27.610 --> 00:22:29.590
to get in this endeavor?

00:22:29.590 --> 00:22:32.770
So we're just at the embryonic stages

00:22:32.770 --> 00:22:33.820
of what this place will be.

00:22:52.060 --> 00:22:53.800
- Down in southern New Jersey.

00:22:53.800 --> 00:22:55.780
They make glass by day

00:22:55.780 --> 00:22:58.930
and by night the fires
burn on in Millville

00:22:58.930 --> 00:23:01.870
and bid the sand lead in the light.

00:23:01.870 --> 00:23:02.950
Carl Sandberg

00:23:21.015 --> 00:23:23.770
- We are sitting in the
Museum of American Glass,

00:23:23.770 --> 00:23:25.900
which is dedicated to the history

00:23:25.900 --> 00:23:28.480
of glass making in Southern New Jersey.

00:23:30.370 --> 00:23:32.500
South Jersey is the birthplace

00:23:32.500 --> 00:23:34.990
of glass making in the United States,

00:23:34.990 --> 00:23:38.110
though there had been earlier
attempts in Jamestown,

00:23:38.110 --> 00:23:41.620
for example, the first glass
factory in Southern New Jersey

00:23:41.620 --> 00:23:43.450
was 1739,

00:23:43.450 --> 00:23:46.490
and there would be over
200 glass factory sites

00:23:46.490 --> 00:23:48.170
within New Jersey.

00:23:48.170 --> 00:23:51.290
Many of the glass workers, they could work

00:23:51.290 --> 00:23:52.670
during their lunch hours

00:23:52.670 --> 00:23:54.860
or at the end of the day to make things.

00:23:54.860 --> 00:23:57.560
So the workers started
making paperweights.

00:24:01.940 --> 00:24:03.470
They began to evolve.

00:24:03.470 --> 00:24:05.690
And the last, and most important design

00:24:05.690 --> 00:24:07.640
that the workers made
was a paperweight known

00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:11.480
as the Millville rose, which
was incredibly difficult to do,

00:24:11.480 --> 00:24:14.395
and only a handful
really became masters at

00:24:14.395 --> 00:24:15.650
doing this design.

00:24:18.140 --> 00:24:19.430
In 1903,

00:24:19.430 --> 00:24:23.720
Michael Owens invents the
automatic bottle blowing machine.

00:24:23.720 --> 00:24:25.490
Once the machine comes in

00:24:25.490 --> 00:24:28.435
and bottles are no longer
being made by hand,

00:24:28.435 --> 00:24:30.230
workers don't have the advantage

00:24:30.230 --> 00:24:32.450
of having the glass at their lunch hour

00:24:32.450 --> 00:24:34.580
and making this rose dies out.

00:24:36.260 --> 00:24:38.330
And it won't be until the 1940s

00:24:38.330 --> 00:24:41.480
where other people try their
hand at making the Millville

00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:42.620
rose after that.

00:24:42.620 --> 00:24:44.960
But it becomes a real prized item

00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:46.790
that was produced here in Millville.

00:24:52.310 --> 00:24:55.820
- When I first became interested
in glass, people would say,

00:24:55.820 --> 00:24:59.210
oh, you know, the
Millville Rose Paperweight,

00:24:59.210 --> 00:25:02.480
my grandfather owned a
Millville Rose Paperweight,

00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:06.440
or, you know, Millville Rose
Paperweight is very sought

00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:10.880
after, and it, it's attracting
a couple thousand dollars

00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:12.020
if you can find one.

00:25:13.130 --> 00:25:14.690
And I thought, you know, if they

00:25:14.690 --> 00:25:15.711
could do it, why wouldn't I?

00:25:18.200 --> 00:25:20.510
I was trained in scientific class

00:25:20.510 --> 00:25:22.850
and I really got pretty good at it.

00:25:23.930 --> 00:25:25.850
You know, I was working in industry

00:25:25.850 --> 00:25:28.550
and the last job I had
was with Rohm and Haas,

00:25:28.550 --> 00:25:30.170
a chemical company.

00:25:30.170 --> 00:25:34.790
And I had tools and equipment
and I would haul my torch

00:25:34.790 --> 00:25:38.270
and different things to
each location and set it up.

00:25:38.270 --> 00:25:40.790
And then when I had
weekends, I'd come home.

00:25:40.790 --> 00:25:43.040
I asked my supervisor, Hey,

00:25:44.450 --> 00:25:48.955
can I use these in my utility
room to do some glass?

00:25:48.955 --> 00:25:51.770
Sure. And I would take 'em out of the car

00:25:51.770 --> 00:25:54.200
and I would set 'em up
and I would work Saturday

00:25:54.200 --> 00:25:57.800
and Sunday experimenting
with paperweights.

00:25:57.800 --> 00:26:01.130
And that was wonderful because

00:26:01.130 --> 00:26:04.730
after nine years of scientific
glass working here I am

00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:07.820
being reasonably successful.

00:26:07.820 --> 00:26:10.580
Finished the Scientific Glass program,

00:26:10.580 --> 00:26:12.800
worked in the industry,
made a decent salary,

00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:15.230
but wanted to be on the creative side

00:26:24.800 --> 00:26:28.130
- Till I loved, I never lived.

00:26:28.130 --> 00:26:29.130
Emily Dickinson.

00:26:51.120 --> 00:26:55.410
- Let's see, we met in
February of 62 at a dance.

00:26:56.785 --> 00:26:59.570
And should we tell the
dance story?

00:26:59.570 --> 00:27:02.400
- But we knew one another before then
- At church.

00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:03.450
- At church you tried...

00:27:03.450 --> 00:27:05.040
- Yeah, but I didn't, we
didn't know each other.

00:27:05.040 --> 00:27:06.120
We didn't talk to each other

00:27:06.120 --> 00:27:07.120
- At CCD.

00:27:07.120 --> 00:27:09.622
- We, we saw each other at church.
- Yeah

00:27:09.622 --> 00:27:11.135
- You were at a distance.

00:27:11.135 --> 00:27:13.325
And I thought, oh, nice
looking woman there.

00:27:13.325 --> 00:27:16.825
Nice looking girl. I hope you were.

00:27:16.825 --> 00:27:18.690
Did you notice me at church?

00:27:18.690 --> 00:27:21.685
- Yes. You tried talking to me.

00:27:21.685 --> 00:27:25.205
- I did? - While we were
waiting for everybody else I...

00:27:25.205 --> 00:27:27.150
- You blew me off, huh?
- And I thought,

00:27:27.150 --> 00:27:28.680
- Oh, he's kind of fast.

