California -- Los Angeles -- Description and travel
Michigan -- Description and travel
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Gerhardt Knodel, 2004 August 3. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Jack Lenor Larsen, 2004 February 6-8. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Neda Al-Hilali conducted 2006 July 18-19, 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, in Los Angeles, California.
Al-Hilali speaks of her childhood in Czechoslovakia and Bavaria; studying language in London; her experience living in Baghdad, Iraq with her first husband; moving to California and completing her undergraduate and graduate degrees at UCLA; teaching experiences at Scripps College, Claremont Graduate University, California State University Los Angeles, and UCLA; the installation processes of Beach Occurrence with Tongues, Black Passage, the Cassiopeia series, and others; frustrations she encountered with commission work; the rich history of the fiber tradition; travels to Afghanistan, Japan, and Oaxaca, Mexico; achieving gestural and painterly qualities with fiber; the importance of color in textile work in the Middle East; experiences with galleries, including the Hunsaker/Schlesinger Gallery in Santa Monica, California; utilizing a Ouija board for reflection and creative guidance; issues such as global warming and over-development; the status of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule; the gratitude she feels at being a part of the fiber tradition; and plans for the future. Al-Hilali also recalls Bernard Kester, Jim Bassler, Fern Jacobs, Joyce Hunsaker, Alice Simsar, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Neda Al-Hilali (1938- ) is a fiber artist and weaver in Los Angeles, California. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer in San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 22 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 46 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.
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Names:
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
University of California, Los Angeles -- Faculty Search this
University of California, Los Angeles -- Students Search this
Extent:
125 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
2002 February 11-June 6
Scope and Contents:
An interview of James Bassler conducted 2002 February 11-June 6, by Sharon K. Emanuelli, for the Archives of American Art, as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
Bassler speaks of his early childhood; traveling with his father, a major league baseball catcher; his early interest in fiber through his father's hooked rugs, which he worked on during the off season; his early education; his sister Sally and a course she took from Laura Andreson where they dug for clay at UCLA; working at Douglas Aircraft; drafted into the Army; his travels through Europe while in the Army; his wife Veralee Osborn Bassler; his education at UCLA with professors such as Bernard Kester, Laura Andreson, Cornelia Breitenbach, and fellow student Neda Al Hilali; teaching at Emerson Junior High School; the Egg and Eye Gallery; his siblings, Barbara Bassler Johnson, Sally Bassler Chest, and John Bassler. Bassler also discusses living in Oaxaca from 1970-1975; returning to the U.S. and then moving to Tennessee to teach at Appalachian Center for Crafts; the camaraderie at the Craft Center; his experience with commissions; the impact of the music of John Cage; his teaching techniques; artistic process; political issues that influenced his artwork, such as the Exxon Valdez Oil spill [Shroud] or the Persian Gulf War [Soiled]; his relationships with dealers and galleries, Barbara Okun, Christa Thurman, and currently the Gail Martin Gallery in New York; the spontaneity of Willem de Kooning's artwork and a recent exhibit "Willem de Kooning: Tracing the Figure" at the Museum of Contemporary Art [MOCA], Los Angeles, February 10-April 28, 2002; the Peruvian influence upon his work and experiments with dyeing and batik; a piece he was working on for Jack Lenor Larsen's 75th birthday; exhibitions to which he loaned pieces of his collection; significant books he has read and uses in his classes, such as James Burkes' "Connections," and Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel"; the "Art in Embassy" Program and his exhibit in Poland; the benefits of a university education; the Ann Blinks Research Group; his enjoyment of the weaving process; lack of signatures on his artwork; new technology; visiting the "Andy Warhol Retrospective," MOCA, May 25 - August 18, 2002 and solving his artistic block there; the difficulty in being a perfectionist; important artist friendships with Olga de Amaral, Ruth Asawa, Trude Guermonprez, Dominic Di Mare, and Lenore Tawney; and finally his reactions to Craft in America, a symposium which Emanuelli coordinated the agenda for. Bassler also recalls Ina Conradi-Chavez, Edward Durell Stone, Carol Shaw-Sutton, Roger Herman; Larry Pittman; Judy Mitoma; Victoria Vesna; Robert Brady, Phil Fike, Susan Petersen, Eudora Moore, Edith Wyle, Patricia Anawalt, Ed Rossbach, Mildred Constantine, Mary Kahlenberg, Martin Puryear, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Mary Dusenbury, Robert Rauschenberg, Wayne Thiebaud, Adrian Saxe, Kaye Spilker, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
James Bassler (1933- ) is a fiber artist of San Pedro, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 6 sound cassettes and 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 23 digital wav files. Duration is 10 hr., 7 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.
