Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Emma Amos, 1968 October 3. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Emma Amos conducted 1968 October 3, by Al Murray, for the Archives of American Art.
Amos speaks of the development of her interest in art and her early influences, her education at Antioch, Black politics and the problems facing Black artists, image problems among Black people, her travels in Europe, her interests in different media, and the effect of marriage and motherhood on her work.
Biographical / Historical:
Emma Amos (1937-2020) was a painter and printmaker in New York, New York.
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 others. Funding for this interview provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Restrictions:
This interview transcript is open for research. No audio exists. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Boston University. School of Fine and Applied Arts Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with John Wilson, 1993 March 11-1994 August 16. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of John Woodrow Wilson conducted 1993 March-1994 August, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Wilson discusses his childhood as a member of a family of middle class Black people from British Guiana (now Guyana); his father's grave disappointments in the face of racial discrimination; his parents' push for their children to succeed; early urge to read and draw; encouragement by School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston students who taught at the Roxbury Boys Club; his secondary education; and friends.
He talks about his education at the MFA School, Boston, and comments on such teachers as Ture Bengtz and Karl Zerbe and compares their exacting methods with those of Fernand Leger, his teacher in Paris.
His work of the 1940s prior to going to Paris; the importance of early awards and sales received while still a student at the MFA School; the excitement of sharing a studio with fellow students, Francesco Carbone and Leo Prince; and encouragement to stay in school during WW II with the promise of a European study fellowship after the war.
The great impact of his years in Paris (1948-49); the lack of racial prejudice; the liberating effect of Leger's teaching; his awe of the work of Masaccio and Piero della Francesca during a trip to Italy; and the deep impression made on him by seeing tribal art in the Musee de l'Homme, Paris.
Continued discussion of Leger; his teaching methods; and influences on his work.
His first teaching position at the MFA School; his involvement in civil rights in Boston; his gregariousness and the use of his studio as a meeting place for artists and political activists; his involvement with socialism in Boston and New York; and working in a socialist children's camp. He remembers meeting Paul Robeson, Charles White, Elizabeth Catlett, and Bob Blackburn, who was then setting up his printmaking atelier in New York; marriage to a fellow socialist (June 1950); move to Mexico on a fellowship to study with Jose Orozco on the advice of Leger, only to find that Orozco had died; terrors of travel as an interracial couple through the U.S.; and different racial attitudes in Mexico and the U.S.
Living in Mexico (1950-56) and anecdotes of David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera; his wife's meeting with Frieda Kahlo and seeing her collection of folk art; their free and cosmopolitan, if impoverished, life in Mexico; his work in a printmaking atelier and on the production of frescoes, and a lengthy aside about his brilliant brother, Freddie, who because he was black was not allowed to pursue his first love, geology, for many years.
Continued discussion of his experiences in Mexico; the dreary year (1957) he spent doing commercial art for a meatpackers' union in Chicago, a city he disliked; his move to New York in 1958, taking on commercial work to support his family, and teaching anatomy at the Pratt Institute.
Teaching art at a junior high school in the Bronx, and his gaining respect of students through special projects; teaching drawing at Boston University (1965-86), his approach to teaching including his demanding standards, the seriousness of the students, his opposing rigid attendance and grading rules, and colleagues, such as David Aronson who had created the School, Reed Kay, Jack Kramer, Sidney Hurwitz, and the University president, John Silber.
Working with the black arts entrepreneur, Elma Lewis, in setting up a visual arts program for the Boston black community (late 1960s-1970s), including the selection of a curator, Edmund Barry Gaither, a young art historian, who eventually established a museum of African-American art; his participation in various black art exhibitions, despite his belief that art should be seen regardless of the ethnic origins of artists; his move toward sculpture, beginning in the early 1960s, as a medium most expressive of black persons, culminating in the 1980s in a series of colossal heads and a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. for the U.S. Capitol (1985-86); and why he makes art and will so long as he is able.
Biographical / Historical:
John Wilson (1922- ) is an African American painter, sculptor, illustrator, printmaker, and educator from Boston, Massachusetts. Full name John Woodrow Wilson.
General:
Originally recorded on 11 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 22 digital wav files. Duration is 16 hr., 2 min.
