What’s Going on with Marvin Lipofsky’s “Blow Glass” Buttons?

For much of his artistic career, artist Marvin Lipofsky (1938–2016) offered buttons with the slogan “blow glass” to people he met during his extensive travels to art schools, glass factories, and workshops [fig. 1]. In 1969, Lipofsky worked with graphic designer Marc Treib to design and produce the first “blow glass” buttons at the University of California, Berkeley (1). The buttons feature undulating blue capital letters set against the backdrop of a waving American flag. While passing out buttons might seem like an unusual gesture for this artist-educator, it reflects the ways in which Lipofsky borrowed the strategies of burgeoning social movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s to spread the word about glassblowing in the United States.

Fig. 2: Marvin Lipofsky, Glass Form 1969, 1969. Free-blown glass with copper plating, 12 x 5 ½ x 7 ½ in. Courtesy of the Marvin Lipofsky Studio.

In 1964, Lipofsky joined the faculty at UC Berkeley, and by 1967, he had founded the glass program at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. The Free Speech Movement and anti-war activism on these campuses had a profound impact on his early artwork. For example, the message “I Only Want Peace” appears on the copper-plated glass sculpture Glass Form 1969 [fig. 2]. Created in the same year as Lipofsky’s first buttons, the organic curves of Glass Form 1969 are adorned with a series of stripes that evoke the American flag.

Fig. 3: Students silk-screening anti-war posters, Wurster Hall, University of California, Berkeley, 1970. Photo by Marvin Lipofsky.

Fig. 4: Mother and child at UC Berkeley student strike and anti-war protest, 1968. Photo by Marvin Lipofsky.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Lipofsky also embraced photography and printmaking. His photographs document student activism and the resulting violence on the UC Berkeley campus [figs. 3-4]. Some of his posters were printed at the Berkeley Political Poster Workshop, which emerged in 1970 in response to the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, as well as the Kent State University student shootings by National Guard on May 4. Under the guidance of Malaquias Montoya, a prominent figure in the Chicano Art Movement, poster production was housed in the University’s Art Gallery and Design Buildings and largely involved hand-printing on recycled computer paper and cardboard.

Fig. 5: Marvin Lipofsky, Marvin Lipofsky with Lisa Sitting in Chair, 1970. Poster, 18 x 24 in. Courtesy of Andrew Werby.

Like the buttons, Lipofsky’s political posters blended eye-catching imagery with powerful messaging. One poster from 1970 reproduces a photo taken by Lipofsky’s wife, Erma Smith, of the artist with their daughter, Lisa. Nestled in the crook of Lipofsky’s left arm, Lisa sits on her father’s knee while appearing to paint the anti-war message “Let’s Have Peace” directly on his T-shirt [fig. 5]. He stares out at us with a direct, unrelenting gaze, while the presence of Lisa—and to some extent, Erma, subtly acknowledged in the photo with a small credit line—symbolizes a shared call for peace.

Fig. 6: The “blow glass” buttons were first photographed in 1969 on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Left to Right: Al Melis, Audrey Handler, Fred Marcus, Fritz Dreisbach, Marvin Lipofsky.

One could posit that Lipofsky’s buttons, sculptures, and posters were simply products of their time, reflecting the grassroots efforts and socially conscious artistic trends of the 1960s and 1970s. However, it’s compelling to consider how these politically charged works and ephemera—particularly the “blow glass” buttons—also reflect Lipofsky’s teaching philosophy and collaborative ethos, which embraced glassblowing as a collective endeavor.

The “blow glass” buttons were created to be widely distributed, aiming to recruit art students to glassmaking and foster networks of artists working with the medium [fig. 6]. In a 2003 interview with the Archives of American Art, Lipofsky recalled, “I used to give that button to everybody. I made hundreds of those buttons and gave them out whenever I traveled” (2). In addition to expanding college-level glass education in the San Francisco Bay Area, Lipofsky taught regular seminars at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the Pilchuck Glass School. Many of Lipofsky’s signature open bubble forms, which showcase a remarkable variety of colors, shapes, scales, and techniques, are titled after the locations where they were created. Crafting large, multi-colored sculptures from molten glass is no easy feat. Rather than blowing glass alone, Lipofsky learned to work with teams of skilled experts. Lipofsky's travels also took him to art and craft schools across the globe, including the Czech Republic, Japan, Italy, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The artworks created in these locations serve as a record of his travels and connections within both national and international networks of glass artists.

Fig. 7: Marvin Lipofsky and Tsai Sung-Ping (Harvard) at the Hsinchu International Festival for Glass Arts in Hsinchu, Taiwan, 1995.

Buttons—often referred to as "pins" or "pinbacks"—have long been an influential medium for political expression and community building. Firstly, buttons are inexpensive to produce and distribute, offering activists a cost-effective yet powerful tool for sharing their views. Buttons with political messaging were especially popular during the peace and social justice movements of the 1960s and ’70s, an era that also gave rise to a diverse range of politically engaged art. Secondly, buttons often feature concise messages paired with bold graphic designs, which makes them both visually appealing and highly collectible. When worn, the buttons would have helped identify like-minded individuals during the fledgling years of the studio glass movement.

Fig. 8: Photograph of Audrey Handler from 1977 by Marvin Lipofsky.

What Lipofsky did not mention in his interview with the Archives is that from the 1970s through the early 1990s, he photographed glass artists, educators, and students wearing buttons prominently pinned to shirts, jackets, and caps. In an interview, studio glass artist Audrey Handler (b. 1934) recalled that Lipofsky carried his camera everywhere, describing it as "a part of his arm” (3). When asked about the buttons, Handler mentioned that she still has hers and that “we all wore it with pride” (4).  In addition to Handler [fig. 8], Lipofsky captured many other influential glass artists wearing the button, including Sylvia Vigiletti (1933–2020) [fig. 9], Yoko Kuramoto (b. 1950) [fig. 10], and Preston Singletary (b. 1963) [fig. 11]. Over 600 of Lipofsky’s portrait photographs, taken between 1971 and 1992, are now digitized and housed in the archives of the Rakow Research Library at the Corning Museum of Glass, where they serve as an important resource for highlighting influential but often overlooked glass artists. 

Fig. 9: Photograph of Sylvia Vigiletti from 1977 by Marvin Lipofsky.

Fig. 10: Photograph of Yoko Kuramoto from 1977 by Marvin Lipofsky.

Fig. 11: Photograph of Preston Singletary at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, from 1988 by Marvin Lipofsky.

It is safe to say, then, that the “blow glass” buttons were more than just pins—they were symbols of the growing studio glass movement, encompassing a vast network of artists and educators. To honor Lipofsky’s life and contributions to studio glass, the Crocker Art Museum created 500 buttons for distribution at the opening of the exhibition Marvin Lipofsky Blows Glass, on view from March 9 through August 17. The exhibition celebrates the Lipofsky Estate’s recent gift of 11 artworks to the museum’s permanent collection and offers an in-depth look at his career through a selection of artworks and ephemera.  

Sara Morris

Ruth Rippon Curator of Ceramics

(1) Oral history interview with Marvin Lipofsky, 2003 July 30-August 5. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

(2) Oral history interview with Marvin Lipofsky, 2003 July 30-August 5. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

(3) Phone conversation with Audrey Handler and the author, January 3, 2025.

(4) Author email with Audrey Handler, December 16, 2024.