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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Mace, Flora, 1949-  Search this
Interviewer:
Herman, Lloyd E  Search this
Subject:
Kirkpatrick, Joey  Search this
Anderson, Dale  Search this
Anderson, Doug  Search this
Benglis, Lynda  Search this
Ben Tré, Howard  Search this
Borenstein, Joan  Search this
Chihuly, Dale  Search this
Dehoff, Bill  Search this
Dehoff, Sarah  Search this
Littleton, Harvey K.  Search this
Moore, Ben  Search this
Morris, William  Search this
Pfaff, Judy  Search this
Pilloff, Bensen  Search this
Pilloff, Francine  Search this
Rooney, Alice  Search this
Rosenfield, Betsy  Search this
Royal, Rich  Search this
Saxe, Dorothy  Search this
Saxe, George  Search this
Scanga, Italo  Search this
Shirley, Jon  Search this
Shirley, Mary  Search this
Statom, Therman  Search this
Stroemple, George R.  Search this
Tagliapietra, Lino  Search this
Vallien, Bertil  Search this
Welch, Ann  Search this
Wilmarth, Christopher  Search this
Wolff, Ann  Search this
Zynsky, Toots  Search this
Foster/White Gallery  Search this
Habatat Galleries  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
Pilchuck Glass Center (Stanwood, Wash.)  Search this
Rhode Island School of Design  Search this
Walla Walla Foundry  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
Washington (State)
Physical Description:
5 Items, Audio: 5 wav files (3 hrs., 17 min.), digital
General Note:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hrs., 17 min.
Summary:
An interview of Flora Mace and 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 artists' home and studio, in Seattle, Washington.
They discuss their first meeting at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, in 1979; the structure of classes and teaching philosophies at Pilchuck in the late '70s and early '80s; the change in equipment and the growth of the Pilchuck campus through the years; their first projects together, which were wire drawings made by Flora and based on Joey's sketches; leaving Pilchuck after the summer session and moving together to Waterville, New Hampshire, where they worked in a studio at the Rhode Island School of Design with Dale Chihuly; building up a body of work and then having to decide whose work it was, at a time when collaborating and co-signing was not standard practice; going back to Pilchuck every summer for 14 years after first meeting there in 1979; beginning to teach as a collaborative team at Pilchuck in 1981, the first women to teach glass blowing at that school; building their house together on the grounds of Pilchuck, a design which was then emulated for dormitories at the school; convincing Dale Chihuly to lower the class size at Pilchuck to 10, down from 20, to allow teachers to work more closely with the students; early shows of their work at Habatat Galleries in Royal Oak, Michigan, Ivor Kurland Gallery in Los Angeles, California, and Foster-White Galleries in Seattle, Washington; the support of their sisters and families throughout the years, mostly in providing them a place to stay as they traveled cross country; their relationships with collectors; what each artist brings to the partnership, including vision, inspiration, and technique; the influence of water on their work, as both artists are drawn to the sea and the tides; the purpose of their work, and what they feel it can bring to the viewer; the challenge given to the artists by Joan Borenstein to make 30 glass goblets, all with different fruits and vegetables; having their work cast at the Walla Walla Foundry; and the ideas behind various bodies of work, including the "Bird Pages" and the large latticino fruit. A more in-depth discussion of each artist's childhood, education, and artistic experiences prior to their meeting at Pilchuck can be found in the individual artist's interviews. They recall Italo Scanga, Bill Morris, Ben Moore, Rich Royal, Howard Ben Tre, Toots Zynsky, Therman Statom, Harvey Littleton, Lino Tagliapetra, Chris Wilmarth, Judy Pfaff, Lynda Benglis, Alice Rooney, Bertil Vallien, Ann Wolff, Betsy Rosenfield, George and Dorothy Saxe, Doug and Dale Anderson, Jon and Mary Shirley, Sarah and Bill Dehoff, Francine and Benson Pilloff, George Stroemple, Ann Welch, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick, 2005 August 17-18. 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:
Joey Kirkpatrick (1952- ) and Flora Mace (1949- ) are glass artists 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. Mace and Kirkpatrick have been working collaboratively on glass since the late 1970s.
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
Glass artists -- Washington (State) -- Seattle -- Interviews  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Glass art  Search this
Theme:
Craft  Search this
Women  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)11940
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)255912
AAA_collcode_mace05
Theme:
Craft
Women
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_255912