Tempe Historical Museum Oral Histories

Biography

Richard C. Nearing, an artist, first arrived in Tempe in 1974. Richard is originally from Dayton, Ohio. He began to study art because of family members’ interest in the art field. Richard took courses at Mesa Community College and Arizona State University. He developed interest in photography and drawing with pencil and ink.

Through his skill of photography, Richard became a school photographer in Indiana and three other states and would take class photographs. He later opened an art gallery in Tempe on University and Ash Avenue. Richard, through his gallery, tried to showcase local artists’ work along with his own. In 1985 Richard started Gem Publishing and self-published his books. Richard has five books out with his drawings and photographs. One book is called Arizona’s Buildings with a History.

In this interview Richard discusses his involvement with art, the Army Signal Corps, the Tempe artistic community, and other surrounding cities and art communities.

Richard received an Arizona Historic Preservation Honor Award in May 2003 for his advocacy of historic preservation.

Joe Kullman, "Building on Arizona’s history: Illustrated books help Tempean win preservation honor," East Valley Tribune, 11 April 2003, A6.

Jeremiah O. Sarkett, a native of Prescott, Arizona, was a museum intern from June 2002 through January 2003. He was a student in the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS) program at Arizona State University. He graduated in December, 2002.

This was Jeremiah’s first oral history interview. The interview took place in the board room of the Tempe Historical Museum.

SARKETT: [Richard C. Nearing] is being interviewed today, the 10^th of July, 2002 at the Tempe Historical Museum. We will be talking about artistic interests here in the Valley as well as Tempe, and we’ll be doing a little bit on Richard’s background, which is very interesting to us here at the Museum.

Richard, where are you originally from?

NEARING: Toledo, Ohio.

SARKETT: How long did you live in that area?

NEARING: Let’s see. Toledo, Dayton, Cincinnati – a lot of years. Probably 30 years maybe.

SARKETT: So you lived in all of those cities?

NEARING: Yeah. Detroit, Michigan as well for two and one-half years.

SARKETT: When did you first come to Tempe?

NEARING: Moved here in 1974, but I was living in the Los Angeles area prior to that but I had the responsibilities of all of Arizona so I kept coming over here.

SARKETT: What made you choose to live here in Tempe?

NEARING: I just liked Tempe. I liked the school system at the time. I liked the fact that it was about 75,000 people. I just liked the feel of a smaller town.

SARKETT: How did Tempe compare with some of those cities you mentioned from Ohio?

NEARING: Oh, I like Tempe a lot better. At the time I lived in those towns they were fine, but I wouldn’t want to go back and live in them again.

SARKETT: Now, Richard, I’d like to speak to you about your background and upraising. I read that you were surrounded by artists growing up. Could you elaborate on what your family did, and how their work may have influenced you as an artist?

NEARING: My grandmother, that’s my mother’s mother, was an oil artist, and my mother was a water colorist, an interior designer, and just fantastic with anything she did. She made little girls’ dresses for Frank Sinatra’s daughter and other stars in Hollywood. She made these gorgeous drapes for an interior designer. My father was, in the early days, an engineer. He was also a draftsman. My mother was a draftsman during the early days before the Depression. So they were artistic type of people. Our homes were always gorgeous. So I think art basically rubbed off on me.

SARKETT: Can you tell me how art was incorporated into your schooling? When were you able to study art? In junior high? High school?

NEARING: Back in kindergarten, believe it or not. I still have two drawings that I did when I was in kindergarten. Throughout my elementary school we had art at one time or another, and then in high school I’d take an art class. When I got into college I took a number of art courses including oil painting and sketching, you name it. Whatever I could get, but I wasn’t majoring in it. Then I went into the service in the Air Corps and I’d take courses on base. An old buddy of mine and I – he was quite an artist too – and the two of us collaborated and were talking about maybe going into clothing design. We had night shift duty, and we didn’t always have to do a lot so we’d sit there and sketch together. So I kept my hand in it all the time.

Then I came back from the service and went back to college again and took some more art courses, but at that point my major was geology and paleontology. My professor – this was at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio – had me doing all the drawing of all the stuff that had to be done, all the fossils. And I really enjoyed that.

