tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post3349788790742830168..comments2024-03-14T17:19:44.253-07:00Comments on The Artist Profiles Project: Peter AgostiniAlexis Cairnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889166624846731736noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-87184116593120166272024-03-11T18:00:44.884-07:002024-03-11T18:00:44.884-07:00I met Peter in a bar in Greensboro, NC. He seemed ...I met Peter in a bar in Greensboro, NC. He seemed to indicate to me that he found me attractive, and it was mutual! I was working on getting my teaching certification and was really surprised when he called me. I got my confidence up and went to his room. He was so warm and kind and also, in my opinion, handsome. While standing outside of his room, I heard him tell someone on the phone that he was expecting an attractive young woman (me)! We talked about life and art, and he told me he was getting ready to go to New England to teach a summer program. While he was there, he wrote me two very introspective letters. Though I never saw him again, I feel honored to have met him at all. VirginiaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-33786902410462957602020-04-05T11:55:38.332-07:002020-04-05T11:55:38.332-07:00Agostini's approach to teaching at CooperUnion...Agostini's approach to teaching at CooperUnion in the late 60's was to check in the first class of the year , then never show up again.<br />The first two years I attempted to study with him I was disappointed.<br />The third year I signed up for his class I did so because I knew he wouldn't be bothering me. As it happened, he didn't even bother coming to the first class. <br />That is neither teaching or inspiration. <br />I found him to be extremely dishonestAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-88577775502667247342019-07-01T09:15:58.783-07:002019-07-01T09:15:58.783-07:00Thinking of Jeff Koons balloon dog it is useful to...Thinking of Jeff Koons balloon dog it is useful to be reminded of Agostini's use of balloons.... not sure it make me think more or less highly of the dog.Garth Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05402211946321018711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-41359733065508512072013-09-29T17:17:21.584-07:002013-09-29T17:17:21.584-07:00Peter is my Great-Great Uncle, and I have so enjoy...Peter is my Great-Great Uncle, and I have so enjoyed learning about him through accounts of his former students and friends. I lived in Florida for the majority of my life, so I never got to meet him and instead heard about him from my grandmothers, who were so very proud of him and his art. I just moved to New York City, and am anxious to get around to all of the museums where his art is displayed to pay homage to my ancestor and a truly great artist.AMarshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03661451493705231431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-70440095145589125792012-02-15T15:41:35.140-08:002012-02-15T15:41:35.140-08:00I studied with Peter Agostini as a graduate studen...I studied with Peter Agostini as a graduate student at UNC-Greensboro beginning in 1980. I very quickly considered him one of the three mentors I’ve been lucky enough to have in my life. In 1984 I did a long interview with Peter that was published in the campus arts magazine Coraddi. It was based on hours of private discussions that we had over a several day period, which I recorded on cassette tapes. When faced with distilling the tapes into a cogent interview, I felt I had to transcribe the hours of tapes first. All of this while I should have been working on my graduate thesis show. <br /><br />But I did this interview both for my own development as an artist, and to honor Peter. Many of the stories I had heard before, because the way Peter taught was to work and to talk. If you had any sense you watched him work, and you listened when he talked. But in our conversations during the interview process, I got a wealth of new stories and more of his unique vision of the world. He also gave me the gift of opening up his files to me. I saw photos from every period of his life, as well as news articles and exhibition reviews, and personal letters. Many of these personal photos were published in Coraddi.<br /><br />At some point Peter became my friend as well as my mentor. I continued to have regular contact with him until I moved from Greensboro to Frederick, Maryland in 1987. I visited him in his Greene Street loft in Manhattan in the winter of 1999, three years before he died. <br /><br />Peter was born on February 13, 1913, so two days ago he became 99 years old.Homer Yosthttp://homeryost.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-22650984208028962982011-10-16T12:56:01.155-07:002011-10-16T12:56:01.155-07:00As Peter's teaching assistant from 1983-85, I ...As Peter's teaching assistant from 1983-85, I remember long conversations at Duncan Donuts. Lots of theory and philosophy in the conversations; how to break through stereotypes and see uniqueness in everything. He also, had a lot to say about women. I would teach his Greensboro classes while he went to teach at the Studio School for a couple of weeks each month. The trips we had together from Greensboro to New York and back were crazy. In New York there were always old friends and galleries to visit. At this time he was in his seventies and frustrated with how diabetes had affected his art and life.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-17270566282282596352011-08-18T18:48:30.334-07:002011-08-18T18:48:30.334-07:00As Peter's last teaching assistant at UNCG I t...As Peter's last teaching assistant at UNCG I taught his classes by his methods while he was in NY. That was half the time. He did favor students he felt had something but also students that approached him for advice. When he was in Greensboro I was something of a personal assistant. He'd say "do you have your car?" which meant we were going to the grocery store or Duncan Donuts. It was away from the studio that I learned the most from him. A lot of bravado but a lot of insecurity. He loved his work one day and hated it the next. He was constantly trying to reinvent himself. Thankfully my wife and I visited him shortly before he died. He really liked her. He would complain to me about women and then say,"but not Tammy." Truly an irreplaceable relationship and influence in my life. I have been a professional sculptor since 1983.Brad Spencernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-91198628149305248442011-08-05T15:18:51.889-07:002011-08-05T15:18:51.889-07:00This is a fine blog.
