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Studio Craft at Indiana University

Eight faculty members from the fine arts department pose for a studio photograph.

Faculty of the IU Fine Arts Department, 1954. Indiana University Archives.

(Back row, left to right) Instructor Alton Pickens, associate professor Harry Engel, associate professor George Rickey, instructor Henry Holmes Smith, and instructor Emily Wilson (Front row, left to right) Assistant professor Karl Martz, instructor Arthur Deshaies, "representative of" associate professor Alma Eikerman who was unable to be present, and professor Robert Laurent.

How to search

To view the Legacy Slides Collection online, follow these steps:

  1. Search the accession number 2021/013 in the IU Archives Photograph Collection
  2. Use the Refine Search section on the right side of the webpage to narrow your results based on the categories you choose
    1. To search by medium, select Textile Arts or Pottery under the Topic section; you can also select more specific materials like Silk or Wire, or for other categories like Kilns or Exhibitions
    2. To search by faculty artist, select Martz, Stalnaker, or Sterrenburg under Photographer/Studio
      1. Note that selecting Karl Martz under Personal Name yields only 10 images, but if you choose his name under Photographer/Studio, you will see his whole collection of Mashiko photos. Selecting Japan under the Subseries section will also show Martz's photos from Mashiko. 

About this guide

This guide accompanies digitized images from the IU Legacy Slides collection, searchable in the IU Archives Photograph Collection, related to former IU faculty members Karl Martz, Budd Stalnaker, and Joan Sterrenburg. These faculty were studio artists and educators in the Department of Fine Arts (now the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture, and Design) during the mid-to-late 20th century. Martz was a professor of ceramics, while Stalnaker and Sterrenburg taught fiber arts. Stalnaker and Sterrenburg's materials in the collection include photos of their work, mostly undated. The majority of Martz's photos are from his 1971-1972 sabbatical in Mashiko, Japan, showing pottery studios, kilns, ceramic works, and fellow artists, but some photos of his pottery are also included in the collection. The collection includes 57 images of Stalnaker's work, over 200 images of Sterrenburg's work, and over 300 images of Martz's sabbatical and pottery practice.

This guide contains a brief overview of fine arts at IU and the American Studio Craft movement followed by sections on each faculty artist. Artists' sections include their biography, information on their artistic practice and teaching, and bibliographies for further study. 

All images included in the guide are linked to their corresponding page in the online IU Archives Photographs Collection or other digital repository. Most images are part of the Legacy Slides Collection, but some are part of other collections in the IU Archives or are Public Domain images from other institutions.