Rush, Andrew

Part 1 of 3 was recorded on April 16th, 2019 in Oracle, Arizona and it covers the following themes:

b. 1931 

  • Parents and early interest in drawing. 

  • Working at a dude ranch in Colorado in 1945. Learning to paint. 

  • College experience at the University of Illinois and meeting diverse friends. Military scholarship. Growing interest in art.  

  • Joining the Marine Corps. Deployment to Japan as a legal officer in 1953. Move to Korea immediately after the cease fire. Conflicts with superior officer. Race in the Marines. 

  • Summer experience in 1940 living on a southern plantation as a child, first awareness of race. 

  • Neighborhood discrimination in Tucson and living next to Joel Turner. 

Part 2 of 3 was recorded on May 2nd, 2019 in Tucson, Arizona and it covers the following themes: 

  • Leaving Marines in 1955 and enrolling in art school at the University of Iowa with Mauricio Lasansky. 

  • First recognition of art from Africa and Oceania as “art” rather than artifact. 

  • Printmaking in the 1950s. 

  • Changes in society in the 1950s: polio vaccine, birth control, veterans in colleges. Music: Andres Segovia and Pete Seeger. Rapid changes in visual arts. 

  • Art scenes in the 1950s, art and politics, skill versus talent, social status of the artist in the 1950s. Relationship between the academy and art. Economic class, art consumers, and art-as-career. 

  • Southwest Indian Art Project at the University of Arizona in the early 1960s. 

  • Starting work at the University of Arizona in 1959. First impressions of Tucson. 

  • The minimal art scene is 1960s Tucson. 

  • Socially and intellectually exploring outside of academia and Tucson. Attending Esaelen Institute in Big Sur during the 1960s and 1970s. Work in Europe. Divorce and remarriage. 

  • Interest in community and formation of an intentional community at Rancho Linda Vista in Oracle, AZ.

Part 3 of 3 was recorded on May 9th, 2019 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes: 

  • Learning to think about life as a narrative. 

  • Leaving the University of Arizona in 1970, teaching workshops, art-as-career. 

  • Thoughts on art education, the value of art history, artistic authenticity versus popular demand. 

  • Collapse of the print market and move into clay work. 

  • Changing thoughts on art over career. Art infused as part of daily life. 

  • Origin of the Drawing Studio. 

  • Tucson’s art community. 

Aengus Anderson