SARKETT: What type of art interested you back then when you were first starting? Was there anything in particular?

NEARING: Not really. As I said I tried clothing design, which I was not very good at. Going way back to junior high, I had a buddy of mine (we lived in Detroit) and we used to draw all kinds of different things like rocket ships. That was in the Buck Rogers day. But that wasn’t my bag. In high school I had a buddy who eventually turned into quite an architect, and he used to do drawings for his dad who was in the real estate business. And I used to help him, so that is probably where I got some of my architectural experience, if you will.

SARKETT: When you moved on to the university in Ohio, did you plan to study art or was it something you wanted to do on the side?

NEARING: No, I had done some portraiture and stuff trying to find what I really wanted to do, if I really wanted to do anything. I didn’t know. By the time I got out of college I was married, and we were expecting a child, and I had to work. I couldn’t play around. So I really didn’t do much with art except for my own enjoyment for quite a number of years. It wasn’t until 19 years ago that I decided that was what I was going to do – period.

SARKETT: What kind of classes did Miami University of Ohio have for artists?

NEARING: They had a full range of art. It was my selection. As I said I took oil, which I ended up not liking at all, primarily because of the professor. He said, "You do it my way or you’re going to flunk." I took a design course, and I enjoyed that. I don’t remember doing much except for the geology department. I used to have a lot of fun doing that.

SARKETT: Where do you feel you really picked up a lot of art? In the art classes there or your anthropology stuff?

NEARING: You always learn. If you want to learn, you learn. I would say my fruition in art came here. I still take classes, but I went to MCC [Mesa Community College] and I took classes there. A lot of it I did on my own. How I really got involved in what I am doing now is through a contractor by the name of Doug Patton of Patton Construction. He was restoring the old Hackett House in downtown Tempe. I was a member of the First Congregational Church as he was. He told me to go down to see it. So I did, and it was all rubble around there because they were tearing everything up. So I crawled around the place and photographed the building from different angles. When I got the photos back I drew them and Doug thought they were great. And then I got on the Petersen House. I did all of these different buildings around here.

SARKETT: I definitely want to get back to those later. Were there opportunities for you to work as an artist while in college? If so, what type of work was available, not just for you but for other artists back in that time?

NEARING: You’ve got to remember one thing: Oxford, Ohio had a population of about 3,000 in those days. There was not much opportunity for artists as far as I could see, except for their own doing and learning experiences. I worked as a lab chief in the geology department, and I got 35 cents an hour. That’s where I did a lot of my drawing for them. So, yeah, I got paid if you want to call it that. But you couldn’t find a job in that town anywhere that would pay more than 35 cents an hour as a student.

SARKETT: Here in the Valley I was hoping you could tell me a little bit about your education at Mesa Community College. Did they have art classes that helped you develop your abilities, or were you kind of left alone to hone your own abilities?

NEARING: No, they had good classes there. Schulte was the teacher, who is now teaching at ASU [Arizona State University]. I took a drawing class from him, charcoal mostly. Then I took a design class from him. I enjoyed it. Those were night classes because I was working. I liked Schulte a lot, and he really made me feel that was what I wanted to do. I had private lessons as well.

SARKETT: I have heard that MCC has great art classes and teachers.

NEARING: They’ve got very fine teachers over there, but I just took from him.

SARKETT: Were you able to develop any friendships with any teachers or students at MCC?

NEARING: Oh, sure. Schulte was the key guy for me, and his wife was very, very good too. I think she’s at ASU now.

SARKETT: Richard, I now want to talk a little bit about your time with the Army Air Corps. Did you find free time to expand your artistic interests?

NEARING: It was during the war, but I had time. We were stationed at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, and we had time to do some of our art work. When I was overseas there wasn’t anything to do anyway, so I did some drawings and sent them to my folks. I wasn’t that serious at that point in my life about art. I didn’t have the initiative to pursue that because I wasn’t sure what I was going to do anyway.

SARKETT: I want to know about your strong photography skills. I have read that you had numerous shots that were very recognized. When did you become interested in photography?

