David Driskell, Oral History

David Driskell participates in an oral history with Liza Zapol. Driskell begins the oral history by speaking about his childhood growing up in North Carolina and becoming interested in art as a young child, including watching his parents also make art. Driskell eventually went to study at Howard University, where he was influenced by the professor Lois Maillou Jones who encouraged him to attend Skowhegan in 1953. Driskell states that he will always credit Skowhegan for really introducing him to the real art world, and shares his memories of taking the train from Washington D.C. to Boston, getting off the train at the South Station in Boston and then taking another train from Boston to Maine. Driskell recalls being struck by the landscape and the romantic notion of the landscape that was evoked for him upon arriving at Skowhegan. Driskell talks about his experiences interacting with the fellow participants, meeting the cook Minnie Harville, and working with Jack Levine on chiaroscuro. For Driskell, that summer in 1953 at Skowhegan was being in a place that was communal, yet personal, overwhelmingly friendly, yet with checks and balances. It was a place where if someone was not serious about art, there was a pressure for them to leave. Driskell states that artists can’t help but feel a special kind of interested dedication and creative spirit with the Skowhegan experience. The beauty of the landscape being especially American was tied to the notion that no one had seen such an expansive land before, and the summer of 1953 revealed that figure painting and landscape painting were very popular themes and also had an Americana sense to them. Driskell states that following the death of Willard “Bill” Cummings, it was difficult to overcome the mystique of the Cummings spirit, because there was something very special about Skowhegan that you identified with the Cummings family. For Driskell, the school had to start seeing itself more as a national entity once Bill Cummings died.

Driskell then talks about how Skowhegan helped to place him in his professional career in places he would not have been otherwise. Driskell shares with Zapol that when he thinks of Skowhegan, he thinks of people who love that campus and who look forward to visiting it. Driskell reflects on how Skowhegan has given him so much, and how it has helped him to characterize ways to create a beautiful life. Driskell is hopeful that Skowhegan won’t change in its creative philosophy and its enduring aesthetics. He hopes it will remain a landmark in the sense of what artists think, and it will remain a model for others who will come after Skowhegan. Ultimately for Driskell, Skowehgan is a spiritual place, just like hallowed ground.