Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Ramona Solberg, 2001 March 23. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of ceramicist Robert Sperry measure 13.6 linear feet and 0.907 GB and date from 1951-2002. The collection documents Sperry's career as an artist, teacher, and filmmaker through biographical information, correspondence, exhibition files, gallery files, material on projects and workshops, writings, a scrapbook, financial files, printed and digital material, photographs, moving image materials, and artwork.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of ceramicist Robert Sperry measure 13.6 linear feet and 0.907 GB and date from 1951-2002. The collection documents Sperry's career as an artist and teacher through biographical information, correspondence, exhibition files, gallery files, material on projects and workshops, writings, a scrapbook, financial files, printed and digital material, photographs, video recordings, films, and artwork.
Biographical files contain items outlining Sperry's career including resumes, teaching evaluations, awards, and interviews. Correspondence includes general correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, schools, galleries, art organizations, and publications as well as named files for those with whom Sperry exchanged a significant amount of correspondence over a long period of time. The Exhibition Files contain materials on group and solo exhibitions Robert Sperry participated in, while Gallery Files hold material, such as correspondence and contracts, related to the galleries which exhibited Sperry's work primarily after 1979. The Project and Workshop Files in Series 5 contain material related to public commissions he completed and workshops he gave during the 1980s and 1990s.
Writings encompass writings by Sperry and others. Sperry's writings vary greatly and include drafts of articles, a family history, poetry, notes and a screenplay, while writings by others are primarily essays on art. Within this series Sperry's event calendars are also found. Sperry compiled a scrapbook which spans 1955 to 1964 and includes correspondence and printed material about exhibitions and newspaper clippings which feature his artwork. He and his wife, Patti Warashina, also compiled Financial Records primarily of their business and living expenses from 1976 to 1984 and earnings as artists and professors at the University of Washington.
The largest series in this collection, Printed Material, provides information largely on Sperry's career through press clippings, exhibition announcements, catalogs, and publications, and also includes other materials on ceramics in general. The Photographs series contains both photos and negatives from Sperry's trip to Japan to film "Village Potters of Onda" as well as photographs of his artwork and his family. Also found in this collection are a few sketches and drawings by Sperry and one drawing by Patti Warashina. Moving image material includes video recordings and motion picture film with a wide range of content, including documentaries about Sperry, studio footage, and experimental and narrative films created by Sperry in a range of styles and genres, including animation such as the animated film "Henry," hand colored film, live action footage, abstract design, and narrative short films by Sperry. There are digital research copies of some of the films.
Arrangement:
The Robert Sperry papers are arranged as thirteen series, according to type of material. Each series is arranged either in rough chronological or alphabetical order.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Files, 1954-circa 2000, undated (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence Files, 1951-2000, undated (Boxes 1-2; 0.9 linear feet)
Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1963-1999, undated (Boxes 2-3; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Gallery Files, 1960-2000, undated (Boxes 3-4; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Project and Workshop Files, 1967-1996, undated (Box 4; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Writings, 1966-1990, undated (Box 5; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Scrapbook, 1955-1964 (Box 5; 8 folders)
Series 8: Financial Records, 1961-1995, undated (Boxes 5-6; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 9: Miscellaneous Subject Files, 1975-1998, undated (Box 6; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 10: Printed Material, 1955-2002, undated (Boxes 6-10; 3.4 linear feet)
Series 11: Photographs, 1963, undated (Box 10; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 12: Sketches and Drawings, 1984, undated (Box 10; 2 folders)
Series 13: Moving Image Material, circa 1962-1998, undated (Boxes 10-12, FC 13-18; 3.1 linear feet, ER01; 0.907 GB)
Biographical Note:
Robert Sperry was born in Bushnell, Illinois, in 1927. He grew up on his family's farm in Druid, Saskatchewan, Canada, and in 1945 was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he first developed an interest in art. After serving in the military, he returned home and completed his B.A. at the University of Saskatchewan in 1950 and a B.F.A. at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1953. While working on his B.A. he met and married Edyth MacDonald and they had one child, Van, in 1950. Sperry spent one summer as Artist in Residence at the Archie Bray Foundation, in Helena, Montana, and then moved his family to Seattle so that he could complete his M.F.A. at the University of Washington. After graduating in 1955 he stayed at the University and became a professor, teaching ceramics until retiring in 1982. During this time, Sperry widely exhibited his clay vessels in both group and solo exhibitions and was active in the American Craft Council.
