Michael Brewster papers
name: label: Creator
content: Brewster, Michael
topic: label: Occupation
content: Sculptors -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Occupation
content: Installation artists -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Occupation
content: Art teachers -- California -- Los Angeles
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated in 2023 by Karen Anderson, Brewster's spouse and Trustee of the Michael Brewster Living Trust.
creator: label: Creator
content: Brewster, Michael
setName: label: See more items in
content: Michael Brewster papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of sculptor Michael Brewster measure 17 linear feet  and 4.38 Gigabytes, and date from circa 1966-2019. They document the life and career of the artist through correspondence, exhibition files, project files, personal business records, writings, teaching Files, printed material, photographic material, artwork and plans, and compilations, excerpts and documentation.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Michael Brewster (1946-2016) was a sculptor in Los Angeles, California. Brewster was born in Eugene, Oregon, and then moved to São Paulo Brazil with his family. In 1964 his family returned to the United States in 1964 and enrolled as an undergraduate at Pomona College, and would continue in the Claremont colleges as an MFA student at Claremont Graduate University. Later he would become a professor there in a position that lasted most of his life, from 1973 to his retirement in 2014. 

For most of his career, Brewster held a studio at two different locations in Venice Beach. Identifying primarily as a sculptor, Brewster was  best-known for "acoustic sculptures" and which at the core were site-specific expansions of installation art, incorporating electronically generated sound into otherwise empty exhibition spaces, as well as "sonic drawings" including the clicker series that used transmitted sound for the active, moving listener to respond to. Brewster was interested in sound waves, which he tried to coordinate in unique architectural spaces, projecting sound from different directions to achieve what he called standing waves. 

Brewster won a commission competition in 1992 for the unrealized Swiss Autoroute RN1 by-pass mediation which proposed to improve upon the normally dull and congested passage incorporating sound and light. Unfortunately due to loss of funding following an election, the project was never realized. Brewster's works were shown across the United States and Europe, and are in permanent collections, notably the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, the Fondo per Arte Italiano, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the Giuseppe Panza Collection. He died in 2016 following a battle with cancer.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 17 Linear feet
label: Extent
content: 4.38 Gigabytes
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa1966-2019
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.brewmich
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Gigabytes
label: Type
content: Video recordings
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Drawings
label: Type
content: Motion picture film
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
label: Type
content: Interviews
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 10 series:

Series 1: Correspondence, circa 1978-2015 (0.2 Linear feet: Box 1)

Series 2: Exhibition Files, circa 1970-2019 (3.6 Linear feet: Boxes 1-4, 9; 3.04 Gigabytes: ER0001-ER0008)

Series 3: Project Files, circa 1969-2014 (1.5 Linear feet: Boxes 4-5, 9, Roll30; 0.484 Gigabytes: ER0009-ER0010)

Series 4: Personal Business, circa 1970-2012 (1.1 Linear feet: Boxes 5-6, 9;  0.122 Gigabytes: ER0011-ER012)

Series 5: Writings, circa 1967-2012 (1.3 Linear feet: Boxes 6, 11-12)

Series 6: Teaching Files, circa 1970-2005 (0.3 Linear feet: Box 6)

Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1970-2018 (1.2 Linear feet: Boxes 7-8)

Series 8: Photographic Material, circa 1967-1996 (0.6 Linear feet: Box 8, 10; 0.459 Gigabytes: ER0013)

Series 9: Artwork and Plans, circa 1966-1999 (2.5 Linear feet: Boxes 8, 10, 18, OV19-29, Roll 31-32)

Series 10: Compilations, Excerpts and Documentation, circa 1969-1999 (3.8 Linear feet: Boxes 8-9, 13-17, FC33-49; 0.821 Gigabytes: ER0014-ER0016)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Ryan Evans in 2023. Born-digital materials were also processed by Ryan Evans in 2023, with the exception of twelve 5.25 in. floppy discs which could not be transferred at the time.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Motion picture film
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of sculptor Michael Brewster measure 17 linear feet  and 4.38 Gigabytes, and date from circa 1966-2019. Correspondence is with gallerists and fellow artists, as well as patrons and family members. Exhibition files generally center around one installation work at the given venue or group show, and include promotional material, notes by the artist, and various forms of press and visual documentation. Some materials are digital in format. Project Files include intellectual groupings of artworks and various ideas and concepts, as well as artworks not realized or not tied to a particular exhibition, as well as files related to Brewster works at the Panza Collection. Personal business records include grants and proposals, inventories and records of artwork donation, and records related to Brewster's studio, as well as resumes and copies of his artist website and records related to his professional tenure at Claremont Graduate University. 

Writings include artist statements and writings by others on Brewster, as well as interviews and lectures, including audio recordings of class proceedings and interview sessions. Teaching Files include bibliographies and printed articles, as well as files kept for select courses. Printed Material includes exhibition announcements, catalogs, and press clippings, as well as selected readings including printouts of technological online tutorials.

Photographic material includes snapshots, slides and polaroids documenting artworks and exhibitions, as well as people and places. Some are in digital formats. Artwork and plans are comprised of mostly oversized artworks from Brewster's early career, and technical drawings for sound sculptures and other installation works. Also included is the apparatus used in Brewster's clicker works,which generate sound. Compilations, cxcerpts and documentation files includes vast amounts of audio, video, and film formats that served as Brewster's main means of documenting pieces that were temporary and site-specific.