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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Knodel, Gerhardt, 1940-  Search this
Interviewer:
Adamson, Glenn, 1972-  Search this
Subject:
Abakanowicz, Magdalena  Search this
Albers, Anni  Search this
Al-Hilali, Neda  Search this
Andreson, Laura  Search this
Christo  Search this
Hicks, Sheila  Search this
Kester, Bernard  Search this
Larsen, Jack Lenor  Search this
Leland, Mary Jane  Search this
Smith, Kiki  Search this
Tawney, Lenore  Search this
Zeisler, Claire  Search this
Cranbrook Academy of Art  Search this
Los Angeles City College  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
University of California, Los Angeles  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Place:
California -- Los Angeles -- Description and travel
Michigan -- Description and travel
Place of publication, production, or execution:
Michigan
Physical Description:
7 Items, Sound recording: 7 sound files (5 hr., 23 min.), digital, wav; 77 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 23 min.
Summary:
An interview of Gerhardt Knodel conducted 2004 August 3, by Glenn Adamson, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Knodel speaks of his German heritage; his parents each immigrating to Los Angeles; growing up in Los Angeles and being part of the German community; his father building houses; the influence of his childhood environment on his artwork; taking art classes in school; participating in theater and set design; studying art at Los Angeles City College; collecting textiles; transferring to UCLA; teaching high school art; the influence of Abstract Expressionism on his early work; quitting teaching and studying fiber arts at University of California, Long Beach; traveling to numerous countries, and their influence on his artwork; researching and lecturing on fabric as environment; how the fiber art movement has evolved and changed; early exhibitions and the need for more venues; the fiber art community in the 1960s and 70s; the importance of University art programs; moving to Michigan and teaching at Cranbrook; the importance of scale and context in his work; making large scale pieces to fit within an architectural space; working on commission for public projects; working with the community in Pontiac, Michigan on a commissioned piece; the influence of the history of textiles; being director of the Cranbrook Academy of Art; putting figures on to textiles; the decline of the fiber art movement; and the benefits of schools such as Cranbrook. Knodel also recalls Bernard Kester, Mary Jane Leland, Laura Andreson, Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks, Neda Al-Hilali, Lenore Tawney, Claire Zeisler, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Jack Lenor Larsen, Christo, Kiki Smith, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Gerhardt Knodel, 2004 August 3. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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:
Gerhardt Knodel (1940-) is a fiber artist from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Glenn Adamson is a curator and, art historian from Wisconsin.
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:
Abstract expressionism  Search this
Decorative arts  Search this
Textile crafts  Search this
Theme:
Craft  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)12740
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)249179
AAA_collcode_knodel04
Theme:
Craft
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_249179