Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Nancy Crow

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.crow02
Creators:
Crow, Nancy, 1943-
Robertson, Jean
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
Dates:
2002 December 18
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
50 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Nancy Crow conducted 2002 December 18, by Jean Robertson, for the Archives of American Art, at her home and studio, in Baltimore, Ohio, as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
Scope and Contents
Crow speaks of her early childhood and her father's high standards; her early interest in color; her studies at Ohio State University and her first ceramics professor Edgar Littlefield; joining the textile guild in Athens, Ohio; how her quilting evolved from traditional to contemporary and abstract forms; her practice of working on several quilts simultaneously; the influence of Anna Williams, a quiltmaker in Baton Rouge, Alabama; and she describes her studio. Crow also discusses her association with the Snyderman Gallery, Philadelphia; a trip to China that resulted in the series Chinese Souls; and how beauty is her ultimate goal. She talks about her travels to Mexico and South Africa; her technical mastery of strip piecing; working at home while raising two sons; the dyeing process; her sketchbooks; her long-term working relationship with hand quilter, Marla Hattabaugh; teaching at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts; the beginnings of the Quilt National Show at the Dairy Barn; the Ohio Arts Council; the Art Quilt Network; periodicals including FiberArts, Surface Design, Hali, and Raw Vision; two seminal exhibitions in her career, "Nancy Crow: Work in Transition," at the American Craft Museum, 1993, and "Nancy Crow -- Improvisational Quilts," at the Renwick Gallery, 1995; and the changing market for quilts in America. She recalls Bruce Hoffman, Rick and Ruth Snyderman, Jan Myers-Newberry, Rosalie Gascoigne, Sandra Blaine, Vivian Harvey; Linda Fowler, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Nancy Crow (1943- ) is a fiber artist and quiltmaker in Baltimore, Ohio.

Administration

Sponsor
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.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript available online.
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. Researchers note: A separate 1988 interview of Crow, also conducted by Robertson is also available.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 31 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Quiltmakers -- Ohio Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fiber artists -- Ohio Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Decorative arts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women textile artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
The Ohio State University -- Students Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Snyderman Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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