<Begin Segment 6>

MN: Henry, I'm gonna ask you some questions about your art.

HF: Yeah.

MN: When did you start drawing?

HF: Oh, I don't know when.

MN: Were you in school, grammar school?

HF: Oh, yes. When I was in grammar school, when I was in grammar school at Pacific Palisades, the teacher saw me drawing on a piece of paper. So the teacher said, "You could draw anything you want on the board." So I took the chalk and I don't know, I don't remember what I drew, but the teacher let me draw.

MN: And that's where you started to have a love of drawing?

HF: It could be.

MN: You talked about a high school teacher that encouraged you.

HF: Yes, Mrs. Sheeman-Roberts, when I was in high school. That was my favorite subject. So when I graduated high school, she encouraged me to continue my art.

MN: And when you say "art," were you painting at this time?

HF: What?

MN: Were you painting?

HF: No.

MN: Just drawing.

HF: Yes. I was drawing for myself.

MN: Were you using pencils or charcoal?

HF: It was pencil.

MN: Is this the teacher that encouraged you to enroll in the Otis Art Institute?

HF: No. I enrolled at the Otis Art Institute myself because I was buddies with two other Caucasian boys in high school. They said they were going to go, they were going to become engineers. My father thought I was not engineer material, so he asked me if I wanted to go to art school and I said, "Yeah, I like that." So that's how I happened to enroll at Otis Art Institute.

MN: So your father was supportive of your pursuing art.

HF: Well, not pursuing art, but liking art.

MN: How long were you at the Otis Art Institute?

HF: About two, three weeks. Very short time, because of the Depression. My father said he couldn't afford to send me there.

MN: When did you have your linoleum block exhibit, the one-man show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art?

HF: Well, the first thing happened was in the Westway magazine, that AAA?

MN: Yes.

HF: Had an article about my linoleum block prints. And they, the museum saw that article and they gave me a one-man show at the County Museum in Prospect Park.

MN: How did Westway magazine get your art? Did you send it to them?

HF: No, my... I happened to be, I happened to go to visit my art teacher, and there, a friend of hers was there. He saw the Westway, he saw the prints, and he said, "Let me show these to Westways." And that's how it happened.

MN: What is a linoleum block print? Is that like a woodblock print?

HF: It's similar to a woodblock print, only it's with linoleum. It's a softer material.

MN: And how did you get into linoleum block prints?

HF: Gee, I don't know.

MN: Is this something you picked up at the three weeks at Otis?

HF: What?

MN: Is this something you did at, when you were three weeks at Otis?

HF: No.

MN: Something you were working on earlier?

HF: No. Just something I just happened to pick up to do.

MN: When you had this one-man exhibit, did your parents go and see your work?

HF: I don't recall them going.

MN: How about your brothers and sisters?

HF: I don't think they went.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.