When not teaching, Robert Sperry pursued his interest in photography and filmmaking and, in 1963, traveled to Japan to make "Village Potters of Onda," a project that included a documentary film and a collection of black and white photographs. Sperry continued experimenting with film and, in 1967, created a fictional film entitled, "Profiles Cast Long Shadows," which was shown at film festivals throughout the United States. After abandoning another film project in 1970 while going through a divorce, he returned to ceramics as his focus. During the 1970s Sperry developed his techniques, modifying glazes and moving away from the vessel shape. In 1976 Sperry married Patti Warashina, fellow ceramicist and professor at the University of Washington. He began producing murals, which led to several public commissions such as a mural for the IBM Field Engineering Educational Center in Atlanta, created in 1983. Robert Sperry: A Retrospective, was exhibited in 1985-1986 at the Bellevue Art Museum, however, Sperry would continue producing and exhibiting new work, and giving lectures and workshops for thirteen more years, until his death in 1998.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Patti Warashina papers, circa 1900-1991. An online finding aid is available.
Provenance:
The Robert Sperry papers were donated by Sperry's wife Patti Warashina in 2003 and 2004.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of jeweler and educator Ramona Solberg measure 8.3 linear feet and date from 1926 to 2007. The collection documents Solberg's career through biographical materials including interview transcripts, correspondence between Solberg and friends and colleagues including Russell and Marjorie Day and Malathi Ramswarthy, organizational and professional files, printed materials, artwork including jewelry sketches, photographs of Solberg and her work, and motion picture films containing footage of artwork and travel.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of jeweler and educator Ramona Solberg measure 8.3 linear feet and date from 1926 to 2007. The collection documents Solberg's career through biographical materials including interview transcripts, correspondence, organizational and professional files, printed materials, artwork including jewelry sketches, photographs of Solberg and her work, and motion picture films containing footage of artwork and travel.
Biographical materials contain Solberg's Women's Army Corps records, student records, awards and diplomas, material for Solberg's memorial service, a Christmas newsletter by Solberg, interview transcripts and notes, and a detailed chronology of Solberg's life events and career accomplishments.
Correspondence is between Solberg, various friends and colleagues including Russell and Marjorie Day, Malathi Ramswarthy, and others, and with her nephew's partner Sharon Dwinnell-Smith, who served as the point of contact during Solberg's hospitalization in 2004 and after her death in 2005.
A set of organizational files includes correspondence, agreements, printed and photographic materials, sales information, loan forms, and other material regarding exhibitions, workshops, and other events. Solberg's professional files include annotated calendars, workshop material, files containing personal letters and material concerning a film project on Solberg by Jack Stoops, drafts and photographs for Solberg's book Inventive Jewelry-Making, instructional material, research and notes on beads, a few exhibition files, and teaching and travel files.
Printed materials include booklets, brochures and pamphlets, clippings, announcements and catalogs for Solberg's exhibitions, flyers, and a poster. Artwork includes Solberg's childhood drawings, jewelry sketches, and a few other items. Photographic materials include photos of Solberg, travel, and works of art, in addition to approximately 40 motion picture film strips containing footage of artwork and travel.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1939-2007 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1, OV 9)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1966-2007 (0.7 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Organizational Records, 1955-2007 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 4: Professional Files, circa 1955-2006 (2.0 linear feet; Boxes 2-4, OV 10)
Series 5: Printed Materials, circa 1957-2006 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 4-5)
Series 6: Artwork, 1926-circa 2000 (0.2 linear feet; Box 5, OV 11)
Series 7: Photographic Materials and Motion Picture Film, circa 1940-circa 1990s (3.0 linear feet; Boxes 5-8, FC12)
Biographical / Historical:
Ramona Solberg (1921-2005) was a jeweler and educator in Seattle, W.A.
