Spring Art?

The first of May I'll have a piece in the Benefit Auction for the LA Municipal Art Gallery. It's an honor to be included. Having heard from UNC just before all the basketball action was taking place I'd been hopeful that there may be some activity that would invite me to Greeley to find a spot and install my ReIncairnation of Totem Teddy. I've been busy with other stuff and have no idea what the climate is there now.. (I hear it's summer one day and snow the next lately?)

So.. this is just a little boost to the blog hoping that some magical awakening will happen and I'll be in Greeley when it's warm and sunny to make my contribution to the campus tradition.

Michael Sheehan

A New Year: 2011

I just found emails with 'anonymous' entries responding to this blog. The posts sound like someone who is fond of alma mater, but resents my quest to revive the past. If this person is in favor of the restoration of Totem Teddy, and it did sound that they might be, then it would be good to be open about who they are and if they are willing to be an advocate for the project.

I understand that there are 21st Century traditions that students who graduate from UNC will treasure. I hope that they will become advocates for their 'stuff' as I am an advocate for mine. I have no intention to demean anyone's idea of what a good memory of college life is like. That I want to remind all Bears where their totem came from.. their mascot... my mascot.. Totem Teddy is simply that. It is my intention to advocate for one of the first traditions that students rallied around almost a hundred years ago.

So.. This is not an 'us vs. them' routine. There is no us nor them. As far as I'm concerned it's only us: UNC Bears! That I have tunnel vision for this important project is only because my relationship with the Bear Totem is over sixty years old and has deep meaning for me.

All I want to do is revive the Bear Totem on campus and hope that current students and those students who may never have seen the original totem may have the opportunity to embrace this my recreation of this iconic figure. My artwork (see previous posts) will be a new totem. Hopefully, it will pique the interest of current students as well as alumni. It is not to replace anything, it is to awaken the Greeley campus to one specific thing that turned the 'Teachers' into The Bears!

All anyone has to do is to pledge support and I'll do the rest. All are welcome.

At least this 'anonymous' poster didn't say that college students today don't have time to deal with non-representational art! Thanks for your interest.

And, if I am ever in Greeley for any of the activities that Anonymous mentions, I'll be happy to participate.

Michael Sheehan

Here's to the Class of 1960!

How great to see that the old alma mater has reinstated the Homecoming Parade! Congratulations to all who see that Tradition is the mordant that truly binds us together. The Class of '60 welcomed my Class of '63 with our Freshman beanies and learning the history of UNC from our Student Handbooks. Homecoming marked the day we could remove our beanies and become full on members of the Student Body. The Class of 1960 was, perhaps, the last class to see Totem Teddy in his honored space between Gunter Hall and Bru-Inn. It was the men of that class who dominated
Hi Bridge and were the envy of us Frosh. We looked forward to the day when we could form a gauntlet for the new Freshman women to run.

Simple times.. good memories! Now.. thanks to Solomon Little Owl of the Native American Students Organization for his pledge of support to restore The Bear Totem to the UNC campus. Hopefully some of the Fifty Year Classmates will sign on as well. That you returned to campus for Homecoming is heartening. We need your support! Not money.. just your voices.. It is time to Restore the Bear Totem!!

Go Bears!!

Happy Homecoming?

Homecoming in the sixties was an event. Greeks decorated their houses and were represented in the annual Homecoming Parade. In 1959, I was a freshman and had met a group of students who were an amorphous bunch called Independent Students. They had rejected the Greek System, but gathered together to be a loose knit group. The Independents needed a float for the Homecoming Parade and I was enlisted to round up other kids to get the job done. I recall driving around the dorms: Wilson and Wiebking and the other smaller women's residences looking for recruits. At that time most students only came to Colorado State College to whip through a basic Education curriculum and get into a classroom. Zip Zap.. a neighbor of mine attended summer school and did her BA in three years!

Point being that no one stayed on campus. Virtually everyone went home to spend the weekends with family and the comfort zone of where they'd come from to Greeley. I wonder if everyone goes home these days? Fifty years hence?