California -- Los Angeles -- Description and Travel
Michigan -- Description and Travel
Date:
2004 August 3
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Gerhardt Knodel conducted 2004 August 3, by Glenn Adamson, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Knodel speaks of his German heritage; his parents each immigrating to Los Angeles; growing up in Los Angeles and being part of the German community; his father building houses; the influence of his childhood environment on his artwork; taking art classes in school; participating in theater and set design; studying art at Los Angeles City College; collecting textiles; transferring to UCLA; teaching high school art; the influence of Abstract Expressionism on his early work; quitting teaching and studying fiber arts at University of California, Long Beach; traveling to numerous countries, and their influence on his artwork; researching and lecturing on fabric as environment; how the fiber art movement has evolved and changed; early exhibitions and the need for more venues; the fiber art community in the 1960s and 70s; the importance of University art programs; moving to Michigan and teaching at Cranbrook; the importance of scale and context in his work; making large scale pieces to fit within an architectural space; working on commission for public projects; working with the community in Pontiac, Michigan on a commissioned piece; the influence of the history of textiles; being director of the Cranbrook Academy of Art; putting figures on to textiles; the decline of the fiber art movement; and the benefits of schools such as Cranbrook. Knodel also recalls Bernard Kester, Mary Jane Leland, Laura Andreson, Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks, Neda Al-Hilali, Lenore Tawney, Claire Zeisler, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Jack Lenor Larsen, Christo, Kiki Smith, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Gerhardt Knodel (1940-) is a fiber artist from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Glenn Adamson is a curator and, art historian from Wisconsin.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 23 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.
An interview of Jack Lenor Larsen conducted 2004 February 6-8, by Arline M. Fisch, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Longhouse, East Hampton, N.Y.
Larsen speaks of his childhood in Seattle, Washington; his parents and other adults who had a positive impact on his development; building things with his friends; attending the University of Washington to study architecture and deciding to study textiles instead; visiting Dorothy Liebes's textile studio; leaving school and moving to Los Angeles; attending the University of Southern California and eventually returning to the University of Washington; becoming a teaching assistant to Ed Rossbach; getting a Masters degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art; meeting many influential people in San Francisco and New York; moving to New York and setting up a studio; working on commission for several companies including Thaibok; expanding his offices to include larger looms and a showroom; setting up a branch of production in Haiti; working in the fashion industry and designing home decor; and working in Southeast Asia developing handcrafted woven exports. He also speaks of his involvement with the American Craft Council and the World Crafts Council, re-organizing and building the new campus at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; traveling to Central Asia, Africa, Europe, and his desire to travel more; working and exhibiting in Japan; experiencing the Japanese textile industry; writing numerous books on fiber arts including, "The Dyer's Art," often collaborating with other fiber artists; developing a classification system for interlacing; collecting art; gardening and its relation to art and design; building Round House and the inspiration behind it; building LongHouse using the Japanese Ise Shrine as a model and plans for further expansion; retiring and difficulties writing, "A Weaver's Memoir." Larsen also recalls Dorothy Liebes, Marianne Strengell, Florence Knoll, Edgar Kaufman, Ed Rossbach, Toshiko Takaezu, Francis Merritt, Mary Bishop, Garth Clark, Issey Miyake, Mildred Constantine, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Jack Lenor Larsen (1927-2020) was a weaver and textile designer from East Hampton, N.Y. Arline M. Fisch (1931- ) is a jeweler from San Diego, Cailfornia.
General:
Originally recorded on 7 sound discs and 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 19 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hrs., 23 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.
Occupation:
Textile designers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959 -- Photographs Search this
Extent:
13.3 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Diaries
Christmas cards
Designs
Interviews
Sketchbooks
Sketches
Sound recordings
Transcripts
Place:
Japan -- Description and Travel
Date:
1880s-1997
Summary:
The collection measures 13.3 linear feet, dates from the 1880s-1997 and documents the life and varied career of Rudolph Schaeffer, artist, designer, teacher, writer, collector of Asian art, and pioneer in the field of color study who founded the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in San Francisco in 1926. The papers include biographical information, correspondence, subject files, writings, diaries, journals, artwork, scrapbooks, sound recordings, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The collection measures 13.3 linear feet, dates from the 1880s-1997, and documents the life and varied career of Rudolph Schaeffer, artist, designer, teacher, writer, collector of Asian art, and pioneer in the field of color study who founded the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in San Francisco in 1926. The papers include biographical information, correspondence, subject files, writings, diaries, journals, artwork, scrapbooks, sound recordings, and photographs.
