Oral history interview with Robert Winokur
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded as 7 sound files. Duration is 5 hr., 35 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Winokur, Robert, 1933-
label: Interviewer
content: Riedel, Mija, 1958-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Alfred University -- Students
label: Names
content: Helen Drutt Gallery
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (U.S.)
label: Names
content: North Texas State University -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Tyler School of Art -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Tyler School of Art -- Students
label: Names
content: Babu, Victor, 1936-
label: Names
content: De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997
label: Names
content: Ferguson, Ken, 1928-2004
label: Names
content: Giacometti, Ignazio
label: Names
content: Hamada, Shōji, 1894-1978
label: Names
content: Hay, Dick
label: Names
content: Klee, Paul, 1879-1940
label: Names
content: Kline, Franz, 1910-1962
label: Names
content: Levy, Marge
label: Names
content: Minter, Myrna
label: Names
content: Notkin, Richard
label: Names
content: Randall, Theodore, 1914-1985
label: Names
content: Reitz, Don, 1929-2014
label: Names
content: Rhodes, Daniel, 1911-1989
label: Names
content: Schulman, Norman, 1924-
label: Names
content: Staffel, Rudolf, 1911-2002
label: Names
content: Vavrek, Ken
label: Names
content: Voulkos, Peter, 1924-2002
label: Names
content: Wildenhain, Marguerite
label: Names
content: Wood, John, 1922-2012
topic: label: Topic
content: Abstract expressionism
label: Topic
content: Ceramicists -- Pennsylvania -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Ceramics -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Communism
label: Topic
content: Painting -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Sculpture -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: World War, 1939-1945
label: Topic
content: Ceramics
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: Winokur, Robert, 1933-
label: Interviewer
content: Riedel, Mija, 1958-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Robert Winokur (1933- ) is a ceramist in Horsham, Pennsylvania. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is an independent scholar in San Francisco, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 7 Items (Sound recording: 7 sound files (5 hr., 35 min.))
label: Extent
content: 159 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2011 July 23-24
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.winokr11
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Robert Winokur conducted 2011 July 23 and 24, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Winokur's home and studio, in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Robert speaks of his mother earning an award for her artwork; his father and other family members being Communists and having to distance himself in being identified with them; his mother making ceramic jewelry while his father was working as a welder at Cramps Shipyard in Philadelphia during World War II; feeling like he had an attention deficit disorder of some kind, which prevented him from doing well in school, so he took ceramics classes in high school to bring his grades up; starting in painting at the Tyler School of Art, finishing in sculpture, clay, and ceramics; appreciating the Abstract Expressionist work of Franz Kline; of the opinion that one learns art by doing and that the teachers are there to direct you only; feeling that he did not have the freedom to experiment with clay as he wished at Alfred University, School of Art and Design for fear of being compared to Peter Voulkos; his first job teaching at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas; teaching in Peoria, Illinois for a year; beginning Cape Street Pottery in Ashfield, Massachusetts; when he began salt firing and working more in sculptural forms; his work influenced by Abstract Expressionism, Paul Klee, Willem de Kooning, Ignazio Giacometti, Zen master calligraphers, Peter Voulkos, and others; feeling that the computer cannot, as of yet, produce the quality of art that humans can through repetition; that the process of creating is more important than the subject; starting his 30-year teaching career at Tyler School of Art in 1966; that students today are approaching ceramics conceptually and academically rather than through a relationship with the material; the beginning of NCECA [National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts]; and how he enjoys making what he wants to, now that he is retired. Robert also recalls Rudolf Staffel, John Wood, Ted Randall, Daniel Rhodes, Shoji Hamada, Marguerite Wildenhain, Ken Ferguson, Norm Schulman, Victor Babu, Myrna Minter, Don Reitz, Helen Drutt English, Richard Notkin, Dick Hay, Marge Levy, and Ken Vavrek.