SUMMER SOLDIER

Yesterday, Friday, I wrote again to Mike Johnson at the UNC Foundation asking to renew a dialogue regarding the Totem Project. I've complained here about the stuffed bear in the plastic box that the former VP of Alumni Affairs saw fit to accept as a gift. I've moaned about the large bronze sitting on the north side of the University Center. Of course, what we appreciate as 'art' is subjective.

I want to do the Totem Project for two reasons. The first and foremost reason is to honor the Bear Totem. The second is personal.

I've chronicled here and elsewhere my first meeting Totem Teddy in 1946 when I was in kindergarten in the Lab School (Ernest Horne Elementary in Kepner Hall.) I just liked it. I've had a special place in my heart for it ever since. Thus, as an artist, my particular way of self expression in this case turns on my memories. Their expression in the forms I've created in the past, embossing the totem in 2003, installing The Ghost Memory Totem in 2005, removing the sculpture in 2008 are now only memories. The current idea is simple and organic. It has the potential to create new traditions that new students may come around to. Respect for tradition may be a dying ember, but it is still in me to try to spark new interest.

Folks at what was, in 1914, the Colorado State Normal School, had no idea that our totem may have been of questionable origin. It was a beautiful gift from a grateful alumnus. Totem Teddy became the embodiment of the institution who adopted the Bear as its mascot.

To me the events of the early 2000's were like a family discovering a lost child who had grown up with an adopted family. Suddenly, the true parents appeared and just took the child "home." Totem Teddy may or may not have memories or even care where it lives now or lived for ninety years on the UNC campus. But, it should be an honorable thing to retain a special image just to remember and honor it... him... Totem Teddy.

Thus, all I, as a person who grew up in Greeley, ... all I want is to use my modest talents to revive a memory on the campus that has meant so much to me.

It's not a question of money. It's a question of freedom of expression and the opportunity for students, in fact, anyone who visits the campus in any capacity, to experience tradition. To me, if art is controversial, it, at least, begins a discussion. Discussions, even arguments, have the potential to be the source of new thoughts, new ideas and when we are lucky, personal growth.

Early in this blog a couple of people who did not identify themselves made terrific comments. The best one was the person who said that students "didn't have time to try to figure out 'abstract' art." To me, the most important job that a university is given the task to do is to challenge the ideas of not only the students, but every single person it may touch. Debate is healthy.

Is a challenge to the aesthetic that accepts a stuffed bear and a huge bronze, a bad thing? I hope not. Is the re-awakening of an institution to an important tradition a good thing?
I really hope so.

Michael Sheehan
CSC 1963