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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Kolodziejski, Cindy, 1962-  Search this
Interviewer:
Lloyd, Frank, 1951-  Search this
Subject:
Albuquerque, Lita  Search this
Bacerra, Ralph  Search this
Caroompas, Carole  Search this
Clark, Garth  Search this
Delisle, Roseline  Search this
Dowell, Roy  Search this
Giegerich, Jill  Search this
Lauria, Jo  Search this
Lodato, Peter  Search this
Marsh, Tony  Search this
Mason, John  Search this
Nagle, Ron  Search this
Pagel, David  Search this
Saxe, Adrian Anthony  Search this
Sturman, Eugene  Search this
Thomason, Barbara A.  Search this
California State University, Long Beach  Search this
Frank Lloyd Gallery  Search this
Garth Clark Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
J. Paul Getty Museum  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
Otis College of Art and Design  Search this
University of California, Los Angeles. Library  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Place:
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and views
Arizona -- Description and travel
California -- description and travel
China -- description and travel
Greece -- description and travel
Italy -- description and travel
Nepal -- description and travel
Place of publication, production, or execution:
California
Physical Description:
7 Items, Sound recording: 7 wav files (4 hr., 10 min.), digital; 36 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 10 min.
Summary:
An interview of Cindy Kolodziejski conducted 2007 May 5-16, by Frank Lloyd, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the Frank Lloyd Gallery, in Santa Monica, California.
Kolodziejski speaks of moving in her early childhood from Germany to Arizona and finally to California; the divorce of her parents at a young age and her feelings of abandonment; her desire as a young child to be an artist; the early influence of her grandmother, an art teacher; teaching herself how to draw by copying images and creating still-lifes; an influential art teacher in high school who encouraged her to pursue college-level art classes and attend art school after graduation; her decision to enroll at Otis College of Art and Design; her foundation art classes at Otis and increasing interest in ceramics; choosing ceramics as a medium because of its flexibility and of form and potential for imagery; the value of her art education to her career; earning a Master of Fine Arts degree while teaching at California State University, Long Beach; the union of form, function, and imagery in her work, especially seen in a recent exhibition at the Frank Lloyd Gallery titled "Reversal of Fountain"; using the University of California, Los Angeles, libraries to find images at first, and later searching the internet for inspiration; creating pieces which play with and explore gender issues and sexuality; being reviewed and featured in articles which are especially concerned with issues of the body and femininity; the documentation of her art in various periodicals and texts, including a piece she wrote for Ceramics Monthly concerning her own work; gaining exposure through these articles, which helped to advance her career; the painstaking and technical process required to fashion her works of art; showing at the Garth Clark Gallery very quickly after graduation; traveling to Greece, China, Nepal, New York, and Italy, and being influenced by the exposure to the different art and cultures; recent travels with her daughter to Italy and feeling excited and humbled by the beauty of certain works; giving a talk at the Getty Museum about a show entitled "The Royal Menagerie" featuring the Meissen large-scale porcelain animals; participating in group shows in museums, particularly the "Color and Fire" exhibit which showcased important ceramicists from 1950 to 2000; being awarded various grants and feeling that applying for those awards is a very worthwhile experience for many artists; teaching first at the high school level and then in college; her teaching methods; forming friendships with fellow artists and art teachers; integrating the use of technology into her art-making process by finding and manipulating images on the computer; feeling motivated to produce in a positive way for exhibition deadlines; the support and friendships that developed through exhibiting with the Clark Garth and Frank Lloyd galleries; the encouragement and support she has been shown by her family throughout her career; and categorizing herself first and foremost as an artist rather than a craft artist or ceramicist. Kolodziejski recalls, Lita Albuquerque, Jill Giegerich, Peter Lodato, Barbara Thomason, Roy Dowell, Eugene Sturman, Carol Caroompas, Tony Marsh, Ralph Baccera, Adrian Saxe, Ron Nagle, Roseline Delisle, John Mason, Jo Lauria, David Pagel, Garth Clark, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Cindy Kolodziejski, 2007 May 5-16. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Funding:
Funding for this interview provided by 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:
Cindy Kolodziejski (1962- ) is a sculptor and painter from Venice, California. Frank Lloyd (1951- ) is a gallery owner from Santa Monica, California.
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:
Ceramics  Search this
Self-taught artists  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)13604
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)270853
AAA_collcode_kolodz07
Theme:
Women
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_270853