Art for Art for Artists

At last! Thanks to Shawn Brackett for his comments and critique of my Ghost Memory Totem.

First, it’s important to remember something about art. I make art pretty much for myself. The installation in the UNC Center is not papier mache. It’s an embossing of the original Bear Totem. I was unsuccessful when I tried, in 2002, to do what students are apparently trying to do now, raise funds for a permanent substitute for Totem Teddy. In my quest, I asked the UNC Foundation and the Alumni Association for funds to either have a duplicate carved or a bronze created that would be an exact replica, I struck out.

My attitude at the time was that if no one was interested in preserving the heritage of The Bear, then, I’d do it on my own. The only UNC support I could get was the permission to make my own duplicate.

My goal was to have a temporary, ephemeral tribute that I could pretty much do all by myself. I was fortunate to have invaluable help from the School of Theatre Arts (I was in the Theatre Program as an undergrad and did summer theatre at LTR in the sixties), They got the wooden matrix together from my design.

The spring of 2003 I was able to get the cooperation of the UC to have access and make a literal translation of Totem Teddy with one huge sheet of heavy water color paper. The image turning above the column is taken from an early photo of the totem. The essence of this ephemeral piece is deliberately temporary. It was tied onto the wooden column by cotton string with bow knots. I told Jay Dinges, the associate director of the UC , that I expected gravity and time to take its toll and that when the time came, I’d return to reclaim the piece.

My simple sculpture contains direct images of the original totem. As I’ve said, I believe that energy is transferred in some subtle way. The embossing will be preserved in a book of pages that will be available for those who may want to touch it one day. Of course, it isn’t the Shroud of Turin… but energy is energy and .. there you go.

That Shawn, as a current student, and others may feel this installation is ‘poor’ is quite right. It is towards a vision in Poor Art. This is the art that is made on a shoestring: the art that anyone can do if they desire. Costs are minimal and therefore don’t need outside funding. Control is in the hands of the artist. I pay my own way.

The one good thing that this Ghost Memory Totem may have done is to have raised consciousness about the history and tradition of Totem Teddy. I’ve recounted my lifetime association with it and, yes, that spirit is in me! So, if students and others want a perfect totem pole looking totem pole, that’s wonderful. Why wasn’t someone interested in my desire to do just that from the time we learned that the Tlingit would reclaim our totem six years ago?

Of course, the reason is that no one cared. But, now? Will a committee raise $30,000 and either have a totem carved or a bronze made or some other tribute created? A full sized ceramic? I like all of those ideas and frankly, as long as there is something with a bear included, I’ll be happy.

My current idea for another temporary installation of wooden blocks signed by students and others and stacked in a ten foot cairn is A TEMPORARY IDEA.. It may be an opportunity for a tradition, though the University of Northern Colorado is not long on tradition. I feel like a spawning salmon headed up stream. Gosh, we know what happens to those guys when they reach their goal!

The Cairn Totem idea will be totally funded by me. The energy of those interested in tradition who will sign the blocks of the cairn is just an idea. The Concept of having many individuals involved in a group is the Art. If I do it all by myself and leave it up for 24 hours, then it’s just my experience. If others opt to join me in a tradition, then, they will have that as something deep within them that may be never lost.

Why would a guy whose experience on the Greeley campus goes back over sixty years want to do something for alma mater? For Greeley? Why does anyone do anything… because it feels like an important thing to do. Because I love my home town. Because I want so much for the tradition of the Bear to never be forgotten. Yes. It feels good.

There may be a few students left on campus who were there in 2005 who stopped and chatted with me as I wheeled the wooden matrix from Frasier to the UC. It was a beautiful spring day. The UNC Marching Band was assembled by Garden Theatre. I spoke to some of them. I met others. A teacher, I think.. and I asked some of them to sign the matrix. It was as though those few people were now participants, accomplices?, in my work.

What are the important memories of our youth? Each of us can flash back to some of them. For me, many memories turn on Totem Teddy. Shawn’s observations are articulate and welcome. This is the politics of art. Get involved. Invite your fellow bears to come along.

Visit me in the UC as I dismantle the Ghost Memory Totem. Treasure your Bear Heritage.