Correspondence documents Schaeffer's personal and professional activities as well as the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design. Subject files contain various combinations of correspondence, photographs, printed material, and drawings reflecting Schaeffer's activities, projects, and interests. Within the subject files is correspondence with artists, including Mark Tobey. Extensive writings include manuscripts for published and unpublished articles and drafts, notes, and manuscripts of several unpublished books including Collected Lectures of Rudolph Schaeffer on Color and Design, Color and Design, Prismatic Color Theory, and Rhythmo-Chromatics, all undated. Diaries include a volume recording Schaeffer's 1936 trip to Japan. 42 volumes of journals, compiled between 1954 and 1987, contain entries on a wide range of subjects including lists of errands, invitation lists, class notes, drafts of letters, notes including staff assignments and staff meetings, autobiographical notes and reminiscences, and musings on religion and philosophy.
The Artwork series houses artwork by Schaeffer and his students. Found are hand-made Christmas cards, designs, sketches, and sketchbooks. Seven scrapbooks document Rudolph Schaeffer's career, his school and former students, and the San Francisco art scene. They contain printed material, photographs, letters, and a small amount of artwork. Volume 3 is devoted to East West Gallery, and volume 7 documents Rudolph Schaeffer's 90th Birthday and the 50th Anniversary of the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design.
Most untranscribed sound recordings (audio cassettes and reels) are of lectures by Schaeffer and others delivered at the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design.
Miscellaneous records includes a series of hand-baticked fabric samples from the Wiener Werkstatte, as well as transcripts of an oral history with Schaeffer and other interviews.
Printed material concerns the career of Rudolph Schaeffer, his school and former students, the San Francisco art scene, and general art topics. Included are articles and a book by Schaeffer, catalogs and other items produced by the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design, and miscellaneous items about or mentioning Schaeffer and his school. Items of note are announcements of courses taught by Schaeffer in Piedmont and San Francisco prior to the opening of his school, and theatre programs from productions with sets and some costumes designed by Schaeffer in the early 1920s.
Photographs are of artwork, people, places, events, stage designs, and miscellaneous subjects. Artwork includes some designs by Rudolph Schaeffer; people include Schaeffer, his family, friends, and students. Of particular note are a photograph of Frank Lloyd Wright's visit to the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design, and one of Rudolph Schaeffer and Imogen Cunningham. Places include interior and exterior views of the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design at its St. Anne Street and Mariposa Street locations. Also included are photographs by Ansel Adams of the home of Ed and Caroline Fey.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Information, 1900-1988 (Box 1; 0.1 linear ft.)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1906-1989 (Box 1, 19; 0.5 linear ft.)
Series 3: Subject Files, 1907-1988 (Boxes 1-2, OV 16; 1.3 linear ft.)
Series 4: Writings, circa 1910-1987 (Boxes 2-6, 15, 19, 21; 4.2 linear ft.)
Series 5: Artwork, 1911-1957 (Boxes 6-15, 19, 21 OV 17; 0.6 linear ft.)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1933-1976 (Boxes 6, 14, 19; 0.6 linear ft.)
Series 7: Sound Recordings, 1949-1986 (Boxes 11-13; 1.2 linear ft.)
Series 8: Miscellaneous Records, 1905-1986 (Box 7, 19, 22; 0.8 linear ft.)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1906-1994 (Boxes 7-8, 15, 19, 22; 1.2 linear ft.)
Series 10: Photographs, 1880s-circa 1988 (Boxes 8-10,15, 20, 22, OV 18; 1.8 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
Rudolph Schaeffer (1886-1988), a proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement, aspired to unite technology, science, and lifestyle in order to live in harmony with nature. An individual with many talents and interests, he was best known for his work in the field of color study and as a teacher and the founder of the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in San Francisco.
Born on a farm in Clare, Michigan in 1886, Rudolph Schaeffer displayed musical and artistic talent from a young age. Although he initially wanted to become a professional musician, he began focusing more on art when his musical abilities were compromised by an improperly set broken wrist. Schaeffer received his first formal art training as a high school student and then attended the Thomas Normal Training School in Detroit, where he studied music, art, and design. He continued studying independently, developing interests in calligraphy and metal craft.
