Interviewee: Denver Lindley Jr.
Date of birth/age at interview: 1930/48
Interviewer: unknown
Interview date: August 11, 1978
Interview location: unknown
Interview length: 30 minutes
Time span discussed: 1960s and 1970s
Summary: Denver was an important and no doubt unique, political figure, and creative artist on the Bucks County scene. In addition he at one point sat on the Pennsylvania Arts Council. All of this makes him a rich interview subject. Unfortunately the microphone was not correctly placed so we often cannot hear him clearly, and he had a tendency to drop his voice at the end of a sentence, making his words even more difficult to understand. Nevertheless, the history of the Bucks County arts scene building up to what we now know as the Michener Museum is interesting.
Time markers:
00:00 – miscellaneous chopped dialogue
01:35 – the interviewer, artist, and photographer start to talk about the oral history recording project in general
02:27 – self-conscious talking about work, no work when in public office, starting over
05:07 – work almost like personal philosophy
06:20 – not doing film work now, an extension of his painting
08:28 – interviewer calls Denver the father of the Bucks County Arts Council; best to help start and then move on, new ideas for organization
09:40 – member of the Pennsylvania Community Arts Panel, lots of bright people involved
10:53 – starting a show, exhibitions most unpleasant part of profession
13:32 – description of first exhibit work, a painted sculpture
14:36 – sticks to a work schedule
16:09 – rejecting some work, then later deciding it is good
17:50 – discussion between interviewer and photographer
18:20 – learned a lesson seeing a sculptor building a property to place sculptures in good settings but never doing any sculpture
19:09 – would like to see broader support of the arts in Bucks County, more businesses and the County involved
21:25 – arts center should be attached to an ice skating rink (parts indistinct)
25:20 – problems getting artists involved in the arts scene, many artists want to be left alone
26:18 – Arts Alliance index of about 1200 artists in the County; discussions of artists, minor business dialogue, indistinct comments