NEARING: After the war I had several jobs, but one of them was when I was living in Indiana and I became a school photographer. By that I mean I would travel from school to school and take photos of the kids. I really enjoyed that. I had three states and would travel on the average of 2,000 miles a week in five days. I was called back into service for the Korean conflict, and they put me in the Signal Corps because of my photography. They sent me to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey and assigned me to the 497th photo outfit. The whole outfit came out of New York. They all worked for the Ansco Company. I don’t really know how this happened but I ended up in charge of their still photo lab. I enjoyed it a lot. Then I was transferred to Fort Dix, New Jersey because the PR people needed somebody to shoot pictures and to develop them. We’d shoot pictures of the general’s parties. Then we also did the obstacle courses, etc. and then we’d go back to our beautiful lab and develop and print. We got a commendation for our work there.

When I got out the outfit was going over to Germany and they wanted me to go. I was a corporal. My wife said "Forget it," and I went home. I went into the photography business and was a commercial photographer. I built my own lab in our enormous bathroom. I did a lot of salon work for shows, but I also chased ambulances and fire engines and what have you. It was very interesting. I had to either expand the operation or get out. I didn’t have the money to expand at that time.

SARKETT: Do you think that photography led the way to your drawings and pencil and ink?

NEARING: Oh, yes, I think it did. The work that I do now I photograph everything, and having had the experience in the past, I know what to look for when I do photograph something that I want. Some artists will sit there onsite and draw something, my work is so intricate that it takes too long. Shadows change and everything else. I take my photographs and take them to my studio and I work from them. Sometimes I will sketch on the spot if there is something that I don’t think I can photograph right, but most of the time I work off photographs.

SARKETT: What did you like about being a photographer back when you were in the signal corps and prior to your drawing?

NEARING: The excitement of it is one thing. Being able to get around and see different things and places and people. I used to enjoy shooting the general’s parties just to see how stupid they get from the booze. I enjoyed shooting the GI’s in their work. A lot of the photos we took were sent home to their newspapers. It’s PR.

When I went into commercial photography I was lined up with several insurance companies, and they’d call me in the middle of the night and say there’s an accident. Cover it. Sometimes they were pretty gory, other times not.

SARKETT: Do you have any favorite photos?

NEARING: I don’t have much anymore. I have moved so many times that I’ve lost a tremendous amount of my negatives. I have one photo that I particularly like. It was done on a college campus in Indiana right after a big, big snowstorm. I used 4x5 infrared film, and it came out fantastic. I got quite an award for that one. I have some prints of some of the portraits I’ve done. Come to think of it I got some good photos when I was in Japan of Mount Fuji, and I got some pretty good photos of the Japanese people.

SARKETT: Just to shift gears now, I’d like to talk about your professional life away from art. I read that when you graduated from college you received a degree in paleontology and geology.

NEARING: No, I don’t have a degree.

END TAPE ONE SIDE A

BEGIN TAPE ONE SIDE B

I didn’t get a degree because I got married while I was in college and later we were going to have a child. We did have – our daughter. I got $65.00 a month from the government. They were supposed to increase that to $100 and something when I got married, but they never sent me the difference. I just couldn’t live on $65.00 a month. My wife had been working, but here again, 35 cents an hour. So it got to the point that I was holding three jobs. I was holding a job in the geology lab. I was slinging hot dogs and hamburgers and beer at one of the local places, and on Sundays I’d go door to door for a furniture company promoting their store. When it came time to study, I wasn’t getting much sleep. It got to the point where I was going to have a nervous breakdown and I opted not to do that, so I dropped out, thinking I would eventually go back, which I never did. But I’ve taken a lot of courses since then. I don’t know where it ever hurt me in business. I wish I had it – I’m not going to deny that – but my son got his degree and our oldest daughter became a nurse and our youngest daughter did go to college. We’ve been married 56 years.

SARKETT: So you said after college you moved into the air corps then?

NEARING: I was in college my freshman year, and after that first year I contacted the draft board and ask what’s my status. They told me not to go back next year. I worked in a defense factory and finally I couldn’t stand it, and I couldn’t enlist because they stopped enlistments, so I volunteered to be drafted in January of 1943.

SARKETT: So you hit the job market after the air corps.

