Oral history interview with Cindy Kolodziejski
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 10 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Kolodziejski, Cindy, 1962-
label: Interviewer
content: Lloyd, Frank, 1951-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: California State University, Long Beach -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Frank Lloyd Gallery
label: Names
content: Garth Clark Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: J. Paul Getty Museum
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Otis College of Art and Design -- Students
label: Names
content: University of California, Los Angeles. Library
label: Names
content: Albuquerque, Lita
label: Names
content: Bacerra, Ralph, 1938-2008
label: Names
content: Caroompas, Carole, 1946-2022
label: Names
content: Clark, Garth, 1947-
label: Names
content: Delisle, Roseline
label: Names
content: Dowell, Roy
label: Names
content: Giegerich, Jill, 1952-
label: Names
content: Lauria, Jo
label: Names
content: Lodato, Peter (1946-2025)
label: Names
content: Marsh, Tony, 1954-
label: Names
content: Mason, John, 1927-2019
label: Names
content: Nagle, Ron
label: Names
content: Pagel, David
label: Names
content: Saxe, Adrian Anthony, 1943-
label: Names
content: Sturman, Eugene
label: Names
content: Thomason, Barbara A.
place: label: Place
content: New York (N.Y.) -- Description and views
label: Place
content: Arizona -- Description and Travel
label: Place
content: California -- description and travel
label: Place
content: China -- Description and Travel
label: Place
content: Greece -- description and travel
label: Place
content: Italy -- description and travel
label: Place
content: Nepal -- Description and Travel
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- California -- Venice
label: Occupation
content: Sculptors -- California -- Venice
label: Topic
content: Ceramics
label: Topic
content: Self-taught artists
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Women sculptors
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: Kolodziejski, Cindy, 1962-
label: Interviewer
content: Lloyd, Frank, 1951-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Cindy Kolodziejski (1962- ) is a sculptor and painter from Venice, California. Frank Lloyd (1951- ) is a gallery owner from Santa Monica, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 7 Items (Sound recording: 7 wav files (4 hr., 10 min.), digital)
label: Extent
content: 36 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2007 May 5-16
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.kolodz07
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 Cindy Kolodziejski conducted 2007 May 5-16, by Frank Lloyd, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the Frank Lloyd Gallery, in Santa Monica, California.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Kolodziejski speaks of moving in her early childhood from Germany to Arizona and finally to California; the divorce of her parents at a young age and her feelings of abandonment; her desire as a young child to be an artist; the early influence of her grandmother, an art teacher; teaching herself how to draw by copying images and creating still-lifes; an influential art teacher in high school who encouraged her to pursue college-level art classes and attend art school after graduation; her decision to enroll at Otis College of Art and Design; her foundation art classes at Otis and increasing interest in ceramics; choosing ceramics as a medium because of its flexibility and of form and potential for imagery; the value of her art education to her career; earning a Master of Fine Arts degree while teaching at California State University, Long Beach; the union of form, function, and imagery in her work, especially seen in a recent exhibition at the Frank Lloyd Gallery titled "Reversal of Fountain"; using the University of California, Los Angeles, libraries to find images at first, and later searching the internet for inspiration; creating pieces which play with and explore gender issues and sexuality; being reviewed and featured in articles which are especially concerned with issues of the body and femininity; the documentation of her art in various periodicals and texts, including a piece she wrote for Ceramics Monthly concerning her own work; gaining exposure through these articles, which helped to advance her career; the painstaking and technical process required to fashion her works of art; showing at the Garth Clark Gallery very quickly after graduation; traveling to Greece, China, Nepal, New York, and Italy, and being influenced by the exposure to the different art and cultures; recent travels with her daughter to Italy and feeling excited and humbled by the beauty of certain works; giving a talk at the Getty Museum about a show entitled "The Royal Menagerie" featuring the Meissen large-scale porcelain animals; participating in group shows in museums, particularly the "Color and Fire" exhibit which showcased important ceramicists from 1950 to 2000; being awarded various grants and feeling that applying for those awards is a very worthwhile experience for many artists; teaching first at the high school level and then in college; her teaching methods; forming friendships with fellow artists and art teachers; integrating the use of technology into her art-making process by finding and manipulating images on the computer; feeling motivated to produce in a positive way for exhibition deadlines; the support and friendships that developed through exhibiting with the Clark Garth and Frank Lloyd galleries; the encouragement and support she has been shown by her family throughout her career; and categorizing herself first and foremost as an artist rather than a craft artist or ceramicist. Kolodziejski recalls, Lita Albuquerque, Jill Giegerich, Peter Lodato, Barbara Thomason, Roy Dowell, Eugene Sturman, Carol Caroompas, Tony Marsh, Ralph Baccera, Adrian Saxe, Ron Nagle, Roseline Delisle, John Mason, Jo Lauria, David Pagel, Garth Clark, and others.