00:27:29.685 --> 00:27:32.085
I dunno if I want to get to know him!

00:27:33.780 --> 00:27:35.520
But then we met later.

00:27:39.025 --> 00:27:41.965
Oh, I just felt very comfortable with him.

00:27:43.320 --> 00:27:46.050
He was full of energy, still has

00:27:46.050 --> 00:27:50.190
that energy and charm.

00:27:50.190 --> 00:27:54.245
He definitely had the
charm. The Irish charm.

00:27:55.380 --> 00:27:58.590
And you know, his mother
always said, she said,

00:27:58.590 --> 00:28:01.440
the Stankards are good providers.

00:28:04.110 --> 00:28:08.400
I guess that kind of sealed
the deal as far as you know,

00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:12.720
wanting a wonderful family
life, you know, and future.

00:28:18.150 --> 00:28:21.420
- When I met Pat and our relationship,

00:28:21.420 --> 00:28:23.760
grew into a beautiful love affair,

00:28:23.760 --> 00:28:26.910
and married her, her support

00:28:26.910 --> 00:28:30.570
and her faith in my abilities was

00:28:30.570 --> 00:28:34.380
something totally so refreshing.

00:28:34.380 --> 00:28:38.465
I mean, you know, I mean,
my goodness, my wife thinks

00:28:38.465 --> 00:28:40.770
that I can do it!

00:28:40.770 --> 00:28:45.630
- I knew Paul wasn't very
content with his present

00:28:45.630 --> 00:28:46.680
vocation.

00:28:47.520 --> 00:28:52.520
When he started doing more of his artwork,

00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:54.900
I believed in everything he was doing.

00:28:54.900 --> 00:28:56.670
It was incredible.

00:28:56.670 --> 00:28:58.650
And it may look small in the beginning,

00:28:58.650 --> 00:29:01.020
but I was very impressed with it.

00:29:01.020 --> 00:29:04.950
And I knew that's where his
heart and soul was really.

00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:10.050
And I knew at that point,
yeah, let's do this.

00:29:10.050 --> 00:29:11.730
We were very hard workers.

00:29:11.730 --> 00:29:15.815
I mean, I took care of the
children as much as I could

00:29:15.815 --> 00:29:17.435
and anything in the house

00:29:17.435 --> 00:29:21.450
so he can devote everything to the work.

00:29:23.280 --> 00:29:27.660
I was excited for him, very
excited and wanted to...

00:29:27.660 --> 00:29:29.130
See, it brings tears to your eyes,

00:29:29.130 --> 00:29:30.955
too you're bringing tears to our eyes.

00:29:30.955 --> 00:29:34.427
- I'm starting
to feel emotional about this

00:29:34.427 --> 00:29:37.590
- Of course. Just say thank
you, thank you, thank you.

00:29:37.590 --> 00:29:38.885
That's the only thing.

00:29:57.250 --> 00:29:59.470
- A man of genius makes no mistakes.

00:30:01.180 --> 00:30:03.100
His errors are volitional

00:30:03.100 --> 00:30:05.633
and the portals of discovery.

00:30:05.633 --> 00:30:06.908
James Joyce

00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:16.090
- This is a collection that,

00:30:16.090 --> 00:30:18.700
Pat and I saved.

00:30:18.700 --> 00:30:22.630
And many of the pieces
are, are personalized,

00:30:22.630 --> 00:30:23.800
especially for Pat.

00:30:25.660 --> 00:30:28.450
Loved Paul, sometimes love Paul.

00:30:28.450 --> 00:30:31.720
But yeah, this represents

00:30:32.710 --> 00:30:35.080
my career from the earliest.

00:30:35.950 --> 00:30:40.480
This was in 19...1970.

00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:44.035
It's fascinating. I'm looking
at this, I was so proud of this

00:30:45.010 --> 00:30:47.320
This represents a lot of failures.

00:30:48.430 --> 00:30:51.310
When it came out very
special. I was excited.

00:30:51.310 --> 00:30:53.140
It's got a little bubble
on it, two bubbles.

00:30:54.910 --> 00:30:56.680
For the beginning of my career.

00:30:56.680 --> 00:30:59.230
My work was very delicate and small.

00:31:00.820 --> 00:31:04.660
This is a spiderwort that I look at today

00:31:04.660 --> 00:31:07.930
and I'm thinking, oh my goodness, that is,

00:31:08.800 --> 00:31:10.630
that is really delicate.

00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:14.620
So you know, these pieces tell a story.

00:31:14.620 --> 00:31:17.290
They tell a story of how
the work has evolved.

00:31:18.430 --> 00:31:20.110
First year was very difficult.

00:31:20.110 --> 00:31:23.680
I didn't think I was
going to make it. Early on

00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:25.300
I would make all these failures.

00:31:25.300 --> 00:31:29.200
I mean, my failure rate was
pathetic, but I just persevered.

00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:33.760
You know, these early
examples were a celebration.

00:31:33.760 --> 00:31:35.530
I didn't know how to do a paperweight

00:31:35.530 --> 00:31:39.580
and just kind of heat up
glass and put it on there.

00:31:39.580 --> 00:31:42.580
And when it came out of the
oven and it wasn't cracked

00:31:42.580 --> 00:31:45.640
or it represented what I was trying to do,

00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:47.410
it was like a real celebration.

00:31:48.370 --> 00:31:50.980
The one thing that was so exciting for me,

00:31:51.850 --> 00:31:53.410
I was learning fast.

00:31:59.500 --> 00:32:02.290
This work evolved pretty quickly.

00:32:02.290 --> 00:32:05.350
And then I started
selling them for 20 bucks.

00:32:05.350 --> 00:32:07.060
And that was exciting. 'cause prior

00:32:07.060 --> 00:32:10.120
to selling my paperweights for 20 bucks,

00:32:10.120 --> 00:32:14.170
I was selling my small
little gift shop animals for

00:32:15.130 --> 00:32:16.810
50 cents and a dollar 50

00:32:16.810 --> 00:32:18.460
for a large one, that kind of thing.

00:32:21.610 --> 00:32:24.550
There was a lot of
challenges in my career,

00:32:24.550 --> 00:32:27.790
material challenges and money challenges.

00:32:27.790 --> 00:32:29.920
But slowly the work evolved.

00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:35.380
And I met a dealer in the
Atlantic City, Reese Palley, very

00:32:35.380 --> 00:32:38.620
fascinating individual,
very successful art dealer.

00:32:38.620 --> 00:32:43.550
Reese said, if you decide to go
full-time, I'll buy you work.