In 1907, Schaeffer taught manual training courses in the Columbus, Ohio, public schools. The following summer he traveled to Paris and London. While in London he saw an exhibition of Josef Hoffman's modern interiors that had a great impact on his own design ideas. He then returned to Michigan and taught in schools close to home. In 1909, Schaeffer attended a design course in Minneapolis taught by A. E. Batchelder, director of Throop Polytechnic Institute in Pasadena. Both Batchelder and his course were strong influences on Schaeffer, as was Ralph Johnot, a proponent of Arthur Wesley Dow's design principles. In 1910 Schaeffer joined the faculty of Throop Polytechnic Institute, where he remained for five years.
The U. S. Commission on Education selected Schaeffer to be part of a delegation of twenty-five American teachers sent to Munich for several months in 1914 to investigate the exemplary industrial design curriculum offered in their secondary schools. Schaeffer subsequently expected to begin teaching at the Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles at the start of the 1914 school year, but World War I erupted while he was in Germany and his return to the United States was delayed so long that another teacher had to be hired to fill his place.
In 1915 Schaeffer was a manual training instructor at the California College of Arts and Crafts (formerly the Hopkins School), and taught design and metal crafts at the University of California Berkeley. For a number of years afterwards, he did free lance design work, taught private classes, and ran a small summer school in his Piedmont studio. Schaeffer was a visiting professor at Stanford University in 1918 when he was drafted and sent to drafting and surveying courses by the Army. Between 1917 and 1924 Schaeffer was on the faculty of the California College of Arts and Crafts where he taught design, color, handicrafts, and interior design. During this period he developed a new approach to teaching color and design based on the prismatic color wheel.
During the early 1920s Schaeffer worked as a set designer and as Art Director of Greek Theatre at the University of California at Berkeley, Schaeffer began applying prismatic color theory to set and costume design. He also designed sets for productions in Detroit. In 1925, Schaeffer saw the Paris Exposition and researched interior and stage design while in France.
The Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design which, in its early days was called the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Rhythmo-Chromatic Design, opened on St. Anne Street in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1926. In 1951 the school then moved to Union Street on Telegraph Hill where it remained for nearly a decade. In 1960, the school purchased a former boys' school on Mariposa Street, Portero Hill. Rudolph Schaeffer lived in a small cottage built for him at the rear of the property where he designed and tended a remarkable "Peace Garden."
The Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design was best known for its courses in color and interior design. Schaeffer was the first person in the United States to teach prismatic color theory, is credited with being the first to use the term "interior design" rather than "interior decoration" and the first to incorporate the use of models into interior design coursework. In 1959 the school's courses were expanded from 2 to 3-year programs and a diploma was awarded. Former students include many successful interior designers, textile designers, furniture designers, industrial designers, commercial artists, color consultants, teachers, and master flower arrangers.
In addition to the interior design and color diploma courses, the school offered a summer session, classes for children, a brief lecture series for the general public, and a wide variety of classes including advertising art, architecture and design, art history, art in public schools, calligraphy, color design, color for television, color for weavers, color theory, design, drawing, environmental aesthetics, fashion design, fashion illustration, flower arrangement, industrial design, interior design, Notan, sculpture, space planning, textile design, and weaving. Always struggling financially and sometimes lacking adequate enrollment, the school nevertheless managed to stay open for nearly 60 years. In 1984, the Board of Directors voted to remove Schaeffer from the board and close the school. Two years earlier the board had forced Schaeffer to retire, appointed him Director Emeritus, and brought in a new director charged with making the institution financially solvent, reorganizing the curriculum, and working toward accreditation. Unable to separate himself from the school (though he had done so legally when it was incorporated in 1953), Schaeffer balked and refused to cooperate with plans for revitalizing the institution.
One of the aims of the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design was to interpret Asian esthetic principles. To this end the East West Gallery was established at the school in 1950. A membership organization, it offered exhibitions, lectures, concerts, and other programs that encouraged cultural integration. Exhibitions alternated between East (Asian art and artifacts from Rudolph Schaeffer's collection or other sources) and West (student work or work of local artists illustrating the influence of the Asian esthetic on contemporary art and design). East West Gallery was a membership organization, the first space of its kind in San Francisco for Asian art and operated in each of the school's locations.
In addition to running the school Schaeffer was involved in many other activities. He wrote several articles about flower arrangement, color, and color theory that were published in popular magazines. In 1935, he published Flower Arrangement Folio I (said to be the first on the subject published in this country) and in 1942 edited and wrote the introduction to Sunset's Flower Arrangement Book by Nell True Welch. Over a period of many years, he worked on several monographs on color, design, and "rhythmo-chromatics." None were ever published.
