Oral history interview with Mary Giles
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 43 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Giles, Mary
label: Interviewer
content: Sauer, Jane, 1937-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: American Crafts Council
label: Names
content: Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts -- Students
label: Names
content: Haystack Mountain School of Crafts -- Students
label: Names
content: Mankato State University -- Students
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Penland School of Crafts -- Students
label: Names
content: SOFA Chicago
label: Names
content: Buckman, Jan
label: Names
content: DeRaad, Rianna
label: Names
content: Hu, Mary Lee, 1943-
label: Names
content: Itter, Diane, 1946-1989
label: Names
content: Jacobs, Ferne K. (Ferne Kent), 1942-
label: Names
content: Kranzberg, Nancy
label: Names
content: Larsen, Jack Lenor
label: Names
content: Martin, Agnes, 1912-2004
label: Names
content: Nottingham, Walter, 1930-2012
label: Names
content: Okun, Barbara Rose
label: Names
content: Reed, Duane
label: Names
content: Schira, Cynthia, 1934-
label: Names
content: Shieber, Horty
place: label: Place
content: Minnesota -- Description and Travel
topic: label: Occupation
content: Fiber artists -- Minnesota
label: Occupation
content: Sculptors -- Minnesota
label: Topic
content: Decorative arts
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women textile artists
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: Giles, Mary
label: Interviewer
content: Sauer, Jane, 1937-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Mary Giles (1944- ) is an artist of Stillwater, Minnesota. Jane Sauer (1937- ) is an artist and gallery owner of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4 Items (Sound recording: 4 sound files (2 hr., 43 min.), digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 46 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2006 July 18
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.giles06
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Mary Giles conducted 2006 July 18, by Jane Sauer, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the home of Jane Sauer, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Giles speaks of childhood summers spent on Pine Lake in Minnesota; receiving a B.S. in art education from Mankato State University, Minnesota; educational experiences at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; the influence of nature and Native American art in her work; finding inspiration in "woods and water"; spirituality; teaching elementary art in St. Louis for 28 years while pursuing her art; the materials she works with, including wax linen and various metals; the techniques she uses, such as coiling, twining, torching, hammering, and knotting; the importance of a studio; the appeal of natural aging and corrosion of materials; the competitiveness of craft fields in the United States; attending American Craft Council shows and Sculpture Objects & Functional Art expositions in Chicago; craft as art in the United States; her experience showing in galleries and struggles with pricing; participating in the Poland Triennale in Lodz, Poland, 2001; the pioneering efforts of female fiber artists. Giles also recalls Mary Lee Hu, Diane Itter, Jack Lenor Larsen, Walter Nottingham, Rianna DeRaad, Cynthia Schira, Ferne Jacobs, Barbara Rose Okun, Nancy Kranzberg, Jan Buckman, Horty Shieber, Duane Reed, Agnes Martin, and others.