00:32:43.550 --> 00:32:45.320
And so I said to my wife, Pat,

00:32:46.220 --> 00:32:49.520
can I quit my job now Pat's
expecting her fourth child.

00:32:49.520 --> 00:32:52.435
This is, can I, can I quit my job

00:32:52.435 --> 00:32:54.470
and devote full-time to paperweights?

00:32:55.340 --> 00:32:57.800
She says, oh, I don't know.

00:32:57.800 --> 00:33:00.170
Well at least wait two weeks till

00:33:00.170 --> 00:33:03.170
after the baby's born and
then you can quit your job.

00:33:04.130 --> 00:33:05.300
So I quit my job

00:33:05.300 --> 00:33:08.692
and started making paperweights
for Reese to distribute.

00:33:09.560 --> 00:33:12.860
And he was doing well.
That was my beginning.

00:33:16.340 --> 00:33:21.020
- What makes someone decide
they're a scientific glassblower

00:33:21.020 --> 00:33:23.930
and they decide they really
want to be an artist?

00:33:23.930 --> 00:33:26.690
You know, it's so unlikely
that you're going to make it.

00:33:26.690 --> 00:33:29.480
I mean, the whole story
with Paul, you know,

00:33:29.480 --> 00:33:30.715
mortgaging his house

00:33:30.715 --> 00:33:35.450
to buy glass from the
great crystal maker Schott

00:33:35.450 --> 00:33:38.030
to be able to make these
perfect domes is such a

00:33:38.030 --> 00:33:39.050
stunning story.

00:33:39.050 --> 00:33:43.430
I mean, the idea of
risking everything for that

00:33:43.430 --> 00:33:44.810
takes a lot of belief in yourself.

00:33:47.750 --> 00:33:51.715
- So I had been selling
my work to Reese Palley

00:33:51.715 --> 00:33:55.100
who was finding an audience for it.

00:33:55.100 --> 00:33:58.370
And at one point I said to
Reese, Reese, am I an artist

00:33:58.370 --> 00:33:59.630
or am I a craftsperson?

00:34:01.100 --> 00:34:05.510
He says, Paul, don't let
that bullshit distract you.

00:34:05.510 --> 00:34:07.685
Just do great work.

00:34:07.685 --> 00:34:09.800
I said, oh, okay, that makes sense to me.

00:34:12.410 --> 00:34:14.780
This was searching for new forms

00:34:14.780 --> 00:34:17.870
to present my botanical vocabulary.

00:34:17.870 --> 00:34:20.600
You know, I was trying to understand

00:34:20.600 --> 00:34:24.560
where did my work fit in
on the artistic landscape.

00:34:26.090 --> 00:34:28.640
Here's beginning of my blueberry series.

00:34:29.510 --> 00:34:33.200
I have beautiful memories of
picking blueberries as a child.

00:34:34.910 --> 00:34:38.960
This was in 1977, and
it was my first bouquet.

00:34:39.950 --> 00:34:42.740
I clustered flowers to the center

00:34:42.740 --> 00:34:47.540
and then put green leaves and
buds underneath the top view.

00:34:47.540 --> 00:34:48.860
So there's two levels.

00:34:49.790 --> 00:34:53.210
In the eighties, I started
to make little human forms

00:34:53.210 --> 00:34:56.180
to incorporate into the design.

00:34:56.180 --> 00:35:00.358
And this is an environmental
paperweight that I have

00:35:00.358 --> 00:35:02.183
the figures underneath.

00:35:03.041 --> 00:35:08.041
Today most of my work is orbs, spheres.

00:35:08.180 --> 00:35:12.980
I love the idea of seeing
my work 360 undistorted.

00:35:12.980 --> 00:35:15.320
It's magnified in 360.

00:35:16.220 --> 00:35:19.550
And this was a wonderful
evolution of my work.

00:35:21.680 --> 00:35:23.300
You know, I look at this collection.

00:35:23.300 --> 00:35:27.440
I think, oh my God, you know,
I was obsessed by the work.

00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:29.930
You know, thank God Pat was so supportive.

00:35:31.100 --> 00:35:33.920
You don't be successful
on your own by yourself.

00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:36.830
It's really a a team effort.

00:35:38.520 --> 00:35:40.920
What a, you know, what a journey.

00:35:40.920 --> 00:35:43.590
And here I am still in the game.

00:35:52.440 --> 00:35:54.415
- A morning glory at my window

00:35:54.415 --> 00:35:58.707
satisfies me more than
the metaphysics of books.

00:35:58.707 --> 00:36:00.057
Walt Whitman

00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:19.710
- I was listening to public radio

00:36:19.710 --> 00:36:23.520
and having a panel discuss
excellence in the arts

00:36:23.520 --> 00:36:27.442
and hearing the phrase,
to do excellent work,

00:36:27.442 --> 00:36:30.360
you have to know what excellence is.

00:36:30.360 --> 00:36:31.310
Bingo.

00:36:32.346 --> 00:36:36.713
That was my door opening to succeed.

00:36:40.476 --> 00:36:45.330
Early on, Paul Hollister's book,
Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights.

00:36:45.330 --> 00:36:48.205
That became my dream book.

00:36:49.890 --> 00:36:52.860
And then I learned that
Corning had a major collection.

00:36:57.750 --> 00:37:00.210
There's about three serious collections

00:37:00.210 --> 00:37:03.233
of antique French paperweights
that I've been a student of,

00:37:03.233 --> 00:37:07.410
the Corning Glass Museum,
the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum,

00:37:08.820 --> 00:37:10.680
and the Chicago Art Institute.

00:37:20.550 --> 00:37:24.065
I subscribed to Franklin Mint's collection

00:37:24.065 --> 00:37:27.390
of the great books on cassette.

00:37:30.030 --> 00:37:32.070
I've listened to all these books.

00:37:32.070 --> 00:37:34.590
And then when I finished
the book, I would go out

00:37:34.590 --> 00:37:36.180
and buy a hardcover

00:37:36.180 --> 00:37:41.160
and put it in my library.
Reading Walt Whitman's poetry,

00:37:41.160 --> 00:37:42.570
Emily Dickinson.

00:37:42.570 --> 00:37:46.500
It's nurtured a sense of
self-confidence in me.

00:37:46.500 --> 00:37:49.680
I've educated myself in ways that

00:37:50.730 --> 00:37:52.110
have impacted on my work.

00:38:03.420 --> 00:38:06.150
I think when I look back over my career,

00:38:06.150 --> 00:38:09.690
I'm looking at maybe three
or four major breakthroughs,

00:38:09.690 --> 00:38:12.815
and it all stemmed from having this body

00:38:12.815 --> 00:38:17.340
of work evolve into new, new forms.

