Oral history interview with Neda Al-Hilali
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 22 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 46 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Al-Hilali, Neda, 1938-
label: Interviewer
content: Riedel, Mija, 1958-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: California State University, Los Angeles -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Claremont Graduate University -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Hunsaker/Schlesinger Gallery
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Scripps College -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Taliban
label: Names
content: University of California, Los Angeles -- Faculty
label: Names
content: University of California, Los Angeles -- Students
label: Names
content: Bassler, James W., 1933-
label: Names
content: Hunsaker, Joyce Badgley
label: Names
content: Jacobs, Ferne K. (Ferne Kent), 1942-
label: Names
content: Kester, Bernard
label: Names
content: Simsar, Alice
topic: label: Occupation
content: Fiber artists -- California
label: Occupation
content: Educators -- California
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women textile artists
label: Topic
content: Women educators
label: Topic
content: Decorative arts
label: Topic
content: Climatic changes
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: Al-Hilali, Neda, 1938-
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bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Neda Al-Hilali (1938- ) is a fiber artist and weaver in Los Angeles, California. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer in San Francisco, California.
function: label: Function
content: Art commissions
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 116 Pages (Transcript)
label: Extent
content: 22 Items (Sound recording: 22 sound files (7 hr., 46 min.), digital, wav)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2006 July 18-19
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.alhila06
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Neda Al-Hilali conducted 2006 July 18-19, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the artist's home, in Los Angeles, California.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Al-Hilali speaks of her childhood in Czechoslovakia and Bavaria; studying language in London; her experience living in Baghdad, Iraq with her first husband; moving to California and completing her undergraduate and graduate degrees at UCLA; teaching experiences at Scripps College, Claremont Graduate University, California State University Los Angeles, and UCLA; the installation processes of Beach Occurrence with Tongues, Black Passage, the Cassiopeia series, and others; frustrations she encountered with commission work; the rich history of the fiber tradition; travels to Afghanistan, Japan, and Oaxaca, Mexico; achieving gestural and painterly qualities with fiber; the importance of color in textile work in the Middle East; experiences with galleries, including the Hunsaker/Schlesinger Gallery in Santa Monica, California; utilizing a Ouija board for reflection and creative guidance; issues such as global warming and over-development; the status of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule; the gratitude she feels at being a part of the fiber tradition; and plans for the future. Al-Hilali also recalls Bernard Kester, Jim Bassler, Fern Jacobs, Joyce Hunsaker, Alice Simsar, and others.