Search Results

Interviewee:

Littleton, Harvey K.  Search this

Interviewer:

Byrd, Joan Falconer  Search this

Creator:

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

Names:

American Craft Council  Search this

Ann Arbor Potters Guild  Search this

Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.)  Search this

Corning Glass Works  Search this

Cranbrook Academy of Art -- Students  Search this

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts  Search this

Midwest Designer-Craftsmen  Search this

Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

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

Penland School of Handicrafts  Search this

Pilchuck School  Search this

Renwick Gallery  Search this

University of Michigan -- Students  Search this

Braden, Norah, 1901-  Search this

Brown, William J. (William Joseph), 1923-1992  Search this

Dreisbach, Fritz  Search this

Eames, Charles  Search this

Eisch, Erwin, 1927-  Search this

Fredericks, Marshall M., 1908-1998  Search this

Hamada, Shōji, 1894-1978  Search this

Marioni, Dante, 1964-  Search this

Milles, Carl, 1875-1955  Search this

Turner, Robert Chapman, 1913-2005  Search this

Voulkos, Peter, 1924-2002  Search this

Extent:

36 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

2001 March 15

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Harvey K. Littleton conducted 2001 March 15, by Joan Falconer Byrd, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Littleton's home, Spruce Pine, N.C.

Littleton speaks of his family background including the work of his father [Jesse Talbot Littleton] at Corning Glassworks, and his early experiences with glass at Corning. He discusses his studies at the University of Michigan in physics and his switch to sculpture; his studies at Cranbrook Academy, in 1941, and his teachers Marshall Fredericks and Carl Milles; his studies on industrial design; becoming a potter; and working at Corning Glassworks, in the summers, inspecting hand-blown coffee pots and top-of-the-stove ware. He discusses his service in the 849th Signal Intelligence Unit in North Africa and Italy during WWII; studying with Norah Braden, at the Brighton School of Art, in England; the importance of, "A Potter's Book," by Bernard Leach; teaching pottery at night, in Ann Arbor, Michigan; the beginnings of the Ann Arbor Potters Guild; making his own potters' wheels; serving on the board of Penland School of Crafts; the development of "American" art and the impact of the GI Bill on the creation and expansion of art departments; the "master-slave apprentice system"; "the genius of Shoji Hamada"; the properties of porcelain; artist communities at Penland and Cranbrook; the influence of Bill Brown, director of the Penland School of Crafts; art education and the impact of the MFA; Black Mountain College, Pilchuck Glass School, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; problems with the European educational system; the importance of Erwin Eisch's work on his development; his relationship with galleries and museums, particularly the Museum of Modern Art, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and American Craft Museum; and consignment laws. He also comments on the founding of the Midwest Designer Craftsmen; his involvement with the American Crafts Council (ACC) and the distinction between "the indigenous craftsman" and the "artist-craftsman"; American Crafts Council fairs; his printmaking; his techniques of sandblasting; teaching vitreography; and his plans for opening a print gallery. He recalls Charles Eames, Peter Voulkos, Shoji Hamada, Robert Turner, Dante Marioni, Fritz Dreisbach, and others.

Biographical / Historical:

Harvey K. Littleton (1922- ) is a glass artist, potter, sculptor, and printmaker from Wisconsin and Spruce Pine, N.C. Joan Falconer Byrd (1939-) ia a professor in the art department of Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, N.C.

General:

Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hrs., 10 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.

Topic:

Glass artists -- North Carolina -- Interviews  Search this

Potters -- Interviews  Search this

Printmakers -- North Carolina -- Interviews  Search this

Prints -- Technique  Search this

Decorative arts  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

Funding for this interview was provided by a grant from the William and Mildred Lasdon Foundation.

