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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Mayeri, Beverly, 1944-  Search this
Interviewer:
Riedel, Mija, 1958-  Search this
Subject:
Adams, George  Search this
Argüelles, Jose  Search this
Arneson, Robert  Search this
Bohn, Diana  Search this
Breschi, Karen  Search this
Chen-Ting, Mimi  Search this
De Staebler, Stephen  Search this
Frumkin, Allan  Search this
Goldstein, David  Search this
Gruber, Wendy  Search this
Marler, Peter  Search this
Styles, Marilyn  Search this
Turkel, Marni  Search this
Van Dyke, Gail  Search this
San Francisco State University  Search this
Sausalito Art Center  Search this
University of California, Berkeley  Search this
Dorothy Weiss Gallery  Search this
Susan Cummins Gallery  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Place of publication, production, or execution:
California
Physical Description:
46 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hrs., 34 min.
Summary:
An interview of Beverly Mayeri conducted 2007 September 15 and October 3, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Mayeri's studio, in Sausalito, California.
An interview of Beverly Mayeri, conducted by Mija Riedel for the Archives of American Art, at the artist's studio in Mill Valley, California, on September 15, 2007 and October 3, 2007. Mayeri speaks of her childhood in New Jersey; the artistic and creative activities of her parents; her mother, who was a watercolorist; her father, who was an inventor, woodworker, and artist; enjoying setting up and conducting biology experiments in high school; working as an intern marine biologist between senior year of high school and freshman year of college; attending the University of California, Berkeley and receiving her degree in zoology; becoming interested in clay during her senior year at Berkeley; her marriage, daughter, and time spent in New York City where she was unable to focus on ceramics; participating in classes and workshops at the Sausalito Art Center upon her return to California; her early functional, production work; being inspired by Karen Breschi's work, which led to the Mother series; working from her garage; attending graduate school at San Francisco State University; reading Erich Neumann's "The Great Mother" and becoming interested in the psychological world within individuals and expressing that through art; the development of the checkerboard theme in her work; expressing a personal truth that others will recognize in themselves; the prevalence of faces, animals, patterns, and texture in her work; portraiture and anatomy; working with dark clay; exploring environmental themes; the connection between expressing both human and environmental frailty; the cyclical nature of her work in returning to previous themes; conveying stillness versus gesture; her experience with galleries, including Susan Cummins Gallery, Dorothy Weiss Gallery, and Ivory Kimpton Gallery; the freedom of working with acrylic paint as opposed to glaze; and becoming more involved in environmental activism. Mayeri also recalls Peter Marler, Marni Turkel, Diana Bohn, Marilyn Stiles, Steven De Staebler, Robert Arneson, José Argüelles, Wendy Gruber, Mimi Chen-Ting, Gail Van Dyke, Daniel Goldstein, Allan Frumkin, George Adams, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Beverly Mayeri, 2007 September 15-October 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:
Beverly Mayeri (1944- ) is a ceramist in Mill Valley, California. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer from San Francisco, 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
Women artists  Search this
Women ceramicists  Search this
Theme:
Craft  Search this
Women  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)13658
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)273508
AAA_collcode_mayeri07
Theme:
Craft
Women
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_273508