00:38:17.340 --> 00:38:19.170
First the paperweights,

00:38:19.170 --> 00:38:21.810
and then when I came up with the cubes

00:38:21.810 --> 00:38:24.750
and the rectangular forms that I called

00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:28.890
the Botanical Series, I all

00:38:28.890 --> 00:38:31.650
of a sudden discovered I could put more

00:38:31.650 --> 00:38:35.470
visual information about the
plant kingdom into the cube.

00:38:35.470 --> 00:38:39.280
I had more room, I had the
flowers above the roots below.

00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:42.197
And that was really a wonderful
conceptual breakthrough.

00:38:49.870 --> 00:38:53.230
- Many paperweight collectors
rejected this form.

00:38:53.230 --> 00:38:56.710
You know, he's taking rejection
from contemporary artists

00:38:56.710 --> 00:39:00.640
who are looking at the form
as the lowly paperweight.

00:39:00.640 --> 00:39:03.490
Paperweight collectors are
looking at this new form

00:39:03.490 --> 00:39:07.420
as this breakaway form that
you know, they don't want

00:39:07.420 --> 00:39:09.910
to even look at at first.

00:39:09.910 --> 00:39:14.560
And he goes through
rejections on both sides

00:39:14.560 --> 00:39:17.620
and still pushes forward to where

00:39:17.620 --> 00:39:21.700
the contemporary studio
movement has to accept.

00:39:21.700 --> 00:39:23.920
You know, the changes in
the things that he's done

00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:25.120
to this form.

00:39:35.440 --> 00:39:38.438
The galleries, Heller gallery
in New York City,

00:39:38.438 --> 00:39:43.438
Habatat Gallery in Michigan,
wanted to promote it as fine art

00:39:43.570 --> 00:39:48.570
and it was displayed
in a very serious way.

00:39:48.580 --> 00:39:51.880
And they wanted to promote
Paul Stankard the artist.

00:39:56.020 --> 00:39:59.200
I brought a fine art
expectation to my work.

00:40:03.670 --> 00:40:05.020
They were very labor intense,

00:40:05.020 --> 00:40:07.555
but I was trying to hide my labor.

00:40:07.555 --> 00:40:12.520
No, this is poetry. This is
a joy. I didn't work on it.

00:40:12.520 --> 00:40:13.520
It's magic.

00:40:16.090 --> 00:40:19.515
- As Paul gained a greater
mastery, he wanted things

00:40:19.515 --> 00:40:20.770
to be more complex.

00:40:20.770 --> 00:40:23.620
You know, at one point
there was just the flowers,

00:40:23.620 --> 00:40:25.870
then the flowers and the seeds.

00:40:25.870 --> 00:40:29.470
Then there were the insects,
the bees and the ants,

00:40:29.470 --> 00:40:33.400
and then the spirits of
nature, these root people.

00:40:33.400 --> 00:40:36.855
And he was always pushing
himself and pushing the limits.

00:40:36.855 --> 00:40:40.870
But at the same time, he
didn't abandon the idea of

00:40:40.870 --> 00:40:41.925
what he was trying to express.

00:40:42.790 --> 00:40:45.675
The, the synergy within nature, you know,

00:40:45.675 --> 00:40:47.860
he just enriched it and it evolved.

00:40:52.240 --> 00:40:56.860
There aren't that many people
who have that kind of a gift,

00:40:56.860 --> 00:41:00.172
and at the same time, that
kind of dedication.

00:41:00.172 --> 00:41:03.130
Every one of us, you know, if you
put your mind to it,

00:41:03.130 --> 00:41:05.470
you can master a skillset.

00:41:05.470 --> 00:41:09.160
But you know, that's, let's
say giving you the words,

00:41:09.160 --> 00:41:11.440
but are you a poet?

00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:12.490
That's the difference.

00:41:14.440 --> 00:41:17.080
- I got inspired by the creative people

00:41:17.080 --> 00:41:20.188
that were working in the
studio glass movement

00:41:20.188 --> 00:41:22.488
and I met Littleton and Labino

00:41:23.380 --> 00:41:27.310
and I met Mark Peiser, I met Erwin Eisch.

00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:31.990
It's really interesting.

00:41:31.990 --> 00:41:34.790
I really caught a wave and I loved it.

00:41:35.690 --> 00:41:40.220
I loved going to Penland
and having dinners

00:41:40.220 --> 00:41:41.450
and hearing lectures

00:41:41.450 --> 00:41:45.650
and being a part of a,
a community of artists.

00:41:45.650 --> 00:41:47.180
It was my art school.

00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:02.390
This is a nice one. Good, good, good.

00:42:13.185 --> 00:42:16.370
For the last two or three
months I've been focusing on a

00:42:16.370 --> 00:42:19.700
series that I titled Celestial Bouquet

00:42:19.700 --> 00:42:23.630
and I've had wonderfully
talented assistants.

00:42:29.510 --> 00:42:31.970
- Right now I'm preparing
raw material for Paul

00:42:31.970 --> 00:42:33.830
to use in his work.

00:42:33.830 --> 00:42:37.400
This glass doesn't come in
rod form, so we basically have

00:42:37.400 --> 00:42:39.920
to take the, the large amounts of it

00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:43.975
and pull it into rods for
like prepping out the flowers,

00:42:43.975 --> 00:42:45.440
adding the clear layers

00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:48.380
that turns into negative
space once it's encapsulated.

00:42:49.850 --> 00:42:52.105
So right now we're just
making a, a wide variety

00:42:52.105 --> 00:42:54.020
of rod sizes for him to use.

00:42:57.500 --> 00:43:00.740
Okay. All right. Nice and slow. 1, 2, 3.

00:43:02.525 --> 00:43:03.895
- Looking good. Yeah,

00:43:04.730 --> 00:43:07.280
- I've gotten a lot of
knowledge from Paul.

00:43:07.280 --> 00:43:11.185
It really broadens my
horizons as a glassblower

00:43:11.185 --> 00:43:14.720
and it keeps my, my base level
of knowledge really broad,

00:43:14.720 --> 00:43:17.840
especially with his
new Celestial Bouquets

00:43:17.840 --> 00:43:19.465
because he has been experimenting a lot

00:43:19.465 --> 00:43:22.010
and doing color combos that
he's never done before.

00:43:22.010 --> 00:43:25.100
And so doing a lot of color tests in here.

00:43:25.100 --> 00:43:27.560
The process is the art for me.

00:43:27.560 --> 00:43:29.000
That's kind of how I feel.

00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:30.770
It's not really about
what comes out of the kiln

00:43:30.770 --> 00:43:33.020
for me at this point in my career.

