Cutler-Shaw (Joyce) Papers, 1956-2017

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Summary

Title:
Joyce Cutler-Shaw Papers
Dates:
1956-2017
Creators:
Cutler-Shaw, Joyce, 1932-
Abstract:
Papers of Joyce Cutler-Shaw (1932-2018), artist, lecturer and founder of the Landmark Art Project, Inc., and Landmark Art Collaborative. The collection includes administrative files, project proposals, sketches and drawings, photographs, slides, notes, correspondence, interviews, and biographical articles.
Extent:
69.8 Linear feet (97 archives boxes, 10 card file boxes, 25 records cartons, 14 oversize folders, 1 flat box, 9 art bin items, 1 tube) and 1.57 GB of digital files
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Joyce Cutler-Shaw Papers, MSS 538. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.

Background

Scope and content:

Papers of Joyce Arlene Cutler-Shaw (1932-2018), artist, lecturer and founder of the Landmark Art Project, Inc., and Landmark Art Collaborative. The collection documents Cutler-Shaw's teaching career at the University of California, San Diego Extension (1972-1974), Palomar College (1974-1978), and San Diego State University (1978-1980) and her "Art and Artist Lecture Series," a program of video interviews with prominent artists, including David and Eleanor Antin, John Baldessari, John Cage, Christo, Allan Kaprow, and Edward Rusha. Materials related to the Landmark Art Projects, Inc. and the Landmark Art Collaborative (1985-1992) include administrative files, project proposals and descriptions, preliminary sketches and drawings, funding initiatives, and photographs and slides for individual projects, especially "Survival-Evolution," "Urban Meadows," "Urban Mesa," "Museum of Seasonal Change," and "Performance Art/Art Performance." The collection also contains extensive documentation of Cutler-Shaw's individual works, handwritten notes, correspondence, personal projects, solo exhibitions, interviews, and biographical articles.

Accession Processed in 2003

Arranged in fifteen series: 1) UCSD EXTENSION TEACHING MATERIALS, 2) ART AND ARTISTS LECTURE SERIES, 3) LANDMARK ART PROJECTS (LAP) - ADMINISTRATIVE, 4) SURVIVAL-EVOLUTION (LAP), 5) URBAN MEADOWS (LAP), 6) URBAN MESA (LAP), 7) MUSEUM OF SEASONAL CHANGE (LAP), 8) LANDMARK ART PROJECTS - MISCELLANEOUS PROJECTS, 9) LANDMARK ART COLLABORATIVE (LAC), 10) MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS/ABOUT CUTLER-SHAW, 11) PHOTOGRAPHS, 12) SLIDES, 13) VIDEORECORDINGS, 14) SOUND RECORDINGS, and 15) ORIGINALS OF PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPIES.

Accessions Processed in 2006

Correspondence and additional materials relating to Cutler-Shaw's "Art and Artists" lectures series and various art projects, and handwritten notes from Cutler-Shaw's files, both categorized and uncategorized. Some miscellaneous materials are also included, most significantly articles by and about Cutler-Shaw. Arranged in six series: 16) CORRESPONDENCE, 17) PROJECTS, 18) ART AND ARTISTS, 19) PERFORMANCE ART HISTORY SUBJECT FILES, 20) NOTES, and 21) MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS.

Accessions Processed in 2025

Final additions, including supporting materials on her major work themes, topics, and collaborative art efforts found elsewhere in the collection. Includes biographical documentation, working files on art and video projects, sketchbooks, writing drafts, teaching files, photographs, and audiovisual recordings. Sound recordings touch on many topics, but they do include a run from the "Art and Architecture" series of dialogues and lectures.

Arranged in ten series: 22) BIOGRAPHICAL, 23) CORRESPONDENCE AND WORKING FILES, 24) ARTWORK THEMES AND PROJECTS, 25) "ART AND ARTISTS" SHOWS, 26) SKETCHBOOKS AND ARTWORK, 27) POETRY AND WRITINGS, 28) TEACHING, PANELS, AND LECTURES, 29) IMAGES, 30) MOVING IMAGES, and 31) SOUND RECORDINGS.

