Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Walter Nottingham

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.nottin02
Creators:
Nottingham, Walter, 1930-2012
Owen, Carol, 1936-
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
Dates:
2002 July 14-18
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
29 Pages
Transcript
4 Items
Sound recording: 4 sound files (1 hr., 41 min.)
digital, wav
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Walter Nottingham conducted 2002 July 14-18, by Carol Owen, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the studios of Idyllwild Arts, in Idyllwild, California. Nottingham speaks of his enthusiasm for basketball; being an altar boy and, as such, surrounded by beautiful fabrics at an early age; attending St. Cloud State University on the GI Bill; his teachers Jim Crane and Pauline Penning; serving as an art consultant for public schools in Jackson, Michigan; the lasting influence of an exhibition of battle flags at the Metropolitan Museum; articulating aging and decay through self-taught weaving; developing a fiber art program at University of Wisconsin, River Falls; attending Cranbrook Academy of Art and working with Glen Kaufman and Meda Johnson. He discusses specific works including his "Yahooties", that combine both his grandmother's and mother's crochet work; his trip to Mexico City on a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1974; forming the company Off the Wall with his eldest daughter Karron and their decorative design commissions; the influence of his Catholic upbringing, oriental philosophy, and spirituality in his work; and techniques and materials. Nottingham recalls Shelly Ross, Helen Drutt, Francis Merritt, Don Miller, Lois Moran, Jack Lenor Larsen, Marianne Strengell, Mildred Constantine, Gerhardt Knodel, Lee Nordness, Ed Rossbach, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Walter Nottingham (1930-2012) is a fiber artist from Hilo, Hawaii. Carol Owen is a fiber artist from Pittsboro, North Carolina.

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.

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 4 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 41 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Decorative arts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fiber artists -- Hawaii -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Weavers -- Hawaii -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Weavers -- Wisconsin -- Interviews Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mexico City (Mexico) -- 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
Self-taught artists Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Weaving Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Constantine, Mildred Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Crane, Jim Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Drutt, Helen Williams Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Johnson, Meda Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kaufman, Glen Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Knodel, Gerhardt Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Larsen, Jack Lenor Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Moran, Lois Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Merritt, Francis Sumner, 1913-2000 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Miller, Don Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nordness, Lee Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nottingham, Karron Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Penning, Pauline Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ross, Shelley Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rossbach, Ed Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Strengell, Marianne, 1909-1998 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Catholic Church Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cranbrook Academy of Art -- 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
St. Cloud State University -- Students Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States -- Montgomery G.I. Bill Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
University of Wisconsin--River Falls -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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