MIJA RIEDEL: Now, this definitely has that fetish finish feeling to it. 750 9th Street, NW It's just, you say, "All right, let's make it workable or manageable," and you find those small golden moments in the course of a day or an experience with someone thatit's like my brother, one of my brothers was a real talented guy. NEIL WILLIAMS: And I thought that that was a great example of what could drive an artist to greatness and to madness. Like, certainly Betty AsherAsher Faure and then in L.A, and then Rena. NEIL WILLIAMS: Most of them, yeah, because she got to a pointthere was some re-fires, but she got to a point where she could usually get it in an initial bisque, which had a white wash glaze on it, with a block pattern of some colors, and then a follow-up second attack of colors. That's why he was able to amass such an amazing collection and important collection, and have such a profound impact in a positive way on so many artists. Okay. NEIL WILLIAMS: Yeah. I have revived an iconic British Sports Car brand, rebranded an airline with Nicole Kidman's help, tackled the threat of terrorism, revamped a leading sports broadcaster, and created one of the UK's most successful Drink Drive campaigns. MIJA RIEDEL: Oh, no. NEIL WILLIAMS: Jason Rhoades grew up here, and was thought to be one of the more important artists of post-modern artists in the '90s and 2000s. You know, every five-year period, the work, there's this little jump. NEIL WILLIAMS: I never doubted that. NEIL WILLIAMS: She sawI think that she had some things going, and she saw that I hadI mean I was strong then. NEIL WILLIAMS: Yeah, within the end of the first semester there, yeah. They're fighting it." There's an elderly woman, Marjorie Blodget, who is the head librarian and a wonderful old San Francisco socialite, socialist[laughs]who, very mouthy, very verbal. NEIL WILLIAMS: Uh-huh. NEIL WILLIAMS: He said it was hysterical. I just hope they say I've made nice stuff, and it holds up over time. NEIL WILLIAMS: And there also reached the point where Lee was saying, "You know, Elmer, these new paintings areas long as Elmer loves them." Berkeley.". NEIL WILLIAMS: And it was already in color, but sheand she literally used those directly in some of her images when she exploded. [Laughs.] I mean, the tremendous output he had. NEIL WILLIAMS: Oh my God, right herethat's a whole other disc I think. Represent employers and employees in labour disputes, We accept appointments from employers to preside as chairpersons at misconduct tribunals, incapacity tribunals, grievance tribunals and retrenchment proceedings, To earn the respect of the general public, colleagues and peers in our our profession as Labour Attorneys, The greatest reward is the positive change we have the power to bring to the people we interact with in our profession as Labour Attorneys, Website Terms and Conditions |Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy|Sitemap |SA Covid 19 Website, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Not just everyone who wanted to grab her once they saw this incredible cache of artwork in her backyard. And we sat with himbecause Lee forgot some equipment, had to run off. And that made sense to me. So, there is something that's stimulating and it's not something that I want to obsess over or completely give a lot of energy to. How would you describe her plates in relation to the rest of her work? MR] When I talked to [Rena MR], she said she would oftenif she felt that that was important to an artist. NEIL WILLIAMS: Uh-huh. MIJA RIEDEL: We didn't talk at all, yesterday [. I'm not dead yet. Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in. MIJA RIEDEL: You never talked at all about your working process, and I think that would be helpful. I mean, Betty Asher's, Stphane Janssen's collection wasare you familiar with him at all? MIJA RIEDEL: They were more of an experiment with a new material [. I think about little quotes and stuff all the time about, you know, some from Charles or some from other artists orthey stick with me. NEIL WILLIAMS: And, I alwaysI mean, she was brave. And then she gave them to L.A. County and Scripps and Otis, and that's how they ended up in some of those, MIJA RIEDEL: Then you showed with her very early on in the mid-80s, early '80s, couple years. You'll have a good life. And of course after that it was everywhere, and everyone wanted to tag around and see what she doing and, NEIL WILLIAMS: get into her studio. NEIL WILLIAMS: Of course you do a lot ofin your studies oryou're going to work on flat pieces from now and then, but mostly all in the round. She was intoxicated by color and form, like one of theas any good art junkie could be. MIJA RIEDEL: Mm-hmm. [END OF TRACK william14_2of3_sd_track02. I mean she'd give up anything to make art. Or I gothere's a certain health and comfort and a revitalization of my energy knowing thatI'm doing the right thing for myself and my work and everything's going to okay, as long as I don't stress too much about it. MIJA RIEDEL: And you were married 10 years ago roughly? