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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Nottingham, Walter, 1930-2012  Search this
Interviewer:
Owen, Carol, 1936-  Search this
Subject:
Constantine, Mildred  Search this
Crane, Jim  Search this
Drutt, Helen Williams  Search this
Johnson, Meda  Search this
Kaufman, Glen  Search this
Knodel, Gerhardt  Search this
Larsen, Jack Lenor  Search this
Moran, Lois  Search this
Merritt, Francis Sumner  Search this
Miller, Don  Search this
Nordness, Lee  Search this
Nottingham, Karron  Search this
Penning, Pauline  Search this
Ross, Shelley  Search this
Rossbach, Ed  Search this
Strengell, Marianne  Search this
Catholic Church  Search this
Cranbrook Academy of Art  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
St. Cloud State University  Search this
United States  Search this
University of Wisconsin--River Falls  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Place:
Mexico City (Mexico) -- Description and travel
Place of publication, production, or execution:
California
Physical Description:
29 Pages, Transcript; 4 Items, Sound recording: 4 sound files (1 hr., 41 min.), digital, wav
General Note:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 41 min.
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Summary:
An interview of Walter Nottingham conducted 2002 July 14-18, by Carol Owen, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the studios of Idyllwild Arts, in Idyllwild, California. Nottingham speaks of his enthusiasm for basketball; being an altar boy and, as such, surrounded by beautiful fabrics at an early age; attending St. Cloud State University on the GI Bill; his teachers Jim Crane and Pauline Penning; serving as an art consultant for public schools in Jackson, Michigan; the lasting influence of an exhibition of battle flags at the Metropolitan Museum; articulating aging and decay through self-taught weaving; developing a fiber art program at University of Wisconsin, River Falls; attending Cranbrook Academy of Art and working with Glen Kaufman and Meda Johnson. He discusses specific works including his "Yahooties", that combine both his grandmother's and mother's crochet work; his trip to Mexico City on a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1974; forming the company Off the Wall with his eldest daughter Karron and their decorative design commissions; the influence of his Catholic upbringing, oriental philosophy, and spirituality in his work; and techniques and materials. Nottingham recalls Shelly Ross, Helen Drutt, Francis Merritt, Don Miller, Lois Moran, Jack Lenor Larsen, Marianne Strengell, Mildred Constantine, Gerhardt Knodel, Lee Nordness, Ed Rossbach, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Walter Nottingham, 2002 July 14-18. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Transcript available online.
Funding:
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.
Biography Note:
Walter Nottingham (1930-2012) is a fiber artist from Hilo, Hawaii. Carol Owen is a fiber artist from Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Language Note:
English .
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.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Decorative arts  Search this
Fiber artists -- Hawaii -- Interviews  Search this
Weavers -- Hawaii -- Interviews  Search this
Weaving  Search this
Theme:
Craft  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)12090
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)238990
AAA_collcode_nottin02
Theme:
Craft
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_238990