Marvin was raised in Barrington, Illinois, by his parents Henry and Mildred Lipofsky. His sister, Barbara, was born 4 years later.
Marvin joined the Boy Scouts in 1947. It played an important part in his development, exposing him to hobbies, leadership, group life and travel. He was particularly skilled at carving as seen in photo 3.
Marvin was often in the local papers, even as a young boy. Here he is announced as attending the Scout Jamboree in Niagra-on-the-Lake.
Marvin graduates Barrington Consolidated High School.
Marvin graduates from The University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana with a BFA in Industrial Design. During this time, he visited the Chicago Art Institute and was influenced by the art of Peter Voulkos and John Mason. From this exposure, Marvin decides to major in sculpture in graduate school.
49th Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors Exhibition, Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Top Award, Milwaukee Designer-Craftsman Exhibition, Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Marvin and a friend travel to Europe, making small wax models in Rome and casting them in bronze in Florence. While in Italy he makes a visit to Murano to observe glass blowing, not knowing the importance glass would soon play in his life. Travel also included England, Germany, Brussels and Holland.
During his graduate studies, Marvin developed a series entitled Tombstones. They were both a practical adaptation to the limits of kiln space and a response to political events of the times.
Marvin applies to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and is accepted as a graduate student. He studies Sculpture and has his first meeting with Harvey Littleton, who was just starting to incorporate glass into the art department’s curriculum.
Purchase Award, Art Fair on the Green, Wisconsin State University, LaCross, WI
Marvin graduated from UW-Madison in the summer of 1964. He acquired 2 degrees; an MS degree in ceramics and metal sculpture; and an MFA in ceramics/metal sculpture. The two exhibitions are shown here, with a small collection of glass work included in the MFA exhibit.
Immediately following his graduation, Marvin joined Harvey Littleton as a participant in the First World Congress of Craftsmen, held at Columbia University, New York. Other participants in glass included Erwin Eisch (Germany) and Sybren Valkema (Netherlands).
Following the 1st WCC, Marvin left for California to begin teaching glass in the Decorative Arts Department at UCB. In the first class, there were only 6 young women participants. They were the first students to begin working in the newly built Wurster Hall. They built the furnaces themselves.
California State Fair Exhibition, Sacramento, California
Media ‘65, Award, Civic Art Center, Walnut Creek, California
Judges Award, Barrington Art Fair Exhibition, Barrington, Illinois
Milwaukee Arts Festival Award (Ceramics), Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Media ‘66 Award, Small Sculpture, Walnut Creek, California
American Craftsman’s Council National Merit Award, Craftsman U.S.A. ‘66, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, New York
Over the course of the year, Marvin travels to Ohio for the Toledo Grand National and Grand Rapids to visit Dominik Labino. He also goes on the Paoli, Wisconsin to see Harvey Littleton. Then off to Cal State University, Long Beach, CA.
California State Fair Exhibition, Sacramento, California
Over the course of the year, Marvin travels throughout the US, including:
Merit Award, Hayward Art Festival, Hayward, California
First Place Award, Crafts Today 1, Museum West, San Francisco, California
In the summer of 1967, Marvin taught a glass blowing workshop at CCAC, a first for the college. They built their own furnaces and blew in a small outside space near the ceramics studio
Marvin accepts a teaching position at Haystack for the summer session. Other artist luminaries there that summer included Wolf Kahn and Robert Arneson.
Erwin Eisch visits San Jose State to give a glass working demonstration. Hosted with the assistance of Dr. Robert Fritz. No exact dates known.
In addition to his international travels, Marvin also travels around the country: Ann Arbor, MI, Madison, WI, Paoli, WI, Verona, WI, Minneapolis, MN, Toledo, OH; Milton, WV, Marin Co, CA, Padova Hills, CA, Pasadena, CA, Sacramento, CA, San Mateo, CA, Fullerton, CA, Los Angeles, CA.
2 Awards, Toledo Glass National, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
Purchase Award, Monte Vista, Invitational, Danville, California
By 1968, Marvin wanted to give his students a wide variety of experiences in glass, something beyond his own limited knowledge
From 1967-68 Marvin continued experimenting with glass forms. In 1968 he attended the Oakland Hot Rod and Roadster Show and saw cars being flocked with rayon flocking. He made a note of it and began to apply the flocking to his glass forms
In 1968, Marvin was invited by his friend, Joel Phillip Myers, to work at the Blenko Glass Factory in Milton, West Virginia. This was his first venture into working in the context of a factory setting and would prove to be an auspicious development in his professional career
Purchase Award, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois
Joel Phillip Myers attended as visiting artist. Hosted by UC Berkeley and CCAC.
Third Great California Glass Symposium 1970, with visiting artists Fritz Dreisbach and Dale Chihuly. Hosted by UC Berkeley and CCAC.
Following the Spring semester of 1970, Marvin took sabbatical leave from UCB and CCAC. The trip fostered many connections to artists working in glass internationally
Delivered a paper, “Aspects of the Glass Design Program at the University of California, Berkeley.”
Marvin participates in a panel discussion at the 4th World Craft Council Meeting, Dublin, Ireland.
Marvin was invited by William Heesen to work at the Royal Leerdam Glass factory in Holland. Marvin acted as designer, working along side master glassblower, Leendert van der Linden. This partnership resulted in the series of work, Leerdam Colour Series, 1970
While in Ireland, Marvin met Kaj Franck, who invited him to come to Finland to teach and work at the Anthenium School of Art and the Nuutajarvi Factory. While at the Academy he establishes a furnace; he creates 40 sculptures from the cast off molds at Nuutajarvi, known as the Suomi-Finland 1970 Series.
The last international visit on his Sabbatical was to Israel. He hoped to be there one month but it was extended at the request of the school, Bezalel Academy, to six weeks. While there he established a glass program for the school, including building the furnace and annealing ovens.
The Fourth Annual Great California Glass Symposium was held with visiting artist Richard (Dick) Marquis. He had recently returned from Venice as a Fulbright Scholar and had many Italian glass techniques to share. Hosted by UC Berkeley and CCAC.
Thomas Buechner, President of Steuben Glass, lectures for the Symposium. Hosted by CCAC.
Marvin attends Kansas City Art Institute as a Visiting Artist. Exact dates unknown.
The Great California Glass Symposium continues with guest artist Erwin Eisch. Hosted by CCAC.
Marvin goes to Manoa, Hawaii, to teach at the University of Hawaii.
Marvin assists at the First International Glass Symposium in Zurich, Switzerland, at the Museum Bellerive, in conjunction with the exhibition “Glas-Heute.” Workshops and demonstrations were held in the outdoor garden, with talk and lectures later in the day. It was here Marvin meets Gianni Toso for the first time.
Exact dates of this visit are unknown. Marvin left for Venice following his June conference in Zurich. In a letter he asks Venini for time to work there end of June or July. He meets Gianni Toso in Zurich and then works with him at the Venini factory the same summer. This effort results in the “Venini Series 1972.”