Smithsonian Learning Lab
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Updates
  • Help
  • FAQ
  • My Learning Lab:

    Login or Sign Up

    Forgot My Password

    Please provide your account's email address and we will e-mail you instructions to reset your password

    ×Error



    Do you want to reset password now?

    You are about to leave Smithsonian Learning Lab.

    The link you clicked is NOT part of Smithsonian Learning Lab, but we hope you come back soon.

    http://ikeepsafe.org/privacy/ferpa/

    Would you like to proceed?

    Resources

      Learning Lab Collection

        Delete Resource - Oral history interview with David Ellsworth, 2007 July 16

        Are you sure?

        Restore Archived - Oral history interview with David Ellsworth, 2007 July 16

        Are you sure?
        Smithsonian Learning Lab
        Oral history interview with David Ellsworth, 2007 July 16

        Source

        Archives of American Art

        OBJECT TYPE

        Archival materials Collection descriptions Sound recordings Interviews

        PLACE OF PUBLICATION, PRODUCTION, OR EXECUTION

        Pennsylvania

        PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

        5 Items, Sound recording: 5 sound files (2 hr., 41 min.), digital, wav

        GENERAL NOTE

        Originally recorded 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 41 min.

        SUMMARY

        An interview of David Ellsworth conducted 2007 July 16, by Josephine Shea, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Ellsworth's home, in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.
        Ellsworth speaks of living and growing up in Iowa for the first fourteen years of his life; moving to Boulder, Colorado when his father became the director of libraries; being the youngest of two boys; his parents meeting at Oberlin College; his early interest and skill in leatherwork and woodwork as a child; spending time with the family at their cabin up in the mountains in Colorado; his experiences with music, vocals, and woodshop in junior high; attending a preparatory high school that had a very strong art program; singing in the Army for the Army Air Defense Command; traveling around with the band; being sent to the headquarters of United States Army of Europe in Heidelberg as a speed typist; studying and learning German while abroad; getting admitted into the architecture department at Washington University in St. Louis; flunking out after three semesters; going to New York City to follow a love interest as well as to study art; attending The New School for Social Research; moving back to the Midwest due of the heavy toll of city life; enrolling in the sculpture department at the University of Colorado and receiving both a bachelor of fine arts and a master of fine arts; his first independent show at Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado; working as a designer for a stainless steel food services equipment company called Green Brothers; working at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado; opening up a private studio in Boulder; partaking in various craft shows; working with the Belles Artes Gallery in New York City and Santa Fe, the Del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles, The Hand and the Spirit Gallery in Scottsdale which became Materia Gallery, the Gargoyle Gallery in Aspen; and the Cooper-Lynn Gallery in New York City; working as a teacher at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg; his experiences working with resin; his past experiences working with various kinds of wood; his past divorce; the influence of Native American and Southwest architecture and landscape on his work; the lack of reviews on woodturners and woodturning exhibitions; the difficulty of writing about craft art because of the lack of language; turning down commission work because of the limitations it imposes on the artist or creator; the direction in which he believes the craft of woodturning is going; woodturning as predominantly a hobby for retirees seeking to satisfy a need for creative energy; woodturning as a male-dominated craft; the surprisingly large number of well-known men in the fiber field today; designing and making his own line of tools; creating tutorial videos; holding woodturning classes at his home studio; his working process and how it has changed over time; how he and his wife Wendy ended up in Quakertown, Pennsylvania; and how he came up with his various series and how each developed. Ellsworth also recalls Ed Moulthroup, Melvin and Mark Lindquist, JoAnn Rapp; Steven Hogbin, Lois Moran, James Prestini, Irving Lipton, Albert LeCoff, Rick Mastelli, Clay Foster, Michelle Holzapfel, Mark Sfirri, Virginia Dodson, Betty Scarpino, Bonnie Klein, Arthur and Jane Mason, Fleur and Charlie Bressler, Giles Gibson, and others.

        CITATION

        Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with David Ellsworth, 2007 July 16. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

        FUNDING

        Funding for this interview was provided by the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.

        BIOGRAPHY NOTE

        David Ellsworth (1944- ) is a studio woodworker from Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Josephine Shea (1958- ) is a curator from Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.

        PROVENANCE

        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.

        LOCATION NOTE

        Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001

        NAMES

        Ellsworth, David Bressler, Charlie Bressler, Fleur Dodson, Virginia Foster, Clay Gibson, Giles Hogbin, Stephen Holzapfel, Michelle Klein, Bonnie LeCoff, Albert B. Lindquist, Mark Lindquist, Melvin Lipton, Irving Mason, Arthur K. Mason, Jane S. Mastelli, Rick Moran, Lois Moulthrop, Ed Prestini, James Rapp, Joanne Scarpino, Betty Sfirri, Mark Anderson Ranch Arts Center Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts Belles Artes Gallery Cooper-Lynn Gallery Del Mano Gallery Gargoyle Gallery Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America New School for Social Research Oberlin College United States University of Colorado Washington University (Saint Louis, Mo.). Woodstock School of Painting Shea, Josephine
        interviewee : Ellsworth, David, 1944-
        interviewer : Shea, Josephine, 1958-
        Subject : Bressler, Charlie
        Subject : Bressler, Fleur
        Subject : Dodson, Virginia
        Subject : Foster, Clay
        Subject : Gibson, Giles
        Subject : Hogbin, Stephen
        Subject : Holzapfel, Michelle
        Subject : Klein, Bonnie
        Subject : LeCoff, Albert B.
        Subject : Lindquist, Mark
        Subject : Lindquist, Melvin
        Subject : Lipton, Irving
        Subject : Mason, Arthur K.
        Subject : Mason, Jane S.
        Subject : Mastelli, Rick
        Subject : Moran, Lois
        Subject : Moulthrop, Ed
        Subject : Prestini, James
        Subject : Rapp, Joanne
        Subject : Scarpino, Betty
        Subject : Sfirri, Mark
        Subject : Anderson Ranch Arts Center
        Subject : Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
        Subject : Belles Artes Gallery
        Subject : Cooper-Lynn Gallery
        Subject : Del Mano Gallery
        Subject : Gargoyle Gallery
        Subject : Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
        Subject : New School for Social Research
        Subject : Oberlin College
        Subject : United States
        Subject : University of Colorado
        Subject : Washington University (Saint Louis, Mo.).
        Subject : Woodstock School of Painting

        Keywords

        Decoration and ornament Woodwork -- Equipment and supplies Woodworkers -- Pennsylvania -- Interviews

        PLACES

        Colorado -- description and travel Iowa -- Description and travel
        Place : Colorado -- description and travel Place : Iowa -- Description and travel

        LANGUAGES

        English


        Additional Resource Information
        Record Link : https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-david-ellsworth-13679
        Theme : Craft
        Record Id : AAADCD_oh_274890
        Record number : (DSI-AAA_CollID)13679 Record number : (DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)274890 Record number : AAA_collcode_ellswo07


        Record Information
        The resources in the Smithsonian Learning Lab are contributed by museums, libraries, and archives from across the Smithsonian. We are constantly working to provide improved information for you. If you spot an error or know of an addition to this resource, please contact us and we will pass it on for further research and review.

        Smithsonian Learning Lab
        Smithsonian Learning Lab
        About Help Contact Us Updates Terms of Use Provide Feedback
        Privacy Kids Online Privacy Statement
        iKeepSafe FERPA Badge iKeepSafe COPPA Badge Common Sense Education

        Your Browser is not compatible with site. Do you still want to continue?