Search Results

Interviewee:

Somerson, Rosanne, 1954-  Search this

Interviewer:

Michie, Thomas S.  Search this

Subject:

Abramson, Ron  Search this

Callahan, Harry M.  Search this

Capanigro, Paul  Search this

Cooke, Ned  Search this

Dunnigan, John  Search this

Fairbanks, Jonathan L.  Search this

Follen, Eck  Search this

Frid, Tage  Search this

Jackson, Dan  Search this

Joseph, Peter T. (Peter Thomas)  Search this

Kagan, Richard  Search this

Keck, Hardu  Search this

Kranov, James  Search this

Maruyama, Wendy  Search this

Mattia, Alphonse  Search this

Melanson, Gracie  Search this

Osgood, Jere  Search this

Sfirri, Mark  Search this

Siskind, Aaron  Search this

Swanson, Charlie  Search this

Szasz, Merlin  Search this

White, Leroy  Search this

Wolf, Hans  Search this

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts  Search this

Peters Valley (Craft center)  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design  Search this

Richard Kagan Gallery  Search this

Snyderman Gallery  Search this

Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this

Type:

Interviews

Sound recordings

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Rosanne Somerson, 2006 August 7 and 2007 June 22. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Fine woodworking  Search this

Decorative arts  Search this

Educators -- Rhode Island -- Interviews  Search this

Photography  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women designers  Search this

Women educators  Search this

Furniture design  Search this

Theme:

Craft  Search this

Women  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)13618

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)271125

AAA_collcode_somers06

Theme:

Craft

Women

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_271125

Interviewee:

Somerson, Rosanne, 1954-  Search this

Interviewer:

Michie, Thomas S.  Search this

Creator:

Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this

Names:

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts  Search this

Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this

Peters Valley (Craft center)  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design -- Faculty  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design -- Students  Search this

Richard Kagan Gallery  Search this

Snyderman Gallery  Search this

Abramson, Ron  Search this

Callahan, Harry M.  Search this

Capanigro, Paul  Search this

Cooke, Ned  Search this

Dunnigan, John, 1950-  Search this

Fairbanks, Jonathan L.  Search this

Follen, Eck  Search this

Frid, Tage  Search this

Jackson, Dan  Search this

Joseph, Peter T. (Peter Thomas), 1950-1998  Search this

Kagan, Richard  Search this

Keck, Hardu  Search this

Kranov, James  Search this

Maruyama, Wendy, 1952-  Search this

Mattia, Alphonse  Search this

Melanson, Gracie  Search this

Osgood, Jere, 1936-  Search this

Sfirri, Mark  Search this

Siskind, Aaron  Search this

Swanson, Charlie  Search this

Szasz, Merlin  Search this

White, Leroy  Search this

Wolf, Hans  Search this

Extent:

61 Pages (Transcripts)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Interviews

Sound recordings

Date:

2006 August 7 and 2007 June 22

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Rosanne Somerson conducted 2006 August 7-2007 June 22, by Thomas Michie, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island. In part one of this interview, Somerson speaks of growing up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; attending RISD beginning in 1971; being asked to teach there nine years later; creating a new department of furniture design; tailoring that furniture design program to encompass the development from design to manufacture; introducing materials other than wood into the program; garnering international attention through worldwide exhibits; her first show at the Richard Kagan Gallery in Philadelphia; participating in a group show in New York City for female woodworkers; making connections through the Snyderman Gallery and Pritam and Eames Gallery; working directly with clients on commissioned pieces; the financial stability of teaching; designing a piece for the headquarters of Khon, Peterson Fox, and Conway in New York; the sculptural elements present in many of her works; moving from a small studio in Boston, Massachusetts, to a larger studio in Westport, Connecticut, and finally to a shared studio in Fall River, Massachusetts; the supportive and proud reaction of her children to her work; creating a production company with colleagues and designing furniture for the RISD dormitories; attempting to make these designs both flexible and environmentally-friendly; putting aside teaching for an administrative position in the department; recent travel to Japan, Australia, England, Israel, and France; enrolling in summer programs with art schools like Haystack Mountain School of Craft in Maine and others; and excitement for her upcoming sabbatical.