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.little01

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw961daf4d2-b6dd-486c-8664-b04a9b099d65

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-little01

Interviewee:

Myers, Joel Philip, 1934-  Search this

Interviewer:

Klein, Daniel, 1938-2009  Search this

Subject:

Blenko, William H.  Search this

Dreisbach, Fritz  Search this

Huchthausen, David R. (David Richard)  Search this

Lewis, John  Search this

Lipofsky, Marvin  Search this

Littleton, Harvey K.  Search this

Marquis, Richard  Search this

Ness, Bob  Search this

Popelka, John  Search this

Randall, Theodore  Search this

Smith, Paul J.  Search this

Vallien, Bertil  Search this

Alfred University  Search this

Blenko Glass Company  Search this

Donald Deskey Associates  Search this

Mint Museum of Art  Search this

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

Parsons School of Design  Search this

Pilchuck Glass Center (Stanwood, Wash.)  Search this

Toledo Art Museum  Search this

University of California, Berkeley  Search this

University of Illinois.  Search this

World Crafts Council  Search this

Type:

Interviews

Sound recordings

Place:

Japan -- Description and Travel

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Joel Philip Myers, 2007 May 1. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Craft Horizons  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching -- Philosophy  Search this

Decorative arts  Search this

World War, 1914-1918  Search this

Ceramics  Search this

Glass art  Search this

Theme:

Craft  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)13605

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)270854

AAA_collcode_myers07

Theme:

Craft

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_270854

Interviewee:

Ruffner, Ginny  Search this

Interviewer:

Riedel, Mija, 1958-  Search this

Creator:

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

Pilchuck Glass Center (Stanwood, Wash.) -- Faculty  Search this

University of Georgia -- Students  Search this

Dohne, Deborah  Search this

Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968  Search this

Kirkpatrick, Joey  Search this

Leach, Mark  Search this

Littleton, Maurine  Search this

Mace, Flora, 1949-  Search this

Robbins, Tom  Search this

Scott, George C., 1927-1999  Search this

Smith, Alvy Ray  Search this

Tschida, Fred  Search this

Extent:

36 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

2006 September 13-14

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Ginny Ruffner conducted 2006 September 13-14, 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 Seattle, Washington.

Ruffner speaks of her new outdoor sculpture piece, "The Urban Garden," in Seattle, Washington; receiving her B.F.A. and M.F.A. in painting and drawing at the University of Georgia; developing an interest in glass after seeing Marcel Duchamp's, "The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even (Large Glass)"; spending five years learning lampworking as an apprentice/employee; teaching experiences at Pilchuck School of Glass; moving to Seattle, Washington from Atlanta, Georgia; reading as a strong influence; the significance of language and words; an interest in mathematic theories, particle physics, and cosmology; various series of artwork including Beauty, Aesthetic Engineering, Balance, and Patterns of Thought; plans for her three-part pop-up book about creativity, imagination, and wonder; travels to Japan, Italy, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ireland, and France; universal and subjective concepts of beauty; her recovery from the accident she suffered in 1991; a change of perception following the accident; her dislike of labeling art as whimsical; the transformative effects of experiencing installation pieces; and exhibition and installation plans for the future. Ruffner also recalls Flora Mace, Joey Kirkpatrick, Deborah Dohne, Fred Tschida, Maurine Littleton, Tom Robbins, Alvy Ray Smith, George C. Scott, Mark Leach, and others.

Biographical / Historical:

Ginny Ruffner (1952- ) is a glass artist from Seattle, Washington. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer, from San Francisco, California.

General:

Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr.

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.

Topic:

Art -- Philosophy  Search this

Glass artists -- Washington (State) -- Interviews  Search this

Decorative arts  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

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.ruffne06

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw931b74bd9-b07a-4bd2-b0fd-6ac6c21fbf87

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-ruffne06

Interviewee:

Myers, Joel Philip, 1934-  Search this

Interviewer:

Klein, Daniel, 1938-2009  Search this

Creator:

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

Names:

