Interview WITH
Mildred Friedman Design Quarterly editor, 1970–91
Interview by Anthony Fontenot New York December 12, 2005
Anthony Fontenot (AF): Design Quarterly was first published in 1946 by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis as Everyday Art Quarterly and then was renamed Design Quarterly in 1954. In the mid-sixties the publication began to shift from its initial focus on arts, crafts and “well-designed” objects to feature articles on experimental architecture, urbanism, new technologies, and the environment. Peter Seitz served as editor from 1964 to 1968, followed by a short stint by Christopher Finch, and then you served as editor from 1970 to 1991. What were some of the reasons for the magazine’s shift? Mildred Friedman (MF): One reason was that my interests were broader, and the other was when Edward Larrabee Barnes’s new building for the Art Center, completed in 1971, was under construction, we had our offices elsewhere. The whole museum staff moved to downtown Min-
neapolis, which then was, and still is, a disaster area. We were on the main drag: Hennepin Avenue. Since we were downtown, with Chris Finch and Richard Koshalek we did an issue on Hennepin Avenue, because it was there, it was fun, and it was interesting. We did something because it was either of the moment or something that attracted us for one reason or another, or something we felt had not been sufficiently explored elsewhere.
AF: Did you have to submit the topics for each issue to a board for its approval? MF: The great thing about Walker Art Center, which is very unlike most museums, is that when we wanted to do something we just did it. It was a great system and very unusual. Minneapolis is an
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interesting town. It has a large and very good university with lots of interesting people. And the support for the arts there is incredible. But if the Walker Art Center Board of Directors hires you and they don’t like what you do, they simply fire you!
AF: Very democratic! [Laughter] MF: Yes. To me, it makes perfect sense. They don’t come and say, “Why don’t we do this and that.” The constraints we worked within were that it was a quarterly, therefore we did four issues a year. And sometimes we did a double issue, which meant we only had to do three a year. In addition to publishing the journal, we were also doing many other things as well, including various museum exhibitions. I think the publication was unique