Made possible by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation
1 Museum Rd
New Windsor, NY 12553
United States
Storm King Art Center launched a new Oral History and Archival Program in 2018, made possible by a prestigious grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. These programs preserve the perspectives of the leaders and artists who have supported the growth of Storm King, and document the works in the collection.
The Archives of Storm King Art Center are open to researchers for the first time in the museum’s history. Photographs, exhibition catalogues and brochures, correspondence, and unique special collections now appear on Storm King’s website, enhancing the museum’s online interface and providing rich opportunities for the public to learn about Storm King’s history. Interviews conducted through the Oral History Program are also shared online via full-length transcripts, offering details about the origin of Storm King, the development of site-specific sculptures, and the unique labor required to mount large-scale outdoor exhibitions. Short videos were created from each interview to highlight different topics from Storm King’s past, and feature artists, long-time staff and trustees, and a plethora of visual materials from the Archives.
The Oral History Program includes interviews with artists and institutional leaders integral to the evolution of Storm King since its founding in 1960. Full transcripts are available online for research use alongside short videos that illustrate highlights from the interviews, and trace Storm King’s intersections with movements in contemporary art, arts education, and sustainability.
Interviews are currently available on Storm King’s website with artists Alice Aycock, Lynda Benglis, David Brooks, Mark di Suvero, Robert Grosvenor, John Knight, Maya Lin, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Joel Shapiro, Alyson Shotz, along with Peter Stevens speaking on David Smith. Interviews with institutional leaders, including David Collens, Joyce Rutherford, Joan O. Stern, Lisa Stern and John P. Stern are also currently online.
Forthcoming interviews with Beatrice Stern and Sandy Rower, speaking on Alexander Calder, are scheduled for release later this year.
The Oral History Program includes interviews that document critical themes prevalent across Storm King’s history, as well as the experiences of artists who have sited and shown work at Storm King. The interview transcripts are rich primary sources that fill in some gaps in the archives, and also enrich the existing records with personal narratives and historically grounded experience.
“What I think is interesting about these pieces is…that it can look like one thing in the middle of New York City, and it becomes something else entirely in the landscape and topography of Storm King, which is nature.” –Artist Alice Aycock, speaking about Three-Fold Manifestation II, 1987.
The Archives respond to Storm King’s growing curatorial resources as well as education and communication requests, allowing Storm King to highlight its special collections and make its vast resources accessible to the public via a new webpage. Storm King has chosen to use CollectiveAccess as a collection management system—an open-source relational database that specializes in the integration of museum and archival collections. The website is accessible here. Researchers are invited to contact the Archives for more information or to make an appointment at archives [at] stormkingartcenter.org.
About Storm King Art Center
Storm King Art Center is a 500-acre outdoor museum located in New York’s Hudson Valley, where visitors experience large-scale sculpture and site-specific commissions under open sky. Since 1960, Storm King has been dedicated to stewarding the hills, meadows, and forests of its site and surrounding landscape. Building on the visionary thinking of its founders, Storm King supports artists and some of their most ambitious works. Changing exhibitions, programming, and seasons offer discoveries with every visit.
Storm King is located at 1 Museum Road in New Windsor, New York. For information about hours and admission, membership, public transportation and directions, Metro-North packages, special events, family activities, bike rentals, and the café, visit www.stormking.org, or call T 845 534 3115.
Media contacts
Meg Huckaby, FITZ&CO: mhuckaby [at] fitzandco.com / T 646 589 0928
Blaise Marshall, FITZ&CO: bmarshall [at] fitzandco.com / T 646 589 0926
