Claudia Cave papers, 1974-2016

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Cave, Claudia, 1951-
Title
Claudia Cave papers
Dates
1974-2016 (inclusive)
Quantity
5 linear feet, (12 boxes)
Collection Number
WUA118
Summary
The Claudia Cave papers consist of mail art, sketchbooks, slides of drawings and paintings, photographs, promotional fliers, newspapers, books, digital files, t-shirts, a cardboard cutout of Cave, and correspondence related to Cave's art career during the years 1974 to 2016.
Repository
Willamette University Archives and Special Collections
Archives and Special Collections
Mark O. Hatfield Library
900 State Street
Salem, OR
97301
Telephone: 5033706866
Fax: 5033706141
archives@willamette.edu
Access Restrictions

This collection is open to researchers.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Processed with funds provided by the National Historical Publications & Records Commission's (NHPRC) Access to Historical Records grant.

Historical NoteReturn to Top

Claudia Cave was born in 1951 in Salem, Oregon. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Education from Western Oregon University in 1975 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Idaho in 1980. Cave participated in the mail art movement between 1974 and 2003. The mail art movement (also known as postal art or correspondence art) began in the late 1950s to early 1960s as artists corresponded with each other by sending artwork through the postal service. Cave's mail art network included regional, national, and international artists such as Kent Sumner, Julien Howe, L. C. Foster, Kathleen Salt, Chris Hannegan, Bonnie Hull, D. E. May, Guy Bleus, Carlo Pittore, Robin Crozier, Ryosuke Cohen, and Jürgen Kierspel. Cave's earlier works, including her mail art, are in black and white graphite while her paintings are in gouache and watercolor on paper. Cave's work is described as vivid and dream-like. She often uses animal imagery, especially dogs, in her works to emphasize the animal-like nature of humans and the human-like nature of animals. Cave's art has been shown in many exhibits and is included in public and private collections including the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon; the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon; the University of Oregon science complex in Eugene, Oregon; the Alternative Museum in New York City; the Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, Washington; the Cheney Cowles Museum in Spokane, Washington; and the Hockaday Center for the Arts in Kalispell, Montana. She also has work in the Visual Chronicle of Portland Collection and the Seattle Portable Works Collections. Corporations including Microsoft, Mentor Graphics, and Intel also collect her work. In 2006 she was included in a show at Kaye Academic College of Education in Israel.

According to Cave, her recent work has been primarily experimental. She has not shown her work in exhibits in several years. Cave currently lives with her spouse, artist Kent Sumner, in Corvallis, Oregon where she also maintains her studio.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The Claudia Cave papers include materials related to her art career during the years 1974 to 2016. The collection includes: mail art, sketchbooks, slides of drawings and paintings, photographs, promotional fliers, newspapers, books, digital files, t-shirts, a cardboard cutout of Cave, and correspondence. The mail art consists of 3D pieces as well as national, international, and collaborative art correspondence between Cave and other artists from 1974 to 2003. The sketchbooks contain graphite, ink, and color drawings and paintings from 1989 to 2004. Box 12 contains published books that use Cave's works as cover art and compilation books of artists' works that include Cave's art. Correspondence can be found throughout all three series and includes letters to Cave from friends and colleagues as well as letters from museums and boards concerning exhibits and awards.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Library acts as "fair use" reproduction agent.

For further information, see the section on copyright in the Regulations and Procedures of the Willamette University Archives and Special Collections.

Copyright Information: Before material from collections at Willamette University Archives and Special Collections may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permission. Persons wishing to quote from materials in any collections held by University Archives and Special Collections should consult the University Archivist. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Claudia Cave papers, Archives and Special Collections, Mark O. Hatfield Library, Willamette University.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

The records are arranged into three series: I. Art, II. Art exhibits or shows, and III. Art in publications. Series I also includes three subseries: A. Mail art, B. Sketchbooks, and C. Drawings or paintings. Files are arranged in original order and in chronological order.