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 the transcription and microfilming of the interview provided by the Newland Foundation.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Lou Stovall, 2021 July 27 and August 10. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of African American painter and printmaker Emma Amos measure 37.1 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 2019. The collection documents Amos's family history, her professional life, and the intersection of her heritage and artwork. Found in the collection are biographical materials, family and inherited papers, correspondence, writings, project and exhibition files, teaching files, other professional records, personal business records, printed and photographic materials, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of African American painter and printmaker Emma Amos measure 37.1 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 2019. The collection documents Amos's family history, her professional life, and the intersection of her heritage and artwork. Found in the collection are biographical materials, family and inherited papers, correspondence, writings, project and exhibition files, teaching files, other professional records, personal business records, printed and photographic materials, and artwork.
Biographical materials include Amos's student records from Antioch and New York Universities, her personal Bible, resumes, and video recordings of interviews with bell hooks and Moira Roth. The Amos family and inherited papers of close family friends contain photographs, scrapbooks, correspondence, and memorabilia from Fisk University.
Correspondence is with colleagues at galleries, museums, and arts organizations regarding exhibitions, the Spiral artist group, and Amos's other professional activities, as well as her personal letters with friends and family.
Also found in the collection are writings that include drafts, published copies of essays, autobiographical writings, lecture video recordings, mock-ups of book projects, and a few writings by others. Project and exhibition files are for the television show Show of Hands (1977), The Sky's the Limit installation at IS90, Emma Amos: Paintings and Prints 1982-1992 retrospective exhibition, and the Ralph David Abernathy Memorial Project. Teaching files are from Rutgers University where she served as Chair of Visual Arts at the Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Amos's files for her other professional activities document fellowships and residencies, memberships, presentations at conferences and workshops, travel, and exhibitions she curated such as Progressions: A Cultural Legacy (1986), also co-curated by Julia Hotton and Vivian Browne, and Resisting Categories: Finding Common Ground. Personal business records include gallery files, datebooks, donation and loan records, ledgers and sales books, invoices and receipts, and studio supply records.
Printed materials contain clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, magazines and journals, and video recordings of the documentary Emma Amos: Action Lines featuring Amos and her artwork. Photographic materials consist of photographic prints, negatives, transparencies, photographic digital prints, slides, photographs albums, and 1 electronic disc of Amos, family and friends, parties and events, art models, snapshots, and works of art. Artwork contains mainly preparatory and source materials created and collected by Amos for use in her work.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1937-2012 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, 37)
Series 2: Family and Inherited Papers, circa 1900-2017 (3.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-4, 38, OV 43)
Series 3: Correspondence, 1952-2019 (3.2 linear feet; Boxes 4-7)
Series 4: Writings, 1948-2010s (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 7-8, 42)
Series 5: Project and Exhibition Files, 1950s-2019 (8.2 linear feet; Boxes 8-16, 37, OV 45)
Series 6: Teaching Files, 1948-2013 (3.5 linear feet; Boxes 16-20, 37, OV 44)
Series 7: Other Professional Activities, circa 1960s-2018 (4.0 linear feet; Boxes 20-24, 46)
Series 8: Personal Business Records, 1960-2019 (2.0 linear feet; Boxes 24-26, OV 43)
Series 9: Printed Materials, 1908-2019 (4.5linear feet; Boxes 26-30, 39, OV 43, OV 45)
Series 10: Photographic Materials, circa 1900-2010s (3.5 linear feet; Boxes 30-33, 40)
Series 11: Artwork, circa 1940s-2010s (2.0 linear feet; Boxes 33-36, 41)
Biographical / Historical:
Emma Amos (1937-2020) was an African American painter and printmaker in New York, N.Y.
Amos was born in Atlanta, Georgia to a prominent family that had connections to Hale Woodruff, Zora Neale Hurston, and W.E.B. DuBois. Her mother, India DeLaine Amos, received a degree in anthropology from Fisk University in Tennessee and her father, Miles Green Amos, was a pharmacist and graduate of Wilberforce University in Ohio. In 1923, Miles Amos, with his uncle Moses Amos, established the Amos Drug Store which became a social and intellectual center of the neighborhood.
