Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.mace05
Creators:
Mace, Flora, 1949-
Herman, Lloyd E.
Kirkpatrick, Joey
Dates:
2005 August 17-18
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
5 Items
Audio: 5 wav files (3 hrs., 17 min.)
digital
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Flora Mace and 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 artists' home and studio, in Seattle, Washington.
Scope and Contents
They discuss their first meeting at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, in 1979; the structure of classes and teaching philosophies at Pilchuck in the late '70s and early '80s; the change in equipment and the growth of the Pilchuck campus through the years; their first projects together, which were wire drawings made by Flora and based on Joey's sketches; leaving Pilchuck after the summer session and moving together to Waterville, New Hampshire, where they worked in a studio at the Rhode Island School of Design with Dale Chihuly; building up a body of work and then having to decide whose work it was, at a time when collaborating and co-signing was not standard practice; going back to Pilchuck every summer for 14 years after first meeting there in 1979; beginning to teach as a collaborative team at Pilchuck in 1981, the first women to teach glass blowing at that school; building their house together on the grounds of Pilchuck, a design which was then emulated for dormitories at the school; convincing Dale Chihuly to lower the class size at Pilchuck to 10, down from 20, to allow teachers to work more closely with the students; early shows of their work at Habatat Galleries in Royal Oak, Michigan, Ivor Kurland Gallery in Los Angeles, California, and Foster-White Galleries in Seattle, Washington; the support of their sisters and families throughout the years, mostly in providing them a place to stay as they traveled cross country; their relationships with collectors; what each artist brings to the partnership, including vision, inspiration, and technique; the influence of water on their work, as both artists are drawn to the sea and the tides; the purpose of their work, and what they feel it can bring to the viewer; the challenge given to the artists by Joan Borenstein to make 30 glass goblets, all with different fruits and vegetables; having their work cast at the Walla Walla Foundry; and the ideas behind various bodies of work, including the "Bird Pages" and the large latticino fruit. A more in-depth discussion of each artist's childhood, education, and artistic experiences prior to their meeting at Pilchuck can be found in the individual artist's interviews. They recall Italo Scanga, Bill Morris, Ben Moore, Rich Royal, Howard Ben Tre, Toots Zynsky, Therman Statom, Harvey Littleton, Lino Tagliapetra, Chris Wilmarth, Judy Pfaff, Lynda Benglis, Alice Rooney, Bertil Vallien, Ann Wolff, Betsy Rosenfield, George and Dorothy Saxe, Doug and Dale Anderson, Jon and Mary Shirley, Sarah and Bill Dehoff, Francine and Benson Pilloff, George Stroemple, Ann Welch, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Joey Kirkpatrick (1952- ) and Flora Mace (1949- ) are glass artists 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. Mace and Kirkpatrick have been working collaboratively on glass since the late 1970s.

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 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hrs., 17 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Decorative arts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Glass artists -- Washington (State) -- Seattle -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Glass art Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Anderson, Dale, 1944- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Anderson, Doug, 1943- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Benglis, Lynda, 1941- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ben Tré, Howard, 1949-2020 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Borenstein, Joan Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chihuly, Dale, 1941- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dehoff, Bill Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dehoff, Sarah Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Littleton, Harvey K. 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
Pfaff, Judy, 1946- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pilloff, Bensen Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pilloff, Francine Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rooney, Alice, 1926-2019 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rosenfield, Betsy Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Royal, Rich Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Saxe, Dorothy Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Saxe, George Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scanga, Italo, 1932-2001 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Shirley, Jon, 1938- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Shirley, Mary Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Statom, Therman, 1953- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stroemple, George R. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tagliapietra, Lino Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Vallien, Bertil, 1938- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Welch, Ann Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wilmarth, Christopher Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wolff, Ann Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zynsky, Toots, 1951- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Foster/White Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Habatat Galleries 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 Glass Center (Stanwood, Wash.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rhode Island School of Design -- Students Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Walla Walla Foundry Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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