Solberg was born in Watertown, S.D. but moved to Seattle as a baby. She enlisted in the Women's Army Corps in 1943 and served until 1950. Over the course of her service, she had the opportunity to travel around the United States, as well as abroad to Heidelberg and Stuttgart. After leaving the Army, Solberg used her GI benefits to study jewelry making and textiles in Mexico at Bellas Artes and the University of Michoacan. She received both her Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Washington in 1951 and 1953. Solberg taught high school before becoming an associate professor at Washington State College from 1956 to 1967. She returned to her alma mater, the University of Washington, in 1967 to teach until her retirement in 1983. In 1972, she published, Inventive Jewelry-Making, a book for beginners. She became a fellow at the American Craft Council in 1975 and won the Washington State Governor's award in 1987.
Solberg died in 2005.
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives of American Art is an interview of Ramona Solberg conducted on March 23, 2001 by Vicki Halper for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Solberg's apartment, Seattle, W.A.
Provenance:
The Ramona Solberg papers were donated in 2003 by Ramona Solberg and in 2008 by Ramona Solberg's estate via Larry Metcalf, executor, as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual records in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual records in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Ramona Solberg papers, 1926-2007. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
156 sound recordings of interviews with American craft artists, mainly those that work with clay, created in preparation for her book, What Makes a Potter/Functional Pottery in America Today, Schiffer Publishing, 2018. Several interviews have corresponding transcripts. Entire collection consists of born digital records.
Biographical / Historical:
Janet Kolpos is an art historian and author. Koplos is the co-author of Makers: A History of American Studio Craft, an honorary fellow of the American Craft Council, and a contributing editor to Art in America magazine, where she was a staff editor for 18 years.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 2019 by Janet Koplos.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of born digital records with no duplicate copy requires advance notice.
The papers of Phillip Fike measure 2.2 linear feet and date from 1951-2010, with bulk dates from 1955-1997. The collection documents Fike's career as a metal-worker and professor through biographical material, correspondence, writings, professional files, printed materials, photographs and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Phillip Fike measure 2.2 linear feet and date from 1951-2010, with bulk dates from 1955-1997. The collection documents Fike's career as a metal-worker and professor through biographical material, correspondence, writings, professional files, printed materials, photographs and artwork. Biographical material includes a master's degree diploma, awards from the American Craft Council and Wayne State University, resumes, and a family tree. Correspondence is with friends, family, professional associates, galleries, and universities. Notable correspondents include the American Craft Council, Wayne State University, and artist Sam Maloof, among others. Writings include studio notebooks, artist statements, speech drafts and poetry. Also found are extensive notes for Fike's chapter on niello that appeared in the monograph, Metals Technic: a Collection of Techniques for Metal Smiths, Brynmorgen Press, 1992. Professional Files document Fike's involvement in art organizations, his teaching career and various projects he worked on throughout his artistic career. Also found are financial documents related to the creation, sale and exhibition of his work. Documents include association meeting minutes, shipping and material sale receipts, fellowship applications and nominations, and project and workshop planning documents. Printed material includes small exhibition catalogs and announcements, and newspaper and magazine clippings representing all stages of Fike's career. Photographs are of Fike at work, in galleries, and his metal pieces. Works of art include annotated technical and design planning sketches of Fike's jewelry and sculptures, as well as niello prints.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as eight series
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1951-1997 (7 Folders: Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1961-2010 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 1)
Series 3: Writings, 1955-1998 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 1)
Series 4: Professional Files, circa 1955-1998 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 1-2)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1956-1998 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 2)
Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1963-1997 (7 Folders: Box 2)
Series 8: Artwork, circa 1955-1996 (0.2 Linear feet: Box 3)
Biographical / Historical:
Phillip Fike (1927-1997) was a metal-worker and art professor in Detroit, Michigan. Fike studied under the G.I. bill at the University of Wisconsin during which time he revived a decorative metal technique called niello, a method of filling designs that have been engraved on the surface of a metal (usually silver) objects with a black metallic alloy. His niello success prompted Fike to teach numerous niello workshops across the country. In 1953 Fike began teaching at Wayne University (now Wayne State University), and remained a professor there for 45 years. Fike is also known for the revival and improvement upon the fibula, a type of clasp used for jewelry and as a founding member of of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG).
His work has been widely exhibited in major venues for American metal work including the Renwick Gallery and the Gallery of the American Craft Council.
Professor Fike was a member of the College of Fellows of the American Craft Council and received numerous awards and prizes.