Amos graduated from Booker T. Washington High School at 16. She enrolled at Antioch College where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1958. During her time at Antioch, Amos would spend part of the year attending classes and the rest of the year working in cities like Washington, D.C., New York, and Chicago where she frequented the local galleries and museums. During her fourth year, she traveled to study at the London Central School of Art with Anthony Harrison. After graduating from Antioch, she returned to London to get a degree in etching in 1960. She later received a Master of Art from New York University in 1966.
At the beginning of Amos's career, she went to New York because of the lack of opportunities in Atlanta. In New York, Amos began teaching art at the Dalton School. She started working with printmakers like Robert Blackburn eventually taking a job with designer Dorothy Liebes in 1961 who she worked for until 1969. Later, Amos taught textile design at Newark School of Art. In 1980, she began teaching at the Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University eventually becoming Chair of the Visual Arts department. Amos retired in 2008.
Amos was a member of the influential artist collectives Spiral, Heresies, and Guerilla Girls. She was the creator and host of the WGBH television program about crafts, Show of Hands (1977-1978). She has exhibited her work in numerous exhibitions including Emma Amos, Paintings and Prints, 1982–1992 and Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power.
Amos died in Bedford, N.H. in 2020.
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives of American Art are: Oral history interview with Emma Amos, 1968 October 3 and Oral history interview of Emma Amos, 2011 November 19-26.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 2020 by Emma Amos as part of the Archives' African American Collecting Initiative funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Restrictions:
Material regarding the Guerilla Girls is access restricted; written permission is required. 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 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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
An interview with Lou Stovall conducted 2021 July 27 and August 10, by Victoria Valentine for the Archives of American Art, at Stovall's home in Washington, D.C.
Biographical / Historical:
Lou Stovall (1937- ) is a master printmaker and draughtsman who is particularly known for his vivid silkscreen prints. In 1968, Stovall founded Workshop, Inc, a vibrant print studio in Washington, DC that he led to great prominence.
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:
This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its Oral History Program interviews available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. Quotation, reproduction and publication of the recording is governed by restrictions. If an interview has been transcribed, researchers must quote from the transcript. If an interview has not been transcribed, researchers must quote from the recording. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
2 Sound recordings (open reel, 1/4 inch)
5 Sound recordings (audio cassette)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Narration
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
Georgia
Springfield (Mass.)
United States
Date:
1983
Scope and Contents:
Brian Jones provides the narration for the self guided audio tour for the exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall. The life history of Lou and Di Stovall and their work with the Stovall Workshop Inc., Lou's relationship with Sam Gilliam and Lloyd McNeill, Lou's work with the Corcoran Gallery, Di's education at the Corcoran School of Art, the meaning of the poster, and Lou's passion for drawing are briefly discussed. Individual works - posters, prints, and fine art - by Lou and Di, including a collaboration piece by Gilliam and Lou, are described.
Audio tour script - unedited audio narration. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. AV003296-3: sound distorted. Dated 19831026, 19831027. AV001367 and AV001377: dated 198310. AV001368 and AV001369: dated 19831020. AV001365: undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Self Guided Audio Tour was created for an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.;Di Stovall, also known as Di Bagley Stovall and Di Bagley, was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1947. As a child, she loved collecting small things, animate and inanimate. Stovall studied with Barbara Pound, a painter known for landscapes, oil, and watercolor, throughout her childhood and teenage years. In the late 1960s, Stovall was educated at Columbus College and Bradley Museum, both in Georgia, before moving to Washington, D.C. to attend Corcoran School of Art. Stovall is a noted master of the miniature, creating representational and abstract images painted in absorbing detail. Although she creates drawings, prints, and watercolors, she prefers to work with acrylic on paper to capture the minute detail she seeks. Stovall's work also includes acrylic paint on glass, hand-crafted jewelry, and wooden cabinetry. Overall, Stovall's work is colorful, whimsical, and sophisticated. Color is extremely important to her. In 1971, she married Lou Stovall, a printmaker.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003296-1
ACMA AV003296-2
ACMA AV003296-3
ACMA AV001367
ACMA AV001377
ACMA AV001368
ACMA AV001369
ACMA AV001365
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
2 Sound recordings (open reel, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Narration
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
Atlanta (Ga.)
