At the University of Wisconsin in the early 1960s, Mr. Lipofsky was a student of Harvey K. Littleton, a ceramist who created the first glassblowing classes in the United States. “He asked me if I was interested in glass, and I said, well, I’ve never heard of it,” Mr. Lipofsky recalled in an interview at the Oakland Museum of California, describing his first day in Mr. Littleton’s ceramics class.