An interview of Katherine Westphal conducted 2002 September 3-7, by Carole Austin, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
This interview took place in Berkeley, California. Westphal speaks of drawing every day; her rewarding education experience teaching at University of California, Davis' Applied Behavioral Sciences Department; her college encounters; the World Crafts Conference in Vienna in 1980; the significance of her travels in her artwork, including trips to Egypt, Hawaii, Wyoming, and Indonesia among others; her fascination with different types of art; the non-functional aspect of her artwork; the lack of necessity to sell artwork due to her job teaching, and the personal nature of her work not driven by a "craft market"; working for the textile industry; working with agent Frederick Karoly in New York; the considerable collection Daphne Farago has made of both Katherine's and her husband, Ed Rossbach's, artwork; her working environment; her storage condo; her most precious possession, her dogs; remodeling her Berkeley home and installing a glass elevator; the artist community at UC Davis and Fiberworks before it became a school; people she took workshops with at Fiberworks; a chronology of her work from the 1960s to present day; her and Ed's retirement in 1979 and their subsequent trip to Bali; her relationship with the home health care industry when Ed became sick; her development of baskets; her love of color; her artist in residency at Rhode Island School of Design in 1980, learning to work on the Jacquard loom; her very personal collection of postcards, which she created while on trips; her dog stories; several of the shows she has been in, including "Objects: USA" and "American Crafts at the Vatican"; the commission she completed for a hotel in Tokyo; and her copy machines and the various technological advances made during her career. Westphal also recalls Gyöngy Laky, Chere Lai Mah, Pat Hickman, Greg Lynn, Helen and Tio Giambruni, Jack Lenor Larsen and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Katherine Westphal (1919- ) is a fiber artist in Berkeley, California. Carole Austin is an interviewer, curator, and writer in Orinda, California.
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
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Gyöngy Laky, 2007 December 11-12. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Gyöngy Laky conducted 2007 December 11-12, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Laky's home and studio, in San Francisco, California.
Laky speaks of her recent exhibitions; leaving Hungary as a child; using words in art; learning languages; family influences in her art; the family art gallery and Chinese painting; changing majors in college; working with various materials; using recycled materials in her work; retirement; planning her works; working with assistants; working with a small community in Europe; construction of her works; using computers to create art; the craft "renaissance"; scale and outdoor projects; working with dealers and commissioned pieces; emphasis on negative space. Laky also recalls Emile Lahner, Mary Dumas, Ed Rossbach, Judy Foosaner, Peter Voulkos, Joanne Branford, Lillian Elliott, Henry Miller, Louise Nevelson, Darryl Dobras, Brett Christiansen, Kim Ocampo, Jack Lenor Larsen, Martin Puryear, Ann Hamilton, Suzi Gablik, Susan Sontag, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Gyöngy Laky (1944- ) is a textile artist from San Francisco, California. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer from San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 11 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 8 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 Lia Cook conducted 2006 August 22-29, by Suzanne Baizerman, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in the artist's studio, in Berkeley, California.
Cook speaks of her childhood in California; studying political science at University of California, Berkeley; being strongly influenced by the textiles of Mexican cultures; studying weaving at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design and Handarbetets Vänner in Stockholm, Sweden; attending graduate school at Berkeley under Ed Rossbach; a strong interest in photography; teaching experiences at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; participating in the Lausanne International Biennial of Tapestry in Switzerland; the impact of the digital Jacquard loom on the development of her work; travels throughout Europe and Japan; commission work; experiences with Allrich Gallery, Hadler/Rodriguez Gallery, and Perimeter Gallery; series Fabric Landscape, Material Pleasure, Point of Touch, Presence/Absence, and Anatomy of a Portrait; her involvement with American Craft Council, European Textile Network, and College Art Association; and the importance of teaching in her life. Cook also recalls Gyongy Laky, Nance O'Banion, Deborah Rappaport, Sheila Hicks, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Peter and Ritzi Jacobi, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Lia Cook (1942- ) is a textile painter of Berkeley, California. Suzanne Baizerman (1942- ) is an independent curator of Alameda, California.
General:
Originally recorded as 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 11 digital wav files. Duration is 2 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Fiber artists -- California -- Berkeley Search this
Biographical information, correspondence, writings, photographs, printed material, works of art, and a video.
Biographical / Historical:
Gyöngy Laky (1944- ) is a textile artist and educator in San Francisco, Calif.
Provenance:
Donated 2004-2010 by Gyöngy Laky as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. Additions are expected.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Laky's diary from her year in India, 1971-1972 (1 fldr) is ACCESS RESTRICTED: written permission required. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Fiber artists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Educators -- California -- San Francisco Search this
The Fiberworks, Center for the Textile Arts records measure 3.2 linear feet and date from 1973-2005, with the bulk of the records dating from 1974-1987. The collection documents the textile arts school, gallery, and studio through administrative records, photographs, printed matter, and audiovisual material. Records include meeting minutes; photographs of artwork, events, and the Fiberworks community; brochures, announcements, newsletters, and clippings; and sound and video recordings from symposiums, lectures, and interviews.
Scope and Contents:
The Fiberworks, Center for the Textile Arts records measure 3.2 linear feet and date from 1973-2005, with the bulk of the records dating from 1974-1987. The collection documents the textile arts school, gallery, and studio through administrative records, photographs, printed matter, and audiovisual material. Records include meeting minutes; photographs of artwork, events, and the Fiberworks community; brochures, announcements, newsletters, and clippings; and sound and video recordings from symposiums, lectures, and interviews.
Administrative records include meeting minutes from the board of trustees and advisory committee as well as an exhibition file. Printed material includes exhibition announcements, posters, and catalogs; event posters and schedules; Fiberworks course catalogs and brochures; publications; and clippings. Photographs and slides depict artwork, exhibition installations, and events. Also included is a series composed of papers, photographs, video, and sound recordings from Fiberworks symposiums as well as recordings of interviews and lectures hosted by the organization.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series.
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1974-1987
Series 2: Symposiums, Lectures, and Interviews, circa 1978-1989
Series 3: Printed Material, 1973-2005, bulk 1974-1987
Series 4: Photographs, 1974-1987
Biographical / Historical:
Fiberworks Center for the Textile Arts was a textile arts school in Berkley, California, established in 1973 by artist Gyöngy Laky. Fiberworks operated a studio, a gallery, and a school until 1987.
Fiberworks held exhibitions and symposiums, housed resident-artists, and organized workshops, adult education classes, and trips all over the world for interested textile artists. Additionally, Fiberworks partnered first with Lone Mountain College in San Francisco, California, and then with John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill, California, to provide an M.F.A. degree.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Gyongy Laky, founder of Fiberworks, in 2006.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing 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.
Fiberworks, Center for the Textile Arts records, 1973-2005. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Fiber art : visual thinking and the intelligent hand / Gyöngy Laky ; with an introduction by Kenneth R. Trapp ; interviews conducted by Harriet Nathan in 1998-1999