United States
Date:
1983
Scope and Contents:
Stovall Workshop Inc. Slide Show focuses on the formation of Workshop by Lou Stovall and Lloyd McNeill from its origins at the Corcoran Gallery of Art to its current location in northwest Washington, D.C. Stovall's and McNeill's poster work, the development of Stovall's silkscreen process, landscape designs, and use of color are also described. In interview clips, Francis Fralin and David Bronson provide memories about Stovall, McNeill, and Workshop. M. Murray provides the narration.
Music, narration, and interview clips edited for slide show. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. AV003444-1 and AV003509-2: music, narration, and interview clips. AV003444-2: narration and interview clips only. AV003509-1: constant beeps over music, narration, and interview clips. AV003444 labeled final mix. Dated 19830902 [AV003444]. Undated [AV003509].
Biographical / Historical:
Stovall Workshop Inc. Slide Show is related to an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.;Stovall Workshop Inc. was formed as a result of a poster collaboration between printmaker Lou Stovall and designer Lloyd McNeill in 1966. Printmaking, sculpture, photography, and furniture making were directed by Stovall in Workshop, first located at the Concoran Gallery of Art [Corcoran Gallery Dupont Circle]. By 1973, Stovall moved Workshop to northwest DC.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003444-2
ACMA AV003509-1
ACMA AV003509-2
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
2 Sound recordings (open reel, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
Atlanta (Ga.)
United States
Date:
1983
Scope and Contents:
Interviews with Dana Cook, Francis Fralin, and David Bronson for Stovall Workshop Inc. Slide Show, which focused on the formation of Workshop by Lou Stovall and Lloyd McNeill from its origins at the Corcoran Gallery of Art to its current location in northwest Washington, D.C. Cook, an illustrator and printmaker, discusses her experience working with and learning from Stovall at Workshop. Fralin speaks of Walter Hopps' outreach program idea leading to a relationship between Stovall and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, development of the Workshop at the Corcoran Gallery Dupont Circle, Stovall's and McNeill's poster collaboration, Stovall's silkscreening and drawing, Di Stovall's art and imagination, and other Workshop and Corcoran artists, including Sam Gilliam, David Bronson and Gene Davis. Bronson, a technician and craftsman, discusses his role at Workshop: helping to set up Workshop at Corcoran, learning silk screen process, working in woodshop, and creating prints for artists, including Ed McGowin for Name Change exhibition at Baltimore Museum of Art. All speak of Stovall's personality as a person, teacher and leader, particularly his perfectionist nature and high standards.
Interviews for slide show about Stovall Workshop Inc. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. Dana Cook interview dated 19830801: AV003309-1. Frances Fralin interview dated 19830809: AV003309-1 and AV003309-2. David Bronson interview dated 19830810: AV003314. All recordings have some distortions or skips in sound recording.
Biographical / Historical:
Stovall Workshop Inc. Slide Show is related to an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression from posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.;Stovall Workshop Inc. was formed as a result of a poster collaboration between printmaker Lou Stovall and designer Lloyd McNeill in 1966. Printmaking, sculpture, photography, and furniture making were directed by Stovall in Workshop, first located at the Concoran Gallery of Art [Corcoran Gallery Dupont Circle]. By 1973, Stovall moved Workshop to northwest DC.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003309-2
ACMA AV003314
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
1 Sound recording (open reel, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Documentary films
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1983
Scope and Contents:
Artist Lou Stovall demonstrates and speaks about his silk screen printing process and use of color in detail. He also discusses his ability and passion for drawing.
Short documentary. Audio only [most likely there is related 16mm film which has not been digitized yet]. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. Dated 19940329.
Biographical / Historical:
Lou Stovall is related to an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
2 Sound recordings (open reel, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Documentary films
Interviews
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1983
Scope and Contents:
Interview with Lou Stovall for documentary in which Stovall demonstrates and speaks about his silk screen printing process and use of color in detail. During the interview, Stovall discusses his ability and passion for drawing, hiding the human figure in landscape compositions, working with stencils and proofing strips, details of the reductive printing process, integration of color in his work, silk screen printing as a technical medium, art intelligence, aesthetics in his work and other artists, where he gets his inspiration, and Sam Gilliam's work and abstract art.