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. The whole idea of teaching is pretty didactic, I think, and like Charles used to say, "Nothing can be taught. NEIL WILLIAMS: I don'tI never worked so hardI mean, I never tried to figure it out. If he would have called and said, "Where's my work, where's my work," he wouldn't have gotten the best out of an artist that way. And it wasshe was so sincere in her dealings with ViolaI know, I'm sure Viola used to frustrate the hell out of her sometimes about certain things. I mean, you get on it, and you know it's right, and it's not satisfying like Thiebaud said, but you're still pushing on it and chewing on it. Manuel Neri? MIJA RIEDEL: Did you ever have that kind of experience? [Affirmative.] But, we were talking about the emotional endearment of when she had the early grandmother ones as the connections, emotionally, to those. National Geographic? And I want to make a contribution. NEIL WILLIAMS: I don't know. In other words, conceiving it as a surface for painting. Because she spoke in gaps back then. NEIL WILLIAMS: Not if I can help it anymore. I've always known it's good. MIJA RIEDEL: Something we were talking about maybe before we started recording [. MIJA RIEDEL: And do you sell that [work MR] regularly through a shop or fairs? MIJA RIEDEL: Yeah. She'd work anybody under the table. NEIL WILLIAMS: That's something II mean, not intentionally. But then it was interesting because it became contagious. I would relish the opportunity of working with Neil in the future. A woman said there was a box, there were 300 applications in them, and there were a dozen of them with Ph.Ds., and there was 12 in-house masters waiting for someone to roll over so that they couldyou know, it's so political, even in these community college systems. It's like, "Oh god, Viola." He is creative, passionate about his work, quirky, self-motivated but above all, has a huge heart and is so pleasant to work with. And that can come inartwork can come in a number of different facetshow you live your life, writing, how you influence, impact, socially, your circle; how you are remembered; or it can be through artwork. NEIL WILLIAMS: Loughlin, Noel. WebWilliams, Tyrone. MIJA RIEDEL: And was this was when you were already working as her assistant? MIJA RIEDEL: So when you say he was working with these domes, where these proposals brought to him and this was something he championed? Bronze, bronze, bronze.". Victor Building One artist was talking about art in the panel; she was talking about, "Art is about art" and was being very egocentric. Davis who, when she passed away, it went to a U.C. NEIL WILLIAMS: And he was a battlefield medic in Vietnam, and he's got this amazing aura about him. I mean, I always think of that wonderful Gauguin painting, Tahitian women on the beach." Did I understand you say that? [Laughs.] NEIL WILLIAMS: And that happened on occasion. You know, it was like, "Viola, okay, let me take care of this now," and I knew she would be thinking about something else, and I would say, "Let's do this first and I'll we'll address that after coffee or lunch and I can take care of that then," or I would ask her, "What do you think about this?" Thanks for the heads up." Lots of private, local patrons and. That was from when she was studies at U.C. You have to go back and pick individuals. ], NEIL WILLIAMS: "might want toshe looks awful mean. NEIL WILLIAMS: Oh, isn't thatI mean, isn't thatcommon with all of us? NEIL WILLIAMS: It wasI mean it was even disturbing at times, but. NEIL WILLIAMS: And so I didn't know when I was getting out of high school, I wasn't sure what to do, and I ended upthey gave me scholarships to go to Arts and Crafts. MIJA RIEDEL: clearly Charles was a huge influence on her. And Ralph Bacerra was there because he was Michael's instructor. And he looked, and he said, "Excuse me?" A little bit of contact there. NEIL WILLIAMS: There'sit's like, and then one of my brother says, "Hey, I saw your piece in a show in the de Young Museum." But, yeah, I learned a lot from that. Throwing on the wheel can be a wonderful sensation on many levels and it's. NEIL WILLIAMS: and she got them in there. MIJA RIEDEL: So when did you graduate high school? MIJA RIEDEL: That's the first time I've ever heard that. I do. NEIL WILLIAMS: And I think one of the greatit's very unusual I think for a dealer in that it wasn't about Rena. Toby and. They're going to be there, aren't they, Neil?" And, she liked the vessel too, so she stayed. I almost have many times in life, but I'm not going to. NEIL WILLIAMS: There's choices. . NEIL WILLIAMS: I always thought they had this beautiful bittersweetness to them. Right. NEIL WILLIAMS: So there was a functional aspect to production pottery that certainly helped. And the third piece, you play. And water-polished bisqued, thenwipe down again with a damp sponge, so there's no dust on it. And, NEIL WILLIAMS: Right. She was a little nervous of whether she