Provenance:
Donated 2013 by Clare Brackett Morison, Phillip Fike's partner, via Ayers Morison Jr., estate of Clare Brackett Morison.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Phillip Fike papers, circa 1951-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with William P. Daley, 2004 August 7-December 2. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Ceramicists -- Pennsylvania -- Interviews Search this
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Exhibition records of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum of Art, 1943-1975. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program. Funding for the digitization of two motion picture films was provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee, and for the remaining sound and video recordings from the Smithsonian's Collection Care Pool Fund. Funding for the digitization of the collection, not including audiovisual materials, was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Aileen O. Vanderbilt Webb, 1970 May 7-June 9. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Presentation about acrylic paints, Meeting of the national board of Artists Equity Association, Meeting with New York artist representatives, and Panel discussion about art critics
Type:
Sound Recording
Date:
1982 June 10-11
Citation:
Presentation about acrylic paints, Meeting of the national board of Artists Equity Association, Meeting with New York artist representatives, and Panel discussion about art critics, 1982 June 10-11. Eleanor Dickinson papers, 1947-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of New Jersey-based ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu measure 24.4 linear feet and 12.65 gigabytes and date from circa 1925 to circa 2010. The papers document Takaezu's career as an educator and ceramicist in Hawaii and Quakertown, New Jersey, through biographical material, correspondence, interviews, documentaries, artist files, organization files, personal business records, studio practice files, printed material, and photographic material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New Jersey-based ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu measure 24.4 linear feet and 12.65 gigabytes and date from circa 1925 to circa 2010. The papers document Takaezu's career as an educator and ceramicist in Hawaii and Quakertown, New Jersey, through biographical material, correspondence, interviews, documentaries, artist files, organization files, personal business records, studio practice files, printed material, and photographic material.
Biographical materials include Toshiko Takaezu's biographical summaries, resumes, awards, engagement calendars, honorary degrees, business cards, and other miscellany. There are also some writings by others about Takaezu and writings by her students on various subjects.
The correspondence series consists of personal and professional correspondence with friends, family, and other artists. Noteworthy correspondents include Dan Anderson, Olen Bryant, Maryette Charlton, Maija Grotell, Ivabell Harlan, Joseph Hurley, Nobuko Ise, Ernestine Kozuma, Isamu Noguchi, Hideo Okino, Alice Parrott, Carol and Francois Rigolot, Ann Shaner, Brooke Shields, Gladys Sonomura, Barbara Tiso, Carol and Katsunari Toyoda, and Lois Wittich. There is also a great deal of correspondence with Toshiko Takaezu's siblings and mother. Also included are Takaezu's letter drafts, letters of recommendations for students, greeting cards, and correspondence related to exhibitions.
Interviews and documentaries include a wide variety of audiovisual formats from videocassettes to sound cassettes, 16mm film reels, U-matic tapes, and born digital recordings, along with transcripts. The transcripts and recordings feature Takaezu's artwork, exhibitions, workshops, and award ceremonies, but they are mostly interviews. A few recordings are about other artists or ceramics in general.
Artist files include biographical information, resumes, limited correspondence, clippings, exhibition catalogs, slides and photographs on various artists. There is also a small amount of artwork by various artists in the form of sketches, etchings, prints, and watercolors.
Organization files document Toshiko Takaezu's long relationship with various museums, galleries, universities, colleges, art schools, and other institutions across the country and in Japan. The series contains a mixture of exhibition files, project files, teaching files, and gallery records. These records document exhibitions, workshops, commissions, conferences, fellowships, and donations of artwork. The Princeton University, where Toshiko Takaezu taught for over two decades, are especially noteworthy.
Personal business records consist of documents related to Toshiko Takaezu's financial and legal affairs. There are art appraisals, contracts and invoices, inventories of artwork on Takaezu's property, price lists, shipping and transportation records, ceramic restoration reports, deeds for various properties, and other material.
Studio practice files include information on kiln construction and other equipment. There are manuals, designs, contracts, instructions, regulations, and printed material related to looms, stoves, kilns, septic tanks, oil tanks, and wells for Toshiko Takaezu's New Jersey home and studio. Other miscellaneous materials include art supplies receipts, guest books, and writings by others on the subject of pottery.
Most of the printed material is about Toshiko Takaezu, but there are a few folders on other artists and subjects, such as mycology and mushroom gathering, that interested her. Printed material consists of books, clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements, magazines, books, and posters, etc.