I knew Peter Agostini back in...This is a fine blog.<br />I knew Peter Agostini back in the late 1970's and early 80's when he taught sculpture at the New York Studio School. I didn't study with him, but those who did seemed to fall into two distinct categories: those who "got" what he had to offer and those who didn't. Peter was first and formost a sculptor, and I often had the feeling that even while he was at the school, he was really planning his escape back to his studio. Unlike most of the teachers of his generation at the Studio School, Peter was completely independent of the school culture, and went about his teaching duties in his own fashion, ignoring or shrugging off the often overbearing pedagoical ideas of the dean, Mercedes Matter. That was no small feat, since Mercedes had very strong opinions about how each student should be handled. I happened to be in the office one day when a small group of sculpture students came in to talk, or rather complain to her about Agostini. They were upset that he would come in and set a pose with the model and then either sit down and read his newspaper or leave entirely. They somehow thought this wasn't teaching. Mercedes took Agostini to task over this, presenting the students' point of view. His reaction was just to look back at her, saying nothing, and then walking out of the office. He didn't look angry or upset, just gave her a sort of bemused, steady stare. This was precisely the right move. I don't think she ever criticized his teaching methods again. <br /><br />My sense was that Peter gave feedback to those students he felt worked hard enough, and had enough going for them to deserve it. He didn't waste his time on those who felt they had earned his attention by simply paying their tuition. In other words, he was an artist who happened to teach. Those who understood that fact learned a great deal, mostly from the example he set of putting his work ahead of everything - including teaching.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-88880659474689893012011-07-27T15:28:31.755-07:002011-07-27T15:28:31.755-07:00Thank you for the page on Peter Agostini. He was m...Thank you for the page on Peter Agostini. He was my mentor and professor at UNC-G during my graduate school years in the early to mid 70s; I was his TA and studio assistant: I mixed plaster and clay for him; I also fired his students’ work – not Peter’s. I mixed the plaster for his Old Apollo and drove it to NYC. I did not realize he had it cast into bronze; Peter originally wanted it in clay to rival the Chinese clay sculptures; unfortunately it broke apart in the kiln. The same thing happened to his Horse years later. Peter made a quick decision to recast the Apollo into plaster and this is the piece I drove up to NYC in a U-Haul; I want to say Virginia Budney was the other driver but I am not sure.<br /><br />When he passed away, we former students who knew him held a memorial service at Setsuya Kotani’s home: we ate Duncan Donuts coffee and donuts: he lived on Duncan while working in the studio.<br /><br />Peter was inspirational not only for sculptors but painters as well.Gene Kronbergnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-20337305129917489272011-02-27T22:51:01.826-08:002011-02-27T22:51:01.826-08:00He was the Art Professor of my Art ProfessorHe was the Art Professor of my Art ProfessorJohnny Janehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14836584132845021331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-44000374125491395532010-05-17T16:41:25.686-07:002010-05-17T16:41:25.686-07:00One of Agostini's best plaster pieces of the e...One of Agostini's best plaster pieces of the early Sixties was a commission for the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows. It was a large conglomeration of balloons and flying drapery called A Summer's Day. This amazing piece visually destroyed the exterior wall on which it was mounted. At the end of the World's Fair, A Summer's Day was given by the artist to the University of Minnesota, who immediately put it into storage. Most likely it is in some landfill in Minneapolis.Chrisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7100017842574074859.post-46449586382650234222010-04-25T17:45:56.808-07:002010-04-25T17:45:56.808-07:00You can see Agostini's "Winter Wall"...You can see Agostini's "Winter Wall" (from 1962) on the terrace at the Walker here in Minneapolis.Mikaelnoreply@blogger.com