Robert Storr, Oral History

Interview of Robert Storr by Liza Zapol in New York on December 10, 2015

Skowhegan · Robert Storr

Robert Storr, 2015. Photo: Liza Zapol

Skowhegan Oral History Project

The collection of Oral Histories began as a project in 2011 with oral historian Liza Zapol to create a consistent group of testimonies and memories from different people that shaped the school over the years.

“When I began this project, knowing I would be working with visual artists I formulated my questions visually and sensorially: If you were to make a drawing of an image from your summer in 1957, what would it look like? What is the perspective? What objects and spaces do you remember?

My questions, now that I know Skowhegan through grounded theory, are more dynamic in relation to the narrator’s whole life and understanding, ultimately engaging in how they make meaning. What results is a collection of narratives which evoke images and relationships that are integral to art history, society, and visual culture. And it is resoundingly specific—through this collection of oral histories, we hear a polyvocal Skowhegan.” Liza Zapol

A selection of Oral Histories are accessible in The Library. Additional interviews are accessible upon request at archive@skowheganart.org. Participants include: Sigmund Abeles, Emma Amos, Mildred Brinn, Ashley Bryan, Warren Cook, Daphne Cummings, Lois Dodd, Rackstraw Downes, David Driskell, Janet Fish, Richard Haas, Sidney Hurtwitz, Yvonne Jacquette, Penelope Jencks, Alex Katz, William King, Joyce Kozloff, Barbara Lapcek, Brice Marden, Alexander Milliken, Heidi Nitze, Muriel Palmer, Howardena Pindell, David Reed, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, Abigail Shahn, Robert Storr, Barbara Sussman

Abstract

Robert Storr participates in an oral history with Liza Zapol. Storr first came to Skowhegan as a participant in 1978. For Storr, Skowhegan was one of the first—if not the first time—that he was really within a community of artists and where he saw what it might be like to become an artist. Storr shared about the friends he made that summer, and how he felt supported by the faculty as well, in particular Philip Pearlstein and Peter Saul. Being around these faculty members also gave Storr the courage to critique the work of his elders. The fact that they could take his criticism was only something that Skowhegan could foster: this kind of exchange helped build strong relationships between faculty and participants.

Storr remembers how there was very little expectation for anybody, and the participants were expected to do the kind of work they wanted to do. Storr found this incredibly refreshing, because it taught him how to figure out by himself what he needed to do. Storr believes that Skowhegan is especially beneficial for artists who have finished their formal studies, because it allows artists to breathe, let their mind wander, and begin to be the unpredictable artist that they may be, rather then be in a place that programs their moves. For Storr, Skowhegan is also a place that teaches artists how to build a rhythm of work that will sustain them regardless of what their economic status is.

Storr then shares how he tends to discourage people from going straight from art school into residencies, with a couple of exceptions: one is Yaddo (in Saratoga Springs, New York) and one is Skowhegan. Storr shares with Zapol that what makes Skowhegan so special is it allows artists to thrive in an environment where there are no expectations and one generally understands that they are the only person to decide what to do with the next hour and week, rebuilding themselves again and again. Coming back to Skowhegan as a faculty member in 2002 and to be able to be an artist again was also incredibly important for Storr. Storr ends his interview with Zapol by stating that the essence of Skowhegan is the environment that it fosters for it allows people to do anything. Even if someone goes to Skowhegan and ultimately decides that they don’t continue with an artistic career, they will still have experienced something invaluable that they will have benefited from as people.