Alfred University -- Students  Search this

Blenko Glass Company  Search this

Donald Deskey Associates  Search this

Mint Museum of Art  Search this

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

Parsons School of Design -- Students  Search this

Pilchuck Glass Center (Stanwood, Wash.) -- Faculty  Search this

Toledo Art Museum  Search this

University of California, Berkeley -- Students  Search this

University of Illinois. -- Faculty  Search this

World Crafts Council  Search this

Blenko, William H., 1921-2016  Search this

Dreisbach, Fritz  Search this

Huchthausen, David R. (David Richard), 1951-  Search this

Lewis, John, 1942-  Search this

Lipofsky, Marvin, 1938-2016  Search this

Littleton, Harvey K.  Search this

Marquis, Richard, 1945-  Search this

Ness, Bob  Search this

Popelka, John  Search this

Randall, Theodore, 1914-1985  Search this

Smith, Paul J., 1931-  Search this

Vallien, Bertil, 1938-  Search this

Extent:

6 Items (Sound recording: 6 sound files (4 hr., 15 min.), digital, wav)

63 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Interviews

Sound recordings

Place:

Japan -- Description and Travel

Date:

2007 May 1

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Joel Philip Myers conducted 2007 May 1, by Daniel Klein, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in the artist's home, in Marietta, Pennsylvania.

Myers speaks of his childhood in Patterson, New Jersey; making charcoal drawings as a child and taking private courses in oil painting; choosing to pursue a career in advertising design; attending Parsons School of Design in New York City; working as a package designer for Donald Deskey Associates; being influenced by Scandinavian design he saw in New York City to study abroad in Denmark; studying ceramic design at Kunsthaandvaerkerskolen in Copenhagen; meeting and marrying his wife, Birthe, while in Copenhagen; returning to the United States and going back to work for Donald Deskey; attending Alfred University and receiving his B.F.A. and M.F.A. in ceramics; accepting the position director of design for Blenko Glass Company in Milton, West Virginia with no previous experience in glass; teaching himself how to blow glass in the factory alongside the workers; the intense heat and extreme noise of a glass factory; learning of Harvey Littleton's glass workshop in 1962 in Toledo, Ohio, but being unable to attend; having limited exposure to the glass movement and developing his glass art without knowledge of the work of Littleton and his students; designing 50 to 60 different vases, bowls, decanters, and decorative objects a year from 1963 - 1970 at Blenko Glass Company; creating sculptural glass forms in his penetration pieces for his masters thesis; learning of what was happening in the studio glass world by attending the World Craft Council in 1964 in New York City; Paul Smith discovering his work and thereby gaining some publicity in Craft Horizons; being invited by Littleton to give a workshop at the University of California, Berkeley in 1968; the initial shock of seeing glass sculpture made with no real technique; his early attraction to cold-work in order to work intimately with the surface of the glass; acquisition of his work by the Toledo Art Museum and the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina; establishing a glass program at Illinois University in Bloomington-Normal; his attempts to recruit international students; taking a semester sabbatical in Baden, Austria; being heavily influenced by the natural world; the series Garden, Perfume Bottle, Contiguous Fragment, Dr. Zharkov, The Dialogues, and others; teaching at Pilchuck School of Glass; studying the First World War and consequently creating Musée des Beaux Arts [1996]; travels to Japan; his teaching philosophies; the prevalence of independent glass studios in the world today; and plans for the future. Myers recalls Ted Randall, William H. Blenko, Sr., William H. Blenko, Jr., Marvin Lipofsky, Fritz Dreisbach, Richard Marquis, John Lewis, Bob Ness, Bertil Vallien, David Huchthausen, John Popelka, and others.

Biographical / Historical:

Joel Philip Myers (1934- ) is a glass artist from Milton, West Virginia. Daniel Klein (1938- ) is an art consultant from London, England.

