At the Smithsonian: Now on the Record
I am pleased to announce that I have been accepted into the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art – “the world’s preeminent and most widely used research center dedicated to collecting, preserving, and providing access to primary sources that document the history of the visual arts in America.”
The Archives are “a vital resource to anyone interested in American culture over the past 200 years and consist of more than 20 million letters, diaries, scrapbooks, manuscripts, financial records, photographs, films, and audiovisual recordings of artists, dealers, collectors, critics, scholars, museums, galleries, associations, and other art world figures.”
What are in my archives?
While the Smithsonian’s Archives do not include original work as museums do, my archives contain primary working materials revealing my creative process, sources, methods, even musings as I worked through the myriad of decisions and revelations from beginning to end of the creation of a work. (The Smithsonian is currently cataloging all my content to make it available to view in person or to order PDFs via a link on the website.)
Here is one example of a source image and a quick sketch of ideas for two of the Holocaust series:
As a printmaker throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, I adopted the practice of producing a DOCUMENTATION INFORMATION SHEET for every edition as well as for individual works. In addition to the Artist Name, Title, exact Date of Completion, Size, Price, Media/Materials, I include a section I call “Concept” – an ongoing conversation I have with my work – that reflects on sources of inspiration, imagery, and thoughts on the relationship to other work.
Since I tend to create series, I’ve compiled several thematically cohesive bodies of work into monographs, which are included in the Archives:
a window into the art ecosystem of their times
The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art seek to preserve and highlight artists that may have flown under the radar, especially women and artists of color. Prior to my expanded inclusion in the Smithsonian’s Archives, I have been a footnote of their extensive file on Space Gallery 1975-1995. Now, under my own name, my full career (to date) will be featured, along with my connections to institutions and collections. In addition, my documentation of an extensive informal network that supported many working artists of my generation, including Space Gallery, Jack Duganne’s Workshop, i.e., Venice Art Walk, and Venice Art Block Open Studio Tours will be preserved.
Now, what about the artwork itself?
Unfortunately, the Smithsonian cannot collect actual art works. But what they are doing is preserving something that often would be lost or discarded.
To learn more about the depth of resources compiled in the archives, please visit the Smithsonian’s blog.