DIRKS-1988

Interview with John Dirks, 1988

 

1988-03-10

 

Interviewer: Olsson, Lyn

John Dirks joined the faculty of the Art Department at San Diego State College in 1947 and retired from San Diego State University in 1976 as professor emeritus. The interview is a part of the Oral History Project of the San Diego State University Archives and is being recorded at Professor Dirks' home on Mount Helix. John Dirks, born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on March 13, 1914, grew up near the campus of San Diego State, a school which he would later attend as a student and eventually teach at as a professor. After graduating from Hoover High School in 1932, Dirks entered San Diego State College, playing football for the Aztecs and intending to study physical education to become a coach. However, professor and painter Everett Gee Jackson advised him to change his major to art, which began a lifelong friendship between the two artists.

Dirks taught art at San Diego State for nearly 30 years, serving as department chair for several years. A prominent sculptor and furniture designer, Dirks exhibited throughout the country in such places as the First World Congress of Craftsmen and the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York, and received numerous awards for his work in sculptures, wood furniture, ceramics, and mosaics. He was a founding member of the Latin American Arts Committee of the San Diego Museum of Art, and was the last surviving founding member of the San Diego Allied Craftsmen.

Dirks retired from San Diego State University in 1976 and died on Christmas Day 2008.

Interviews; Oral Histories; John Dirks; Lyn Olsson; Frank H. Losey; School of Art + Design; San Diego State University; Faculty members; Professors emeriti; Mission Valley; Dredger ponds; Truck gardens; Mission Valley floods; Internment of Japanese Americans; San Diego State Teacher's College; Douglas Dirks; Milton G. Wegeforth; Hoover High School (San Diego); Everett Gee Jackson; Patricia Patterson; Campus Laboratory School; National Youth Association; Marguerite Brydegaard; Ilse Hamann Ruocco; Convair; Renshaw Recognition System; Adobe Falls; Claremont Graduate University; Allan Shields; James E. Crouch; Allied Artists Council; AAC; Lloyd Ruocco; Dan Dickey; Allied Craftsmen; Art Guild; Artists Guild; Martha Longenecker; Master's Gallery; First World Congress of Craftsmen; Sam Maloof; John R. Theobald; Harry C. Steinmetz; John R. Adams; Frank Louis Johnson; John F. Kennedy; Sidney L. Gulick, Jr.; Gillian Theobald; Art I (South) Building; Art II (North) Building; Paul A. Lingren

 

California - Casa de Oro-Mount Helix - Mount Helix

© San Diego State University. All rights reserved.

 

 

English

 

Digital

01:44:12

Yes

DIRKSTRANSCRIPT; fs-d-035; de-ar-064; de-ar-014; ov-070; fs-d-036; 004-018-003A

see DIRKSTRANSCRIPT in this database; more keywords: Donal Hord; The Aztec (sculpture); Montezuma (sculpture); Peterson Gymnasium; Landscaping; Sycamore trees; Ned Joy; Edward L. Hardy; Lois Sisson; Skull and Dagger; Paul Pfaff; Sybil Eliza Jones

 

Audio

MP3

95.20 MB