General:

Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 15 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:

Glass artists -- Pennsylvania  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Study and teaching -- Philosophy  Search this

Decorative arts  Search this

World War, 1914-1918  Search this

Ceramics  Search this

Glass art  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Sound recordings

Sponsor:

Funding for this interview provided by Nanette L. Laitman project for crafts 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.myers07

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw99b1c7b6b-664e-416c-909a-ec509a02efd8

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-myers07

Interviewee:

Kirkpatrick, Joey  Search this

Interviewer:

Herman, Lloyd E.  Search this

Creator:

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

Names:

Art Institute of Chicago -- Student  Search this

Des Moines Art Center  Search this

Iowa State University -- Students  Search this

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

Pilchuck School  Search this

University of Iowa -- Students  Search this

Burford, Byron, 1920-2011  Search this

Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976  Search this

Chihuly, Dale, 1941-  Search this

Cohen, Reba  Search this

Demetrion, James  Search this

Doty, Mark  Search this

Dove, Arthur Garfield, 1880-1946  Search this

Edwards, Steven Dale  Search this

Giacometti, Alberto, 1901-1966  Search this

Handler, Audrey  Search this

Hinds, Chuck  Search this

Mace, Flora, 1949-  Search this

Moore, Ben  Search this

Morris, William, 1957-  Search this

O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986  Search this

Patrick, Peggy  Search this

Ragovin, Howard  Search this

Scanga, Italo, 1932-2001  Search this

Schiele, Egon, 1890-1918  Search this

Tagliapietra, Lino  Search this

Vigeletti, Sylvia  Search this

Extent:

2 Items (Sound recording: 2 sound files (2 hr., 2 min.), digital, wav, 2 5/8 in.)

51 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Interviews

Sound recordings

Place:

Iowa -- Description and Travel

Date:

2005 August 17-18

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Joey Kirkpatrick conducted 2005 August 17-18, by Lloyd E. Herman, 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, which she shares with Flora Mace, in Seattle, Washington.

Ms. Kirkpatrick discusses her childhood in Des Moines, Iowa, as the third daughter among four; her early interest in art and, beginning in fifth grade, working at the Des Moines Art Center; her mother's creativity and love for art and design; visiting her aunt Elaine in Chicago and attending adult classes at the Art Institute of Chicago; seeing an Egon Schiele show at the Des Moines Art Center and its influence on her; her sense, even at an early age, that she was going to be an artist; going to college at the University of Iowa and getting a BFA in drawing; working in ceramics at the University of Iowa and studying under her mentor, Howard Ragovin; beginning to make sculptures out of chicken wire and papier-mâché and becoming interested in three-dimensional forms and planes; her most profound artistic influences, including Arthur Dove, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alexander Calder, and Alberto Giacometti; meeting Steven Dale Edwards during her last year in college and learning how to blow glass from him; blowing glass at a facility geared towards ceramic engineers at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, after college; working at the Art Center throughout and continuing to paint while living with her grandmother; working at a daycare center where she functioned as an art therapist; seeing an advertisement in Craft Horizons magazine for Pilchuck Glass School; working as a tree topper in Des Moines to get the money to go to Pilchuck; showing up at Pilchuck with an armful of her drawings; meeting Flora Mace, her collaborator and life partner, at Pilchuck; how the two eventually came to collaborate and cosign their work; and how they work together. A more in-depth discussion of the pair's lifelong collaboration is discussed in a joint interview of Kirkpatrick and Mace. Kirkpatrick also recalls Byron Burford, Peggy Patrick, Reba Cohen, Mark Doty, Jim Demetrion, Dale Chihuly, Chuck Hinds, Italo Scanga, Bill Morris, Ben Moore, Sylvia Vigeletti, Audrey Handler, and Lino Tagliapetra, and others.

Biographical / Historical:

Joey Kirkpatrick (1952- ) is a glass artist from Seattle, Washington. Lloyd E. Herman (1936- ) is a curator and former director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery of Art and is currently from Seattle, Washington.

