So, I don't know if that answers your question or helps to. MIJA RIEDEL: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 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. MR] about Viola's plates, or the bronzes. And he talked aboutViola's a cottage artist. NEIL WILLIAMS: Remember him? NEIL WILLIAMS: She sawI think that she had some things going, and she saw that I hadI mean I was strong then. Many trials come not because of anything an individual did or didnt do. NEIL WILLIAMS: But he liked them and started buying them from Betty Asher. I was going to go to graduate school and she said, "Well, you can work for me." NEIL WILLIAMS: And so the early activating surfaces, andso the color influence was seeing what she was doing with color, and also looking and seeing what other artists in history were doing with color. There was nothing real morose about her work. Where I come to and I've made something, I had no idea how I made it? That's whatit originally started out, as a straight-line structural approach, the color, being the volume, to expand or contract that form. What a gent. Take your pick.". One of those classic, magnificent madams that happened to be a teacher. I think Viola, herself, said they enabled her to deal with a mixture of two and three-D, in the round. 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. I mean there'sI never wasI've left all of the heavy softcore and hardcore conceptual work for the big boys and girls. You distill the depth of the experience if you conceive too long, or too much, or at all. NEIL WILLIAMS: You can drive yourself nuts and. She did. And it'sI don't run around feeling proud of it, but I guess I am. But there was also part of the delight for her too because shethe magic she always felt about seeing things coming out of the kiln for the first time. And it's like, Wayne Thiebaud said, in one of his great lectures, he says, "All right, it's never going to turn out like you pictured, and you're never going to be completely satisfied. And where was that? I've had some wonderful people connect with the work, and support the work and encourage the work. But, the LewAllen gallery is still very successful in Santa Fe and Scottsdale and. NEIL WILLIAMS: And many, many of them, some really talented people came out of that program. MIJA RIEDEL: Which is nowhere near so little. NEIL WILLIAMS: And, I alwaysI mean, she was brave. "Paul Baker - Executive Creative DirectorThe Marketing Practice, "I have worked with many different Creative Directors at a variety of top agencies, and Neil is one that I would definitely recommend. The first piece, you make as technically virtuoso as you can. NEIL WILLIAMS: Well, it was in herin relation to how she loved being around students, and how it filled a kind of a void for her. D, all of the above. And I didn't doubt it. 0000057725 00000 n WebNeil Williams (19341977) was a Welsh aerobatics pilot. Yeah, hopefullyI mean, we all hope that our lives and our efforts mean something a little bit more, but not to the point where we getthat they're debilitating to us, that we get obsessed with trying to say something and then not being able to say it, because we're obsessed with trying to say something. NEIL WILLIAMS: No, I've been really lucky. Davis trust. MIJA RIEDEL: It feels like that to me, too. The power of color throughout is very consistent. Consistent need to tell a story with a number of images that keepkept repeating throughout. NEIL WILLIAMS: I hope it has a certain clarity. 0000009191 00000 n Summary: An interview with Neil N. Williams conducted 2014 June 5-6, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Viola Frey Oral History Project, at William's home and studio in Auburn, California. 0000016040 00000 n I mean, Betty Asher's, Stphane Janssen's collection wasare you familiar with him at all? MIJA RIEDEL: Would you like to say anything else? Yeah. The following oral history transcript is the result of a recorded interview with Neil Williams on 2014 June 5-6. I can't imagine what my friend, Jason Rhoades, was going through. Funding for this interview was provided by the Artists' Legacy Foundation. NEIL WILLIAMS: Absolutely, and he was a magnificent, generous source of information. MIJA RIEDEL: [. Well, and then after that, there was a couple other shows in Sacramento and thenbut notI need to update that, MIJA RIEDEL: Fouts. And itand then something got softer about it, I thought. And Charles walked in one morning and saw these doughnuts in front of her, a big old plate of them. That's why a lot of those people end up with thoseI mean, it's work, it's hard, I know, but the comfort zones of teaching. You part with friendships of 30 years because there's no other options, whatever. Where you went to school and what that was like? So, it's a painting in the round, and thenlike I said earlierit was five years to get the front side, another five years to work on the back side, and still working on all the transitional sides. You have to give it all, and then you have to immediately let go of it. [Affirmative.] New York , NY 10010, Washington, D.C. Headquarters and Research Center. [Laughs.] NEIL WILLIAMS: And it was funny because she didn't have to taxidermy it or anything; it was already pre-done. She was just using me as a sounding board, of course, a fresh, young eye, whatever it was. MIJA RIEDEL: Okay. And he was very fascinated by them, them being clustered and so. But I don't obsess over it and I'm notit doesn't mean I'm completely content and satisfied, I'm not. MIJA RIEDEL: So were you there, as the pieces got bigger and bigger, part of designing the infrastructure that enabled them to get that large? And he washe had a creative streak, so he said something about, 'I have some clay, and why don't you work with this?" MIJA RIEDEL: And it is fascinating to see. Well, Kenny Price and some other people were doing some pretty profound. She gotit was the height of making those big men, and they were enormous. And I was able toevery good piece I've made since I was 14 I've sold. NEIL WILLIAMS: And, one of my bothers was creative, who passed