In the second portion of the interview, she discusses living in a house built by her father in Wyncote, Pennsylvania; enjoying the location of the house on a former cherry orchard and consequently being drawn cherry wood as a medium; the feeling of her parents that anything could be accomplished with a certain amount of study; her mother's interest in weaving and spinning later in life; the creative pursuits of her older brothers, including creative writing and photography; verbally communicating the outside world to her blind grandfather and gaining an aptitude for interpreting visual imagery; being more academically than artistically focused in her youth; visiting art museums and having other cultural experiences with her family; being fascinated with photography by seeing her brother's work; deciding to put off college in order to spend a year in Denmark studying photography; enrolling in RISD and feeling overwhelmed at first by her inexperience; taking a winter course in wood-working and preferring it to photography; being advised by her teacher Tage Frid to gain a wood-working education by pursuing sculpture at RISD; transferring into industrial design later; learning a great deal from and being extraordinarily influenced by Tage Frid as a furniture designer and teacher; taking a semester off to attend Peters Valley Craftsmen in New Jersey; spending a few years after graduation assisting Frid with the writing and publication of his articles; working as an assistant editor for Fine Woodworking magazine; being offered a job at RISD in the furniture department; creating the furniture design program; using RISD's collection as inspiration for her work and as a teaching tool; moving towards using more local woods in her designs; her recent lecture and travel in China; and looking forward to focusing on her work in the new studio.

Somerson recalls John Dunnigan, Dick Kagan, Ned Cooke, Jonathan Fairbanks, Wendy Maruyama, James Krenov, Dan Jackson, Jere Osgood, Alphonse Mattia, Peter Joseph, Ron Abramson, Charlie Swanson, Eck Follen, Peter Walker, and others. In the second part, Somerson recalls Merlin Szasz, LeRoy White, Hardu Keck, Gracia Melanson, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, Paul Crot, Paul Capanigro, Tage Frid, Hans Wolfe, Mark Sfirri, and others.

Biographical / Historical:

Rosanne Somerson (1954- ) is a professor of furniture design and furniture designer and maker in Westport, Massachusetts. Thomas Michie is a curator of decorative arts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California.

General:

Originally recorded on 5 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 3 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:

Furniture designers -- Rhode Island  Search this

Topic:

Decorative arts  Search this

Educators -- Rhode Island -- Interviews  Search this

Photography  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women designers  Search this

Women educators  Search this

Furniture design  Search this

Function:

Artists' studios

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Sound recordings

Sponsor:

Funding for this interview was provided by the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.

Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.

Identifier:

AAA.somers06

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9db2e506b-fd9b-42d1-b6a2-f24d806027dc

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-somers06

Interviewee:

Snyderman, Richard  Search this

Interviewer:

Polsky, Richard  Search this

Subject:

Bennett, Garry Knox  Search this

Borowsky, Irvin J.  Search this

Castle, Wendell  Search this

Drutt, Helen Williams  Search this

Kagan, Richard  Search this

Snyderman, Ruth  Search this

Snyderman Gallery  Search this

Works Gallery  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Richard Snyderman, 1990 June 8. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

Theme:

Craft  Search this

Architecture & Design  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)11829

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)213630

AAA_collcode_snyder90

Theme:

Craft

Architecture & Design

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_213630

Interviewee:

Snyderman, Richard  Search this

Interviewer:

Polsky, Richard  Search this

Names:

Snyderman Gallery  Search this

Works Gallery  Search this

Bennett, Garry Knox, 1934-  Search this

Borowsky, Irvin J.  Search this

Castle, Wendell, 1932-2018  Search this

Drutt, Helen Williams  Search this

Kagan, Richard  Search this

Snyderman, Ruth, 1937-  Search this

Extent:

107 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1990 June 8

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Richard Snyderman conducted 1990 June 8, by Richard Polsky for the Archives of American Art Philadelphia Project.

Snyderman speaks about the Works Gallery, run by his wife Ruth Snyderman, the Snyderman Gallery and many of the furniture makers who have shown there including Wendell Castle and Garry Knox Bennett; collectors such as Irv Borowsky; the craft scene in Philadelphia including other gallery owners such as Helen Drutt and Richard Kagan; changes in the crafts field, both locally and nationally, during the past 25 years; the founding of the Head House Craft Fair in Philadelphia; and the development of the South Street-Society Hill section of Philadelphia.

Biographical / Historical:

Richard Snyderman is a gallery director in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Director of Works Gallery which is owned by his wife, Ruth Snyderman.

General:

Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 31 min.

Provenance:

This interview is part of the Archives' 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.

Restrictions:

Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.

Occupation:

Gallery directors -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia  Search this

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.

Identifier:

AAA.snyder90

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw97e11685a-0bb2-47fa-8230-7b4fe6b01037

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-snyder90

Author:

Kagan, Richard L. 1943-  Search this

Physical description:

xvii, 612 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Type:

Books

History

Place:

United States

Spain

Date:

2019

Topic:

Civilization  Search this

Spanish influences  Search this

Hispanic influences  Search this

Foreign public opinion, American  Search this

History  Search this

Relations  Search this

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_1105644