Interview for short documentary titled Lou Stovall. Audio only. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. AV003305: audio skips and minimal distortions. Dated 19830627.
Biographical / Historical:
Lou Stovall Interview - Silk Screen Process is related to an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003305-2
ACMA AV003281
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
10 Sound recordings (open reel, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Documentary films
Interviews
Outtakes
Ambient sounds
Sound effects recordings
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1983
Scope and Contents:
Sound rolls for short documentary titled Lou Stovall in which Stovall demonstrates and speaks about his silk screen printing process and use of color in detail. Interviews, narration, ambient sounds, foley sound effects, and demonstration of screen printing process contained on sound rolls. During the interview segments, Stovall discusses his ability and passion for drawing, working with stencils and proofing strips, details of the reductive printing process, mixing and integrating of color in his work, and silk screen printing as a technical medium. Some of the footage, particularly AV003285, AV003287 and AV003288, consists of almost exclusively demonstration [sounds of the screen printing process].
Sound rolls and narration for short documentary titled Lou Stovall. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. Audio only. Most likely there is film which syncs with sound rolls, except AV003276 [no camera/image according to statement at beginning of sound roll]. AV003506: Sound Roll 1. AV003288: Sound Roll 2. AV003285: Sound Roll 3. AV003276: Sound Roll 4. AV003313: Sound Roll 5. AV003498: Sound Roll 6. AV003287: Sound Roll 7. AV003303: Sound Roll 8. AV003289: Sound Roll 9. AV003447: Lou Stovall Narration [distortion at beginning of recording]. Dated 19830803 [AV003506], 19830804 [AV003276, AV003285, AV003288, AV003498], 19830805 [AV003287, AV003303], 19830824 [AV003289]. Undated [AV003313, AV003447].
Biographical / Historical:
Lou Stovall Sound Rolls and Narration is related to an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003285
ACMA AV003287
ACMA AV003288
ACMA AV003289
ACMA AV003303
ACMA AV003313
ACMA AV003447
ACMA AV003498
ACMA AV003506
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
2 Sound recordings (audio cassette)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Place:
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1983
Scope and Contents:
Lou and Di Stovall walk through the exhibition 'Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall' with Zora Martin-Felton. The Stovalls talk about various pieces of their artwork displayed throughout the exhibition. They also speak of their artistic process and style.
Exhibiton tour. Sound only. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. AV001364: dated 19830923. AV001346: dated 19830925.
Biographical / Historical:
Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Self Guided Audio Tour was created for an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.;Di Stovall, also known as Di Bagley Stovall and Di Bagley, was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1947. As a child, she loved collecting small things, animate and inanimate. Stovall studied with Barbara Pound, a painter known for landscapes, oil, and watercolor, throughout her childhood and teenage years. In the late 1960s, Stovall was educated at Columbus College and Bradley Museum, both in Georgia, before moving to Washington, D.C. to attend Corcoran School of Art. Stovall is a noted master of the miniature, creating representational and abstract images painted in absorbing detail. Although she creates drawings, prints, and watercolors, she prefers to work with acrylic on paper to capture the minute detail she seeks. Stovall's work also includes acrylic paint on glass, hand-crafted jewelry, and wooden cabinetry. Overall, Stovall's work is colorful, whimsical, and sophisticated. Color is extremely important to her. In 1971, she married Lou Stovall, a printmaker.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV001364_B
ACMA AV001346_A
ACMA AV001346_B
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
1 Sound recording (audio cassette)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Place:
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1984
Scope and Contents:
Brian Jones led an interactive tour of the exhibition 'Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall' for JHS students during February 1984.
Exhibiton tour - educational program. Sound only. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. Dated 198402.
