Art Stories Oral History Project

Art Stories is an oral history project of independent artists who are self-supporting and are at least 10 years into their career. This project was inspired by a number of artists: Sandi Dihl, who was a ceramic artist that I worked for through college but has since passed away; my sister Whitney Smith, who I’ve watched develop into a successful artist and inspires many; and the endless stream of talented and hard-working artists I have met through my sister and while working for Sandi.

I am interested in preserving and capturing the stories of working artists because while some artists may have profiles written up about them in newspapers and/or magazines, and may even get a fair amount of regional, national or even international recognition, many of them don’t. Despite their talent, most working artists won’t be studied by art school or art history students of the future. Nor are many working artists documented within museum exhibition catalogs or archives. Some are, but many are not. The artists that I intend to interview are the “rank and file” workers of the art world. These artists are significant because we incorporate their working into our daily lives. Their work is not behind glass or protected by a museum guard. Their pottery is in our cupboards, chipped, stained and used everyday. Their photographs and paintings are on our walls and greet us every day. Their clothing is worn down to its threads. Their jewelry is on our hands, wrists and draped on our necks everyday.

July 1st begins my 6 month sabbatical from my job as a librarian at California Institute of the Arts. During this time I will be researching and conducting interviews with artist who live in the Western United States. As of now I have plans to travel to the Northwest (OR, WA) and throughout the Southwest (AZ, NM, CO).

You can read more about the background of this project on the website .

Pilot interviews have been recorded with:
-Sara Paloma
-Christa Assad

Additional narrators on the schedule:
-Ed Marquand of Marquand books  and Mighty Teiton
-Tim Ely (Book artist)
-Leo Adams
...Stay tuned for more announcement regarding narrators!

Financial Needs
The big ones:
~ Gas/lodging - because I plan to be one the road for at least 2 months, my biggest needs are related to travel costs.
~ Transcription - after I have all interviews complete I will be planning for transcription of all interviews...and trust me, a good oral history transcriber ain't cheap.
The small ones:
~Web hosting & Soundcloud - Theses will be ongoing costs necessary for making the interviews available online. 

Your support is appreciated beyond measure!