Location of Collection

Mark O. Hatfield Library

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Series I:  Art, 1974-2016Return to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Subseries A: Mail art
1974-2016
Box item
1 1
3D mail art
Some items have been removed and are on display in the Archives and Special Collections case.
1974-1976, 2003
Folder
2 1
National mail art
Some items have been removed and are on display in the Archives and Special Collections case.
1976
2 2
Miscellaneous mail art
1976-1993
3 1
International mail art
Book removed and moved to Box 9. Folders removed and moved to Box 7 and Box 8.
1983-2016
7 1
Collaborative mail art
1984-1991
7 2
Mail interview with Guy Bleus - Belgium
1994 March 11 - 1997 December 2, 2006 June 2
7 3
Commonpress
2012 July 16 - 2016 June 6
9 1
Commonpress Magazine number 56
Sent to Claudia Cave from Guy Bleus.
1984
Subseries B: Sketchbooks
1989-2010
Box item
4 1
Sketchbook - ink drawings
2004
4 2
Sketchbook - ink drawings
2004
4 3
Musings 2004 (sketchbook)
2004
5 1
Sketchbook - graphite drawings
1989-1992
5 2
Sketchbook - ink and graphite drawings
1991-1995
6 1
Picture wire: a journal: wandering mapping nesting (sketchbook)
Loose materials removed from back of sketchbook and placed in Box 7.
1991-1992, 2009-2010
Folder
7 4
Miscellanous art, materials, and correspondence
circa 1992-2009
Subseries C: Drawings and paintings
1981-2008
Box Folder
7 5
Slides/drawings
1981-2006
7 6
Slides/paintings
1984-2008
7 7
Black and white photos (photo negatives of art taken by Kent Sumner)
1987-1993
7 8
Miscellaneous art
2008

Series II:  Art exhibits and shows, 1974-2010Return to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Box Folder
7 9
Awards
1974 December 1 - 2010 June 15
7 10
Newspaper articles Claudia
1976 October 10 - 2009 March 29
7 11
Thesis flier design and thesis show slides
1980
8 1
Fliers and correspondence from Salem Art Association, Visual Art Resources, and Oregon Advocates for the Arts
1983-1994
8 2
Gallery and show publications, fliers, and correspondence
1985-2007
8 3
First Thursday fliers
1987 July - 2003 March
8 4
Art About Agriculture
1997-1998
8 5
Israel show
2006 January 16 - March 15
9 2
Exhibit fliers
1979 January 15 - 2004 September 26
9 3
Art- miscellanous (correspondence, fliers, news articles)
Removed graduate art exhibit poster and moved it to Box 10.
1980-2006
9 4
Alternative Museum publications and correspondence
1983-1984
9 5
Art show publications and fliers
1983 March 25 - 1991 November 17
10 1
Graduate school art exhibit poster
1980
10 2
Art exhibit posters and publications
1980 - 1988
10 3
Cardboard cut-out of Claudia Cave
circa 1980

Series III:  Art in publications, 1979-2006Return to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Box Folder
8 6
Healing Journal cover
undated
8 7
Clinton St. Quarterly
1979-1988
8 8
Artists (publications featuring Claudia Cave's work)
1983-1997
8 9
Northwest Women Artists: A Collection of Interviews by Marcella Funk
1992
10 4
Art in publications
1980-1993
item
1
Art Beat: Portland Community College poster
1989
Box item
11 1
T-shirt for Dream of Roses Run
1984
11 2
T-shirt for Salem Art Fair and Festival
1990
12 1
Ceramics Monthly
1980
12 2
Calyx: A Journal of Art and Literature by Women, volume 7 number 1
1982 Summer
12 3
Calyx: A Journal of Art and Literature by Women, volume 7 number 2
1982 Fall
12 4
Mississippi Mud: Book of Days
1983 Fall
12 5
Mississippi Mud
1985 Spring
12 6
Florilegia: a retrospective Calyx: A Journal of Art and Literature by Women
1987
12 7
Oregon Magazine: Summer Travel Issue
1988 May - June
12 8
Northwest Original: Oregon Women and Their Art
1989
12 9
The Visual Chronicle of Portland, Volume One: Acquisitions 1985-1989
circa 1989
12 10
Incidents Involving Mirth
1990
12 11
Minimax
1991
12 12
Natalie on the Street
1994
12 13
everday acts and small subversions
1994
12 14
The Laura Russon Gallery: Ten Years
1996
12 15
Calyx: Cracking the Earth: A 25th Anniversary Anthology volume 20 number 1
2001 Summer
12 16
This Bountiful Place: Art About Agriculture, The Permanent Collection
2006
12 17
YWCA Salem: Art of Broadway Place
2008
12 18
100 Artists of the Northwest
2013

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Art
  • Art--Study and teaching
  • Arts--Northwest, Pacific

Personal Names

  • Cohen, Ryosuke
  • Crozier, Robin
  • Kierspel, Jürgen
  • May, D. E., 1952-
  • Pittore, Carlo
  • Sumner, Kent

Corporate Names

  • Alternative Museum (New York, N.Y.)
  • Hallie Ford Museum of Art
  • Laura Russo Gallery
  • Portland Community College (Portland, Or.)
  • University of Idaho

Geographical Names

  • Portland (Or.)
  • Salem (Or.)

Form or Genre Terms

  • Photographs
  • Posters
  • clippings (information artifacts)
  • correspondence
  • fliers (printed matter)
  • mail art
  • newspapers
  • sketchbooks