Interview: Grandson Mitchell Kaneff Shares His Memories
An intimate look at artist Annette Nancarrow through the eyes of her grandson Mitchell Kaneff.
Annette, Mitchell Kaneff as a child, Cherry Kaneff, Mitchell’s mother.
Mitchell Kaneff with his band, The Young Presidents.
MITCHELL KANEFF (bio below) recently related some wonderful memories that bring our understanding of this remarkable women more sharply into focus:
What was your relationship with Annette like? Grandma Annette and I were very close. She was a wonderful listener and she listened without any judgment. She didn’t try to parent me, our relationship was more like a close friendship. When she gave me advice, it was always from her heart, from her own experiences. She shared the lessons she’d learned from how she lived her life; it was deeply personal.Annette was complimentary, too, and her affection and belief in me helped me tremendously in gaining confidence in myself. Her obvious love and appreciation of my creativity was so important and it resonates with me to this day. She truly was a great teacher. I was inspired by her writing and painting and her optimistic and happy personality. Nothing really seemed to bother her!I remember, when she babysat me, she’d let me stay up late and never told me to lower my bass guitar when I was blasting it and I could eat whatever I wanted—a kid’s dream babysitter!
About Mexico: My grandmother had a 4,000 s.f. penthouse at 17 Avenida Presidente Masaryk in Mexico City with a huge wraparound terrace overlooking Chapultepec Park. I stayed with her when I was 13 or 14 years old. The apartment was decorated with her paintings and her friends’ paintings: Sandor Klein, Frida Kahlo, David Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, Francisco Zúñiga—all the greats at that time.Her love of people translated into endless entertaining. Her parties were never known for food, but people came in droves; they were always crowded, filled with laughter and cigarette smoke! My grandmother was a depression baby, so she never wasted anything or overspent on anything, she was very frugal.I remember how we’d eat dinner very late—10:00/10:30PM—and as a child this was very exotic, very exciting for me. We would dine al fresco and everyone speaking Spanish, the Sangria flowing.She drove this stick-shift Volkswagen Rabbit, too. She was some aggressive driver—she didn’t care who was in the way or where she parked, she had a cabdriver’s mentality on the road: Look out! We passengers were filled with fear and terror when my grandmother was at the wheel!Annette took me to Acapulco to see the cliff divers and she was always running into people she knew and introducing me to them. There were some very fascinating and memorable characters, too. I also remember going farther afield with her to Pueblo and Oaxaca—those were wonderful trips, but brief (and thankfully my grandmother didn’t drive!). In the winter other grandmas went to Florida, but not Annette, she’d winter in Mexico!
About her art: I always knew she was artistic—she surrounded herself with art and she was compulsive about creating more. She was always sketching—on a napkin, a stray piece of paper, whatever was at hand. Art was who she was, it was her essence.
Did she encourage you in your own art? She liked my photography. I still remember her telling me: “You have an excellent eye for composition.” That meant a lot to me.
It seems like Annette was very social. Did she talk about the famous people she knew? Annette was never a name dropper, but I was aware she knew famous people. I remember her references to Norman Lear and Tyrone Power, the movie star. Of course we knew she was close to Diego Rivera, to Kahlo, to Zúñiga, etc., but, as I said, she never exaggerated her importance by dropping names for no reason. Annette had a telephone book filled withnumbers for her friends from all over the world. She’d write wonderful letters, too—she was a great communicator. She often invited friends to come for a visit—and they would. Annette was all about her art and her relationships with her friends, family, and lovers/husbands.
I love that you interviewed her extensively, videotaping hours of footage, in her later years. Tell me what that was like, what motivated you, and how many hours of taping you did in total? I’m grateful I realized what wonderful stories Annette had inside her and that she would make a fascinating subject to film. No one else in the family was doing anything like it. She was estranged from several members of the family —but I loved her unconditionally. I taped her on and around her 80th birthday celebration, so I was 21 years old. I had quite a lot on tape, but I edited it down to about an hour.
Annette lived life on her own terms—even today that is rare. How would you summarize her life and achievements? Annette was a free spirit and incredibly talented. Her art informed everything she did. In addition to her drawing, painting, and sculpture, she was a wonderful designer of jewelry. Annette was a true original. Headstrong and determined, she went her own way throughout her life: it was her way or the highway! Not everyone loved her for this, but I did! My grandmother was very proud of the life she lived, never apologetic. She was the apotheosis of a self-made woman and, in that respect, way ahead of her time. She didn’t receive money from her husbands; she earned every cent to support herself utilizing her talent and her tenacity and her confidence.Annette helped people and people reached out to her as a result. She used everything she had: her beauty, her brains, her charm, her writing, her painting. She was a survivor—she could stretch a penny around the block. She was incredibly creative and courageous, too. Miles Davis once said that an artist’s first responsibility is to himself. My grandmother didn’t always choose that path—she might have been more famous or wealthier if she had. I don’t think she regretted anything though. I think Grandma Annette lived her life exactly as she wanted!
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About Mitchell Kaneff: Mitchell Kaneff is the Chairman/CEO of Arkay Packaging, a family-owned-and-operated company in business for 94 years. Under Mitchell’s direction, Arkay continues to be a market frontrunner in providing top global cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies with leading-edge packaging solutions. Mitchell, a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, is not only a well-regarded and successful business executive, he is the author of Taking Over: Insider Tips for a Third Generation CEO, and a connoisseur of music and art. His rock band, The Young Presidents, has produced three albums to date: Freedom of Speech (2011), Coalition (2014), and Firehorse (2016). He lives in New York City with his twin sons, Max and Josh, and his wife, Amy.