was going to have that kind of aand I said, "Absolutely, we wouldn't miss it." Who do you complain to? NEIL WILLIAMS: And I heard, 40 years ago, so you got to find something to do in life that you're not going to get bored with. %PDF-1.4 % MIJA RIEDEL: It's captivating, completely engrossing. NEIL WILLIAMS: [Laughs.] NEIL WILLIAMS: There's galleries that are rare and unique and have majesty to them. Afterthoughts? And I was able toevery good piece I've made since I was 14 I've sold. There's a certain clarity that happens, or a certain subtle little discovery that seems to make a difference. The following oral history transcript is the result of a recorded interview with Neil Williams on 2014 June 5-6. NEIL WILLIAMS: I understand that. It was the largest sculpture I think ever that year in Europe," or something like that. And she said, "I was all prepared to be depressed, and you know what we did with depressionmilk if for all its worth." I mean, it would have been great, but it's not important to me. 0000053369 00000 n Uh-uh. NEIL WILLIAMS: But I didn't think she got that excited about them. NEIL WILLIAMS: And there's not the stress of having to try and figure it out, or trying to push in an area that "Oh my gosh, I'm not going to survive unless I go after this." NEIL WILLIAMS: And unless you understood, and you could fill in the blanks, where with some students it was just like "What is she talking about?" NEIL WILLIAMS: Because if I get frustrated working, or if I getit's not going right, that piece isn't going to happen, especially at critical points. I don't know, floral or feathering. I think it was a hand with a carrot mold piece, and then she wanted to do a whole figure in bronze, and paint it in alkyd oils and it justforit sat and she painted it for a while, and it was outdoors. NEIL WILLIAMS: And she was very encouraging, but sheher quip was "Eventually, you can go back and get your masters, and I can send you anywhere in the country for graduate school on my recommendation." MIJA RIEDEL: But, I mean for the clay to hold those kind of curves and that kind of thinness. Andthey had, it was an unusual couple. One of them was Joseph Johnson Memorial Scholarship, which was Crocker Museum-affiliated at the time, through Bank of America. And just keep them interesting for yourself." NEIL WILLIAMS: Yeah. This interview is part of the Archives of American Art's Viola Frey Oral History Project. NEIL WILLIAMS: Right. She had so much going on, and she was building things so big, and they were getting so over the top in scale. BYU student Micah Johnson told of an analogy he learned that likened going to church and sharing testimony and truth with others to the coals within a fire. University systems, they certainly have their place. He says, "It's going to work.". [Affirmative.] But he gave her a glowing review on Myth Maker Art and Fantasy and he was, she saidoh she came and she was so relieved, I think. I like that. NEIL WILLIAMS: You know, I'm sure her independence helped all that. [Laughs.] About your work? NEIL WILLIAMS: And she wasn't necessarily challenging people on deeper meanings beside, or beyond thatwhich may or may not have contributed to how powerful her work was. And, I also found it was really interesting because they werethey found themselves into collections of paintings and other paintings and sculptors that I really like, too. Copyright in all R&S materials is owned by Racing and Sports Pty Ltd (R&S). The camelyou know, all those little figurines, they were wanting to explore, like she said, small figurines on a colossal, larger-than-life-size scale. Just like, "I'm in my studio and life is good." longest barstool employees; nchsaa track and She wasn'tshe was really good but she wasn't like a gallery dealer. MIJA RIEDEL: That was an extraordinary collection, extraordinary. NEIL WILLIAMS: It's just that it was slow progress. But they make sense. ", NEIL WILLIAMS: In fact she talked about when she was young and smoking all the time, she would have to stop and smoke and stop and she realized, "Oh my god." [Affirmative.] NEIL WILLIAMS: That's ifso if they weren't just a pair of banal, NEIL WILLIAMS: things standing there with some splashes of color on them. [Affirmative.] NEIL WILLIAMS: Okay. She talked about her connection with the grandmother or with the grandfather who had the pile of junk and nobody moved it, or they stayed away from it because it was his pile of junk, and. I rememberimages were very personal to her, of course, and it made sense because she was in a panel once, a discussion panel at NCECA [National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts]. Young Elder Andersen borrowed money, found a job and started classes at BYU. I'm part-time caregiver to him now. Life is that way. And you see so many wonderful amazing artists, like my friend Jason Rhoades trying tohe would always come back fromoff doing an instillation in some major museum in the world, and he would come back to Auburn for, I think to get grounded again, but