An interview with Alexis Smith conducted 2014 January 24 and April 14, by Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, for the Archives of American Art at Smith's studio, in Venice, California.
Ms. Smith discusses growing up in Southern California and her early years living with her parents on the grounds of Metropolitan State Hospital, a mental institution in Norwalk, California; her mother's death when Ms. Smith was 11; the family's time in Whittier and Palm Springs and being raised as an only child by her father; her early interest in French studies and travel to France as a student; her interest in studying art beginning with a John Coplans class at UC Irvine; her time at at UC Irvine in the early days of the university and her growing attraction to the life of an artist; the origin of her name Alexis Smith; and the encouragement of her fellow artists to continue pursuing her cut-up collages from literature, photos, magazines, and Hollywood ephemera. Ms. Smith also describes her time with her artist women's group in the 70s; her husband Scott Grieger; working for Frank Gehry; her showing with the Nicholas Wilder Gallery; her relationship with Chris Burden and her time with him during his period of performance pieces in the 70s; the Riko Mizuno Gallery; her work with terrazzo and its use for installations at the LA Convention Center, Ohio State University, and other installations; the appropriation of text and the assistance of Jerry Solomon utilizing custom frames in her artwork; the impact of women from history, media and literature on her art; her relationship with Coy Howard; the Holly Solomon Gallery; her Jane series; her On the Road series; her installation Snake Path at UC San Diego; her piece for SITE Santa Fe Red Carpet; teaching at UCLA; her installation of the piece Scarlet Letter at Las Vegas Central Library and its subsequent removal; her associations with Margo Leavin Gallery and Honor Fraser gallery; and the loss of her long-time studio space and the challenges of storing her artwork. Ms. Smith also recalls Judy Chicago, Robert Irwin, Vija Celmins, Larry Bell, Barbara Burden, Richard Sedivy, Avilda Moses, Craig Krull, and Allen Ruppersberg among others.
Biographical / Historical:
Alexis Smith (1949-2024) was a collage, multimedia, and installation artist in Los Angeles, California.
Hunter Drohojowska-Philp is an art critic and writer from Beverly Hills, California.
General:
Originally recorded as 5 sound files. Duration is 3 hr., 11 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Collagists -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Alexis Smith, 2014 January 24 and April 14. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Shelley Rice and A.I.R. Gallery (New York, N.Y.). A.I.R. Gallery Current Issues and Events Series, "Photographic Images of Women" Presentation by Shelley Rice, 1983 June 4. Nancy Spero papers, 1940s-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The explicit material inquiries on the intersection of curatorial and conservation cultures edited by Hanna B. Hölling, Francesca G. Bewer, Katharina Ammann
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Marilyn Minter, 2011 Nov 29-30. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Regina Vater, 2004 February 23-25. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (Salzburg, Austria) Search this
Museum für Moderne Kunst (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Elaine Sturtevant, 2007 July 25-26. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Vija Celmins, 2009 February 11-October 15. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Doug Aitken, 2017 July 22-24. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of abstract expressionist painter, sculptor and poet Elaine Galen date from circa 1950-2022. The collection measures 2.0 linear feet and 8.02 gigabytes. The collection documents Galen's work as a teacher and published writer, as well as her relationships with national museums, through biographical material, correspondence, writings and poetry, personal business records, exhibition files, photographic material, and artwork. A portion of this material is in electronic format.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of abstract expressionist painter, sculptor and poet Elaine Galen date from circa 1950-2022. The collection measures 2.0 linear feet and 8.02 gigabytes. The collection documents Galen's work as a teacher and published writer, as well as her relationships with national museums, through biographical material, correspondence, writings and poetry, personal business records, exhibition files, photographic material, and artwork. A portion of this material is in electronic format.
The biographical material series includes a short biography, several CVs, honors and awards, and a couple of interviews, one captured in a digital video recording. The correspondence series includes recommendation letters from colleagues and residency offers. The writings series includes several artist statements, unpublished poetry, lecture notes, letters to editors, and scholarly reviews of Galen's artwork. The exhibition and gallery files series includes Galen's participation in the U.S. Department of State's Art in Embassies program as well as several other notable exhibitions, and her work with various museums. The personal business records series includes materials related to Galen's artwork donations, loans, sales and copyright. The printed material series includes clippings, exhibition advertising and organizational outreach. The photographic material series includes photographs (some in digital format), including snapshots of Galen at work in her studio, as well as images of her and students and artwork. The artwork series includes a limited edition book series, loose sketches and a sketchbook.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1962-2020 (0.1 linear feet: Box 1; 1.914 gigabytes: ER001-ER003)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1961-2016 (0.1 linear feet: Box 1)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1961-2020 (0.3 linear feet: Box 1)
Series 4: Exhibition and Gallery Files, circa 1973-2018 (0.1 linear feet: Box 1; 6.09 gigabytes: ER004-ER005)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, circa 1963-2022 (0.3 linear feet: Box 1)
Series 6: Printed Material, circa 1958-2019 (0.4 linear feet: Boxes 1-2)
Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1950-2016 (0.3 linear feet: Box 2; 0.02 gigabytes: ER006)
Series 8: Artwork, circa 1962-2015 (0.4 linear feet: Box 2)
Biographical / Historical:
Abstract expressionist painter and sculptor Elaine Galen (1928- ) is known for her mystical interpretation of the natural landscape, the human form, and the moments when the two intersect. After attending the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate, Galen earned an M.A. from New York University and studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in 1962. She began to exhibit her artwork across the state of New York in the 1960s, during which time she became a Fulbright Finalist and received the Emily and Joe Lowe Award for Painting. She served as an Associate Professor of design and studio courses at the State University of New York (SUNY) from 1981-1997. In the early 2000s, Galen published a limited edition book series telling the stories surrounding biblical women, for which she paired her artwork with her poetry and short prose. Galen's artwork can now be found in the Whitney Museum of American art, the Israel Museum in Jersualem, and in the special collections of Ivy League universities.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the papers of artist Ed Colker, husband of Elaine Galen.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Elaine Galen in several accessions, in 2007, 2013, 2020 and 2021.
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 born-digital 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.