NEARING: I came back from the service three years later, and my buddy and I had made a decision if we both came back we’d go back to school. I got out December 31 of ‘45; he got out a day or two later. We went back in January, which was a mistake, having both been overseas jumping back into college again was tough. Then after I got out I was working in Indiana, and that’s when the Korean thing broke loose. I was called back in I think ‘51.

SARKETT: What was your first job coming out of the service?

NEARING: I worked for a company called Crosley Corporation in Richmond, Indiana. They made refrigerators and I worked on the assembly line. I had the major job of tightening down three bolts with an air gun. I got very bored quick. I had to be a member of the union, so I bid on another job. It was a tool room job. I thought I was very qualified for it, having been in the service and working with engines, but the guy who got it could hardly write his name. So I tried again and I got a job as a materials handler, and I could run all over the plant. I’d fill the bins with nuts and bolts or whatever they needed. But a guy called me from upstairs and asked if I would like to go up there and work in the purchasing department as a tooling coordinator. We were working on the B-52 tail assemblies, and we had these enormous dies and presses. That was a good job.

Then they moved me from there to their plant in Cincinnati. I was chief expediter, and then they got me into being a research and development buyer, which I liked very much. I was the only one and I had the whole research and development department there. That was in the days when transistors where just coming around. It was just fantastic. I really enjoyed that.

Then I got a job offer with Gruen watch, their electronics division as director of purchases. I moved over there. That’s eventually how things came about. To make a long story shorter, Gruen watch played around with the books. Next thing we knew the division was sold. The outfit that bought them was _ Wayne school bus bodies. Eventually I could see what was going to happen, so I started laying the groundwork. So when the time came, and most everyone else was gone and it was just Jerry Shultz, the manager, and myself. So he said, you got everything you’ll get, are you about ready to leave? I said, I’m set. I am a manufactures rep, I had all these companies lined up. That’s how I got into that field.

SARKETT: What did you find rewarding in these jobs, and what did you dislike about them?

NEARING: The rewarding job was the research and development. It was all new and interesting and challenging. The ones I didn’t like? I have no complaints.

SARKETT: Were you still practicing art when you were working in these other fields?

NEARING: Just sketching around. When I was with Crosley I did a lot of drawing, laying out stuff, and more mechanical drawing than anything.

SARKETT: When did you finally realize that art was your true passion, that you needed to devote more time to this calling?

NEARING: Around 18 years ago I decided I wanted to get into art full blast one way or another. I decided I would open up an art gallery. So while I was traveling as a manufactures rep I would go to all these art galleries to see how they did it. So I learned a lot. My wife just about had a heart attack. She asked if I could make any money at it. I didn’t know. Well, I didn’t. I opened a gallery downtown Tempe, 2200 square feet. I had a frame shop too. I went to school for framing. I had it for three years, and I lost a bundle of money over that period of time because the rent was so high. If people wanted art they would go to Scottsdale.

SARKETT: Where was your gallery located in Tempe?

NEARING: It was on University and Ash Avenue (where Buffalo Exchange is now). It was a pizza parlor. I redid the whole thing–new carpeting, walls, new dropped ceiling. It was beautiful, but it just couldn’t make enough money.

SARKETT: Was it hard for you to drop your other profession and concentrate entirely on art?

NEARING: For me it wasn’t hard at all. I was glad to get off the road. But I was drawing and painting toward the end while I was on the road. I would be in motel rooms at night and I’d sit there and draw and sketch. For me, I was ready. My wife wasn’t. I could understand that. It was tough.

SARKETT: How did your kids take the change in profession?

NEARING: They didn’t seem to worry about it. They knew me. I’d done so many things in my life. That was my attitude. This is my last shot. I’m either going to do it or I’m not going to do it. When I closed the gallery after three year I merged with another store at Baseline and McClintock. We wanted to promote the framing business and we did very well. Then we had art supplies.

SARKETT: I read that in your gallery and framing shop you incorporated other artists’ work with your work trying to showcase their work and market artists in the area. Was that hard to do?

NEARING: No, it wasn’t hard to do. It was hard to convince the artist to come in, some of the better, well-known artists because here we were in Tempe, and they’d rather try to get into Scottsdale. But I had some damned good artists and I sold a lot of their work.