General:

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

Topic:

Ceramics -- Study and teaching  Search this

Decorative arts  Search this

Sculpture -- Technique  Search this

Glass art  Search this

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.kirkpa05

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw95154467a-422e-401a-bc09-6376186fa604

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-kirkpa05

Interviewee:

Levin, Robert, 1948-  Search this

Interviewer:

Byrd, Joan Falconer  Search this

Creator:

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

Names:

Denison University -- Students  Search this

Glass Art Society  Search this

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

Penland School of Crafts -- Faculty  Search this

Pilchuck School -- Students  Search this

Southern Illinois University (System) -- Students  Search this

Bernstein, William, 1945-  Search this

Brown, William J. (William Joseph), 1923-1992  Search this

Dreisbach, Fritz  Search this

Handler, Audrey  Search this

Levin, Robert, 1948-  Search this

Littleton, Harvey K.  Search this

Peiser, Mark, 1938-  Search this

Ritter, Richard Q.  Search this

Extent:

32 Pages (Transcript)

3 Items (Sound recordings: 3 sound files (3 hr., 14 min.), digital, wav)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Interviews

Sound recordings

Date:

2004 December 11

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Robert Levin conducted 2004 December 11, by Joan Byrd, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Burnsville, North Carolina.

Levin speaks of growing up in Dundalk, Maryland; participating in theater in high school; attending Denison University; becoming interested in ceramics and glass; attending graduate school at Southern Illinois University; working as an assistant to Fritz Dreisbach at Pilchuck Glass School; teaching at Penland School of Crafts; becoming resident glass artist at Penland; influential artists; moving to Celo; the North Carolina craft community; the element of play in his work; mixing glass colors; keeping variety in his work; the process of making sculptural and functional pieces; the influence of nature and other cultures on his work; including political and social statements in his work; making mixed-media pieces; working on commission; making Judaica pieces; the glass blowing process; being part of an international glass tradition; participating in the Glass Art Society; the reasons he enjoys teaching; attending GAS conferences; participating in regional art organizations; his home studio and the equipment he uses; how his working process has changed; designing a series of awards; his interest in music and guitar; the qualities of glass; and the importance of intuitiveness in creating his pieces. Levin also recalls Audrey Handler, Bill Boysen, Bill Brown, Richard Ritter, Bill Bernstein, Mark Peiser, Harvey Littleton, and others.

Biographical / Historical:

Robert Levin (1948- ) is a glass artist from Burnsville, North Carolina. Joan Falconer Byrd (1939- ) is a professor in the art department, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina.

General:

Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 14 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.

Topic:

Art -- North Carolina  Search this

Decorative arts  Search this

Glass artists -- North Carolina -- Interviews  Search this

Jewish art  Search this

Glass art  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.levin04

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9d0dd5e53-130f-4a94-a999-7b0af81a6552

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-levin04

Interviewee:

Ben Tré, Howard, 1949-2020  Search this

Interviewer:

Shea, Josephine, 1958-  Search this

Subject:

Aycock, Alice  Search this

Brychtová, Jaroslava  Search this

Chihuly, Dale  Search this

Dailey, Dan  Search this

Hampson, Ferdinand  Search this

Labino, Dominick  Search this

LaMonte, Karen  Search this

Libenský, Stanislav  Search this

Littleton, Harvey K.  Search this

Onorato, Ronald J.  Search this

Parker, Anthony  Search this

Polander, Steve  Search this

Scanga, Italo  Search this

Appalachian Center for Craft  Search this

Brooklyn College  Search this

Brooklyn Technical High School (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Cristallerie Daum  Search this

Hadler/Rodriguez Gallery  Search this

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts  Search this

Missouri Valley College  Search this

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

Pilchuck School  Search this

Portland State University  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design  Search this

Venceremos Brigade  Search this

Type:

Interviews

Sound recordings

Place:

Cuba -- Description and travel

Europe -- description and travel

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Howard Ben Tré, 2007 July 7. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art commissions  Search this

Civil rights -- United States  Search this

Decorative arts  Search this

Peace movements  Search this

Glass art  Search this

Theme:

Craft  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)13647

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)272881

AAA_collcode_bentre07

Theme:

Craft

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_272881

Interviewee:

Ben Tré, Howard, 1949-2020  Search this

Interviewer:

