Oral history interview with Hiroko Sato Pijanowski
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 6 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 11 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 42 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Pijanowski, Hiroko Sato, 1942-
label: Interviewer
content: Fisch, Arline M.
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in 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: University of Michigan -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Pijanowski, Eugene, 1938-
topic: label: Topic
content: Asian American art
label: Topic
content: Asian American artists
label: Topic
content: Decorative arts
label: Topic
content: Japanese American art
label: Topic
content: Japanese American artists
label: Topic
content: Asian American metal-workers
label: Topic
content: Jewelers -- Hawaii -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Metal-workers -- Hawaii -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Metal-work
label: Topic
content: Jewelry making
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: Pijanowski, Hiroko Sato, 1942-
label: Interviewer
content: Fisch, Arline M.
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Hiroko Sato Pijasnowski (1942- ) is a Japanese American metalsmith from Honolulu, Hawaii. Arline M. Fisch is a jeweler.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 123 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2003 May 13-15
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.pijanoh03
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Hiroko Sato Pijanowski conducted 2003 May 13-15, by Arline F. Fisch, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Pijanowski speaks of her American/Japanese identity; childhood in Japan and her small family; the Christian schools she attended; Geidai University; learning Japanese jewelry design in the U.S.; attending Cranbrook Academy of Art; her thesis on line-inlay, a Japanese technique; meeting Eugene (Gene) Pijanowski, her future husband, at Cranbrook; life in Japan with Gene; moving back to the U.S.; her teaching philosophy; teaching at the University of Michigan; computers and other technological advances that have changed the way metals are taught; her presentation at a 1999 SNAG conference, "A Look Into the Future: The Implementation of Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing for Metalsmiths"; the importance of sharing information; her creative work and its relation to teaching; working with Japanese paper cord [mizuhiki]; Zen philosophy; her reoccurring childhood dreams; her line of jewelry "Hiroko Sato Pijanowski"; and the different types of molds she has made in wax, silicon, and rubber. Pijanowski also discusses jewelry tradeshows; her series Gentle Solitude; Issey Miyake's approach to design and his influence; her haiku club; orchids as inspiration; scuba diving experiences; the World Crafts Conference in Kyoto in 1978; the importance of exhibitions, such as "International Jewelry" in Vienna and "Poetry of the Physical" at the American Craft Museum, New York; galleries such as Helen Drutt in Philadelphia and Yaw Gallery in Michigan; the custom of "renting a gallery space" in Japan; and she concludes the interview with a discussion of the effects of of her depression. Pijanowski also recalls Ruth Taubman, Jim Hopfensperger, Leslie Leupp, Michael Rodemer; Stanley Lechtzin, Herman Junger, Albert Paley, David Watkins, Bob Ebendorf, Otto Kunzli, Michael Rowe, and others.