Paul Stankard was presented with the South Jersey Cultural Alliance's Lifetime Achievement Award by Susan Gogan, executive director of Wheaton Arts and treasurer of SJCA.
Yesterday evening at Bally’s Atlantic City, flameworker Paul Stankard was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the South Jersey Cultural Alliance, a regional umbrella group of 130 nonprofit arts, historical, and cultural organizations. Presenting the award to Stankard was Wheaton Arts executive director Susan Gogan, who also serves as SJCA treasurer.
“Paul created his own artistic domain as he evolved from a scientific glassmaker to a fine craftsman making glass paperweights to a sculptor creating magnificent small worlds that interpret his innate understanding and respect for our natural world as well as his personal experience as a human observer,” said Gogan in her remarks before presenting the award.
Gogan also quoted from a note sent by Newark Museum curator of decorative arts Ulysses Dietz, author of a book about Paul entitled Homage to Nature, who wrote: “Paul Stankard is in my opinion the greatest flamework glass artist in the western hemisphere—and one of the top flameworkers in the world. He’s also one of the nicest people I’ve ever had the privilege to know, and has lived his life with an open-hearted personal integrity that sets him apart.”
