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Interviewee:
Winokur, Robert, 1933-  Search this
Interviewer:
Riedel, Mija, 1958-  Search this
Subject:
Babu, Victor  Search this
De Kooning, Willem  Search this
Ferguson, Ken  Search this
Giacometti, Ignazio  Search this
Hamada, Sh?ji  Search this
Hay, Dick  Search this
Klee, Paul  Search this
Kline, Franz  Search this
Levy, Marge  Search this
Minter, Myrna  Search this
Notkin, Richard  Search this
Randall, Theodore  Search this
Reitz, Don  Search this
Rhodes, Daniel  Search this
Schulman, Norman  Search this
Staffel, Rudolf  Search this
Vavrek, Ken  Search this
Voulkos, Peter  Search this
Wildenhain, Marguerite  Search this
Wood, John  Search this
Alfred University  Search this
Helen Drutt Gallery  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (U.S.)  Search this
North Texas State University  Search this
Tyler School of Art  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Place of publication, production, or execution:
Pennsylvania
Physical Description:
7 Items, Sound recording: 7 sound files (5 hr., 35 min.); 159 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded as 7 sound files. Duration is 5 hr., 35 min.
Summary:
An interview of Robert Winokur conducted 2011 July 23 and 24, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Winokur's home and studio, in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
Robert speaks of his mother earning an award for her artwork; his father and other family members being Communists and having to distance himself in being identified with them; his mother making ceramic jewelry while his father was working as a welder at Cramps Shipyard in Philadelphia during World War II; feeling like he had an attention deficit disorder of some kind, which prevented him from doing well in school, so he took ceramics classes in high school to bring his grades up; starting in painting at the Tyler School of Art, finishing in sculpture, clay, and ceramics; appreciating the Abstract Expressionist work of Franz Kline; of the opinion that one learns art by doing and that the teachers are there to direct you only; feeling that he did not have the freedom to experiment with clay as he wished at Alfred University, School of Art and Design for fear of being compared to Peter Voulkos; his first job teaching at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas; teaching in Peoria, Illinois for a year; beginning Cape Street Pottery in Ashfield, Massachusetts; when he began salt firing and working more in sculptural forms; his work influenced by Abstract Expressionism, Paul Klee, Willem de Kooning, Ignazio Giacometti, Zen master calligraphers, Peter Voulkos, and others; feeling that the computer cannot, as of yet, produce the quality of art that humans can through repetition; that the process of creating is more important than the subject; starting his 30-year teaching career at Tyler School of Art in 1966; that students today are approaching ceramics conceptually and academically rather than through a relationship with the material; the beginning of NCECA [National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts]; and how he enjoys making what he wants to, now that he is retired. Robert also recalls Rudolf Staffel, John Wood, Ted Randall, Daniel Rhodes, Shoji Hamada, Marguerite Wildenhain, Ken Ferguson, Norm Schulman, Victor Babu, Myrna Minter, Don Reitz, Helen Drutt English, Richard Notkin, Dick Hay, Marge Levy, and Ken Vavrek.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Robert Winokur, 2011 July 23-24. 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.
Biography Note:
Robert Winokur (1933- ) is a ceramist in Horsham, Pennsylvania. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is an independent scholar in San Francisco, California.
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:
Abstract expressionism  Search this
Ceramicists -- Pennsylvania -- Interviews  Search this
Ceramics -- Study and teaching  Search this
Communism  Search this
Painting -- Study and teaching  Search this
Sculpture -- Study and teaching  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Ceramics  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)15999
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)305689
AAA_collcode_winokr11
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_305689