00:43:40.935 --> 00:43:45.140
- I feel fortunate to have
such a variety of colors.

00:43:45.140 --> 00:43:49.700
And what I love to do is add
powders to the base color

00:43:49.700 --> 00:43:50.930
overlay colors.

00:43:51.860 --> 00:43:54.715
Various times in my working
day I think of myself

00:43:54.715 --> 00:43:58.160
as a colorist because color
is so important to me.

00:44:05.570 --> 00:44:10.070
I have Dave Graeber who
comes in with my son Joe,

00:44:10.070 --> 00:44:13.460
once a week and we put to work together.

00:44:20.300 --> 00:44:24.560
I was listening to a
lecture about Adam and Eve

00:44:24.560 --> 00:44:26.210
and the apple tree.

00:44:26.210 --> 00:44:28.190
The rabbi who was giving the talk said,

00:44:28.190 --> 00:44:29.390
I don't think it was an apple.

00:44:29.390 --> 00:44:32.940
I think it was probably a
pomegranate. I thought, whoa.

00:44:33.905 --> 00:44:35.760
So I thought, well, the
Celestial Bouquet,

00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:37.500
I'll just work on developing a

00:44:37.500 --> 00:44:38.883
pomegranate.

00:44:42.427 --> 00:44:47.000
All week I was exploring the pomegranate
theme,

00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:51.120
experimenting with the color to get
that blood red shade.

00:44:51.120 --> 00:44:53.520
And I backed off from really packing it

00:44:53.520 --> 00:44:57.685
and there's some negative space in there.

00:44:57.685 --> 00:44:59.810
- Nice. So sweet.

00:44:59.810 --> 00:45:01.060
- Has room to breathe.

00:45:06.180 --> 00:45:09.450
It went into the oven
with a beautiful glow

00:45:09.450 --> 00:45:10.830
and very exciting for me.

00:45:11.910 --> 00:45:14.910
It'll be a long 38 hours waiting to see

00:45:14.910 --> 00:45:16.200
how the piece comes out.

00:45:17.490 --> 00:45:21.065
- Ha. - It's almost like
being a kid at Christmas time,

00:45:21.065 --> 00:45:23.250
waiting for your presents
Christmas morning.

00:45:24.630 --> 00:45:27.090
It's kind of like that when
I'm waiting for the oven

00:45:27.090 --> 00:45:28.320
to go through its cycle.

00:45:37.020 --> 00:45:38.970
The last one I thought I overworked.

00:45:38.970 --> 00:45:43.830
You know, I just got so
ambitious for it that I lost it

00:45:43.830 --> 00:45:46.020
and this is the right combination.

00:45:48.600 --> 00:45:51.630
- Whoa. There we go. We got it.

00:45:57.955 --> 00:45:58.955
Okay.

00:46:04.080 --> 00:46:05.880
- I think we, we pulled it off

00:46:05.880 --> 00:46:10.650
and interestingly enough, it
built on last week's failure.

00:46:10.650 --> 00:46:14.340
Fascinating. You know,
it's what it's all about.

00:46:14.340 --> 00:46:16.320
If you learn from your
missed opportunities.

00:46:17.490 --> 00:46:21.955
- Whoa. Alright. Woo.

00:46:35.555 --> 00:46:39.540
- Okay. Oh wow. Oh, looks good, huh?

00:46:42.780 --> 00:46:44.070
Whoa, nice.

00:46:47.370 --> 00:46:49.230
The orb lends itself

00:46:49.230 --> 00:46:53.220
to a 360 degree presentation.

00:46:53.220 --> 00:46:57.540
When I pressed the Celestial
Bouquet in a cube, I kind

00:46:57.540 --> 00:47:00.120
of lost some of the
integrity of the flowers.

00:47:00.960 --> 00:47:05.370
But here, the design encapsulated in the

00:47:05.370 --> 00:47:08.730
sphere, I love how credible it looks.

00:47:09.870 --> 00:47:12.870
It's really nice. So this is a winner.

00:47:28.140 --> 00:47:30.940
- I've been working with Paul 1989

00:47:30.940 --> 00:47:34.900
and I just can't believe
how fast time flies.

00:47:34.900 --> 00:47:38.620
I think what he saw in
me is maybe a little bit

00:47:38.620 --> 00:47:41.950
of himself first starting out,
you know, I had no knowledge

00:47:41.950 --> 00:47:45.160
of glass and I guess he
felt as though this is great

00:47:45.160 --> 00:47:48.790
because here's somebody
that I can actually train.

00:47:48.790 --> 00:47:51.010
I can now teach him my style.

00:47:52.720 --> 00:47:55.090
He pushed me in the deep end of the pool.

00:47:55.090 --> 00:47:57.395
He let me figure out things
for myself sometimes.

00:47:57.395 --> 00:48:00.130
He goes, 'cause he said,
I can easily tell you how

00:48:00.130 --> 00:48:02.800
to do things that, but
that's not going to help you.

00:48:02.800 --> 00:48:05.590
He goes, when you work
with your hands and art,

00:48:05.590 --> 00:48:07.810
you just have to do and make.

00:48:07.810 --> 00:48:12.070
And that's how in the
beginning, how Paul really

00:48:12.070 --> 00:48:14.620
opened my eyes on maturing

00:48:14.620 --> 00:48:15.653
as an artist.

00:48:19.780 --> 00:48:22.690
There's certain things about the process

00:48:22.690 --> 00:48:24.970
that I like in certain things I don't.

00:48:24.970 --> 00:48:28.210
And one of the processes I
do like is the actual final

00:48:28.210 --> 00:48:30.160
polish of one of Paul's pieces

00:48:30.160 --> 00:48:32.080
because I have an opportunity

00:48:32.080 --> 00:48:34.330
to actually see it cut
polished before Paul does

00:48:34.330 --> 00:48:36.280
and when I do that final polish

00:48:36.280 --> 00:48:38.830
and rinse, that's when it comes to life.

00:48:40.960 --> 00:48:42.460
We've been doing this long enough

00:48:42.460 --> 00:48:46.270
that you just instinctively
know like, hey, this is the one,

00:48:46.270 --> 00:48:47.590
this really looks good.

00:48:47.590 --> 00:48:50.620
And you know, I wrap it up
and I put in bubble wrap

00:48:50.620 --> 00:48:53.380
and it's sort of like
giving him a present.

00:48:53.380 --> 00:48:56.080
I said, here Paul, here you go.

00:49:01.365 --> 00:49:02.830
It's been a great journey

00:49:02.830 --> 00:49:06.970
and we're looking forward to
keeping Paul's tradition going.

