Oral history interview with Mark Peiser, 2004 February 26

Object Details

interviewee

Peiser, Mark, 1938-

interviewer

Halem, Henry, 1938-

Subject

Brown, William J. (William Joseph)

Bernstein, William

Dreisbach, Fritz

Littleton, Harvey K.

Art Institute of Chicago

Glass Art Society

Illinois Institute of Technology. Institute of Design

Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America

Penland School of Crafts

Purdue University

Place of publication, production, or execution

North Carolina

Physical Description

68 Pages, Transcript; 6 Items, Sound recording: 6 sound files (3 hr., 55 min.), digital, wav

General Note

Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 55 min.

Access Note / Rights

Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Summary

An interview of Mark Peiser conducted 2004 February 26, by Henry Halem, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Penland, North Carolina.

Peiser speaks of growing up in Chicago; his relationship with his parents; developing an early interest in music and engineering; attending Perdue University and transferring to the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology; working for a design firm in Chicago; becoming interested in glass after seeing an exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago; attending a workshop at Penland School of Crafts; becoming Penland's first Artist-in-Residence in glass and developing a technique on his own; working with Fritz Dreisbach to set up the first Glass Art Society conference; making improvements to the Penland glass studio; teaching at Penland; making a living as an artist; making opal glass for the first time; choosing certain imagery and color in his work; experimenting with technique including glass casting; making his Innerspace series; his relationship with collectors; finding challenges with his latest body of work; and the influence of Zen on his art. Peiser also recalls Harvey Littleton, Bill Brown, Billy Bernstein, and others.

Citation

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Mark Peiser, 2004 February 26. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Funding

Funding for this interview was provided by the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.

Biography Note

Mark Peiser (1938- ) is a glass artist from Penland, North Carolina. Henry Halem (1938- ) is a glass artist from Kent, Ohio.

Language Note

English .

Provenance

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.

Location Note

Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001

Record number

(DSI-AAA_CollID)13040

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)247259

AAA_collcode_peiser04

Type

Interviews

Sound recordings

Theme

Craft

Archives of American Art

Topic

Decorative arts

Glass artists -- North Carolina -- Interviews

Glass art

Theme

Craft

Record ID

AAADCD_oh_247259

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply