Jacki Apple papers
name: label: Creator
content: Apple, Jacki
label: Names
content: Perez, Rudy
topic: label: Occupation
content: Installation artists -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Occupation
content: Performance artists -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Occupation
content: Environmental artists -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Occupation
content: Educators -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Occupation
content: Curators -- New York (State)
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Feminists
label: Topic
content: Performance art -- United States
label: Topic
content: Installations (Art) -- California
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated in 2021 by Jacki Apple.
creator: label: Creator
content: Apple, Jacki
setName: label: See more items in
content: Jacki Apple papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of performance artist and educator Jacki Apple measure 2.1 linear feet and date from circa 1959-2015, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1971-2015. The papers document various performance, public art, and installation projects that Apple undertook throughout her career. Also found are writings, exhibition files, printed and photographic materials.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Jacki Apple (1941-2022) was an interdisciplinary performance artist and arts educator originally based in New York City then Los Angeles, California.

Born in New York City, Jacki Apple graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1963 where she studied graphic and fashion design. Apple collaborated with her then-husband, Billy Apple, on one of the first artist run spaces in New York, the APPLE Gallery. Here, Apple was the associate director from 1969 until its closure in 1973. She also served as the first curator and programs manager at Franklin Furnace from 1976-1980.

In 1981, Apple moved to Los Angeles where her work further developed into site specific and multi-faceted performances. Many of these were created in collaboration with other artists, choreographers, and composers such as Mary Jane Eisenberg, Bruce Fowler, Jeff McMahon, Rudy Perez, and Martha Wilson, among others. These performances often critically approached subjects of species extinction, climate change, space travel, and cultural erosion while combining film, sound, dance, photography, and spoken word.

In California, her work increasingly focused on aural soundscapes and radio productions. Apple hosted and produced her own weekly one-hour show, Soundings, on KPFK-FM Los Angeles Public Radio from 1981 until 1995. Prior to the political unrest in Los Angeles in 1992, she produced, in collaboration with Linda Albertano, Keith Antar Mason, and Akilah Nayo Oliver, a six-part radio series titled Redefining Democracy in America which was broadcast nationally and confronted racial injustices within American society. In the early 2000s, she co-produced the fringe music festival EARJAM with Julie Adler. During the latter phase of her career, Apple centered on public art proposals within public libraries and community centers in Los Angeles. Her art has been broadcast, exhibited, and performed internationally.

Apple was also an educator, holding a faculty position at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California since 1983. In 2012, she received the Distinguished Teaching of Art Award from the College Art Association of America (CAA). As a prolific art critic, she published numerous articles, essays, and reviews in art journals and books.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2.1 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1959-2015
label: Date
content: bulk 1971-2015
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.appljack
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 5 series.

Series 1: Writings, circa 1983, 1996 (0.1 Linear feet: Box 1)

Series 2: Exhibition Files, circa 1981-2007 (0.2 Linear feet: Box 1)

Series 3: Project Files, circa 1959-2015 (1.5 Linear feet: Boxes 1-2)

Series 4: Printed Material, circa 1980-2016 (0.2 Linear feet: Box 2, OV 3)

Series 5: Photographic Material, 1978-2004 (0.1 Linear feet: Box 2)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Sam Neat in 2025.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of performance artist and educator Jacki Apple measure 2.1 linear feet and date from circa 1959-2015, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1971-2015. 
Writings are comprised of an article written by Apple about long time collaborator and choreographer, Rudy Perez and a lecture given by Apple at the Penn State "Performance Art, Culture, Pedagogy Symposium" in 1995. Exhibition files include specific printed material, press releases, catalogs, and photographic documentation of exhibition installations that Apple participated in. Project files make up the bulk of the collection and the majority include realized projects with some unrealized public art proposals. Included in the series are photographs documenting performances and installation views, handwritten and typed scripts, project descriptions and proposals, scores, compiled preliminary research, press releases, announcements, budgets, correspondence, reviews, and scattered notes. The printed material series consists of event brochures and announcements, exhibition announcements, newsletters, and press releases for various shows and events that Apple was involved in. Also included is the record jacket for Apple's 1979 work The Mexican Tapes. Photographic material includes color slides, contact sheets, and printed photographs of various performances and installations.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The NYU Special Collections also holds papers of Jacki Apple.