Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Lisa Gralnick

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.gralni07
Creators:
Gralnick, Lisa, 1956-
Riedel, Mija, 1958-
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
Dates:
2007 October 29-30
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
12 Items
Sound recording: 12 sound files (7 hr., 4 min.)
digital, wav
111 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Lisa Gralnick conducted 2007 October 29-30, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Gralnik's home, in Madison, Wisconsin.
Scope and Contents
Gralnick speaks of her father's illness; taking a jewelry-making class as a teenager; the honors college at Kent State; her master's thesis and the Cosmogonic Cycle; teaching enameling at Kent State to support her studio art; the metals program at Parsons School of Design; a black rubber house in upstate New York; creating structures out of black plastic; her introduction to computers; working with gold; drawing inspiration from physics and machinery; her fascination with dentistry tools; being a hands-on learner; satisfaction from the labor of art; working with metal; her methodological form of teaching; teaching a graduate class and focusing on body parts; the relationship between ambition and hard work; teaching in an art department as opposed to a craft department; her recent reliquary and jewelry work; poetic and musical influences; showing abstraction and emotion in her work; the creation of The Gold Standard pieces. Gralnick also recalls Mary Ann Scherr, Gary Bengier Matzdorf, Jannis Kounellis, Alan Lightman, Myra Mimlitsch Gray, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Lisa Gralnick (1956- ) is a metalsmith and professor from Madison, Wisconsin. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer from San Francisco, California.

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.
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.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 4 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Educators -- Wisconsin -- Madison Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Metal-workers -- Wisconsin -- Madison Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Decorative arts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women educators Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jewelry making Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Metal-work Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kounellis, Jannis, 1936-2017 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lightman, Alan Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Matzdorf, Gary Bengier Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mimlitsch-Gray, Myra Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scherr, Mary Ann, 1931- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kent State University -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kent State University -- Students 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
Parsons School of Design Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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