Understanding that the City of Greeley and the university is probably the same politically as it was all those years ago is becoming clear. I realize that I can't force progressive thought where the safety of representational art and familiar ideas still live. I just wish that there was one voice for progress that might respond to my strong desire to donate my tribute to Totem Teddy to the college.

Years ago there was a big controversy down in Denver when a Blue Ribbon Committee made up of arts experts were engaged to help decide upon public art for a new university campus there. They reviewed entries for two years or more and finally awarded the prize of an installation to an abstract artist who had created a piece called Athena. Athena was a huge sort of yellow Mrs. Potato Head with three dimensional representations of learning bursting from her. The outcry was incredible! Finally, the Colorado Arts Council met to discuss the work. One member of this politically appointed group made a statement that I'll never forget. He just couldn't 'get' that the controversy was a big part of the art.. it was undeniable.. it was outrageous and strangely beautiful. His comment was that for the kind of money that the State of Colorado was going to pay this artist they could get some "'really good art"" like the Buffaloes at Stapleton" which.. I believe, his wife had made.. bronze bison, life size.. standing at the old airport. "Really Good Art!" indeed.

I've been told by Greeley acquaintances that if it ain't representational, then chances are that it might not be embraced by UNC or the community. Some time ago an observer on this blog said that freshmen didn't have time to 'figure out abstract art.'

So.. there's a stuffed bear in a plastic box in the UC and a huge bronze bear squatting outside. Does anyone pay attention to them? Like them? Care?

I'd sure like to make a difference in Greeley and on my old campus. I really would.

Michael

NEXT STEPS

This is an invitation to all University of Northern Colorado Bears: students, faculty, staff, administration and alumni to pitch in with ideas for the restoration of Totem Teddy to the UNC Campus. The Centennial of his arrival on campus will happen in 2014. It is my goal to restore the totem in an artful way before that time.

Tradition has never been a big deal in Greeley, but the Bear in me is still hoping for others who may agree that neither a stuffed bear in a plastic box nor a huge squatting bronze, neither one is a true representative of our Bear Spirit.

I have offered to build the "ReIncairnation of Totem Teddy" at my own expense on the same site where the Ghost Memory Totem stood from 2005 until 2008 and the original Totem Teddy stood until his repatriation to the Tlingits of Angoon, Alaska in 2003. The Bear Totem stood proudly on the Greeley campus for almost ninety years and it is my firm belief that his memory should not be forgotten.

Alumnus, the Honorable Lynn Karowsky is responsible for the term "ReIncairnation!" Thank you, Judge Karowsky.

Please join me in my effort to restore the Spirit of Totem Teddy to the UNC campus.

Michael Sheehan
CSC Class of 1963

AFTER THOUGHTS

I’m honestly happy that TP did me the honor of pointing out that one man’s art is another man’s trash. I was an advocate of ‘poor art’ in the early pages of this blog and still am. Of course, we live in a time when things are a little upside down. What is strange to me is that my admonition that my ideas for tradition at UNC are not meant to be, of course, a final word, has been ignored. Saying you are going to do something and doing something are two entirely different things.

Of course, TP may be right. What in the world is this one single voice whose only interest right now in UNC is its tradition doing? What gives me the right to do anything? It’s a little like being a citizen, isn’t it? Don’t we, each of us, have the right to speak out and to do things that may draw attention to causes or ideas that we hold dear? I don’t like to think of myself as political.. however, these acts of art are political, aren’t they? That Jerrold DeWitt, who is supposed to be a kindred UNC alum, basically defames me and then dismisses me with no public apology… No response… That’s just bad manners. At least the anonymous Ms/Mr. TP has the nerve to speak what he/she says reflects others. How many, we don’t know. The infamous ‘they’ always agree with us or support our ideas, though we won’t list their names or say exactly how many there are.