Shea, Josephine, 1958-  Search this

Creator:

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

Names:

Appalachian Center for Craft  Search this

Brooklyn College -- Students  Search this

Brooklyn Technical High School (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Cristallerie Daum  Search this

Hadler/Rodriguez Gallery  Search this

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts -- Faculty  Search this

Missouri Valley College -- Students  Search this

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

Pilchuck School  Search this

Portland State University -- Students  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design -- Students  Search this

Venceremos Brigade  Search this

Aycock, Alice  Search this

Brychtová, Jaroslava, 1924-  Search this

Chihuly, Dale, 1941-  Search this

Dailey, Dan, 1947-  Search this

Hampson, Ferdinand  Search this

LaMonte, Karen, 1967-  Search this

Labino, Dominick  Search this

Libenský, Stanislav, 1921-2002  Search this

Littleton, Harvey K.  Search this

Onorato, Ronald J.  Search this

Parker, Anthony  Search this

Polander, Steve  Search this

Scanga, Italo, 1932-2001  Search this

Extent:

63 Pages (Transcript)

3 Sound discs (Sound recording (4 hr., 3 min.), digital, 2 5/8 in.)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound discs

Interviews

Sound recordings

Place:

Cuba -- Description and Travel

Europe -- description and travel

Date:

2007 July 7

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Howard Ben Tré conducted 2007 July 7, by Josephine Shea, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the artist's studio, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Ben Tré speaks of his childhood in Rockaway Park, New York; his Polish immigrant father who was a woodworker and artist; inheriting a particular aesthetic and sense of hard work from his father; attending Brooklyn Technical High School to play football but not graduating; moving to Marshall, Missouri to attend Missouri Valley College for one year; attending Brooklyn College; becoming involved in Students for a Democratic Society, the antiwar movement and civil rights movement of the 1960s; traveling to Cuba as part of the first Venceremos Brigade to cut sugarcane in 1969; meeting his first wife, Gay, in Cuba and returning to New York with her; organizing a food co-op and community events in Brooklyn; moving to Portland, Oregon; working in construction for the city before going back to school to study veterinarian medicine at Portland State University; discovering the glass studio in a garage at Portland State; meeting Dale Chihuly and working at Pilchuck Glass School; utilizing the foundry skills learned from Brooklyn Technical High to work with glass in casting and cope and drag methods; his series Burial Boxes and the influence of ancient architecture and ceremonial Chinese bronzes; the rise of the studio glass movement as symptomatic of socio-political-economic times, not just the pioneering efforts of Harvey Littleton and Dominic Labino; traveling throughout Europe with Gay; visiting Stanislav Libenský and Jaraslava Brychtová in Czechoslovakia; visiting Dan Dailey at Cristallerie Daum in France; attending Rhode Island School of Design [RISD]; his first show at Hadler/Rodriguez Gallery in 1980; teaching experiences at Haystack Mountain School of Craft and Appalachian Center for Craft; building and installing an oven at Blenko Glass in Milton, West Virginia and at Super Glass in Brooklyn; working with Mold Melted Glass Studio in Pelechov, Czech Republic; the history of glass and early glass-working techniques; his many commissions, including sited public projects such as Post Office Square in Boston; the adoption of his name, Ben Tré; return visits to Cuba; working with RISD to create a winter study session in Havana; and his view of artists as artists, not defined by medium. Ben Tré also recalls Anthony Parker, Italo Scanga, Ron Onorato, Alice Aycock, Ferdinand Hampson, Steven Polander, Karen LaMonte, among others.

Biographical / Historical:

Howard Ben Tré (1949- 2020) was a glass artist from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Josephine Shea is a curator from Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.

General:

Originally recorded 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 4 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:

Glass artists  Search this

Topic:

Art commissions  Search this

Civil rights -- United States  Search this

Decorative arts  Search this

Peace movements  Search this

Glass art  Search this

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.bentre07

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9d4615d25-e2f4-4f9f-8c8b-9587cb029302

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-bentre07