Podcasts
Archives of American Art Oral History Collection
A series of excerpts of oral history interviews funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
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Robert Bechtle on photography as a visual aid (7:11 min.)
From the mid-1960s to the present, Robert Bechtle has created sharply-focused pictures of people and street scenes with a special attention to automobiles. In this excerpt from an oral history interview conducted in 2010 for the Archives of American Art, Bechtle talks about using photography as a visual aid, as well as the value of seeing his subjects from different vantage points. The first voice you will hear is interviewer Judith Richards.
(Episode 1, released 12/28/2010)
Play it: 13.16 MB Mp3 excerpt
Read complete transcript: Oral history interview with Robert Bechtle, 2010 Feb. 8-9
Judy Chicago on controversy about The Dinner Party (4:54 min.)
Judy Chicago’s bold do-it-yourself attitude empowered her to make her own reality in the art world. In this excerpt from an interview conducted in 2009 for the Archives of American Art, she talks about her major collaborative piece, The Dinner Party, an installation of place settings for 39 mythical and historical famous women. When The Dinner Party was first exhibited in 1979 to critical acclaim, Chicago was surprised that it also generated controversy. The first voice you will hear is interviewer Judith Richards.
(Episode 2, released 1/4/2011)
Play it: 9.2 MB Mp3 excerpt
Read complete transcript: Oral history interview with Judy Chicago, 2009 Aug. 7-8
Dennis Oppenheim on public vs. studio art (8:28 min.)
Looking back on the 1950s, artist Dennis Oppenheim talks about Abstract Expressionism as a sort of “scientific pursuit” that was solitary and esoteric. It was pure fine art, created in a studio, as opposed to sculptors making public art in the real world. In this excerpt from an interview conducted in 2009 for the Archives of American Art, Oppenheim talks about the tensions between what he calls “pure studio art” and public art.
(Episode 3, released 1/11/2011)
Play it: 15.9 MB Mp3 excerpt
Read complete transcript: Oral history interview with Dennis Oppenheim, 2009 June 23-24
Joan Snyder on her shift from social work to painting (9:21 min.)
In the course of a life, there is often one teacher who changes everything. For painter Joan Snyder, that teacher was Billy Pritchard. Snyder was on the path to becoming a social worker when she took an art elective with Pritchard in her senior year at Rutgers. In this excerpt from an oral history interview conducted in 2010 for the Archives of American Art and funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art, Snyder talks about her shift from social work to painting and renting her first studio in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1962.
(Episode 4, released 1/18/2011)
Play it: 11.5 MB Mp3 excerpt
Read about this interview: Oral history interview with Joan Snyder, 2010 Feb. 25-26
Judy Chicago on the act of dicovery (1:55 min.)
Feminist artist, author, and educator Judy Chicago inspired a generation of women artists to find a place for themselves in the art world. In this segment of an oral history interview for the Archives of American Art conducted in 2009, Chicago talks about the act of discovery as the central motivating force in her life and art.
(Episode 5, released 1/25/2011)
Play it: 3.5 MB Mp3 excerpt
Read complete transcript: Oral history interview with Judy Chicago, 2009 Aug. 7-8
Ralph Goings on a turning point in his career (18:08 min.)
Ralph Goings is celebrated for his highly-detailed photorealist paintings of diner interiors, countertop still lives, and antique pick-up trucks. In 2009, the Archives of American Art interviewed Goings for its oral history program. In this excerpt he talks about a turning point in his career in 1963, when he began photographing subjects for his paintings. Through photographs he found a different way of seeing the world.
(Episode 6, released 2/1/2011)
Play it: 33.2 MB Mp3 excerpt
Read complete transcript: Oral history interview with Ralph Goings, 2009 Sept. 10-11
Joan Snyder on adding words to her abstractions (6:18 min.)
Artist Joan Snyder often includes text in her large, emotionally evocative, abstract paintings. In this excerpt from an oral history interview conducted in 2010 for the Archives of American Art, Snyder considers her conflicted feelings about adding words to her abstractions.
(Episode 7, released 2/8/2011)
Play it: 11.6 MB Mp3 excerpt
Read about this interview: Oral history interview with Joan Snyder, 2010 Feb. 25-26