SARKETT: Do you think the gallery proved to open the door for you and other artists in the valley or was it a rude awakening for Tempe as far as them needing to become more open minded to the artist community here? Did the gallery open the door for artists?

NEARING: Yes, it did. In fact one gal I sold quite a bit of her work, and she got calls up in Washington and finally moved there and has done fantastically well. I’d say that several of my artists I had there went on to better things.

SARKETT: I think it was very commendable what you did, helping artists in the area.

NEARING: Well, I got a percentage. I loved it. I had a reception every month.

SARKETT: Now these next few questions deal with how Tempe perceives artists and deals with art. Tell me about some of the changes you’ve witnessed especially within the artist community since moving here to Tempe. How was it in 1974 vs. 1999? Have people’s attitudes changed over those 25 years?

NEARING: Oh, I think some of them have. I became a member of the Tempe Art League, and I became very, very involved. But it was a group that started over 30 years ago. Then they incorporated. We had art shows and we had big turnouts. We had them in the parking lot of the old library. We’d have as many as 44 exhibitors. We’d sell. But as time went on – progress as they call it –they built this library, walled in the place. We couldn’t hardly sell a thing, and our group dropped down to about eight exhibitors. Then I approached the city. I guess I was president at the time and I told them we had to have a place to show our work because the Tempe Art League gave scholarships to all the high schools in Tempe. We also gave money to the library, anywhere from $200 to $500 a year for books on arts and crafts. I could get nowhere with the city. We’d talk some of these strip malls into letting us have an art show there. We used to meet over at Pyle Center for a long time. Then they kicked us out. Here’s a group of artists that was dwindling because of this kind of attitude, twenty-five years of incorporation at that time. They finally disbanded Tempe Art League in 2000. We finished paying off what scholarships were due. Just a couple weeks ago they turned $1900+ over to the library. That was the balance of what we had in our treasury. That’s why I am very upset with Tempe over that because we had good artists and crafters and dedicated people. When they came up with this new art center they’re going to have they didn’t ask us about it. I’m a member of the Chandler Art League now.

SARKETT: What was life like for artists in Tempe? Was employment as an artist available? What type of work was preferred or common back in 1974 moving on to the present time?

NEARING: Oil paintings are always big as far as sales are concerned. Water colors are always good if they are good water colors. My type of work, which is pen and ink and pencil, there has to be a certain clientele. Most of my work today is historical in one form or another.

SARKETT: Did Tempe have a large artist community when you moved here in 1974? What types of artists were there then?

NEARING: I have to rely on the Tempe Art League at that point because that was primarily the artists that were involved around here. Again, a lot of oil artists and water colorists.

SARKETT: How has the ASU art program evolved with the artist community here? Have they grown together or independently?

NEARING: They give art lessons over here at the Pyle Center. This lady who teaches there, Donna Levine, is a fantastic artist. She studied in Italy as well as the States. I’ve known Donna for years now. This is the stimulus of what we’re doing. Most of us are retired. There are a lot of artists in this town, there is no doubt about it, and a variety of artists but they’re scattered. There is no organization anymore. They’ve got the Tempe Commission for the Arts here.

SARKETT: How has ASU done things differently from Tempe? Have they handled things better than Tempe has as far as accepting art or doing things with art?

NEARING: Oh, they’ve promoted big time. They know what art is. They built a beautiful art center, if you will, and they have things going all the time. We don’t have any place here. Now they’re going to build one – finally. When it’s up then I’ll know.

END TAPE ONE SIDE B

BEGIN TAPE TWO SIDE A

The Vihel Center over here. I don’t really know what they’re focusing on. They do dance and so forth, which is part of art – don’t misunderstand me. As far as visual art is concerned they have a few pieces hanging in their lobby area. They have a pottery room there which is very good, and I guess people take pottery lessons. At night I think they have some teachers come in and teach drawing. And they supposedly collect slides of various artists here in Tempe for use reference-wise. I have never submitted any slides. I did work with one group about selecting slides for a program we were going to do, and we got all done, selected the slides, and the next thing I know they threw them all out and went some place else for some other stuff. I just don’t know what they were trying to do, and nobody else did either I guess.

SARKETT: Do you feel that other communities here in the Valley – Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale – have a clearer understanding of the artist community then Tempe has?