One neat thing is that I have a contingency of students and others who sign their names here and support the idea of tradition. Even though a reinCairnation may not be the ultimate answer, it’s SOMETHING and I’m proud to have contributed it. As I’ve said, it may not be my place as a 20th century alumnus to try to influence a 21st century institution. But, as I’ve seen no one else very interested, other than a handful of busy students, it still means something to me…

So.. rather than grouse around about how ‘they’ won’t do anything, I’ve made an effort to fill the space. Maybe to TP and his/her ilk, nothing is better than something? Maybe if I’d not insisted that a replica be installed on the site where the original totem stood, this tradition would have eventually faded into the woodwork; the little plaque that tells the story of Totem Teddy would fade away.

And, that would be fine because, how can you miss what you never knew existed? What is that Joni Mitchell song…? Gosh.. another 20th century artist… “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot… you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone…” but, if you didn’t know paradise, you may be happy with a parking lot. Ask a Tri Sigma, if you can find one.

Granted that Greeley and UNC may be pretty conservative communities. Do we always allow popular opinion rule? Is the minority idea simply extinguished just because the majority has the means to do so?

This brings me to a question that I got an oblique answer to the other day. There used to be a mural / installation which was dedicated to the tradition and the roots of our university on a wall in the upstairs area of the UC. It depicted, along with photos from long ago, of the campus, a coed from probably the 1920s, judging from her attire. She was half way up the totem pole, smiling like anything at the camera. This was a time, almost a hundred years ago, when the possession of Totem Teddy was not a political faux pas. It was just a gift from a generous alum who had an idea. I doubt that he asked about sending it. I imagine that he was a pioneer, this Andrew Thompson, CSNS Class of 1887, who wanted to show gratitude for his education and laid the totem on the college with the best of intentions. So.. the old Bear winds up on campus.. gets stuck up on the Cranford lawn and, Voila!!, a symbol for the college.

What happened to that installation? It was politically incorrect in that it doesn't reflect the current atmosphere of the UNC campus? Antique photos reflected exactly the way the campus was in the teens and twenties. Where are they now? Who is taking care of them? Who was the artist who designed that collage? Will it be seen again? Or will history be revised to reflect a new century, completely obliterating the past?

I’m often asked, as I see a lot of movies, “was that movie any good?” Of course, if I liked it and would see it again, then, ‘good’ might be just the review that I’d give it. I don’t do that any more. If I liked the movie, I say that I’d see it again. If it didn’t do anything for me, then, I say that one viewing was enough. So? Is the $120,000 big bronze Northern Vision ‘good art?’ Who am I do say? Does it represent the Bears I knew? Hardly. But, there was a contingency of folks who said that they’d sponsor that installation, the estimate from one person who does large bronze installations for just the physical location of the bronze was about $150,000.00. This is one of those hear-say deals, if the cost for just the site is available, I’ll see if I can get it. The point is that someone thought that a twelve foot grizzly was a good idea and managed to get permission for that installation because whoever gave the go ahead said that they could. Did UNC pay money to create that plaza? Do they pay the electricity for the lighting? Is there maintenance on the bear and the site that comes out of the plant budget? Is the art any ‘good?’ Does it reflect the spirit of the university today?

Just questions. Like the $250,000 revamping of the Cranford Hall site in 1989/90 that removed a dozen or so live trees, featured major excavation, removed ghost sidewalks, erected a big block wall and sent the dust of the construction over the Centennial Class of 1990, I wonder who okayed that project and who paid for it? Is it good? Does it make a nicer space than the simple lawn with sidewalks leading nowhere did? Where did that construction money come from? Who made that decision?

We really should move beyond the past. I’m hard pressed, obviously, to do that. But, we probably should.

Ideas come and go. Thinkers and Doers come and go. The bottom line for me is that as an artist interested in the Idea over the finished product… and how new ideas may help individuals grow… I’ll always hope that a seed planted in one fertile mind may blossom in time to other ideas that will create a space for growth and more growth. Idealistic. Sure.. but when you are dealing with people whose egos overshadow ideas that, if nothing else, need exploration, then.. don’t we have an obligation to show them up for the people they are and even if they plow us under, the notion that one little idea may land in a rich mind, is worth all the effort. At least to me.

Much love..