00:49:15.215 --> 00:49:18.970
Having our names on the
studio at University

00:49:18.970 --> 00:49:20.860
of California San Diego was a high honor.

00:49:21.760 --> 00:49:23.710
We've been doing our
artwork for all these years

00:49:23.710 --> 00:49:25.210
and when you get this phone call

00:49:25.210 --> 00:49:26.620
saying, hey, we want to honor you,

00:49:26.620 --> 00:49:28.270
it's like, whoa, wait a minute.

00:49:28.270 --> 00:49:31.180
Maybe what we're doing is,
is impacting, rippling out

00:49:31.180 --> 00:49:35.290
to other places and we just
touched somebody 3,000 miles away

00:49:35.290 --> 00:49:37.900
and they're inspired to
build this beautiful studio

00:49:37.900 --> 00:49:40.060
and it's nice to we be part of that.

00:49:43.150 --> 00:49:46.630
- The studio exists
because of Paul's legacy.

00:49:46.630 --> 00:49:48.225
Part of the reason why there's windows.

00:49:48.225 --> 00:49:50.260
Part of the reason why
we we try not to have

00:49:50.260 --> 00:49:54.700
as many walls in this building
is so that people can go,

00:49:54.700 --> 00:49:55.960
I'd like to try that.

00:49:58.390 --> 00:50:02.140
Maybe they start off pursuing one art form

00:50:02.140 --> 00:50:05.500
or maybe they're curious about
something like Paul. Glass

00:50:05.500 --> 00:50:09.820
changed his life and he has
become this amazing artist.

00:50:09.820 --> 00:50:12.670
So we're trying to create an environment

00:50:12.670 --> 00:50:16.450
that would allow people to
have that experience as well.

00:50:18.340 --> 00:50:23.200
- When I see someone walk
in, put their backpack down,

00:50:23.200 --> 00:50:25.000
put their phone away,

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:28.340
and sink into whatever
project they're working on,

00:50:28.340 --> 00:50:29.840
I feel like we're enriching lives.

00:50:29.840 --> 00:50:32.570
And I honestly believe we're saving lives.

00:50:32.570 --> 00:50:36.200
That's what makes it really
worthwhile coming to work.

00:50:36.200 --> 00:50:37.200
Every day.

00:50:38.420 --> 00:50:40.555
- In the next couple years, we're going

00:50:40.555 --> 00:50:45.170
to have this amazing glass
lab studio space in a

00:50:45.170 --> 00:50:49.070
state-of-the-art facility that
is going to be a game changer

00:50:49.070 --> 00:50:51.470
for the students of this campus.

00:50:51.470 --> 00:50:54.140
It's the influence of Paul

00:50:55.190 --> 00:50:59.120
and we're thousands of
miles away from from him,

00:50:59.120 --> 00:51:01.790
yet we feel his influence every day.

00:51:05.015 --> 00:51:07.910
- It is fun to be a part
of this exciting time

00:51:07.910 --> 00:51:11.815
where this university is now
building this beautiful glass

00:51:11.815 --> 00:51:14.330
studio and it's going to be fun hopefully

00:51:14.330 --> 00:51:16.190
to someday teach there

00:51:16.190 --> 00:51:20.480
and keep that Paul Stankard
glass paperweight legacy going.

00:51:42.680 --> 00:51:46.855
- Paul began coming to
Wheaton in the early 1970s

00:51:46.855 --> 00:51:49.790
and participated in
some of our first events

00:51:49.790 --> 00:51:52.820
and then supported other
events throughout the years

00:51:52.820 --> 00:51:54.385
as the museum

00:51:54.385 --> 00:51:58.310
and the collection grew.
In the seventies, those

00:51:58.310 --> 00:52:01.520
of us working at Wheaton
Village realized the need

00:52:01.520 --> 00:52:04.640
for contemporary artists
to find places to work.

00:52:04.640 --> 00:52:08.720
And in 1983 we established
the Creative Glass Center

00:52:08.720 --> 00:52:12.715
of America, which became a
facility for artists to be able

00:52:12.715 --> 00:52:15.680
to come stay for several
months, build a body

00:52:15.680 --> 00:52:19.520
of work which they could go
on, maybe have a gallery show,

00:52:19.520 --> 00:52:20.810
sell those pieces

00:52:20.810 --> 00:52:23.690
and raise money to set
up their own studios.

00:52:23.690 --> 00:52:26.270
Paul was very supportive of that idea.

00:52:29.300 --> 00:52:32.150
- It's very easy, almost a cliche to say

00:52:32.150 --> 00:52:35.750
that Paul has been a pillar
here in this community,

00:52:35.750 --> 00:52:37.645
but I think for me, he's been a little bit

00:52:37.645 --> 00:52:39.320
of a tether as well.

00:52:39.320 --> 00:52:42.260
You know, when I was
calculating the years,

00:52:42.260 --> 00:52:45.710
Paul was on the founding board
of the Creative Glass Center.

00:52:45.710 --> 00:52:48.740
We now call it the Creative
Glass Fellowship Program,

00:52:48.740 --> 00:52:50.570
and that was over 40 years ago,

00:52:50.570 --> 00:52:51.980
and I knew him prior to that.

00:52:51.980 --> 00:52:55.130
So it's been a, a long relationship

00:52:55.130 --> 00:52:59.750
and he's just always been
so giving and supportive.

00:52:59.750 --> 00:53:03.984
You know, he, he's just
been a real beacon, I think.

00:53:03.984 --> 00:53:07.895
- So right now Paul is
assembling all of the pieces...

00:53:07.895 --> 00:53:08.990
- I'm happy to tell people

00:53:08.990 --> 00:53:12.380
in addition to learning a craft
at Salem Community College,

00:53:13.520 --> 00:53:17.060
I got my advanced degree
from Wheaton Arts,

00:53:19.190 --> 00:53:20.900
interacting with other artists

00:53:20.900 --> 00:53:23.780
and being exposed to the creative process.

00:53:28.290 --> 00:53:30.690
- You know, I know Paul
through the lens of education,

00:53:30.690 --> 00:53:34.200
so like I've known him
specifically from this place

00:53:34.200 --> 00:53:37.530
of supporting young
artists that are coming up

00:53:37.530 --> 00:53:39.570
and it's something that he
has always been excited about.

00:53:39.570 --> 00:53:41.280
It's something that he has
always been passionate about.

00:53:41.280 --> 00:53:44.040
And I think like when he
talks about his own story

00:53:44.040 --> 00:53:46.830
and his own studio practice, those kinds

00:53:46.830 --> 00:53:49.620
of opportunities weren't
really there for him.

