Interviewee: Joan Kopchik
Date of birth: unknown but estimated 1945/estimated mid-30s
Interviewer: Sharon Donarum
Interview date: summer 1978
Interview location: Kopchik home and studio
Interview length: 28 minutes
Time span discussed: late 1960s to 1978
Summary: The artist is introspective about her work and her life. The trade-offs to achieve time for her art work are evident for this mother of young children. This interview reminds the 2014 reader about the strong feminist movement begun in the 1960s and 1970s and the self-examination and public dialogues it provoked.
Time markers:
00:00 – current paintings
00:33 – working toward shows, wants consistent work for shows, doing botanicals
02:26 – length of time to complete works
03:32 – torn to do more abstracts
05:45 – in Bucks County because of husband’s job; good place to be, historical buildings and background, care of the communities; originally from Pittsburgh and blue collar atmosphere
07:56 – work involves plant forms, parks accessible in Bucks County; work organized and directed
10:10 – occasionally making magic via art, happy accidents
11:05 – training focused on how to draw as a bed rock, observing and doing
11:50 – Bucks County climate gentle, quiet, opportunities for learning
13:30 – New York City and Philadelphia, stimulation for work in a city; Bucks offers proximity
15:05 – little interaction and competition among artists pocketed at homes
17:20 – not intending to stay in Bucks County long term
18:12 – trade-offs of having a family and being an artist, torn in different directions; husband supportive
21:52 – having studio in the home or away from home
23:41 – reflections on suffering, struggling, work, family backgrounds, life
26:47 – connecting with the past
