Interviewee: Robert Ranieri
Date of birth/age at interview: 1931/47
Interviewer: Ivy Silver
Interview date: July 28, 1978
Interview location: Robert’s home in Kintersville, PA
Interview length: 33 minutes
Time span discussed: 1969 to 1978
Summary: Topics of a wide range are discussed in some depth as one would expect from an artist with so many interests and artistic fields of work. Robert is extremely aware of the thinking and emotion that goes into all of his work from teaching to drawing to painting and he offers lengthy insights to describe and communicate his reflections. The questions asked are phrased in a way to build on the artists’ comments, therefore they tend to enhance but not interrupt the artists’ train of thought.
Time markers:
00:00 – came to Bucks County from New York City (beginning of tape not clear); lived in expensive lofts
00:40 – doing studio art work and construction trades in New York; artists’ architectural ideas
02:00 – his ecological architecture and construction ideas
03:20 – college accepted his ideas, allowed them in his teaching; should be environmental arts courses
05:09 – no cooperation in ecology art in Bucks County; would require much sacrifice to organize
07:10 – not academically oriented, spent four years at Bucks County Community College
07:30 – people who have helped and influenced him, both artistically and with regard to human concern
10:05 – influential artists in his life
11:21 – occasionally visits New York
11:52 – Bucks County a sanctuary, convenient, close to Philadelphia and New York
12:26 – phasing out an era in his life; his art racing along;
13:15 – New York location for his work; no gallery for his avant garde work in Bucks County or Philadelphia; but attached to the county
16:28 – easier to be more open personality in Bucks County compared to New York
17:50 – has not met many artists outside of schools; Bucks more oriented to supporting historic colonial art, not avant garde art
20:45 – some construction work in Bucks County, helping to clean polluted stream
21:46 – no modern architecture projects in Bucks County
22:06 – helped with a few home remodelings
24:06 – will not leave a mark on Bucks County, except maybe through his daughter; career is sealed
25:30 – gathering records of work, has some records already; names a few of the museum have his work
27:50 – stopped sculpture work year before, in his painting after illusion of ideal space; discussion giving insights into his thinking about his art
29:53 – his art has some ability to make social import; influences on his work; lesson in how to look at his work