00:53:49.620 --> 00:53:50.670
And so I think that's something

00:53:50.670 --> 00:53:52.800
that he has gotten really
excited about is like creating

00:53:52.800 --> 00:53:54.840
that opportunity for future artists.

00:53:57.480 --> 00:54:00.313
- Beautiful stick, nice job Paul.

00:54:05.670 --> 00:54:08.730
- The reward of being a
successful artist is you get

00:54:08.730 --> 00:54:11.010
to keep working, right?

00:54:11.010 --> 00:54:14.130
So, you know, I don't want
to put words in his mouth,

00:54:14.130 --> 00:54:17.165
but like, I think a successful
career means he gets

00:54:17.165 --> 00:54:19.332
to keep making work
until the end, you know?

00:54:29.790 --> 00:54:33.870
- We turn not older with
years, but newer every day.

00:54:35.850 --> 00:54:36.850
Emily Dickinson.

00:54:53.205 --> 00:54:56.430
- When I realized I was a dyslexic, and

00:54:56.430 --> 00:55:00.360
after 10 to 15 years of
listening to the spoken word,

00:55:01.530 --> 00:55:03.300
I started writing poetry.

00:55:03.300 --> 00:55:05.610
This is the last poem that I wrote.

00:55:05.610 --> 00:55:06.725
It's kind of special for me

00:55:06.725 --> 00:55:08.520
because I think of it like a prayer.

00:55:11.040 --> 00:55:12.330
Receive this glass.

00:55:14.730 --> 00:55:16.410
Receive this glass,

00:55:16.410 --> 00:55:18.180
it holds my memories.

00:55:18.180 --> 00:55:21.720
Crafted blossoms, suspended

00:55:21.720 --> 00:55:26.400
in stillness to be
pollinated by your sight,

00:55:26.400 --> 00:55:28.860
anticipating your touch through time.

00:55:35.910 --> 00:55:40.410
This poem is for the future.

00:55:40.410 --> 00:55:43.650
When a person is curious about my work

00:55:43.650 --> 00:55:46.020
and they're looking at it,

00:55:46.020 --> 00:55:47.315
and I perceive that

00:55:47.315 --> 00:55:49.770
to be pollinating the
blossom in the crystal,

00:55:55.560 --> 00:55:58.290
I've always had this interest in writing.

00:55:58.290 --> 00:55:59.760
It has something to do with sharing.

00:56:00.840 --> 00:56:02.645
And I started writing the poetry

00:56:02.645 --> 00:56:06.750
and I would do it long hand
and spelling was a nightmare.

00:56:08.280 --> 00:56:11.010
When I started working with the computers,

00:56:11.010 --> 00:56:13.620
it really facilitated my being able

00:56:13.620 --> 00:56:15.750
to express myself with words.

00:56:15.750 --> 00:56:20.310
I had spellcheck and I had text to speech.

00:56:20.310 --> 00:56:21.780
I couldn't have been the writer

00:56:21.780 --> 00:56:26.350
that I am today without a computer.

00:56:26.350 --> 00:56:29.770
And my writings have been well received.

00:56:29.770 --> 00:56:33.765
My writing has really
helped me get in touch with

00:56:33.765 --> 00:56:37.660
what I feel is important for my work.

00:56:37.660 --> 00:56:40.780
And what I feel is important to my work,

00:56:40.780 --> 00:56:44.950
I'm happy to share with others
who would be interested.

00:57:14.710 --> 00:57:17.050
- I've watched Lucio
and Paul work together

00:57:17.050 --> 00:57:20.800
before, just the fact
that you have two masters

00:57:20.800 --> 00:57:24.160
of the craft sitting in the same space.

00:57:24.160 --> 00:57:27.670
There's something taking
place on a plateau that

00:57:27.670 --> 00:57:30.170
mere mortals don't understand.

00:58:17.625 --> 00:58:19.510
- So nice.
- So nice.

00:58:19.510 --> 00:58:22.240
- He is a deeply happy person

00:58:23.200 --> 00:58:27.250
and I think it really
comes from his decades

00:58:27.250 --> 00:58:31.210
and decades of just being
focused on excellence

00:58:31.210 --> 00:58:33.280
and being creative.

00:58:33.280 --> 00:58:37.990
He's idolized all over the
world for his artistic work,

00:58:37.990 --> 00:58:41.200
and I think he's what we're
all supposed to be like.

00:58:42.100 --> 00:58:46.150
- I think Paul, as an artist
who has been successful

00:58:46.150 --> 00:58:49.780
for a really long time, could
pretty much just sit back

00:58:49.780 --> 00:58:52.360
and maybe make a piece once in a while,

00:58:52.360 --> 00:58:54.850
write a book about
himself once in a while.

00:58:54.850 --> 00:58:58.360
But he really took on the role of mentor

00:58:58.360 --> 00:59:01.690
and he really wanted to
be part of the community

00:59:01.690 --> 00:59:05.080
and part of impacting the community.

00:59:06.070 --> 00:59:07.960
- Paul has many titles here.

00:59:07.960 --> 00:59:12.960
IFC founder, chair Emeritus
Artist in Residence,

00:59:13.060 --> 00:59:15.315
distinguished alumnus, not just for us,

00:59:15.315 --> 00:59:16.870
but for the state of New Jersey.

00:59:16.870 --> 00:59:18.130
And he has become my friend

00:59:18.130 --> 00:59:20.710
and a very trusted advisor over the years.

00:59:20.710 --> 00:59:24.680
And as talented a man as
he is with glass, he's even

00:59:24.680 --> 00:59:26.300
that much more as a human being.

00:59:26.300 --> 00:59:30.710
So please join me in thanking
Paul for being part of this

00:59:30.710 --> 00:59:31.820
and making it all come to fruition.

00:59:44.395 --> 00:59:47.960
- That it will never come again

00:59:47.960 --> 00:59:49.820
is what makes life so sweet.

00:59:51.350 --> 00:59:52.628
Emily Dickinson

01:00:02.030 --> 01:00:04.580
- This is my grandfather's toolbox.

01:00:04.580 --> 01:00:08.960
And when I went into business, my mother,

01:00:09.830 --> 01:00:12.680
she said, Paul, you know, you're a maker.

01:00:12.680 --> 01:00:15.650
You're, you know, you work
with your hands like my father

01:00:15.650 --> 01:00:18.950
and you know, I, I want
you to have his toolbox.

01:00:19.790 --> 01:00:24.080
And the toolbox became the most

01:00:24.080 --> 01:00:27.170
precious item that I own.