Biographical / Historical:
Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Self Guided Audio Tour was created for an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.;Di Stovall, also known as Di Bagley Stovall and Di Bagley, was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1947. As a child, she loved collecting small things, animate and inanimate. Stovall studied with Barbara Pound, a painter known for landscapes, oil, and watercolor, throughout her childhood and teenage years. In the late 1960s, Stovall was educated at Columbus College and Bradley Museum, both in Georgia, before moving to Washington, D.C. to attend Corcoran School of Art. Stovall is a noted master of the miniature, creating representational and abstract images painted in absorbing detail. Although she creates drawings, prints, and watercolors, she prefers to work with acrylic on paper to capture the minute detail she seeks. Stovall's work also includes acrylic paint on glass, hand-crafted jewelry, and wooden cabinetry. Overall, Stovall's work is colorful, whimsical, and sophisticated. Color is extremely important to her. In 1971, she married Lou Stovall, a printmaker.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV001363_B
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
1 Sound recording (audio cassette)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Place:
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
circa 1984
Scope and Contents:
Brian Jones led an interactive tour, possibly for students, of the exhibition 'Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall.'
Exhibiton tour - educational program. Sound only. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. Undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Self Guided Audio Tour was created for an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.;Di Stovall, also known as Di Bagley Stovall and Di Bagley, was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1947. As a child, she loved collecting small things, animate and inanimate. Stovall studied with Barbara Pound, a painter known for landscapes, oil, and watercolor, throughout her childhood and teenage years. In the late 1960s, Stovall was educated at Columbus College and Bradley Museum, both in Georgia, before moving to Washington, D.C. to attend Corcoran School of Art. Stovall is a noted master of the miniature, creating representational and abstract images painted in absorbing detail. Although she creates drawings, prints, and watercolors, she prefers to work with acrylic on paper to capture the minute detail she seeks. Stovall's work also includes acrylic paint on glass, hand-crafted jewelry, and wooden cabinetry. Overall, Stovall's work is colorful, whimsical, and sophisticated. Color is extremely important to her. In 1971, she married Lou Stovall, a printmaker.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV001366_B
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
The papers of African American painter, printmaker, and educator Reginald Gammon measure 2.4 linear feet and 5.30 GB and date from 1927 to 2007, with bulk of the materials dating from 1960-2005. The collection consists of scattered biographical materials, including video and sound recordings of interviews; correspondence with artists, galleries, organizations, and museums; writings and notebooks; teaching files; printed materials; photographic material; and artwork in the form of sketches, drawings, and paint sketches.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of African American painter, printmaker, and educator Reginald Gammon measure 2.4 linear feet and 5.30 GB and date from 1927 to 2007, with bulk of the materials dating from 1960-2005. The collection consists of scattered biographical materials, including video and sound recordings of interviews; correspondence with artists, galleries, organizations, and museums; writings and notebooks; teaching files; printed materials; photographic material; and artwork in the form of sketches, drawings, and paint sketches.
Biographical materials include Gammon's academic records and diplomas, certificates, military records, an address book, and information about his memorial service. There is a folder on The Spiral Group which includes an exhibition catalog and photographs. There are video interviews, a conversation video, and two TV advertisements, all digital; one analog and one digital audio interview.
Approximately one-half of the collection consists of correspondence with other artists, museums, galleries and arts organizations. Correspondents include Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Vivian Browne, Thomas Frey, Joseph Greenberg, Harwood Art Center, Patrick King, Hughie Lee-Smith, Midtown Galleries, National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, New Mexico African American Artists Guild, Harvey Overton, Schomberg Center, Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Museum, Western Michigan University, and Jonathan Wynberg, among many others.
Writings by Gammon consists of essays, a research proposal, notes, grant applications, and notebooks wherein Gammon jotted down thoughts and drafted letters.
Teaching files are related to Reginald Gammon's tenure at Western Michigan University. There are teaching certifications, lecture notes, one sound recording (sound cassette) of a lecture, student recommendations, and grade books, among other items.
Printed materials primarily consist of exhibition catalogs and announcements, including the catalog Ida Y Vuelta on Gammon's 1998 exhibition in Rodez, France. Other materials found in this series are clippings that feature Gammon and his work, periodicals, posters designed by Gammon, and source materials related to jazz. and limited subject files.
Photographic materials include prints, slides, digital photographs, and negatives depicting Reginald Gammon and his artwork, friends and family, and various studios and events.
