Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Additional Online Media

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Eckert, Tom, 1942-  Search this
Interviewer:
Lauria, Jo, 1954-  Search this
Subject:
Stocksdale, Bob  Search this
Jordon, John  Search this
Reinsdorf, Martyle  Search this
Reinsdorf, Jerry  Search this
Krenov, James  Search this
Laitman, Nanette L.  Search this
Haas, Cervini  Search this
Himovitz, Michael  Search this
Rapp, Joanne  Search this
Rapp, James  Search this
Ellsworth, David  Search this
Dunning, William  Search this
Castle, Wendell  Search this
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts  Search this
Arizona State University  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
Arizona
Physical Description:
44 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 44 min.
Summary:
An interview of Tom Eckert conducted 2007 June 19, by Jo Lauria, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the artist's home and studio in Tempe, Arizona.
Eckert speaks of his childhood interest in drawing; his first art lessons as a child; working as a cabinetmaker after high school; the decision to attend Arizona State University (ASU); earning very poor grades at ASU and enrolling at Phoenix College, where his art teacher inspired him to pursue art more seriously; returning to ASU to earn his BFA and MFA.; being hired to teach at ASU; creating and heading a wood program there; and helping to design the wood studio at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. He continues discussing his fascination with Flemish painting during his art history education; the sense of illusion present in much of his work; being drawn to wood as a medium because of its ability to be shaped into an infinite amount of forms his experience making a few large scale works of art; feeling a certain spirituality towards his studio and the tools and equipment related to his craft; the importance of first satisfying a personal creative drive, then of showing the work produced, and finally in selling the work; the ways in which galleries and museums assist in attaining those three goals; being invited to participate in a show at Galerie Lieve Hemel in Amsterdam; incorporating the Internet and new technology into the design process; mixing his own colors using pigments; his desire to create larger works in the future; and contentment with and excitement for his life as an artist. Eckert recalls William B. Dunning, James Krenov, Bob Stocksdale, Nanette L. Laitman, David Ellsworth, John Jordan, Wendell Castle, Martyle and Jerry Reinsdorf, Cervini Haas, Michael Himovitz, Joanne Rapp, James Rapp, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Tom Eckert, 2007 June 19. 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:
Tom Eckert (1942- ) is a wood artist from Tempe, Arizona. Jo Lauria is a curator and arts writer from Los Angeles, 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:
Decorative arts  Search this
Theme:
Craft  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)13620
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)271201
AAA_collcode_eckertt07
Theme:
Craft
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_271201