Photographic material includes photographs of Toshiko Takaezu in her studio, teaching workshops, and attending various events. There are many photographs of Takaezu's artwork as well as exhibition installations and opening receptions. There are a few photographs of artists such as Lenore Tawney and Lee Nordness. Most of the series consists of photographs and snapshots, but there are some slides and transparencies as well. This series also includes born digital photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1937-circa 2010 (0.9 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1950-2010 (6.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-8, OV 25)
Series 3: Interviews and Documentaries, 1970-2009 (2.2 linear feet; Boxes 8-10, FC 34-36, ER01-ER02)
Series 4: Artist Files, circa 1940-2010 (1.9 linear feet; Boxes 10-12, OV 26)
Series 5: Organization Files, 1952-2010 (5 linear feet; Boxes 12-16, OV 27-28, ER03)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1966-2009 (0.4 linear feet; Box 17)
Series 7: Studio Practice Files, circa 1956-circa 2010 (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 17, 24, OV 29
Series 8: Printed Material, 1949-2012 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 17-20, OV 30-32)
Series 9: Photographic Material, circa 1925-2010 (3.7 linear feet; Boxes 20-23, OV 33, ER04-ER19)
Biographical / Historical:
Toshiko Takaezu (1922-2011) was a Japanese American ceramicist who was primarily based in Quakertown, New Jersey. Takaezu was born in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, on June 17, 1922. Her parents Shinsa and Kama Takaezu were Japanese immigrants and she was one of eleven children.
Starting around 1940, Takaezu worked at the Hawaii Potter's Guild in Honolulu. She later took classes at the Honolulu Academy of Arts (now called the Honolulu Museum of Art School) and attended the University of Hawaii (1948-1951) where she studied ceramics with Claude Horan. From 1951 to 1954, Takaezu attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she studied under ceramicist Maija Grotell. In 1957, she participated in the American Craft Council conference in Ansilomar, California, where she befriended fiber artist Lenore Tawney.
Throughout the course of her career, Toshiko Takaezu taught at many places. She taught at the YWCA in Honolulu, Cranbrook Academy; University of Wisconsin, Madison; Honolulu Academy of Art, Cleveland Institute of Art, and Princeton University, and other art schools and institutions. In 1966, she established a studio in Clinton, New Jersey. She taught at Princeton the longest, from 1967 to 1992, and received an honorary doctorate from the university in 1996.
In 1975, Takaezu permanently settled in Quakertown, New Jersey, where she created a home and studio. From 1977 to 1981, Lenore Tawney lived with Takaezu in Quakertown and shared adjoining studio spaces. The two continued to travel together and remained close friends throughout their lives until Tawney passed away in 2007.
Toshiko Takaezu worked with painting, fiber, and even bronze, but she is most well known for her work with ceramics. In 1955, Takaezu traveled and studied ceramics in Japan for eight months. Her work is a testament to her bicultural heritage, reflecting both Japanese influences as well as her Western upbringing, and love of nature. While her early work included many functional objects, her explorations in art led to her signature "closed form" objects, which were hollow and sealed or included tiny openings to release gases during firing.
Takaezu also exhibited widely and had many solo and group exhibitions in the United States as well as Japan. Her work is in the collections of various museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Honolulu Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Smithsonian American Art Museum. Among the many awards and accolades she recieved over the course of her career were the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1980), being named a Living Treasure of Hawaii (1987), and being the recipient of honorary doctorates from multiple universities and colleges.
Takaezu died in Honolulu on March 9, 2011.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Toshiko Takaezu conducted by Gerry Williams, June 16, 2003.
Provenance:
The Toshiko Takaezu papers were donated by Toshiko Takaezu in 1978 and 2006, and by Don Fletcher, a friend of Takaezu's, in 2013 and 2020.
Restrictions:
The glaze recipes in the studio practice files are access restricted; written permission is required to view these documents. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The glaze recipes in the studio practice files are access restricted; written permission is required to view these documents. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Toshiko Takaezu papers, circa 1925-circa 2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.
The glaze recipes in the studio practice files are access restricted; written permission is required to view these documents. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Toshiko Takaezu papers, circa 1925-circa 2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.
