Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Dana Chandler

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.chandl93
Creators:
Chandler, Dana, 1941-
Brown, Robert F.
Dates:
1993 March 11-May 5
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
89 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Dana Chandler conducted 1993 March 11-May 5, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Chandler remembers his childhood in the Black community of Roxbury, Massachussets, with numerous siblings, pugnacious, hard-drinking longshoreman father, and mother who was the linchpin of the family; precocity as a reader and child artist; attendance at Saturday morning children's art classes at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and at Boston Educational High School where needed discipline was instilled in him by its all-white faculty; and as an assistant at school after graduation (1959-61).
Scope and Contents
Chandler talks about his awareness of budding civil rights movement; his attendance (1962-67) at Massachusetts College of Art while supporting his new, young family and working for the Jamaica Plain Area Planning Action Council which was funded by the federal Model Cities program; his first exhibitions (1967), in a liberal local church and a black businessmen's club; the exhibition (1969) "Twelve Black Artists from Boston," at the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University; and his involvement, along with Harold Tovish and Michael Mazur, in the group, Artists Against the War.
Scope and Contents
He recalls his initiation of the exhibition, "Afro-American Artists/New York and Boston," at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1970, for which he was given no credit; his position as an unpaid cultural commentator for a Black newspaper and radio station; his politically-charged paintings and prints from the late 1960s onward; his meetings with senior Black artists, such as Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett Mora, and Benny Andrews; and his steady espousal of confrontation.
Scope and Contents
Chandler discusses teaching at Simmons College, Boston, 1971 to present; his creation in 1974 of the African-American Master Artists-in-Residence Program (AMARP), Northeastern University, Boston, and his direction of it until 1993, when he was relieved of the position by the University.
Scope and Contents
Chandler discusses his exhibition at Northeastern University in 1976, "If the Shoe Fits, Hear It!" under the name Akin Duro, and its evidence of the respect in which he was held; the loss of much of his work in a studio fire; and his current large-scale graphic work.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Dana Chandler (1941- ) is an African American painter, printmaker, and educator from Boston, Massachussets.

Administration

Sponsor
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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
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. Funding for the transcription of this interview provided by the Newland Foundation.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 51 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- Massachusetts -- Boston Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Educators -- Massachusetts -- Boston Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printmakers -- Massachusetts -- Boston Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American educators Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American printmakers Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Andrews, Benny, 1930-2006 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bearden, Romare, 1911-1988 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Catlett, Elizabeth, 1915-2012 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mazur, Michael, 1935-2009 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tovish, Harold, 1921-2008 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African-American Master Artists in Residence Program Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Massachusetts College of Art -- Students Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.) -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Simmons College. Art and Music Dept. -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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