always pushing the envelope. He did all of those California specials where he'We're in Auburn, and we're'- and he goes through and interviews people about the history. This is card number three. And ultimately, she would do what she was going to do. She's standing on the closet door and surrounding her on all the shelves are hundreds and hundreds of these little figurines. They were magnificent pieces. We're in Oakland, there is no there there without those trees." Andyeah, I mean, even De Kooning had Alzheimer's. Or Patterson coming into Viola's life after meeting Rena? MIJA RIEDEL: Did she ever talk about it at all? NEIL WILLIAMS: I didn'tcertainly didn't feel the thrill of them that she felt for her other work. But luckily, she got that, and insteadso she saw where I needed to be challenged, and. However, that experience also helped her better understand the Saviors Atonement. It's water-polished to reseal the surface so that it's like gessoing or priming a canvas. And he was very fascinated by them, them being clustered and so. So, he was very involved with the light railway station down there, and he alsothere's a series of domes, a cluster of domes over here that were built, NEIL WILLIAMS: some time ago, over. . NEIL WILLIAMS: And of course Cheri [Williams], of course Cheri. Special ed kid, had trouble reading and writing. Thank you. Could you say anything about how they connected? Just, anything I needed, she would give to, as far as materials or whatever you wanted to do. I never saw anything she was doing was morose. 0000007211 00000 n And they were always done in pairs. They had a wonderful one, too. In other words, it was time to go; session was over. [Affirmative.] [Negative.] I just have a couple final questions in summary, and then any final thoughts you might have are more than welcome. He's got an incredible history, and he certainly deserves more attention for his work and for being a great professor of ceramics. 0 0000112045 00000 n 0000004841 00000 n 0000001196 00000 n All information including race fields and TAB NEIL WILLIAMS: And, I felt complete and accomplished because she hadwas just coming out in a big way from hiding out and working, keeping everything for nine years. That scares me. He didn't,change the""He didn't"you know, that simple, pretty simple. Community college, high school, university. And it helps keep me grounded, of course, and itI know what I can count on with them. NEIL WILLIAMS: And the same thing happened with the Oakland Museum. NEIL WILLIAMS: Hand-built, but some great conceptual work, I mean just really enlightened, brilliant ladies. Yeah. MIJA RIEDEL: Listening to [. 0000012685 00000 n NEIL WILLIAMS: And the great irony of that and the torment can be for so many artistsI mean, look in human history, or art history, how it's driven them off the deep end. And it would help to get her back tobecause she was soI mean, whatever they were, nuclear hormones, or whatever they were, she was so full of exuberance and energy at that time, and there was a lot happening for her. NEIL WILLIAMS: No, I got hooked up with a local potter up the road here. We need toyou should go and spend time with this individual, no matter where they are. MIJA RIEDEL: Yeah. NEIL WILLIAMS: I mean, we all have them but, multiple death, suicides, whatever. Fear of failure. MIJA RIEDEL: Mm-hmm. 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. You know, making art and celebrate safely. But I know he really fed her a lot of reinforcement in what she was doing. There was something about the big block of color, although there was good color change and wonderful painting in it. What a brilliant way of answering that brief. NEIL WILLIAMS: Completely positive, radiant. ", NEIL WILLIAMS: So there is some childhood playfulness aspect of it, which I think is okay, as long as it's not too light, and as long as it doesn't diminish, I think the effort, or that it's been a life-long body of work. The Savior said that His Father maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 9:45). NEIL WILLIAMS: And Arlene LewAllen was the best. Dorothy was wonderful. And Viola finally just said, "Let's play with clay", MIJA RIEDEL: and took out the clay, and they all just sat there at the kitchen table, MIJA RIEDEL: working with clay. They worked alone, and they were more isolationists. NEIL WILLIAMS: But also I think there's a great sense of humor and a take on things that's pretty broad-based. Butit wasa very different relationship. NEIL WILLIAMS: Yeah, with a great deep love of art history throughout every culture. NEIL WILLIAMS: two of the premier Bay Area figurative artists of the time. WebThe largest online newspaper archive; 22,300+ newspapers from the 1700s2000s; Millions of additional pages added every month MR] and scale. NEIL WILLIAMS: That'sthat makes sense to me. NEIL WILLIAMS: I wasn't there, but I think that's whathe came in and out of consciousness; he said it was hard"There she is!"
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