Glidden Parker

Glidden McLellan Parker Jr. was born in Phillips, Maine. He studied literature at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine with the intention of becoming a writer and received a BA in 1935. After furthering his studies in Vienna for a year he returned to Maine to write a novel that was never published. He became interested in ceramics and attended the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, New York as a special graduate student from 1937 to 1939 studying under Katherine Nelson, Marion Fosdick and Don Schreckengost.

In 1940, Parker established Glidden Pottery in Alfred, New York. Parker sold his stoneware dinnerware to department stores in New York City. At its peak, Glidden Pottery had fifty-five employees and produced 150,000 pieces per year. Gliddenware was featured in magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, and House Beautiful. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz owned a complete set of Gliddenware, and pieces can be seen in some episodes of the television series I Love Lucy. Inexpensive imported dinnerware negatively impacted sales of Glidden Pottery and the company closed in 1957.

In 1962 Parker was hired by Raymond Loewy to teach pottery in his ceramic studio in Puerto Rico. A few years later, he left Puerto Rico to take a job as a stained-glass designer for Glass Art Studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he remained into the mid-1970s. He then moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he designed ceramic sculpture.