This collection was processed in 2014 by Joy Goodwin. Motion picture film reels were inspected and re-housed in 2016-2017 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund. 2018 and 2019 additions, as well as born-digital content was processed by Ryan Evans in 2019.
Aleksandra Kasuba papers, circa 1900-2019. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The collection was donated in 2013 by Aleksandra Kasuba. Additions were donated in 2018 by Aleksandra Kasuba and in 2019 by Guoda M. Burr, Kasuba's daughter.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the
Subseries 4.2 (Journals) is access restricted; written permission is required.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Aleksandra Kasuba (1923-2019) was a Lithuanian-born sculptor, best known for her innovative architectural environments, who lived in New York and New Mexico. She attended the Kaunas Art Institute and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vilnius, Lithuania from 1941-1943. She studied with the sculptor, Vytautus Kasuba, whom she married in 1944. In response to the Soviet Army's occupation of their country, Aleksandra Kasuba and her husband emigrated to the United States in 1947. By 1963, Aleksandra Kasuba, her husband, and two children had moved to the Upper West Side in New York City. At the start of her career, Kasuba received commissions to make ceramic tiles for use in furniture. About the same time, she was also collaborating with architects in designing mosaic wall installations for public works. Aleksandra Kasuba's commissioned projects have included a plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., and wall mosaics for the Container Corporation in Chicago, and 560 Lexington Avenue in New York City. Some of Kasuba's mosaic compositions were made as individual pieces to be included in museum and gallery exhibitions.
Aleksandra Kasuba has also devoted her career to designing alternative living environments. In the late 1960s, Kasuba built dwellings that she referred to as Space Shelters, which were made from a fabric of her own design. In 1970, the American Craft Museum featured Kasuba's tensile-fabric structure in an exhibition "Contemplative Environments." She has also used nylon fabric to build her alternative or live-in environments. In addition, Kasuba has held several faculty positions. She taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York City from 1971-1972 and was an artist-in-residence at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1976 and the Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science in 1977. Kasuba has received awards from the American Institute of Architects in 1971 and 1972; in 1983, she was granted a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Aleksandra Kasuba has written several books, including a memoir published in 2001. Kasuba's husband, Vytautus died in 1997. From 2001 on, Aleksandra Kasuba had been living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she purchased a tract of land in the desert to continue her work on experimental housing. She died in 2019.
The collection is arranged in 9 series.
The papers of sculptor and environmental artist Aleksandra Kasuba measure 12.4 linear feet and date from circa 1900-2019, with the bulk of the material from 1960-2010. The collection documents Kasuba's career through biographical material, correspondence, interviews, lectures and writings, extensive project files, printed material, a scrapbook, artwork, and photographs.
Biographical material includes artist's statements and letters of recommendation. Biographical data consists of curriculum vitae, bibliographies, checklists of commissioned work and biographical entries; also found are drafts of biographical accounts used for press releases. Included is a citation to Kasuba from the Women's Architectural Auxiliary, New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in honor of her participation in a West Side urban renewal project. Digital biographical materials include a CV and preserved copies of Kasuba's various websites.
General correspondence mostly consists of invitations to lecture at academic institutions and professional associations. There are letters between Kasuba and interior design firms, publishers, museums, and academic institutions. Included are letters from Columbia University, Museum of Modern Art, and the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies. Correpondence relates to commissioned projects, proposed exhibitions, and the scheduling of workshops and speaking engagements. Also found is correspondence with Thomas Whitridge about the publication of a monograph by Kasuba, extenisve family correspondence in Lithuanian, and correspondence with Algirdas Julien Greimas later organized for a publication.
Writings include various manuscripts and complementary visual schematics that Kasuba worked on throughout her career. Also included are Aleksandra Kasuba's lectures on the effects of alternative living environments on human behavior presented at academic forums and corporations. Writings include an essay by Kasuba and a typescript of an article on Kasuba that was published in
Project Files document Kasuba's installations, exhibitions, tensile-fabric dwellings, shell dwellings, and live-in environments. Included are correspondence, artist's statements, project notes, plans, sketches and diagrams, business-related materials including agreements and cost estimates, printed material, clippings, and exhibition installation photographs and slides of artwork. There are files on Aleksandra Kasuba's professional activities, including teaching positions, speaking engagements, and publishing projects. Digital Project Records related to many of Kasuba's projects including digital video recordings are found in this series, as well as one super 8 mm film reel and two 8 mm motion picture film reels.
