The Marilyn Symmes Collection on Phyllis Seltzer

Dates

1973-2011, and undated

Scope and Content Note

The Marilyn Symmes Collection Regarding Phyllis Seltzer comprises .33 cubic feet (1 manuscript box). RESEARCH FILES contain document types including correspondence, exhibition announcements, artist statements, an unpublished interview with Symmes, publications, slides, negatives, photographs, computer printed images, CDs of artwork, and a DVD. Symmes collected these documents in order to prepare for an interview with Seltzer that was never published. The interview is included in the collection. The folders are arranged alphabetically.

Of special interest is the description of the heat transfer process found in the unpublished interview conducted by Marilyn Symmes, and the images that document the process.

Extent

.33 Cubic Feet (1 manuscript box)

Language of Materials

English and Yiddish

Additional Description

Abstract

Marilyn Symmes collected various types of materials documenting Phyllis Seltzer's artwork. Seltzer is a painter and a printmaker who depicts scenes of city life. Specifically, the collection emphasizes Seltzer's various forms of unique printmaking techniques that include: heat transfer, ozalid process, and pochoir printing. Symmes developed and mastered heat transfer printing. Included in the collection are correspondence, exhibition announcements, artist statements, an interview with Symmes, publications, printmaking instructions, and various forms of visual materials.

Biographical Sketch

Marilyn Symmes is a curator and writer. She has held positions at the Detroit Institute of the Arts, the Toledo Museum of Arts, and the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. She was also the Director of the Morse Research Center for Graphic Arts, at The Jane Voorhees Zimmleri Art Museum from 2006 through 2015. Her publications include Dancing With the Dark: Joan Snyder Prints 1963-2010 (2011) and other various articles and essays. Symmes donated her collection of materials, largely gathered for an unpublished interview, in 2011.

Phyllis Seltzer was born in Detroit in 1928. She was raised in Cleveland, Ohio since she was 3 years old, and currently has homes in both Cleveland and Venice, Italy. Interested in art from an early age, Seltzer was one of the first to participate in the printmaking program at the University of Iowa. She studied with Mauricio Lasanky who worked primarily in intaglio and emphasized experimentation. In the 1940s, the Brooklyn Museum launched its national print exhibition. Seltzer submitted her master's thesis print Stage of Life. The print won first place and was purchased for their collection. After graduation, Seltzer moved back to Cleveland and worked during the day at an interior design firm. At night, she taught lithography in order to continue printing. She was self-taught in lithography. In 1953 she married Gerard Seltzer and until 1956 they lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Seltzer taught graphic design to architecture students at the University of Michigan and took classes in basic architectural design and drafting. In the 1950s and 1960s she taught herself screen printing, woodcut, and corkcuts. During this time, Seltzer and her husband began to collect art as well.

In the 1970s she experimented with happenings and opened a Cleveland chapter for Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT). She taught herself the ozalid process for printmaking and her imagery shifted to explore the history of technology. In response to collectors of her work noticing fading in the ozalid prints, she began to develop the more permanent printing process of heat transfers at the New Organization for Visual Arts (NOVA) in downtown Cleveland. Since 1972, she has perfected the use of heat transfer on a large scale. Her work reflects urban histories, architecture, and street life.