A sought-after speaker on the subjects of color, interior design, flower arrangement, and myriad other art topics, Schaeffer frequently served as a juror for art exhibitions and flower shows. From the 1930s on, the San Francisco department store Emporium used his services as a color consultant, as did Dutch Boy paints, and numerous textile and clothing manufacturers. Builders also asked Schaeffer to select interior and exterior colors for suburban housing developments.
Schaeffer worked on planning and designing the decorative arts exhibition at the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition. In 1943-44, he participated in the Red Cross's Arts and Skills program, using color therapy with shell-shocked soldiers in a psychiatric unit.
The Rudolph Schaeffer Collection of Asian Art began as a collection of ceramics, both historical and contemporary examples chosen for their form and color, which he used for flower arrangements and in set-ups for still life classes. It soon expanded to include color prints, paintings, screens, and other works of art and portions were exhibited frequently in the East West Gallery. Selections from this collection were exhibited in Kansas City in 1960 and at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in 1976.
The City of San Francisco declared June 26, 1986, Schaeffer's 100th birthday, "Rudolph Schaeffer Day" and it was observed with great fanfare. He died at home on March 5, 1988, a few months before his 102nd birthday.
Provenance:
The Rudolph Schaeffer papers were donated in 1991 by Rudolph Schaeffer and the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design administrator Peter Docili, and in 1999 and 2000 by James Alexander, a friend of both Schaeffer and Docili, who had been storing portions of Docili's estate after his death in 1998, with the assistance of Frances Valesco, a fiber artist and researcher. An addition was received in 2007 by William Woodworth, a close friend and caretaker of Schaeffer's and in 2017 and 2018 by Frances Valesco.
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 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.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Topic:
Artists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Designers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- San Francisco Search this
The papers of New Jersey-based ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu measure 24.4 linear feet and 12.65 gigabytes and date from circa 1925 to circa 2010. The papers document Takaezu's career as an educator and ceramicist in Hawaii and Quakertown, New Jersey, through biographical material, correspondence, interviews, documentaries, artist files, organization files, personal business records, studio practice files, printed material, and photographic material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New Jersey-based ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu measure 24.4 linear feet and 12.65 gigabytes and date from circa 1925 to circa 2010. The papers document Takaezu's career as an educator and ceramicist in Hawaii and Quakertown, New Jersey, through biographical material, correspondence, interviews, documentaries, artist files, organization files, personal business records, studio practice files, printed material, and photographic material.
Biographical materials include Toshiko Takaezu's biographical summaries, resumes, awards, engagement calendars, honorary degrees, business cards, and other miscellany. There are also some writings by others about Takaezu and writings by her students on various subjects.
The correspondence series consists of personal and professional correspondence with friends, family, and other artists. Noteworthy correspondents include Dan Anderson, Olen Bryant, Maryette Charlton, Maija Grotell, Ivabell Harlan, Joseph Hurley, Nobuko Ise, Ernestine Kozuma, Isamu Noguchi, Hideo Okino, Alice Parrott, Carol and Francois Rigolot, Ann Shaner, Brooke Shields, Gladys Sonomura, Barbara Tiso, Carol and Katsunari Toyoda, and Lois Wittich. There is also a great deal of correspondence with Toshiko Takaezu's siblings and mother. Also included are Takaezu's letter drafts, letters of recommendations for students, greeting cards, and correspondence related to exhibitions.
Interviews and documentaries include a wide variety of audiovisual formats from videocassettes to sound cassettes, 16mm film reels, U-matic tapes, and born digital recordings, along with transcripts. The transcripts and recordings feature Takaezu's artwork, exhibitions, workshops, and award ceremonies, but they are mostly interviews. A few recordings are about other artists or ceramics in general.
Artist files include biographical information, resumes, limited correspondence, clippings, exhibition catalogs, slides and photographs on various artists. There is also a small amount of artwork by various artists in the form of sketches, etchings, prints, and watercolors.
Organization files document Toshiko Takaezu's long relationship with various museums, galleries, universities, colleges, art schools, and other institutions across the country and in Japan. The series contains a mixture of exhibition files, project files, teaching files, and gallery records. These records document exhibitions, workshops, commissions, conferences, fellowships, and donations of artwork. The Princeton University, where Toshiko Takaezu taught for over two decades, are especially noteworthy.
Personal business records consist of documents related to Toshiko Takaezu's financial and legal affairs. There are art appraisals, contracts and invoices, inventories of artwork on Takaezu's property, price lists, shipping and transportation records, ceramic restoration reports, deeds for various properties, and other material.