Printed material includes exhibition catalogs, announcements, and brochures; news and magazine clippings document various projects, including Kasuba's wall mosaics, shell dwellings, and alternative living environments. Many of the later tiles in this series are self-published. A scrapbook consists mainly of news clippings and reviews on Kasuba's work.
Artwork consists of sketches and drawings used as preliminary designs for Kasuba's projects. Also included are prints and elements used in the creation of the
Biographical material includes artist's statements and letters of recommendation. Biographical data consists of curriculum vitae, bibliographies, checklists of commissioned work and biographical entries; also found are drafts of biographical accounts used for press releases. Included is a citation to Kasuba from the Women's Architectural Auxiliary, New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in honor of her participation in a West Side urban renewal project. Digital biographical materials include a CV and preserved copies of Kasuba's various websites.
Files are arranged in alphabetical order by folder title.
Immigration and Naturalization Documents, Aleksandra Kasuba
Immigration and Naturalization Documents, Vytautas and Guoda Kasuba
This series includes scattered letters from professional associations, academic institutions, and interior design firms inviting Kasuba to lecture or participate in a workshop. Correspondence includes project and exhibition proposals as well as several requests to reproduce her work. There are letters recommending Kasuba for teaching positions. Correspondents include the Architectural League of New York, Columbia University, Museum of Modern Art, and University of Cincinnati. Attachments to letters include biographical material, outlines of courses, lists of projects completed, sketches of plans, printed material, and images of exhibition installations. Correspondence with Thomas Whitridge of Didymus Press relates to the publication of Kasuba's
Files are arranged in original order. There were two filing systems for correspondence: general correspondence and correspondence by subject and name of individual or organization. Letters are arranged in rough chronological order.
This series includes three formal interviews with Aleksandra Kasuba. There are transcripts of a 1976 interview with
Kasuba and of the artist's interview with
Files are arranged in chronological order.
This series includes Aleksandra Kasuba's lectures on the effects of alternative living environments on human behavior presented at academic forums and corporations. Writings include an essay by Kasuba and a typescript of an article on Kasuba that was published in
Recordings are on one sound cassette and one videocassette.
Subseries 4.2 (Journals) is access restricted; written permission is required.
Subseries 4.2 (Journals) is access restricted; written permission is required. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The bulk of the series documents Kasuba's installations, exhibitions, tensile-fabric dwellings, shell dwellings, and live-in environments. Included are correspondence, artist's statements, project notes, plans, sketches and diagrams, business-related materials including agreements and cost estimates, printed material, clippings, and exhibition installation photographs and slides of artwork. There are files on Aleksandra Kasuba's professional activities, including teaching positions, speaking engagements, and publishing projects. Digital Project Records related to many of Kasuba's projects including digital video recordings are found in this series, as well as one super 8 mm film reel and two 8 mm motion picture film reels.
Files are arranged in chronological order.
Responses to 43 West 90th Street, New York Environment
Lincoln Hospital, Bronx, New York
Notes on can: Sun Screen by Alexandra Kasuba June 29, 1978, Filmed by Pola Chapelle
Duplicate of film reel.
560 Lexington Avenue, New York - Brick Sculpture
560 Lexington Avenue, New York - Brick Sculpture
Printed material contains some news and magazine clippings, brochures, announcements, an invitation and a monograph. Exhibition catalogs feature Kasuba's installations and include a rare copy of
Files are arranged by document type.
This series consists of one scrapbook of news clippings and reviews of Aleksandra Kasuba's projects and exhibitions with a few letters and loose clippings on several habitats designed by Kasuba in New Mexico.
Oversized material housed in Box 6
This series includes Kasuba's sketches and designs used as models for shell dwellings and environments made from tensile fabric. Also found are figure, portrait, landscape and genre studies by Kasuba that were done early in her career.
Files are arranged by subject.
Oversized material housed in Box 6
Oversized material housed in Box 6
Oversized material housed in Box 6
Oversized material housed in Box 6
Photographs and slides are of Aleksandra Kasuba's mosaics, shell dwellings, and environments. Found are three binders of slides of artwork and installation projects. Also included are photographs of Kasuba's New York City and New Mexico homes and studios, many in digital format.
Researchers should note that photographs are also found within Series 5: Project Files. This series is arranged by format and thereafter in chronological format.
Childhood, Family Photographs
Oversized material housed in Box 7
Oversized material housed in Box 7