NEARING: Mesa is doing a very good job in their museums and what have you. Chandler Art League, of which I became a member because Tempe doesn’t have anything any more, all these art leagues are struggling. There is no doubt about it because in many cases cities don’t give them support. I say this not only for Tempe but for Mesa and the rest of them. A few people get in and they work their buns off and try to make it go, but the city don’t care. We in the Chandler Art League now hold our shows primarily at Bashas’ stores outside in the fall and winter. Eddie Basha has been fantastic in allowing us to do that. But many times the townspeople don’t support it. Mesa Art League (I was a member there too for awhile) used to have shows, but all of a sudden they got into a conflict between the crafts vs. the artists, and they threw out the crafts. Now it’s a small group that does one, maybe two, shows a year. Mesa used to have the Brown Bag Lunch thing, and you’d hang your work there, and people would come for lunch in the park, and they’d be able to browse around. They cut that out, too.

SARKETT: Do you think Tempe perceives the artist community differently now than they did 30 years ago, or has the community really not changed at all in the way it looks at art and the artists here?

NEARING: Tempe verbally has changed, but their concept of art is primarily dance and so forth, not even music much. Visual art, no. I’d say they haven’t changed visual art-wise. They’ve got a long way to go.

SARKETT: How do you think they can change a little bit? If you were in a position to do some changes within the community about its attitude about art, what needs to be done?

NEARING: Oh, boy. So much. I think they ought to bring these organizations back and let them get involved. Give them a place to show their work. Give them a place to meet. Help them develop their organization. Don’t become a bureaucratic portion of it. Getting your name in the paper is like pulling teeth anymore. Get some of these companies to back them up. I don’t know what it’s going to take. As I see it now, the new art center that they’re going to put up is going to be a lot in dance, in theater, etc., not too much in visual arts. The council people will say, "Art’s great. Boy, I’m glad you’re around." Then they go about their business.

SARKETT: Now, Richard, I’d like to talk about your artwork, your focal points. Tell me a bit why your artwork focuses on historic landmarks and buildings? Why do you think they’re important? And how did you become interested in drawing these?

NEARING: Your last question first. As I mentioned before, Doug Patton got me really involved. The Hackett House was my first drawing. The city commissioned me with some of the drawings and bought all 13 of my originals. In fact, I think they’re now here at the Museum someplace. And they bought a bunch of prints from me. And the Gammage Auditorium people commissioned me to do Gammage, so I did the Gammage drawings. I’ve been involved with the Museum for quite some time, and preservation has always been a major thing with me. I feel they are going to tear down the buildings eventually one way or another, and so I preserve them by drawing them. I’ve got five books out now, one is sold out. My first book is Arizona’s Buildings with a History. Well, I’m working on volume II on that now, and there will probably be 150 drawings in it all over Arizona. A lot of places already since I photographed them are gone. But at least they will know that they were there and they will have a history.

SARKETT: I also heard that you teach art classes now.

NEARING: I don’t now, but I did. I had a store, and we had a nice room there. We could hold classes in there. My partner taught oils and I taught drawing and pen and ink. I taught for the Scottsdale Art League at Scottsdale Community College. But that’s about it. I’ve helped a lot of people. My studio isn’t that large to teach.

SARKETT: Tell me a little about the artists that you teach and come in contact with now vs. 30 years ago. Are the same type of artists emerging today? Is there more of a well-rounded artist community now than back in ‘74?

NEARING: Yes, I would say it is more well-rounded. A lot of people are going into colored pencil drawings now. They are trying different mediums. There seems to be a tendency toward abstract. I’m not an abstract artist; I never will be. I’m a realist. There’s definitely a change, primarily because the artists are trying different methods. There’s a lot of collage going on. I think that’s great. You’ve got to experiment. That’s how I ended up where I’m at because I tried all these different mediums and found out what I wanted to do.

SARKETT: When did you start Gem Publishing?

NEARING: When I put out my first book. 1985, somewhere around there. I’d have to look.

SARKETT: So all five of your books were published by Gem?

NEARING: Yeah, that’s me. I’m self-published.

SARKETT: If someone wanted to buy one of your books, how would they go about doing that?