Artwork includes pencil and ink sketches, drawings, and paint sketches. The series also contains storyboards for children's books as well as mockups for advertisements.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1936-2006 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1, 3, 5.29 GB; ER01-ER03)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1964-2005 (0.8 linear feet; Box 1-3)
Series 3: Writings and Notebooks, 1948-circa 2000 (0.1 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 4: Teaching Files, 1969-1991 (0.1 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1955-2005 (0.4 linear feet; Box 2, OV 4)
Series 6: Photographic Material, 1927-2007 (0.2 linear feet; Box 2-3, 0.010 GB; ER04)
Series 7: Artwork, 1937-circa 1999 (0.5 linear feet; Box 2-3)
Biographical / Historical:
Reginald A. Gammon (1921-2005) was a painter and art educator who worked in New York City, Michigan, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was a member of Spiral, an African American artist's collective based in New York City, as well as a member of the New Mexico Afro-American Artist Guild. He taught in the New York public schools and at Western Michigan University.
Gammon was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1941, he received a scholarship to study art at the Philadelphia Museum College of Arts (then the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Arts) and the following summer worked in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard refurbishing battleships for the war effort. While working, he also attended school at night. He was drafted and served in the Navy from 1944-1946 with an African-American unit stationed in Guam. He lived in Philadelphia briefly after the war and moved to New York City in 1948. During his early years in New York City, Gammon worked at various jobs such as sorting mail for the post office and designing advertising copy. Around this time, he first met his future wife Janice Goldberger whom he married in 1972.
In 1963, Gammon was invited to join Spiral, a group of African American artists which included Charles Alston, Romare Bearden, Alvin Hollingsworth, Norman Lewis, Richard Mayhew, and Hale Woodruff. As a member of this group, Gammon participated in the 1965 exhibition First Group Showing: Works in Black and White. Spiral disbanded later that same year. In 1969, Gammon and Benny Andrews formed the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition. This politically active group of artists picketed the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of Modern Art to protest the exclusion of black artists and curators.
Gammon also taught at the Saturday Academy Program for New York public schools. He set up an informal studio so that children from Harlem could work with resident artists. This position and a recommendation from Hughie Lee-Smith led to an offer from Western Michigan University for a visiting lectureship that turned into a full-time teaching position in which Gammon served until 1991, when he retired as Full Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts and Humanities.
After his retirement from Western Michigan University, Gammon and his wife moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and he became involved in the New Mexico Afro-American Artist Guild and the Albuquerque United Artists, among other civic organizations. He regularly participated in exhibitions and art fairs sponsored by the Guild and served as their treasurer from 1999 until his death. He was artist-in-residence from 1992-2005 at the Harwood Art Center where he also maintained a studio.
Gammon was also one of the founding members of the New Grounds Print Workshop, where he completed his final collection of artworks - a collection of over 100 prints of historically significant gospel singers and jazz musicians. Gammon died on November 4, 2005.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 2007 and 2008 by Reginald Gammon's widow Janice Gammon.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Use of archival audiovisual recordings and electronic records with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
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.
An interview of Emma Amos conducted 2011 November 19-26, by Patricia Spears Jones, for the Archives of American Art, at Amos' studio, in New York, New York.
Biographical / Historical:
Emma Amos (1937-2020) was a painter and printmaker in New York, New York. Patricia Spears Jones (1951- ) is a poet and writer in Brooklyn, New York.
General:
Originally recorded as 5 sound files. Duration is 3 hr., 27 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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
This microfilm collection of the papers of African American printmaker Raymond Steth contains corrrespondence; business records; photographs; printed material; and records of the Philographic School of Art including correspondence, financial records, course materials, student records, printed material, and photographs.
Biographical / Historical:
Raymond Steth (1917-1997) was an African American printmaker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He worked for the WPA's Federal Art Project graphics division and collaborated with Dox Thrash, an artist known for developing new methods of Carborundum printing. After the WPA, Steth founded and directed the Philographic School of Art, an independent printmaking and graphics workshop teaching commercial, fine, and graphic art.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Oral history interview with Raymond Steth, 1990 April 28 conducted by Marge Kline.
Provenance:
Microfilmed in 1989 as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Educators -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Printmakers -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Federal aid to the arts -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
