well, it's very nearly its 44th birthday around now. I've got Mark's book out to make sure I get my dates and info. correct. I'm quoting a lot here - but not word for word, mostly pps 12-15, and much abrieviated.
"Michael Harris; Mdina Glass and Isle of Wight Studio Glass"
Effectively, the Studio Glass Movement was born in America of what came to be known as "The Toledo Seminars", between Harvey Littleton (a ceramicist who built a small furnace and wanted to try melting glass to work with at low temperatures) and Dominic Labino, (who attended the first seminar and had the idea of melting the kind of glass used for making marbles - which worked - Littleton's first experiments didn't work well.) and by 1963, Littleton was teaching these new techniques at an offshoot of the University of Wisconsin.
One of his students was Sam Herman, who won a Fulbright Scolarship to study cold-working techniques in Edinburgh in '65 - where he met Helen Munro-Turner (A wonderful bit of serendipity!).
With her support, he organised an exhibition of the new "studio" style work, and a small, (but short-lived) furnace was also built there in Edinburgh. Lord Queensbury (Professor at the RCA) saw the exhibition - and he was enthralled.
He invited Sam to London to become a Research Fellow in the glass departnment.
So, in Autumn '66, Sam arrived in London and two small "tank" furnaces were built.
Michael Harris was, at the time, a tutor in industrial glass at the RCA, but had had some experience with hot glass during his travels abroad and was desperately keen to get going in this sort of direction - Sam's presence, his lecture and his teaching of working with hot glass were just what Michael Harris needed.
It was shortly after this that Michael Harris resigned from the RCA, upped sticks and went off to Malta in December '67, to found Mdina, and Sam Herman took over at the RCA and went on to start the Glasshouse.
So, this piece I now hold in custody for posterity was made at the RCA at that very time!
The birth of the British Studio Glass Movement.