Almost On The Road

I depart for Greeley in the morning.

The responses from most folks at UNC regarding my arrival have been cool. What mystifies me is why the courtesy that was afforded to me years ago with the several projects that I’ve brought to campus that were designed to illuminate Tradition is missing now.

I’ve been thinking about the notion that “some people know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.” Not that my contributions are all that valuable except in the value that they bring to those who actually get it, but because a place of learning is, to me, supposed to be where those who attend are challenged to grow.

I remember seeing a huge display on the UNC campus when I visited some time ago with giant posters of human fetuses and anti-abortion literature. I loved it because it gave students and others who were on the campus an opportunity to discuss the political views of the organization (I believe it was a religious group) that wanted to discourage women from aborting unwanted pregnancies. The basic issue of Pro Choice / Pro Life was up for discussion. That the university allowed that group access to campus shows that letting people have a say and discuss ideas is a great thing. There was no advocacy on the part of UNC. Just access.

That’s all I’ve been asking for. Of course, I’m just one alumnus with a love of tradition at my alma mater. To be censored .. if I am persona non grata at UNC now, it seems antithetical to the basic goal of education. I don’t expect everyone to think that my artwork is the end all of contemporary art. It’s very simple. It’s just an idea, after all. Anyone can do it and if I’m unable to erect the
Re InCarination of Totem Teddy, I’ll hope that a student or even staff or a faculty member will be willing to take up the idea and use it to keep the memory of Totem Teddy alive while the committee I may or may not get to serve on meets and comes up with an idea for a permanent replacement.

To that issue, should I be no longer welcome to contribute my ideas.. this is what I think should happen.

It's a simple suggestion for the Totem Committee to come up with basic requirements that they think are important for a new totem. Send out a Call for Artists that will require submissions by an arbitrary date.. September 1st, 2008. Take the submissions that must include a budget for the construction of the artwork under advisement and select five finalists that the committee agrees has come up with ideas that they approve of. Give the five finalists a stipend to create a maquette and detailed description of materials and final budget. Depending on how serious the committee is, the amount of $500 for each finalist seems fair. Then, all the committee has to do is to set a deadline for itself and award a contract to the winning artist.

Arts experts and lay folks see art differently. So, hopefully, the committee would include faculty or a professional advisor who might guide it toward a work of art that would be aesthetically pleasing and fulfill the expectations of those who really care.

By sticking to dates and getting an artist who is reputable, the debacle of Mustang, that great big horse outside DIA should be avoided. However, I can still see Charlton Heston as Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel and Rex Harrison as the Pope yelling at him, “When will it be finished??” Even the Pope couldn’t rush great art.

When Totem Teddy was returned to the Tlingit in 2003, the previous year I asked anyone who would listen if they would contribute to a replica. Tommy Joseph, a Tlingit carver’s rate then was about $2,000 a foot. That would have been about $30,000 for a carved replica by a native carver. I interviewed a wonderful sculptor in Loveland who estimated that the bronze for a heroic replica which he could have duplicated from photos would cost about $20,000 and he would mitigate his fee to be of help. I interviewed a special effects technician who could have come to make a perfect mold of the totem to use for a modern materials replica.

Neither the Alumni Association nor the UNC Foundation was willing to create a fund or otherwise come up with any monies that could be used for a replica of the totem.

Now, it’s great to hear that there are students on campus who may work to recreate another totem that will honor the tradition of Totem Teddy. Frankly, I think that Totem Teddy’s time is probably past. He was a 20th Century Bear. The 21st Century Bears are a new breed.

But, fair’s fair. So.. just move forward. If there’s now money for this project, get it together and use it. If you really care about tradition and the Bear Totem, please just move ahead.

My idea for a temporary installation to follow the now departing Ghost is just an idea attempting to keep that idea alive. It matters to me. It does.

See you on Friday, I hope.