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Interviewee:
Woodman, Betty, 1930-2018  Search this
Interviewer:
Perreault, John, 1937-  Search this
Subject:
Brown, Elenita  Search this
Carlson, Cynthia  Search this
Hamada, Sh?ji  Search this
Higby, Wayne  Search this
Kozloff, Joyce  Search this
Kushner, Robert  Search this
Leach, Bernard  Search this
Serra, Richard  Search this
Shark, Bud  Search this
Voulkos, Peter  Search this
Woodman, George  Search this
Bellagio Study and Conference Center  Search this
Centre internationale de recherche sur le verre et les arts plastiques (Marseille, France)  Search this
Europees Keramisch Werkcentrum  Search this
Fabric Workshop  Search this
Girl Scouts of the United States of America  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
School for American Crafts  Search this
University of Colorado  Search this
Boulder (Colo.).. Parks & Recreation Department  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Place:
Boulder (Colo.)
India -- description and travel
Mexico -- description and travel
Netherlands -- description and travel
Place of publication, production, or execution:
New York (State)
Physical Description:
5 Items, Sound recording: 5 sound files (2 hr., 55 min.), digital wav; 69 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 55 min.
Summary:
An interview of Betty Woodman conducted 2003 April 22 and 29, by John Perreault, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in New York, New York.
Woodman speaks of frequent moves with her family during her childhood; her father's woodworking skills; gaining an interest in arts and crafts at four when she made a tablecloth with crayon drawings; attending summer camps, including Girl Scout Camp, where she participated in arts and crafts activities; being the first girl to take shop in her middle school; making model airplanes for air raid wardens during World War II; her interest in making functional objects; her introduction to clay and hand-building in high school; attending the School for American Craftsmen in New York City; collaborating with fellow students; her early desire to be a "craftsperson and not an artist"; her work with silk-screen fabric for The Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia and glass at CIRVA in Marseille, France; teaching at the University of Colorado and the City of Boulder Recreation Department; working at the European Ceramic Work Center in Den Bosch, Holland, and the Bellagio Study Center in Italy; her studios in New York, Colorado, and Italy; her travels to India, The Netherlands, and Mexico; living in New Mexico, New York, Colorado, and Italy; her business Roadrunner Pottery in New Mexico with partner Elenita Brown; collaborative projects with Joyce Kozloff, Cynthia Carlson, Bud Shark, Judith Solodkin, and her husband George Woodman; developing a following in New York; how being a woman has affected her work and how she enjoys working with other women artists; the change of market for American crafts; Italian, Greek, and Etruscan influences; teaching experiences; the importance of getting reviews in art magazines; and the strong support from her husband George, a painter. Betty Woodman recalls Lynn Feelyn, Olan Wassen, Bernard Leach, Peter Voulkos, Shoji Hamada, Bob Kushner, Richard Serra, Wayne Higby, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Betty Woodman, 2003 April 22 and 29. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Funding:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Biography Note:
Betty Woodman (1930-2018) was a ceramist from New York, New York. John Perreault (1937- ) is an independent critic and curator from New York, New York.
Language Note:
English .
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.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Airplanes -- Models  Search this
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Ceramics -- Study and teaching  Search this
Decorative arts  Search this
Glass art  Search this
Screen process printing  Search this
Women artists  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Women ceramicists  Search this
Handicraft  Search this
Theme:
Craft  Search this
Women  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)13297
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)245771
AAA_collcode_woodma03
Theme:
Craft
Women
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_245771