01:00:28.100 --> 01:00:31.225
My mother used to say as
a, when I was a kid, oh,

01:00:31.225 --> 01:00:34.490
Paul's good with his hands,
just like his grandfather.

01:00:35.360 --> 01:00:37.040
Feeling his tools,

01:00:38.000 --> 01:00:41.185
I could feel the spirit of the man

01:00:41.185 --> 01:00:43.040
who cared about his craft

01:00:43.040 --> 01:00:48.040
and dedicated his professional
life to engraving.

01:00:48.170 --> 01:00:50.690
And it brings back the
memories of my grandfather,

01:00:50.690 --> 01:00:53.565
but also, also

01:00:54.625 --> 01:00:56.510
- I'm getting emotional.

01:00:56.510 --> 01:00:57.510
It also

01:00:59.120 --> 01:01:02.090
- Makes me proud to think that I was a

01:01:03.470 --> 01:01:05.630
professional craftsperson.

01:01:05.630 --> 01:01:08.150
I kind of want to be
buried with these tools.

01:01:09.860 --> 01:01:11.464
I don't know, I think
Pat will let...

01:01:12.740 --> 01:01:14.690
Pat can make that happen, I guess.

01:01:15.560 --> 01:01:19.350
But I want to be buried
with my grandfather's...

01:01:24.890 --> 01:01:26.307
- Oh my goodness.

01:01:27.927 --> 01:01:32.485
I want to be buried with
my grandfather's hammer.

01:01:35.930 --> 01:01:39.088
This is so spiritual to me.

01:01:39.088 --> 01:01:41.046
[Phone Rings]

01:01:45.138 --> 01:01:47.171
[Phone Rings]

01:01:49.465 --> 01:01:51.123
- Let the phone ring.

01:01:52.985 --> 01:01:54.353
[Voice off Camera]
It might be him, Paul.

01:01:54.353 --> 01:01:55.520
- It might be my dad...

01:01:55.520 --> 01:01:57.186
[Voice Off Camera]
Don't you put those under the ground!

01:01:57.186 --> 01:01:58.315
[Laughing]

01:01:58.315 --> 01:02:01.341
- Yeah, I want 'em up,
up above the ground.

01:02:10.190 --> 01:02:11.023
- Isn't that something?

01:03:26.880 --> 01:03:31.680
Today I put together a
new design that builds on

01:03:31.680 --> 01:03:34.140
what I have been working on
for the last several months.

01:03:38.130 --> 01:03:39.840
I don't know exactly how,

01:03:39.840 --> 01:03:42.240
but on this piece that I did this morning,

01:03:43.740 --> 01:03:44.940
I had like an epiphany.

01:03:49.855 --> 01:03:54.330
I wanted to highlight the
golden orb with the flower

01:03:54.330 --> 01:03:59.220
and put it in a, a wreath of petals.

01:03:59.220 --> 01:04:00.780
Not flowers, but petals.

01:04:03.180 --> 01:04:06.570
And if it works, I'll be the
happiest guy in the world

01:04:06.570 --> 01:04:09.750
because I'll be able to play with

01:04:09.750 --> 01:04:11.880
a wreath of different colors.

01:04:16.770 --> 01:04:21.770
- Okay, it's going to be
so sweet. Tell me when.

01:04:21.900 --> 01:04:22.900
Okay, let's do it.

01:04:25.740 --> 01:04:27.990
- Paul would always say,
you know, he had pride

01:04:27.990 --> 01:04:30.360
of being part of the South
Jersey glass tradition.

01:04:30.360 --> 01:04:32.910
And with Paul being
80, Paul's sort of like

01:04:33.810 --> 01:04:37.050
passing this baton saying,
okay, it's your turn now.

01:04:37.050 --> 01:04:39.525
And I'm like, okay, I won't,
I won't drop that baton.

01:04:39.525 --> 01:04:43.440
I, I will do my best, Paul,
to keep your legacy going

01:04:43.440 --> 01:04:46.530
and also keep that South
Jersey glass tradition alive.

01:04:47.370 --> 01:04:50.105
- No cracks. So we're in good shape now.

01:04:50.105 --> 01:04:51.330
We just got to wait for the second half.

01:05:04.740 --> 01:05:07.475
Let's get this thing done here. Oh wow.

01:05:07.475 --> 01:05:10.230
That looks good Paul. It
looks very, very good.

01:05:11.760 --> 01:05:13.560
I'm so excited by this.

01:05:15.450 --> 01:05:19.060
There's a certain spontaneity
I bring to my work

01:05:19.060 --> 01:05:23.740
and that spontaneity gives
it a little visual tension.

01:05:23.740 --> 01:05:25.540
Ready? Yep. Alright, let's do it.

01:05:31.000 --> 01:05:33.620
After all these years

01:05:33.620 --> 01:05:37.422
When I drop the molten glass onto

01:05:37.422 --> 01:05:41.920
the colored glass, I
think, wow, it worked.

01:05:47.685 --> 01:05:48.685
- Oh wow.

01:05:57.940 --> 01:06:02.185
- The Celestial Bouquet
series is evolving.

01:06:04.300 --> 01:06:06.220
- I'm proud of the results so far,

01:06:06.220 --> 01:06:09.910
but I know that I, I can give it more

01:06:09.910 --> 01:06:14.350
and I do believe that I'm
slowly separating myself

01:06:14.350 --> 01:06:16.000
from my past.

01:06:19.415 --> 01:06:20.248
- Okay.

01:06:38.620 --> 01:06:41.920
- I would like to think
that in the heavenly realm,

01:06:42.820 --> 01:06:44.620
why couldn't there be a plant kingdom?

01:06:46.450 --> 01:06:47.283
Why not?

01:06:52.750 --> 01:06:56.145
I am doing the best work
in my career, striving for

01:06:56.145 --> 01:06:58.120
that heavenly landscape.

01:07:03.370 --> 01:07:07.630
Maybe when people see my Celestial Bouquet

01:07:07.630 --> 01:07:08.890
and then they die and go to heaven

01:07:08.890 --> 01:07:10.900
they think that looks familiar.

01:07:13.167 --> 01:07:16.522
Wouldn't that be nice? Gosh.

01:07:32.255 --> 01:07:35.170
If I had two lifetimes to give my craft,

01:07:35.170 --> 01:07:37.000
I would still need more time

01:07:37.000 --> 01:07:40.240
to explore botanical themes in glass.

01:07:41.350 --> 01:07:44.680
You know, my job is to do
the very, very best I can

01:07:44.680 --> 01:07:49.510
and let the art historians decide

01:07:49.510 --> 01:07:50.585
where it belongs.