Oral history interview with Mary Shaffer
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 54 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Shaffer, Mary
label: Interviewer
content: Shea, Josephine, 1958-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
topic: label: Occupation
content: Glass artists -- New Mexico -- Taos
label: Topic
content: Women artists
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: Shaffer, Mary
label: Interviewer
content: Shea, Josephine, 1958-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Mary Shaffer (1947- ) is a glass artist in Taos, N.M. Josephine Shea (1958- ) is curator in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5 Items (sound files (3 hr., 54 min.), digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 64 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2008 April 13-14
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.shaffe08
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 Mary Shaffer conducted 2008 April 13-14, by Jospehine Shea, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Shaffer's home and studio, in Taos, N.M.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Born in Walterboro, SC, Shaffer speaks of her early childhood living in South America; her formative years being raised in Europe; her early artistic training in a European tradition; then studying art at the Rhode Island School of Design where she met her husband, artist Hardu Keck. She discusses her transition from working as a painter to experimental work in glass and conceptual art; being part of a community of artists that included Dale Chihuly and Fritz Dreisbach; and teaching as a means of support during the early years of her career. She discusses the importance of galleries in promoting her work, and how commissions enabled her to stretch and grow as an artist.