An interview of Gary L. Noffke conducted 2010 December 4 and 5, by Mary Douglas, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Noffke's home, in Farmington, Georgia.
Noffke speaks of growing up in Sullivan, Illinois; disliking school; the absence of formal art education before college and doing art on his own; his grandfather's farm; attending Eastern Illinois University to study painting, receiving a BS and MS in education with a major in art; what classes he took and his professors; his opinion about art programs in universities; the influence of the Vietnam draft; attending the University of Iowa and his introduction to metals; transferring to Southern Illinois University and his peers; learning techniques with metals; early metal work; working at Stetson University in Deland, Florida; working with colleagues and students and its influence on work; experimenting with different techniques; transition from graduate school to professional life; developing different methods for metal work, and motivations; how the notion of form and function has changed in design, especially regarding metal work and artists; the dynamics of working with students throughout the years; discusses in detail individual works and his approaches and anecdotes; his attraction to rings, simple hardware, and traditional, ancient forms; other teaching jobs before landing at the University of Georgia; building his house and studio; working in the Italy program at Cortona; his experiences at Cranbrook, Michigan and Summervale, Colorado; current and past exhibitions including the National Ring Shows; entering competitions; how the hand-made motif is important in his work; the connotation of labels of craft artist; his casual approach to the art market and formalities in the art world. Noffke also recalls Garret DeRuiter, Brent Kington, Elliot Pujol, May Lee Hu, Marci Zelmanoff, Dickie Nettles, Robert Ebendorf, Gary Erbe, Phil Fike, Bill Brown, Evon Streetman, Lane Coulter, Sue Wilde, Lydia Norell, Fred Messersmith, Tom Gingras, Charles Loloma, Fritz Dreisbach, Barry Merrit, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Gary L. Noffke (1943- ) is a goldsmith in Farmington, Georgia. Mary Douglas (1956- ) is a curator and artist in Statesville, North Carolina.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 SD memory cards. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 49 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.
The papers of metalsmith and jeweler Robert Ebendorf measure 4.8 linear feet and 0.554 GB and date from 1920 to 2015, with the bulk of the material from 1960 to 2010. The papers document Ebendorf's career through scattered biographical material; business correspondence with galleries, universities, and professional groups as well as personal correspondence with friends and family, including a large collection of mail art; artist statements, teaching philosophies, and reflections by Ebendorf as well as writings by others; application materials for the artist's position as Belk Chair at East Carolina University, student fellowship applications, and other teaching files; audio and video recordings of interviews in digital format; inventories, invoices, and publicity material, including several folders of notes and materials for retrospectives; exhibition catalogs, news clippings, and other printed material; sketches, cut paper, and collage work loose and in sketchbooks; and photographic materials of the artist, friends, family, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of metalsmith and jeweler Robert Ebendorf measure 4.8 linear feet and 0.554 GB and date from 1920 to 2015, with the bulk of the material from 1960 to 2010. The papers document Ebendorf's career through scattered biographical material; business correspondence with galleries, universities, and professional groups as well as personal correspondence with friends and family, including a large collection of mail art; artist statements, teaching philosophies, and reflections by Ebendorf as well as writings by others; application materials for the artist's position as Belk Chair at East Carolina University, student fellowship applications, and other teaching files; inventories, invoices, and publicity material, including several folders of notes and materials for retrospectives; audio and video recordings of interviews in digital format; exhibition catalogs, news clippings, and other printed material; sketches, cut paper, and collage work loose and in sketchbooks; and photographic materials of the artist, friends, family, and artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as nine series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1920-2014 (Boxes 1, 6; 0.2 linear feet, ER01-ER02; 0.554 GB)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1965-2015 (Boxes 1-2; 1.1 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1945-2014 (Box 2; 4 folders)
Series 4: Teaching Files, 1974-2012 (Box 2; 5 folders)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, circa 1963-2006 (Box 2; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1949-2015 (Boxes 2-3, 6; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1940-1987 (Boxes 3, 6; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 8: Sketchbooks, circa 1963-1968 (Boxes 3, 6; 5 folders)
Series 9: Photographs, circa 1920-2012 (Boxes 3-7; 1.9 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Ebendorf (1938-) is a metalsmith and jeweler in Greenville, North Carolina. Ebendorf was born in Topeka, Kansas, and earned a BFA in 1958 and an MFA in 1963 from the University of Kansas. Upon receiving a Fulbright grant, he studied in Norway at the School for Applied Arts and Crafts in 1963 and returned to work at Norway Silver Designs in Fredikstad on a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant from 1965 to 1966.
A founding member and once president of the Society of North American Goldsmiths, Ebendorf has been deeply committed to forwarding the metals field as an innovator, organizer, and teacher. The artist is known for his original combinations of precious and non-precious materials alongside found objects and has held teaching positions at Stetson University, the State University of New York at New Paltz, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, and East Carolina University.
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview of Robert Ebendorf conducted 2004 April 16-18, by Tacey Rosolowski, in Greenville, N.C.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Robert Ebendorf in 2015.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of sound recordings requires advance notice. 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.
