An interview of Billie Ruth Sudduth conducted 2007 July 26-27, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the artist's home and studio, in Bakersville, North Carolina.
Sudduth speaks of her childhood in Alabama; her adoptive family; growing up in a creative and musical environment; an early exposure to women working with their hands; buying a Cherokee basket at age 12; childhood piano lessons and later exploring rhythm in her baskets; attending Huntingdon College; a strained relationship with her mother; meeting her biological family; attending the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa and earning a Master's degree in social work; working as a social worker and psychologist for over 20 years; balancing a career with family; taking a basket-making class in an effort to relax and do something for herself; making baskets in spare time and teaching herself new techniques; her family's move to Las Vegas, Nevada; teaching basket-making classes to adults; developing Math in a Basket curriculum; an interest in Fibonacci and the inclusion of its ratio in her baskets; an interest in color and natural dyes; returning to North Carolina and focusing full time on basket making; receiving a North Carolina Arts Council Emerging Artists grant to photo-document her body of work; becoming interested in chaos theory and its application to her basketry; the popularity and success of Math in a Basket; teaching experiences at Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and John Campbell Folk School; receiving a North Carolina Arts Council Visual Artist grant to study Cherokee, Choctaw, and other Native American tribes' basketry; her extensive basket collection; the honor of being named a North Carolina Living Treasure; participating in juried shows, including exhibiting at the Smithsonian Craft Show for 12 years and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show for seven years; the evolution of her workspace and studio; making the Carolina snowflake, which was exhibited at the White House; her exhibition history; an increasing respect for and recognition of baskets as art objects; the advantages university-trained artists have over self-taught artists; learning the business side of art making through trial and error; living and working in an incredible community of artists and collectors in North Carolina; a growing interest and participation in donating her baskets for fundraisers; and looking forward to spending more time with her grandchildren. Sudduth also recalls Cynthia Bringle, Carol Sedestrom Ross, Kenneth Trapp, Howard Risatti, Katie Gingrass, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Billie Ruth Sudduth is a basketmaker from Bakersville, North Carolina. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer from San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 15 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 42 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.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Cynthia Bringle, 1992 January 22. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Cynthia Bringle conducted 1992 January 22, by Liza Kirwin, for the Archives of American Art.
Bringle discusses her childhood and education in Memphis, Tennessee; her admiration for Memphis artist Dorothy Sturm; meeting Francis Merritt, the director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and his assistant William (Bill) Brown; attending Haystack in Liberty, Maine in 1960 as a scholarship student; her graduate studies in ceramics at Alfred University; attending a Shoji Hamada workshop in Seattle in 1963; building the first gas kiln at the Penland School of Crafts in Penland, North Carolina; teaching at Penland; establishing a pottery studio in Tennessee; Brown's management style as the director of Penland from 1962 to 1983, and conflicts with the Board of Trustees that led to his resignation; Verne Stanford's tenure as director of Penland from 1984 to 1989; Hunter Kariher's role as the director of Penland after Stanford's resignation; and Penland in comparison with other craft schools including Haystack, Arrowmont, and Anderson Ranch. She recalls Lucy Morgan (the founder of Penland), Bonnie Ford (Penland administrator), Jane Brown, Joy Stanford, Harvey Littleton, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Cynthia Bringle (1939- ) is a potter, in Penland, N.C.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 20 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.