NEARING: Well, I have books in several places. I have them in the book shops here and downtown at the Capitol building in the gift shop. I have sold books through Amazon, through Borders. Changing Hands have handled my books, and they sell them right away.

SARKETT: I do love your books. Do you have a favorite of your books?

NEARING: Yes, I do. My first book, Arizona Buildings with A History, I love that and Arizona Military Installations, I really like that one. It involved my brother-in-law, too. He and I collaborated there. He primarily did the layout of the book; I did the historical and the drawings. But we traveled together all over the state and dug out histories and photographs.

SARKETT: Well, we’re almost done here, Richard. I just want to talk a little about the Ironwood Society. Are you still a member?

NEARING: Oh, yes. I’ll always be a member. It’s very informal. It started out as a critique group. These are really professional artists that sell their works. There are about ten of us, and we meet normally every month at individual’s homes. We bring some art work that we’ve done or we’re having problems with or something and we talk about it. It’s all helpful, no criticism.

SARKETT: That sounds very important for artists.

NEARING: It is. It is very important.

SARKETT: How come there are only ten members?

NEARING: We didn’t want more. These are honest artists out there trying to sell their stuff, and they want it right.

SARKETT: Are there more of these societies that collaborate?

NEARING: There’s another one. When Tempe Art League broke up, we artists got together and some came from the Pyle Center that wanted a critique group where we could learn. This thing is getting big. We’ve got a problem coming up. We’re now up to 18 people and trying to hold them in somebody’s house. There are some professional artists in there, some amateur artists, and some starting artists. It’s unnamed yet. I just call it the TAL group. It’s been going for about a year. They didn’t want to give it up.

SARKETT: Did they have these types of societies back in 1974 when you emerged onto the scene?

NEARING: Not that I know of. Ironwood has been in existence for quite awhile, close to ten years. A critique [goes like this]. You put a piece of work up and they look at it and ask, "Now why is that shadow here?" "Why is your perspective off in this area?" They pick it apart. But they do it for learning. Some artists can’t take that.

SARKETT: Now, Richard, would you elaborate on your duties as a board member of the Tempe Historical Museum? Does the board and Museum deal with artistic issues within the art community?

NEARING: No, I don’t really think so. I think they all like art, but that is not primarily our function here. Our function has to do directly with the Museum. We have people from all walks of life on this board. I think we’re primarily concerned with the operation of the Museum and Petersen House.

SARKETT: How do you feel about these types of organizations – being the Ironwood Society, the former Tempe Art League, the new TAL – how do these types of organizations push art into the 21^st and 22^nd centuries? Are there more opportunities today because of these institutions, or are they really not doing much for artists?

NEARING: Well, I would say the Ironwood Society and the TAL critique group are doing good things for artists. They are helping each other. Tempe Art League is no longer in existence. Their intention is to help art evolve in the future. If we become better artists, then more people will take notice and we’ll grow from that end of it. But I still contend that we need art groups here. There are a lot of artists in this town.

SARKETT: How do you see the future of art here in Tempe? Do you see Tempe as being more open-minded for the artistic community? Do you feel this fine arts center is going to help the area?

NEARING: Well, I hope so, but what phase of art it’s going to help, I don’t know. I have a feeling it’s going to help the theater groups and the dance groups, but I got tongue in cheek on the visual arts. They’ll have to prove it to me. I really don’t see it happening.

SARKETT: Lastly, Richard, I just want to congratulate you on your recent award at the Director of Volunteers in Agencies Luncheon. It must have been a great honor to meet with Betsy Bayless. How was that?

NEARING: I don’t know, I didn’t talk to her. It was just a matter of her handing me an honor and shaking my hand, and that was about it.

SARKETT: Well, congratulations on that. You are very important in this area. You are very important to the Museum. Now I want to give you the opportunity to add anything to this interview that you want to.

NEARING: Well, I’m glad to see this happening, and they need a lot more of it. We’ve got a number of people in this city that have lived here quite a few years and got a lot of history. I think we’d better start digging it out of them because we’re not getting any younger. I congratulate you, Jeremiah, for taking the time to do this. And of course John is gung ho anyway.

END OF INTERVIEW

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