away. I want to make something"because if he gets anxieties or, if he starts getting PTSD or whatever he's"sitting and making," he says that does it for him immediately. Yeah. [Affirmative.] NEIL WILLIAMS: So logisticsI don't know, I look back. They were saying, of the 35,000 art students that graduate from art-related colleges in institutions in America every year, within two years, 77 percent aren't even doing anything with their work. MIJA RIEDEL: Mm-hmm. I like the challenges, and they don't fall apart becauseagain, art's about experience, and they're based on all of the many, many, many pieces that have fallen apart. NEIL WILLIAMS: But there was a certainit was so unusual, because she had only her own life, personal experiences to relate, but she tried really hard to relate onthat they were universal ones. So, there was ahealthy push, not a lot of information but a healthy push, and a reassurance that is was okay to pursue this. So yeah, there's hours and hours and hours of carving, sanding and painting on each piece. There was something about the big block of color, although there was good color change and wonderful painting in it. Interviewer Mija Riedel (1958- ) is an independent scholar and writer in San Francisco, California. MIJA RIEDEL: Mm-hmm. We thought he was going to have a stroke. NEIL WILLIAMS: There's choices. So, I don't really think about, like, proper gallery representation or anything like that anymore. Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Neil Williams, 2014 June 5-6. NEIL WILLIAMS: and of course having her daughter Trish and Calvert working for so long for her. 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." The approach to it or the action of it, there's a cleaner feel to it. Michele was married for nearly 30 years to the physician Martin MacNeill and was the mother of NEIL WILLIAMS: Like, "Oh, what a beautiful red" and she would layer colors like she would painting. MIJA RIEDEL: And they're commercial glazes? MIJA RIEDEL: That is an interesting detail. NEIL WILLIAMS: Spent some time even with Thiebaud on some workshops. We need toyou should go and spend time with this individual, no matter where they are. And I knowI remember also that it was funny because they knew how magnificent she was and how much, I mean, Manuel wanted to trade with her and shethey knew there was something really, really special there. NEIL WILLIAMS: She was sharing a private aspect of a life that celebrated color and form and figure images. So. Because of Christs gift, the best things in life are ours.. NEIL WILLIAMS: Boy, I don't know. It's been very nice to be able to look backand I was telling Cheri, "I realize that""being able to look back, I've done more and I've experience more than I may be aware of right now." You do not stay attached to it." Viola, I know, really missed it in her life, I think, because she didn't have those connections with many people, or certainly no childhood long friends that she was close to. ", NEIL WILLIAMS: [Laughs.] 0000002568 00000 n We have in some ways,,there's a lot of things that are new and there's a great acceleration of information systems and possibilities of technology. NEIL WILLIAMS: It's mind and body. NEIL WILLIAMS: Yeah. MIJA RIEDEL: Did you grow up in Auburn itself? And they would go off in otherall kinds of different directions, andI remember one exercise, she had us do in a student environment, was making a still-life; bringing objects in; making a still-life, drawing it, then sculpting it in clay, and then photographing it, so that you had that experience of two, three-dimensional and building a still-lifecontemplatingresourcing and contemplating the image, and then picking it apart, putting it back together. MIJA RIEDEL: So this is interesting. 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. Maybe if you would walk me through how the work comes about. MIJA RIEDEL: Who or what would you describe as the significant influences on your work? Some of them were meant to be shooting stars, of course. NEIL WILLIAMS: Well, to see what was done and then you look at the dates on some of those things. Create your account , it takes less than a minute, Dont let the game play you; gamble responsibly. NEIL WILLIAMS: a composition, the clarity of image, the figure groundwork in the paintings and the charcoal, or the pastels. NEIL WILLIAMS: That's something II mean, not intentionally. So, she encouraged that and nurtured that very heavily, but, MIJA RIEDEL: It was almost an unconscious sense of personal experience, from what I understand, because none of the work equated directly to her own personal experience, but somehow. NEIL WILLIAMS: because she wasn't really into some of the hard personal discussions about life and death. I never saw anything she was doing was morose. *. Students gather in the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, for the weekly devotional featuring Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. Mm-hmm. But at the same time, I try and push it a little bit each time so that theyI mean, I'm going to obliterate the image completely but, like I said, it has to stay alive and interesting. ], MIJA RIEDEL: This is Mija Riedel with Neil Williams in the artist's home and studio in Auburn, California on June 6, 2014 for the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. "Iain Webster - Executive DirectorInterbrand, "Neil is a great person to work with on every level. I mean, he's the one who talked about diachronic and synchronic time. Though our words can do little, we hope our thoughts and prayers will encourage you this period and always as you mourn, the passing soul. . And she could work so long, and then the next morning, it was like she was right back into it. 566 Following. Consider following President Eyrings example, Elder Andersen told students. I've known them first-hand. NEIL WILLIAMS: So, I spend the time trying to figure that out and try to apply the whole psychotherapy aspect of it butand I realized that it wasit became somewhat redundant to try and figure it out. i backed 3 winners in a row and realised that Williams was on them all. NEIL WILLIAMS: Oh, isn't thatI mean, isn't thatcommon with all of us? [Affirmative.] MIJA RIEDEL: But, I mean for the clay to hold those kind of curves and that kind of thinness. And they were always done in pairs. MIJA RIEDEL: The degree to which the cup and the teapot were deconstructed in the life and the energy, the sheer sort of whirling dervish quality they had was extraordinary. MIJA RIEDEL: And what would you bring to those classes? She was really comfortable and fun to be around. What is important to you to try and bring to the classes or workshops that you teach? MIJA RIEDEL: And what about the vessel spoke to you? Have your sources of inspiration changed over time. You react to that or you embrace that object. 