Studio practice files include information on kiln construction and other equipment. There are manuals, designs, contracts, instructions, regulations, and printed material related to looms, stoves, kilns, septic tanks, oil tanks, and wells for Toshiko Takaezu's New Jersey home and studio. Other miscellaneous materials include art supplies receipts, guest books, and writings by others on the subject of pottery.
Most of the printed material is about Toshiko Takaezu, but there are a few folders on other artists and subjects, such as mycology and mushroom gathering, that interested her. Printed material consists of books, clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements, magazines, books, and posters, etc.
Photographic material includes photographs of Toshiko Takaezu in her studio, teaching workshops, and attending various events. There are many photographs of Takaezu's artwork as well as exhibition installations and opening receptions. There are a few photographs of artists such as Lenore Tawney and Lee Nordness. Most of the series consists of photographs and snapshots, but there are some slides and transparencies as well. This series also includes born digital photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1937-circa 2010 (0.9 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1950-2010 (6.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-8, OV 25)
Series 3: Interviews and Documentaries, 1970-2009 (2.2 linear feet; Boxes 8-10, FC 34-36, ER01-ER02)
Series 4: Artist Files, circa 1940-2010 (1.9 linear feet; Boxes 10-12, OV 26)
Series 5: Organization Files, 1952-2010 (5 linear feet; Boxes 12-16, OV 27-28, ER03)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1966-2009 (0.4 linear feet; Box 17)
Series 7: Studio Practice Files, circa 1956-circa 2010 (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 17, 24, OV 29
Series 8: Printed Material, 1949-2012 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 17-20, OV 30-32)
Series 9: Photographic Material, circa 1925-2010 (3.7 linear feet; Boxes 20-23, OV 33, ER04-ER19)
Biographical / Historical:
Toshiko Takaezu (1922-2011) was a Japanese American ceramicist who was primarily based in Quakertown, New Jersey. Takaezu was born in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, on June 17, 1922. Her parents Shinsa and Kama Takaezu were Japanese immigrants and she was one of eleven children.
Starting around 1940, Takaezu worked at the Hawaii Potter's Guild in Honolulu. She later took classes at the Honolulu Academy of Arts (now called the Honolulu Museum of Art School) and attended the University of Hawaii (1948-1951) where she studied ceramics with Claude Horan. From 1951 to 1954, Takaezu attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she studied under ceramicist Maija Grotell. In 1957, she participated in the American Craft Council conference in Ansilomar, California, where she befriended fiber artist Lenore Tawney.
Throughout the course of her career, Toshiko Takaezu taught at many places. She taught at the YWCA in Honolulu, Cranbrook Academy; University of Wisconsin, Madison; Honolulu Academy of Art, Cleveland Institute of Art, and Princeton University, and other art schools and institutions. In 1966, she established a studio in Clinton, New Jersey. She taught at Princeton the longest, from 1967 to 1992, and received an honorary doctorate from the university in 1996.
In 1975, Takaezu permanently settled in Quakertown, New Jersey, where she created a home and studio. From 1977 to 1981, Lenore Tawney lived with Takaezu in Quakertown and shared adjoining studio spaces. The two continued to travel together and remained close friends throughout their lives until Tawney passed away in 2007.
Toshiko Takaezu worked with painting, fiber, and even bronze, but she is most well known for her work with ceramics. In 1955, Takaezu traveled and studied ceramics in Japan for eight months. Her work is a testament to her bicultural heritage, reflecting both Japanese influences as well as her Western upbringing, and love of nature. While her early work included many functional objects, her explorations in art led to her signature "closed form" objects, which were hollow and sealed or included tiny openings to release gases during firing.
Takaezu also exhibited widely and had many solo and group exhibitions in the United States as well as Japan. Her work is in the collections of various museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Honolulu Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Smithsonian American Art Museum. Among the many awards and accolades she recieved over the course of her career were the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1980), being named a Living Treasure of Hawaii (1987), and being the recipient of honorary doctorates from multiple universities and colleges.
Takaezu died in Honolulu on March 9, 2011.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Toshiko Takaezu conducted by Gerry Williams, June 16, 2003.
Provenance:
The Toshiko Takaezu papers were donated by Toshiko Takaezu in 1978 and 2006, and by Don Fletcher, a friend of Takaezu's, in 2013 and 2020.
Restrictions:
The glaze recipes in the studio practice files are access restricted; written permission is required to view these documents. 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 Reference 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.
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Ferne Jacobs, 2005 August 30-31. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Names:
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Extent:
84 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
2005 August 30-31
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Ferne Jacobs conducted 2005 August 30-31, 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 Los Angeles, California.
