BIGELOWMARYBELLE

Interview with Marybelle Bigelow, 1994

 

1994-02-16

 

Interviewer: Olsson, Lyn

Marybelle Schmidt Bigelow, born in La Mesa, California on July 18, 1923 was a distinguished professor of fashion and costume history, an accomplished artist and a prolific writer and creator. Bigelow received both her BA and MFA at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and went on to teach there for more than six years. She was awarded the esteemed Prix de Paris for fashion design and illustration, and worked briefly for Vogue Magazine in New York as a staff designer. In 1956, Bigelow was invited to join the staff of San Diego State University (SDSU), where she taught fashion illustration, costume history, and graphic communication courses in the art department for more than twenty years. During her tenure at SDSU, Bigelow was active on a variety of committees and was recognized as an Outstanding Educator in 1970, 1971 and 1972. She designed the gown used for the Master's Degree at San Diego State.

In 1967, Bigelow completed Alphabets and Design, which was later adopted as a text for graphics and communications classes by the University of Minnesota. She then went on to write and illustrate her seminal text on the history of fashion and costume, Fashion in History: Apparel in the Western World. The second edition was completed and published in 1979. Although she retired in 1980, Bigelow continued to remain very active in academic life at SDSU, and was editor of the retirement newsletter for more than 12 years.

In addition to her career as an art professor, Bigelow was an active artist and creator, exhibiting in numerous galleries and museums, including the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art and the San Diego Fine Arts Gallery. She wrote numerous versions of her autobiography, Vichyssoise and 33 Commencements, authored her own personal newsletter and wrote and illustrated a number of short stories and children's books. She died in 2003 at the age of 79.

Marybelle Schmidt Bigelow; Interviews; Oral Histories; Lyn Olsson; Juniper Street Hospital; Vogue Magazine; People with disabilities; Stan Hodge; Convair Astronautics; Employment discrimination; Staatliches Bauhaus; Academic tenure; Everett Gee Jackson; Donald R. Watson; LuBelle Boyce Gudgell; St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church; Art Department; Brad Ensminger; Design courses; Bigelow Blasts; Designing games; The Shortest Day into Night (motion picture); Margery Ann Warmer; Art II (North); Joann Tanzer; Edward W. Huffman; Martha Longnecker; Eric Moaney; Arline M. Fisch; Academic politics; Hand lettering; San Diego State University Retirement Association; Postscript (newsletter); Alphabets and Design (book); The Derivation of Linear Statement from Master Artist's Drawings (thesis); Kenneth Kingrey; History of Costume (book); Fashion in History (book); John Paul Stone; Macmillan Publishers; Robert Maxwell; Underproppers; Fashion trends; Cora May Carter Whaley; Jim Wilson

 

 

© San Diego State University. All rights reserved.

 

 

English

 

Audiotape

01:45:56

Yes

BIGELOWMARYBELLETRANSC

see BIGELOWMARYBELLETRANSC; keywords in transcript continued: Art Department galleries; Eucalyptus School; Annita Delano; Academic regalia; John F. Kennedy commencement address

 

Audio

MP3

123.75 MB