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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Melchert, Jim, 1930-  Search this
Interviewer:
Jones, Mady  Search this
Names:
American Academy in Rome  Search this
National Endowment for the Arts  Search this
San Francisco Art Institute -- Faculty  Search this
University of California, Berkeley -- Faculty  Search this
Voulkos, Peter, 1924-2002  Search this
Extent:
90 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1991 Apr. 4-5
Scope and Contents:
An interview of James Melchert conducted in Oakland, Calif., 1991 Apr.4-5, by Mady Jones, for the Archives of American Art.
Melchert discusses his background; attending the University of Chicago for his MFA in painting; discovering his interest in clay; studying under Peter Voulkos at the Bray Foundation and following him to Berkeley in the Decorative Arts Dept.; artists at Berkeley at the time; teaching ceramics at the San Francisco Art Institute; the art scene in San Francisco; working for the National Endowment for the Arts; moving to Rome to work for the American Academy in Rome; and his future plans. Among the many artists and administrators he recalls are Rudy Autio, Millard Sheets, Bob Arneson, Stephen de Staebler, Jacques Schnier, Peter Selz, Bruce Connor, Bruce Nauman, Manuel Neri, Joan Brown, Susan Peterson, Fred Martin, Ron Nagle, Grace Morley, and Carlos Villa.
Biographical / Historical:
Jim Melchert (1930- ) is a sculptor, teacher, and art administrator of Oakland, Calif. Chairman, Ceramics Dept., San Francisco Art Institute, 1961-1964. Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, 1965-1976. Federal grants chairman of the visual arts for the National Endowment of the Arts in the late 1970s.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hrs., 38 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. Funding for this interview provided by the Lannan Foundation.
Restrictions:
ACCESS RESTRICTED; use requires written permission.
Occupation:
Artists -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area  Search this
Topic:
Ceramics  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area  Search this
Arts administrators -- California -- Interviews  Search this
Sculptors -- California -- Interviews  Search this
Decorative arts  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.melche91
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw960757450-7d15-4308-8cbd-cb013efedbfe
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-melche91