L. Brent Kington papers
name: label: Creator
content: Kington, L. Brent (Louis Brent), 1934-2013
label: Names
content: American Craft Council
label: Names
content: Artist-Blacksmith's Association of North America
label: Names
content: Cranbrook Academy of Art -- Students
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Society of North American Goldsmiths
label: Names
content: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale -- Faculty
label: Interviewer
content: Hsu, Ilin
label: Names
content: Yellin, Samuel, 1885-1940
topic: label: Topic
content: Blacksmithing
label: Topic
content: Blacksmiths -- Illinois
label: Topic
content: Sculptors -- Illinois
label: Topic
content: Metal-work
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art in installments by L. Brent Kington from 2001 to 2012. Materials donated from 2007 to 2012 remain unprocessed.
creator: label: Creator
content: Kington, L. Brent (Louis Brent), 1934-2013
setName: label: See more items in
content: L. Brent Kington papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of influential blacksmith, sculptor, metalsmith and educator, L. Brent Kington, measure 9 linear feet and date from 1944 to 2012. The collection provides a valuable overview of Kington's career through correspondence relating primarily to exhibitions, subject files, drawings, photographs of Kington and his artwork, printed matter and audiovisual material. An additional 5.2 linear feet of papers was accessioned from 2007 to 2012 and remains unprocessed.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: L. Brent Kington was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1934. He received a BFA from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1957 and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1961. Kington began his career primarily as a silversmith working with small-scale objects such as jewelry, silverware, and toys, and then became interested in using forged iron to create sculpture. He sought the help and instruction of the few blacksmiths he could find working in a "traditional" style and began working with large-scale sculptures forged in iron and steel, weathervanes, and other kinetic sculpture. Kington's subsequent research, such as his exploration of forge welding techniques of iron and his experimentation with laminated, non-ferrous alloys, constituted an important contribution to the resurgence of traditional blacksmithing and was highly influential in the fields of blacksmithing and metalsmithing in general.

Kington served as Director of the School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale from 1981 to 1994. He was a lecturer at SIU from 1961 to 1962, assistant professor from 1962 to 1967, associate professor from 1967 to 1972, professor from 1972 to 1996, and is currently professor emeritus. A committed educator and an avid spokesman for the arts, he has been honored many times as a guest lecturer, visiting artist, exhibit juror, workshop demonstrator, and panelist in the United States and abroad. In 1987 he spent a summer in Cortona, Italy as guest professor in the University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program.

Since 1962, Kington's sculpture and metalwork has been shown in more than 350 group and solo exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, Mexico, and South America. Over the years Kington has served in various professional organizations. He has been a Trustee of the American Craft Council, Director of the Artist-Blacksmith Association of North America (ABANA), and President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG). In 1978 he was elected to the American Craft Council's Academy of Fellows and has been the recipient of two Artist Fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Kington continues to work from his home and studio in Makando, Illinois.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 9 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1944-2012
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.kinglbre
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Video recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into six series. Original arrangement has generally been maintained throughout the collection, with some merging of chronological correspondence in Series 1 to facilitate access.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1955-2004, undated (box 1; 0.8 linear ft.)

Series 2: Subject Files, 1956-2005, undated (box 1-3; 1.6 linear ft.)

Series 3: Printed Material, 1952-2003, undated (box 3-4, OV 5; 0.9 linear ft.)

Series 4: Photographs, circa 1944-2001 (box 4; 0.4 linear ft.)

Series 5: Audiovisual Material, 1982, 2001, undated (box 4; 4 items)

Series 6: Unprocessed Addition to the L. Brent Kington Papers, 1956-2012 (boxes 6-12, OV 13; 5.2 linear ft.)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed by Stephanie Ashley in November 2002, and by Erin Corley in June 2005, with funding provided by the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. An additional 5.2 linear feet was accessioned from 2007 to 2012 and remains unprocessed.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The papers of influential blacksmith, sculptor, metalsmith, and educator, L. Brent Kington, measure 9 linear feet and date from 1944 to 2012. The collection provides a valuable overview of Kington's career through correspondence, subject files, drawings, photographs of Kington and his artwork, printed matter and audiovisual material.

Correspondence in Series 1 relates primarily to exhibitions in the United States at institutions such as the the American Craft Museum, the Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, and the National Ornamental Metal Museum, in which Kington's work was represented.

Kington's education at Cranbrook Academy of Art, his career at Southern Illinois University, his involvement with various professional organizations, his appearances at conferences and workshops, and his relationships with individual galleries, are more fully represented in Series 2: Subject Files.

The collection also includes printed matter, including exhibition announcements and catalogs for group and solo exhibitions in which Kington's work was featured, and publications containing articles about Kington.

Photographs in the collection include images of Kington's artwork and also picture Kington at various stages throughout his career. Audiovisual material includes an oral history interview with Kington from 2001, and two video recordings of a blacksmith workshop and a program entitled Brent Kington: Image of an Artist.

An additional 5.2 linear feet of papers was accessioned from 2007 to 2012 and remains unprocessed.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Material
content: The Archives also has a transcribed interview of L. Brent Kington, conducted May 3-4, 2001 by Mary Douglas for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. The interview was conducted in Kington's home and studio in Makando, Illinois.