Jacobs discusses her early childhood in Chicago and her family's move to Los Angeles; her parents' emigration from Europe; her parents' involvement with the Chicago Club in Los Angeles; her earliest experience with art at a Van Gogh exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; her fascination with drawing at an early age; her first art classes with Ron Blumberg, during her senior year of high school; entering in the Art Center College of Design; getting married and moving to New York; working in the handbag department of Bonwit Teller and taking classes at the Pratt Institute; her later education at various institutions, including California State University in San Diego, Claremont Graduate University, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine.; her first meeting with Dominic di Mare in San Francisco; her first meeting with Lenore Tawney in New York; her first foray off the loom at the behest of Arline M. Fisch; her first show at Galleria del Sol in Santa Barbara, California; her second show at the Fairtree Gallery in New York where Paul Smith, curator of the Museum of Contemporary Craft (now the Museum of Arts & Design) first saw her work; being included, along with Lenore Tawney, in the First World Craft exhibition in Toronto in 1967; her travels to Cape Cod, where she vacations annually, and to Italy; her aversion to all things technological; her recent experience learning to read the Torah; her work, including Tide (2005), Container for a Wind (1974), and Wind (2004); her interest in Carl Jung; addressing timelessness and duality in her work; various fiber techniques including twining, coiling, and knotting; her relationship with her son Peter and daughter Naomi; her relationship with dealers and galleries, including the Sybaris Gallery and the Snyderman Gallery; and the inspiration for her work that she finds in nature.
Jacobs also recalls Gabriel Laderman, Mary Jane Leland, Olga de Amaral, Peter Collingwood, Jack Lenor Larsen, Kay Sekimachi, Joan Austin, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Neda Al-Hilali, Marilyn Pappas, Patsy Krebs, Vija Celmins, Claire Delmar, Ken Price, Ron Nagle, Roland Reese, Fred Tomaselli, Agnes Martin, Francis Sumner Merritt, Joanne Rapp, Nancy Margolis, Kate Anderson, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Ferne Jacobs (1942- ) is a fiber artist from Los Angeles, California. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer from San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 6 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:
Fiber artists -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with James Bassler, 2002 February 11-June 6. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Carol Eckert, 2007 June 18-19. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Neda Al-Hilali, 2006 July 18-19. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Woman's Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Search this
Container:
Box 10, Folder 50
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1985-1987
Collection Citation:
Woman's Building records, 1970-1992. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and Joyce F. Menschel, Vital Projects Fund, Inc.
The papers of fiber artist James Bassler measure 3 linear feet and date from 1969 to 2003. The papers consist of biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, writings, professional files, printed material, and five scrapbooks. Much of the material was assembled by Bassler as supporting documentation for tenure at UCLA.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of fiber artist James Bassler measure 3 linear feet and date from 1969 to 2003. The papers consist of biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, writings, professional files, printed material, and five scrapbooks. Much of the material was assembled by Bassler as supporting documentation for tenure at UCLA.
Biographical materials include resumes and writings about Bassler's father and siblings. Correspondence concerns exhibitions, lectures, projects, and Bassler's teaching career. Correspondents include Louise Allrich, Norman Cherry, Mildred Constantine, Kris Dey, Dominic Di Mare, Helen Drutt, Lillian Elliott, Betty Freudenheim, Teresa Huang, Eiko Ishioka, Ritzi and Peter Jacobi, Wojciech Jaskolka, Mi Koon Kim, Sherley Koteen, Gerhardt Knodel, Jack Lenor Larsen, Eudorah Moore, Gertrude Parker, Martin Peavy, Laurel J. Reuter, Ed Rossbach, and Paul Smith, among others. Among Bassler's professional files are items concerning his participation with the United States Department of State Art in Embassies program, his service as an expert witness for a legal case, and his teaching career at UCLA. One videocassette is a student's senior project. Five mixed media scrapbooks contain written statements, photographs of works of art, and printed material.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Series 1: James Bassler papers, 1969-2003 (Box 1-3; 1.8 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Fiber artist and educator James Bassler (1933- ) is Professor Emeritus at UCLA. His weavings draw inspiration from Pre-Columbian, Andean, and Mexican textile traditions.
James Bassler was born to Margaret and Johnny Bassler, a major league baseball player who hooked rugs during the off-season. Bassler studied at University of California, Los Angeles where he would later teach from 1975 to 2000. Along with his wife Veralee, Bassler opened a crafts school in Oaxaca, Mexico in the early 1970s. Additionally, he established the fiber art program at the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Smithville, Tennessee (1980-1982) and was a summer faculty member at the Penland School of Crafts in Penland, North Carolina and the Arrowmount School for the Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Bassler and his wife Veralee live in Palm Springs, California.