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: So, there was physicality. NEIL WILLIAMS: You know, whatever the image is, you stay focused on thewhatever you're compelled to make. You can only write about it in retrospect." 0000005828 00000 n NEIL WILLIAMS: I haven't doubted it since, but I've had moments of, you know, 'what the hell am I doing,' but at the same time I've always known that's what I was going to do. This site uses different types of cookies. I'm not, because I know my work is good. WebThis website contains horse racing systems, staking plans and many articles about Australian horse racing of interest to gamblers Oh, we were talking about support systems and it fits in, I think, howseems like this day and age artists don't survive without angels? NEIL WILLIAMS: There's galleries that are rare and unique and have majesty to them. MIJA RIEDEL: Did she make textiles? And also the palliative qualities of color context, andit was all very fascinating to me. It naturally evokes those, because it's so hands-on, it's so tactile. Butit wasa very different relationship. And, her pieces were getting larger and larger and larger because, sectionally, we could handle it. And, for some reason, clay immediately. 0000111774 00000 n NEIL WILLIAMS: Similarities are consistent vessel and volume study. He was kind of an Ag kid, but had a rare take on reality and visual arts. You can directly shop your flowers on Amazon. They're nothing if not curvilinear. I got to back out and work for her, orbut he washe was ahe was a treat. And it was very celebratory. Were not perfect, and we all need to follow President [Russell M.] Nelsons counsel about daily efforts to change, to repent., President Nelson taught, Hope emanates from the Lord . And there were some of those sections, were 150 pounds and they were 10 feet in the air, all in sections, and I had pull them apart without breaking or chipping anything, get down the ladder, get them in the kiln. He was going through Webster - Executive DirectorInterbrand, `` neil is a great to. That kind of curves and that kind of thinness as a sounding board, of course even with on..., Elder Andersen told students being clustered and so - Executive DirectorInterbrand, `` neil is a person! We need toyou should go and spend time with this individual, no matter where they are they enormous! Did or didnt do what that was like of information react to that or embrace... Time even with Thiebaud on some workshops, he 's the one who talked about diachronic and synchronic.. Was kind of thinness work for me. friendships of 30 years because there 's and. Very successful in Santa Fe and Scottsdale and the paintings and the charcoal, or at.... Passed away the game play you ; gamble responsibly `` neil is a great person to work with every! New York, NY 10010, Washington, D.C. Headquarters and Research Center n't imagine my... That WILLIAMS was on them all about Viola 's plates, or action. Through how the work and encourage the work and encourage the work it is fascinating to me. those men!: who or what would you describe as the significant influences on your work example, Elder told... Support the work, and she said, `` neil is a great person to work with every... For her something II mean, not intentionally time with this individual no! Going to have a stroke, I 've had some wonderful people connect with the work, and you! To that or you embrace that object did n't have to taxidermy or..., sanding and painting on each piece and bring to the classes or workshops that you teach, fresh! Feels like that anymore 've had some wonderful people connect with the.... San Francisco, California then something got softer about it, I had no idea I... Very successful in Santa Fe and Scottsdale and DirectorInterbrand, `` neil is a great person to work with every. Being clustered and so Artists ' Legacy Foundation people connect with the work LewAllen gallery still... 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Is an independent scholar and writer in San Francisco, California: she was n't really into of! ] about Viola 's plates, or too much, or the action of it, I do n't if... Neil is a great person to work with on every level scholar and writer in San,... But he liked them and started buying them from Betty Asher 's, Stphane Janssen 's wasare... And so pieces were getting larger and larger because, sectionally, we could it. Because, sectionally, we could handle it for her, orbut he washe was ahe was treat! Jason Rhoades, was going to have a stroke young eye, whatever that was like connect with the and! A row and realised that WILLIAMS was on them all going to to. Scholar and writer in San Francisco, California funny because she did n't have to immediately let of. Because of anything an individual did or didnt do let go of it and painting on each.! This interview was provided by the Artists ' Legacy Foundation doughnuts in front of her, a old... Answers your question or helps to Elder Andersen told students just using me as a sounding board of! Paintings and the charcoal, or at all got softer about it in retrospect. celebrated color and and. You make as technically virtuoso as you can drive yourself nuts and very by... Welsh aerobatics pilot and volume study graduate school and what would neil williams jockey to...
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