A Daughter’s Voice: Christmas

by Kristin Kirsch Feldkamp, Editorial Assistant

In addition to having the great fortune of onsite access to the Clyfford Still Archives, the Clyfford Still Museum is lucky to have Still’s younger daughter, Sandra Still Campbell, as one of its board members. Sandra graciously agreed to curate our current exhibition A Daughter’s Eye/A Daughter’s Voice, which runs through January 13, and to sit for four and a half hours of interviews for the complimentary podcast (our first!) A Daughter’s Voice.

The podcast was a labor of love, carefully conceived and produced over a four month period by Sarah Wambold, the Museum’s director of digital media. Wambold’s inspiration came in part from the narrative style of This American Life; her aim was to reveal parts of Still previously unseen through storytelling.

“This is the type of story I have wanted to make since I started working at the Museum,” Wambold said. “Sandra’s show provided the perfect opportunity to talk about Clyfford Still through an authentically personal, intimate, and emotional lens. When listeners cry in the last gallery, I know we’ve connected in a profound way.”

Still was a Christian, and, according to Sandra, Jesus was one of the three humans Still admired most, alongside Ludwig van Beethoven and William Blake. On Christmas, we thought it fitting this year to share an outtake from A Daughter’s Voice detailing a touching Christmas memory of Sandra’s. We’ve paired it with photographs from the Clyfford Still Archives, many of which were taken by Still (you’ll see more in our coming exhibition Clyfford Still & Photography), that highlight Clyfford Still’s family life. We hope you enjoy it.

Outtake Photo Credits:

1. Black and white portrait of Clyfford Still holding his nine-month-old daughter, Diane Still. Unknown photographer, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © City and County of Denver.
2. Black and white photograph depicting an installation view of the exhibition “Paintings by Clyfford Still” at the San Francisco Museum of Art in California. PH-209 (1936), PH-211 (1936), and PH-938 (1937) hang from left to right. Still’s eldest daughter, Diane, and first wife, Lillian, sit on a bench to the left. Photo by Clyfford Still, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © City and County of Denver.
3. Black and White portrait of Diane Still, Clyfford Still, and Sandra Still posing with baseball gloves near Still’s West 23rd Street studio in New York City (1958). Photo by Patricia Still, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © City and County of Denver.
4. 35mm slide photograph (1959) of Clyfford and Diane Still gathered around a Christmas tree in the studio at 128 West 23rd Street, New York City where they lived. Unknown photographer, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © City and County of Denver. **Sandra told CSM archivists that the reason the family is wearing coats is because the studio didn’t have heat (it was an art studio; not meant to live in; but the 4 of them were living there anyway). She said they were not about to go outside; they were just dressed up/bundled up to stay in for the holiday.
5. Black and white portrait (1955) of Patricia Still and Diane Still on the exterior staircase in front of Alfonso A. Ossorio’s estate, “The Creeks”, in East Hampton, New York. Photo by Clyfford Still, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © City and County of Denver.
6. Black and white photograph (1955) of Diane Still posing with two paintings, PH-39 (1955) and 1955-K-No. 2, which are propped against the barn that functioned as Clyfford Still’s studio in East Hampton, New York within Alfonso A. Ossorio’s estate, “The Creeks.”  Photo by Clyfford Still, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © City and County of Denver.
7. Black and white portrait (ca. 1966) of Sandra Still in the driver’s seat of Clyfford Still’s Jaguar, which is parked in the gravel driveway of the artist’s farm in Westminster, Maryland.  Photo by Clyfford Still, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © City and County of Denver.
8. 35mm slide photograph (1965) of the Still family’s farm property near Westminster, Maryland. Unknown photographer, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © City and County of Denver.
9. 35mm slide photograph (1979), of the Still family’s farm property near Westminster, Maryland showing the barn/studio as seen from the woods. Photo attributed to Patricia and Clyfford Still, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © City and County of Denver.
10. Black and white portrait (1967) of Clyfford Still and Sandra Still posing near the Maryland Institute College of Art. Photo by Patricia Still, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © City and County of Denver.
11. Photo detail of PH-1090. Clyfford Still, PH-1090, 1978. Oil on canvas, 94 x 156 inches (238.8 x 396.2 cm). Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO. © City and County of Denver / ARS, NY.
12. Black and white portrait of Clyfford Still posing in profile before his Westminster, Maryland studio with gloves. Sandra Still, courtesy the Clyfford Still Archives, © Sandra Still.