Related Materials:
The Archives also holds an interview of James Bassler conducted 2002 February 11-June 6, by Sharon K. Emanuelli, as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
Provenance:
James Bassler donated his papers in 2003 as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited ot the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Citation:
James Bassler papers, 1969-2003. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of fiber artist Neda Al-Hilali measure 4.6 linear feet and date from circa 1960 to 1995. Al-Hilali's career is documented through professional files, commission and project files, writings, printed materials, artwork, and photographs. The bulk of the collection consists of Al-Hilali's annual activity files from 1967 to 1992, which contain lists of exhibitions; exhibition announcements, catalogs, invitations, and posters; letters and memoranda; sales records; awards; clippings; photographs; and loan records.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of fiber artist Neda Al-Hilali measure 4.6 linear feet and date from circa 1960 to 1995. Al-Hilali's career is documented through professional files, commission and project files, writings, printed materials, artwork, and photographs. The bulk of the collection consists of Al-Hilali's annual activity files from 1967 to 1992, which contain lists of exhibitions; exhibition announcements, catalogs, invitations, and posters; letters and memoranda; sales records; awards; clippings; photographs; and loan records.
Professional files contain records relating to Al-Hilali's teaching career and exhibition activities. Materials relating to various commissions and projects are scattered but may include photographs of works of art and installations, proposals, and sketches or renderings. Artworks include designs for fiber and metal works, many of which are unlabeled.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as six series
Series 1: Professional Files, 1966-1995 (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, 7-8)
Series 2: Commission and Project Files, circa 1970-1989 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 2-3, 6)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1970-circa 1990 (0.2 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 4: Printed Material, circa 1960s-1995 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 3-4)
Series 5: Artwork, 1960s-1980s (0.3 linear feet; Box 4)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1960-1990s (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 4-5, 7)
Biographical / Historical:
Neda Al-Hilali (1938- ) is a fiber artist active in California.
Al-Hilali was born in Cheb, formerly Czechoslovakia in 1938. She studied art at Saint Martin's School of Art (London, England), Kunstakademie Muenchen (Munich, Germany), and the University of Baghdad (Baghdad, Iraq). In 1961 she moved to the United States and settled in California where she earned her BA and MA in art from the University of California, Los Angeles. In the 1970s, she began working on large-scale three-dimensional fiber projects, and has also worked on installation and performance pieces using metal, papers, and other materials in addition to fiber. Al-Hilali has taught at various institutions in California including California State University, Los Angeles, Scripps College, and Claremont Graduate School. Her works appear in private and public collections.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Neda Al-Hilali conducted on July 18-19, 2006, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
Provenance:
The papers were donated by Neda Al-Hilali in 2004.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Rights:
Unpublished writings by Neda Al-Hilali: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from the donor. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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 Carol Eckert conducted June 18-19, 2007 by Jo Lauria, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in the artist's home and studio in Tempe, Arizona.
Eckert speaks of moving from North Carolina to New York during her childhood; her interest in making things as a child; her love of reading and a particular interest in mythology, legends, and fairy tales; choosing to pursue painting as an art major at Arizona State University; working as a substitute teacher after graduation; teaching herself the needle arts; and teaching painting and drawing classes at a local community arts center.
She also discusses experimenting with clay; the process that guides her work; the influence of her painting training on her color and composition choices; her marriage to furniture maker Tom Eckert; the development of the basketry field over the past decades; participating in exhibitions and shows; teaching workshops at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; the cross-cultural animal symbolism present in her pieces; the working environment in her studio; the importance of craft publications; the development in her own work towards larger pieces; her commitment to the longevity and preservation of her work; and upcoming exhibitions.
Eckert recalls Steven Covey, Barbara Rose Okun, Jane Sauer, Sandy Blaine, Lillian Elliot, Joanne Segal Branford, John Garrett, John McQueen, Leon Niehues, Norma Minkowitz, Sarah and David Lieberman, Janet Koplos, Marcia Docter, Doug and Dale Anderson, Karen Johnson Boyd, Rudy Turk, Marcia Manhart, Joanne Rapp, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Carol Eckert (1945- ) is a fiber artist from Tempe, Arizona. Jo Lauria is a curator and arts wrtier from Los Angeles, California.
General:
Originally recorded 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 40 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 is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
