Oral history interview with Athena Tacha
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 compact disc. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 47 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Tacha, Athena, 1936-
label: Creator
content: Berman, Avis
label: Creator
content: United States. General Services Administration. Design Excellence and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: United States. General Services Administration. Design Excellence and the Arts Oral History Project
topic: label: Occupation
content: Photographers -- Washington (D.C.)
label: Occupation
content: Conceptual artists -- Washington, D.C
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women photographers
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: 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.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Tacha, Athena, 1936-
label: Creator
content: Berman, Avis
label: Creator
content: United States. General Services Administration. Design Excellence and the Arts Oral History Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Athena Tacha (1936- ) is an conceptual artist and photographer in Washington, D.C.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5 Items (sound files (6 hr., 47 min.), digital, wma)
label: Extent
content: 127 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2009 December 4-6
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.tacha09
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Athena Tacha conducted 2009 December 4-6, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art's U.S. General Services Administration, Design Excellence and the Arts oral history project, at Tacha's studio, in Washington, D.C.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Tacha speaks of her family and her childhood in rural Greece; of growing up during World War II and the Greek Civil War; her early interests in art; traveling to France on a Greek government sponsored scholarship; her education at the School of Fine Arts; obtaining a Master's at Oberlin College on a Fulbright scholarship; obtaining a Ph.D. in aesthetics and art history from the Sorbonne in Paris; her decision to move to the United States; her first job as a museum curator at Oberlin's Allen Memorial Art Museum; her early shows in Ohio museums and galleries; her marriage to art historian Richard Spear; her decision to teach sculpture courses at Oberlin; her fellowship at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies, a turning point in her career; her use of sculpture, light, and the environment to develop site-specific public art pieces and installations, thoroughly discussing all recent projects; her retirement from Oberlin College and move to Washington, DC; her creative process; the influences of her travels around the world on her environmentally-conscious art works; her thoughts on the American aesthetics, change, and temporary versus permanent sculpture; recent shows at Marsha Mateyka Gallery and Katzen Art Center and her recent public art installations in the Washington, DC area. Tacha also recalls her close friendship with Oberlin professor Ellen Johnson, André Chastel, and various art dealers and former students from Oberlin College.