Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Joey Kirkpatrick

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.kirkpa05
Creators:
Kirkpatrick, Joey
Herman, Lloyd E.
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
Dates:
2005 August 17-18
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
2 Items
Sound recording: 2 sound files (2 hr., 2 min.)
digital, wav
2 5/8 in.
51 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Joey Kirkpatrick conducted 2005 August 17-18, by Lloyd E. Herman, 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, which she shares with Flora Mace, in Seattle, Washington.
Scope and Contents
Ms. Kirkpatrick discusses her childhood in Des Moines, Iowa, as the third daughter among four; her early interest in art and, beginning in fifth grade, working at the Des Moines Art Center; her mother's creativity and love for art and design; visiting her aunt Elaine in Chicago and attending adult classes at the Art Institute of Chicago; seeing an Egon Schiele show at the Des Moines Art Center and its influence on her; her sense, even at an early age, that she was going to be an artist; going to college at the University of Iowa and getting a BFA in drawing; working in ceramics at the University of Iowa and studying under her mentor, Howard Ragovin; beginning to make sculptures out of chicken wire and papier-mâché and becoming interested in three-dimensional forms and planes; her most profound artistic influences, including Arthur Dove, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alexander Calder, and Alberto Giacometti; meeting Steven Dale Edwards during her last year in college and learning how to blow glass from him; blowing glass at a facility geared towards ceramic engineers at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, after college; working at the Art Center throughout and continuing to paint while living with her grandmother; working at a daycare center where she functioned as an art therapist; seeing an advertisement in Craft Horizons magazine for Pilchuck Glass School; working as a tree topper in Des Moines to get the money to go to Pilchuck; showing up at Pilchuck with an armful of her drawings; meeting Flora Mace, her collaborator and life partner, at Pilchuck; how the two eventually came to collaborate and cosign their work; and how they work together. A more in-depth discussion of the pair's lifelong collaboration is discussed in a joint interview of Kirkpatrick and Mace. Kirkpatrick also recalls Byron Burford, Peggy Patrick, Reba Cohen, Mark Doty, Jim Demetrion, Dale Chihuly, Chuck Hinds, Italo Scanga, Bill Morris, Ben Moore, Sylvia Vigeletti, Audrey Handler, and Lino Tagliapetra, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Joey Kirkpatrick (1952- ) is a glass artist from Seattle, Washington. Lloyd E. Herman (1936- ) is a curator and former director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery of Art and is currently from Seattle, Washington.

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 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 2 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Ceramics -- Study and teaching Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Decorative arts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculpture -- Technique Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Iowa -- Description and Travel Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Glass art Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Burford, Byron, 1920-2011 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chihuly, Dale, 1941- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cohen, Reba Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Demetrion, James Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Doty, Mark Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dove, Arthur Garfield, 1880-1946 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Edwards, Steven Dale Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Giacometti, Alberto, 1901-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Handler, Audrey Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hinds, Chuck Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mace, Flora, 1949- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Moore, Ben Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Morris, William, 1957- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Patrick, Peggy Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ragovin, Howard Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scanga, Italo, 1932-2001 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Schiele, Egon, 1890-1918 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tagliapietra, Lino Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Vigeletti, Sylvia Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art Institute of Chicago -- Student Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Des Moines Art Center Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Iowa 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
Pilchuck School Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
University of Iowa -- Students Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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