Oral history interview with Harrison McIntosh
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 6 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hrs., 10 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: McIntosh, Harrison
label: Interviewer
content: McNaughton, Mary
label: Names
content: Scripps College
topic: label: Occupation
content: Ceramicists -- California -- Los Angeles
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: McIntosh, Harrison
label: Interviewer
content: McNaughton, Mary
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Harrison McIntosh (1914- ) is a ceramist from Los Angeles, Calif.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 143 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1999 Feb. 24-Mar. 4
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.mcinto99
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 available on line
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Harrison McIntosh conducted 1999 Feb. 24-Mar. 4, by Mary McNaughton, in four sessions, for the Archives of American Art, at the artist's home/studio in Claremont, Calif., One of California's best-known ceramists, McIntosh has enjoyed a long career that has brought him recognition as a master crafstman. In this interview, he looked back on four decades of artistic production characterized by disciplined work, elegant forms, and geometric decoration.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Beginning with his childhood in Vallejo, Calif., McIntosh discussed the formative influences on his development as an artist, including the work of his first teacher Arthur Haddock and watercolor painter Barse Miller. He recalled his move to Los Angeles in 1937; the Foundation of Western Art, Stendahl Gallery, and Dalzell Hatfield Gallery; the impact of seeing Japanese ceramics at the World's Fair in San Franciso; his studies with ceramist Glen Lukens; his work in the porcelain studio of Albert King in L.A. and with Ric Petterson at Scripps College, with whom he shared an interest in Swedish, Japanese, and Southwestern cermics; meeting Marguerite Wildenhain in 1953 at a summer pottery workshop at Pond Farm, Guerneville, Calif.; encounters with Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Peter Voulkos, and artists at Scripps, including Jean and Arthur Ames, Paul Darrow, Phil Dike, Roger Kuntz, Douglas McClelland, Millard Sheets, and Jack Zajac.
label: Scope and Contents
content: McIntosh also describes his longtime artistic association with his wife Marguerite McIntosh and his studio mate Rupert Deese; and his techniques for making, glazing, and firing his work.