Oral history interview with Walter Nottingham
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 41 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Nottingham, Walter, 1930-2012
label: Interviewer
content: Owen, Carol, 1936-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Catholic Church
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: St. Cloud State University -- Students
label: Names
content: United States -- Montgomery G.I. Bill
label: Names
content: University of Wisconsin--River Falls -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Constantine, Mildred
label: Names
content: Crane, Jim
label: Names
content: Drutt, Helen Williams
label: Names
content: Johnson, Meda
label: Names
content: Kaufman, Glen
label: Names
content: Knodel, Gerhardt
label: Names
content: Larsen, Jack Lenor
label: Names
content: Merritt, Francis Sumner, 1913-2000
label: Names
content: Miller, Don
label: Names
content: Moran, Lois
label: Names
content: Nordness, Lee
label: Names
content: Nottingham, Karron
label: Names
content: Penning, Pauline
label: Names
content: Ross, Shelley
label: Names
content: Rossbach, Ed
label: Names
content: Strengell, Marianne, 1909-1998
place: label: Place
content: Mexico City (Mexico) -- description and travel
topic: label: Occupation
content: Weavers -- Wisconsin -- Interviews
label: Occupation
content: Self-taught artists
label: Topic
content: Decorative arts
label: Topic
content: Fiber artists -- Hawaii -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Weavers -- Hawaii -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Weaving
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: Nottingham, Walter, 1930-2012
label: Interviewer
content: Owen, Carol, 1936-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Walter Nottingham (1930-2012) is a fiber artist from Hilo, Hawaii. Carol Owen is a fiber artist from Pittsboro, North Carolina.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 29 Pages (Transcript)
label: Extent
content: 4 Items (Sound recording: 4 sound files (1 hr., 41 min.), digital, wav)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2002 July 14-18
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.nottin02
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript available online.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Walter Nottingham conducted 2002 July 14-18, by Carol Owen, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the studios of Idyllwild Arts, in Idyllwild, California. Nottingham speaks of his enthusiasm for basketball; being an altar boy and, as such, surrounded by beautiful fabrics at an early age; attending St. Cloud State University on the GI Bill; his teachers Jim Crane and Pauline Penning; serving as an art consultant for public schools in Jackson, Michigan; the lasting influence of an exhibition of battle flags at the Metropolitan Museum; articulating aging and decay through self-taught weaving; developing a fiber art program at University of Wisconsin, River Falls; attending Cranbrook Academy of Art and working with Glen Kaufman and Meda Johnson. He discusses specific works including his "Yahooties", that combine both his grandmother's and mother's crochet work; his trip to Mexico City on a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1974; forming the company Off the Wall with his eldest daughter Karron and their decorative design commissions; the influence of his Catholic upbringing, oriental philosophy, and spirituality in his work; and techniques and materials. Nottingham recalls Shelly Ross, Helen Drutt, Francis Merritt, Don Miller, Lois Moran, Jack Lenor Larsen, Marianne Strengell, Mildred Constantine, Gerhardt Knodel, Lee Nordness, Ed Rossbach, and others.