Since 1958, the Archives of American Art’s oral history program has preserved the distinct voices and human memory of the American art world in more than 2,500 interviews. Articulated draws on those interviews of the famous and the forgotten, featuring firsthand accounts from artists, dealers, writers, and other key figures, in dialogue with today’s thought leaders. Their expansive conversations and often surprising memories challenge us to see the world and our shared history in new and unimagined ways.
Credits:
Ben Gillespie, Arlene and Robert Kogod Secretarial Scholar for Oral History
Michelle Herman, Head of Digital Experience
Deanna Luu, Graphic Designer
Musical Theme: “Sound and Smoke," composed by Viet Cuong and performed by the Peabody Wind Ensemble with Harlan Parker conducting
Articulated is supported by the Alice L. Walton Foundation.
Through many modes and for many aims, feminists have sought to improve equity in and through the visual arts. In this episode, hear from a variety of women as they describe the trajectory of feminism they've seen in their lives and careers, including stories from Faith Ringgold, Linda Nochlin, Judy Baca, and Joan Semmel among others.
Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence profoundly shaped the depiction of American history in art through their ambitious and insightful oeuvres. From generating new national traditions through the Harlem Community Art Center to capturing communal experience through paint and collage, they paved the way for subsequent generations of storytellers. In this episode, hear from each artist as they recount the social, political, and artistic currents that guided their paths.
For more than 50 years, Joe Feddersen (Colville) and G. Peter Jemison (Seneca, Heron Clan) have been creating works that extend Native heritage and enrich the stories told by American art. Through an ambidextrous approach to craft and figuration, Feddersen finds consonance between contemporary life and traditional forms and iconographies, while Jemison highlights the continuities and ruptures of Native experiences in our shared spaces. With wide-ranging community education, preservation, and advocacy projects, Feddersen and Jemison show that new paths emerge from the old.
Throughout decades of protecting workers and their rights, the United Farm Workers union has been a significant nexus for artists and activists. In this episode, listen to three artists who have been instrumental in illustrating and activating the labor advocacy of the UFW, as Barbara Carrasco, Carlos Almaraz, and Ester Hernandez recount the importance of collective action and working alongside Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.
Artistic education takes many shapes, as artists pass down skills and traditions to see them transformed by new hands. In this episode, hear how the classroom shaped artists, both as learners and teachers. Stories include Anni Albers's descriptions of lessons with Paul Klee at the Bauhaus and her own teaching at Black Mountain College, Carmen Lomas Garza on the activism that shaped her time as a student teacher, and Lee Krasner's memorable training moments along her artistic journey among others.
The Archives of American Art collects primary source materials—original letters, writings, preliminary sketches, scrapbooks, photographs, financial records and the like—that have significant research value for the study of art in America.
Find out how to give your papers, records, recordings, or other primary source material to the Archives of American Art.
Internship, fellowship, and volunteer opportunities provide students and lifelong learners with the ability to contribute to the study and preservation of visual arts records in America.
Original material can be consulted by appointment in our Washington, D.C. Headquarters.
Copies of unrestricted microfilm materials can be obtained through one of our affiliated research centers.