Biographical / historical:

Joyce Arlene Cutler-Shaw was born in 1932, in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in New York City. She received her B.A. in English from New York University in 1953, did graduate study work at Columbia University, and received her M.F.A. from the University of California, San Diego, in 1972. She was an instructor at the UCSD Extension from 1972-1974 where she taught teacher training courses for art in the classroom and seminar courses with guest speakers such as Helen Gahagan Douglas, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and various contemporary artists and professionals.

As an instructor and program director, Cutler-Shaw created the "Art and Artist Lecture Series," a lecture program based on contemporary artists, their works and art issues. Originally produced at Palomar College (1974-1978), this lecture program later expanded to San Diego State University, the University of California, Irvine, and California State University, Long Beach. Cutler-Shaw also produced the "Art and Artists: Video/Audio Archive (1974-1982)," which contained video and audiorecordings of interviews with contemporary artists including Laurie Anderson, David Antin, Eleanor Antin, John Baldessari, Mary Beebe, John Cage, Christo, Agnes Denes, Robert Irwin, Allan Kaprow, Moira Roth, Edward Rusha, James Turrell, Anna Banana, Bill Gaglione, and others.

With a group of local artists and landscape architects, Joyce Cutler-Shaw founded Landmark Art Projects, Inc. (1979-1989) in San Diego, California, dedicated to the development of temporary and permanent outdoor works to integrate art and the environment. LAP served as an umbrella organization for artists to initiate projects and become their own project director. Working with local organizations and institutions, LAP proposed four environmental art projects, the Urban Meadows I and II, Urban Mesa, and the Museum of Seasonal Change.

Cutler-Shaw initiated and was project director for the "Waters of the Nations/ Messages from the World" project which began in 1978 and involved global participation. With UNESCO's patronage, the project consisted of gathering water samples and messages from 94 nations around the world and then constructing ice sculptures that spelled "SURVIVAL" using the gathered samples. The exhibition began at the Plaza of San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, site of the signing of the United Nations Charter and culminated with the exhibition and a ceremony at the UN Plaza in New York City to celebrate the UN Water Decade 1981-1990.

The Landmark Art Collaborative (LAC) continued LAP's commitment to the integration of art and architecture and the natural environment from 1985-1992. The members of the LAP collaborated with outside local organizations on individual projects, including "Performance Art/Art Performance" (La Mamelle, Inc.), "On the Environment II" (Sushi Gallery and CME, UCSD), "Toward an International Dialogue" (San Diego Museum of Natural History), "Landmark/Miramar Collaboration" (San Diego Miramar College), and "Dialogues in Art and Architecture" (The Athenaeum). Cutler-Shaw has continued coordinating the "Dialogues in Art and Architecture" at the Athenaeum Music and Art Library, collaborating with the Woodbury University School of Architecture since 2002.

Cutler-Shaw's inter-media artwork include performance art, such as reading/performance, the "Messenger" and "The Lady and the Bird"; public art projects, such as the outdoor metal sculptures for the California Pacific Homes Stonecrest Project; site-specific installations, such as the "Namewall" (1974) for Los Angeles International Airport; and artist's books, notably, Alphabet of Bones. Drawings, solo exhibitions, and artworks on private commissions add to the gamut of Cutler-Shaw's artwork. Cutler-Shaw has participated in numerous panel presentations, artist's book exhibitions/publications and individual and group exhibitions. She has also published several articles and has appeared in the writings of others.

The many public programs and affiliations in which Cutler-Shaw has participated include the Art Advisory Board at Sushi Performance Gallery (1981-1990), the College Art Association and Women's Caucus for Arts, and the San Diego Council of Design Professionals. Joyce Cutler-Shaw died on March 18, 2018 in La Jolla, California.

Acquisition information:
Acquired 2001-2023.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Special Collections Archives, UC San Diego Library
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-12-02 15:29:58 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Original media formats are restricted. Viewing/listening copies may be available for researchers.

Terms of access:

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

Preferred citation:

Joyce Cutler-Shaw Papers, MSS 538. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.

Location of this collection:
9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0175
La Jolla, CA 92093-0175, US
Contact:
(858) 534-2533
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Website