Oral history interview with Beverly Mayeri
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hrs., 34 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Mayeri, Beverly, 1944-
label: Interviewer
content: Riedel, Mija, 1958-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Dorothy Weiss Gallery
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: San Francisco State University -- Students
label: Names
content: Sausalito Art Center
label: Names
content: Susan Cummins Gallery
label: Names
content: University of California, Berkeley -- Students
label: Names
content: Adams, George
label: Names
content: Argüelles, Jose
label: Names
content: Arneson, Robert, 1930-1992
label: Names
content: Bohn, Diana
label: Names
content: Breschi, Karen
label: Names
content: Chen-Ting, Mimi
label: Names
content: De Staebler, Stephen, 1933-2011
label: Names
content: Frumkin, Allan
label: Names
content: Goldstein, David
label: Names
content: Gruber, Wendy
label: Names
content: Marler, Peter
label: Names
content: Styles, Marilyn
label: Names
content: Turkel, Marni
label: Names
content: Van Dyke, Gail
topic: label: Occupation
content: Ceramicists -- California
label: Topic
content: Decorative arts
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women ceramicists
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: Mayeri, Beverly, 1944-
label: Interviewer
content: Riedel, Mija, 1958-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Beverly Mayeri (1944- ) is a ceramist in Mill Valley, California. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer from San Francisco, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 46 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2007 September 15-October 3
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.mayeri07
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 Beverly Mayeri conducted 2007 September 15 and October 3, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Mayeri's studio, in Sausalito, California.
label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Beverly Mayeri, conducted by Mija Riedel for the Archives of American Art, at the artist's studio in Mill Valley, California, on September 15, 2007 and October 3, 2007. Mayeri speaks of her childhood in New Jersey; the artistic and creative activities of her parents; her mother, who was a watercolorist; her father, who was an inventor, woodworker, and artist; enjoying setting up and conducting biology experiments in high school; working as an intern marine biologist between senior year of high school and freshman year of college; attending the University of California, Berkeley and receiving her degree in zoology; becoming interested in clay during her senior year at Berkeley; her marriage, daughter, and time spent in New York City where she was unable to focus on ceramics; participating in classes and workshops at the Sausalito Art Center upon her return to California; her early functional, production work; being inspired by Karen Breschi's work, which led to the Mother series; working from her garage; attending graduate school at San Francisco State University; reading Erich Neumann's "The Great Mother" and becoming interested in the psychological world within individuals and expressing that through art; the development of the checkerboard theme in her work; expressing a personal truth that others will recognize in themselves; the prevalence of faces, animals, patterns, and texture in her work; portraiture and anatomy; working with dark clay; exploring environmental themes; the connection between expressing both human and environmental frailty; the cyclical nature of her work in returning to previous themes; conveying stillness versus gesture; her experience with galleries, including Susan Cummins Gallery, Dorothy Weiss Gallery, and Ivory Kimpton Gallery; the freedom of working with acrylic paint as opposed to glaze; and becoming more involved in environmental activism. Mayeri also recalls Peter Marler, Marni Turkel, Diana Bohn, Marilyn Stiles, Steven De Staebler, Robert Arneson, José Argüelles, Wendy Gruber, Mimi Chen-Ting, Gail Van Dyke, Daniel Goldstein, Allan Frumkin, George Adams, and others.