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
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Big Time Basketball
Here's to the Bears! Going to 'the Show' is an honor you've earned. Next Year!
best wishes,
Michael Sheehan
CSC '63
best wishes,
Michael Sheehan
CSC '63
Thursday, February 17, 2011
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
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
Monday, October 18, 2010
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!!
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!!
Monday, September 27, 2010
INCHING THROUGH WIDE STREETS?
Bears and Others who care:
Below is a brief email exchange that I've just had with Michael Johnson, VP of Alumni Affairs at the University of Northern Colorado. He is a thoughtful guy, but is somewhat limited in his ability to Green Light a project. Of course, the former VP, Jerrold De Witt, was able to land a stuffed bear for display in the University Center, apparently, on his own.. so.. power may be fleeting. This is not to criticize Mr. Johnson. It's just to state facts as I understand them. If there is a way to move my idea forward, I am pretty sure that he will be interested in helping.
See below.. Please read from bottom to top.
Michael..
Good that there may be new traditions.. Especially, in music, which I know means a lot to you.
The politics of art is what we're discussing. What's appropriate and what's not.
I've said many times in the past that I support a replica of Totem Teddy for campus and have also declared that it seems to me that my tribute would not be an 'either/or' situation. If there are actual people on campus discussing a replica I would like to meet with them. I have made suggestions for a bronze as well as for a carved totem. It would be nice to be included in those discussions as I have been the voice in the wilderness. or so it seems.. on this idea. I have names and addresses of artists who have the ability to create the representational type of project you mention traditionally or in a modern way in bronze.
My desire to contribute to my alma mater is a strong one.
Sixty-four years ago this month I spent my first days in a classroom there. Fifty-one years ago I began my college career there. I grew up in Greeley.. I love my history there. I love my long connection with Totem Teddy.
That there have been Philistines like Jerrold DeWitt who have essentially ridiculed my efforts has only made my desire to be involved in restoring this important tradition even stronger. I should not gloat at DeWitt's demise, but it seems that his tastes and desires got him where he is today.
I have the support of folks on campus. I will fund the project with no monetary support from UNC. Though I'd love to have my installation where I first saw Totem Teddy, just to the south and west of Bru-Inn, I have other sites that I'll be happy to consider.
It's so simple. Really. Just do what Bryan Stuart did for me twenty years ago and what Ken McConnellogue did for me in 2003. Just be open and accepting of an idea that can only present opportunities in a positive way for discussion of the importance of tradition and art on the UNC campus.
Please just help me.
Michael Sheehan
CSC '63
818 244 9939
--- On Mon, 9/27/10, Johnson, Michael
Monday, September 6, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tradition in the 21st Century
As the class of 2014 arrives on the UNC campus, their traditions, I hope, will evolve with the leaders of their class. Of course, that's how most traditions take hold. Someone has an idea and acts on it. It might be solemn or it might be silly. If a tradition catches on and students embrace the idea of remembering their days on campus, passing the basic business of education, then there's a hook to hang your beanie on.
Freshman Beanies bit the dust over forty years ago. Kids today may be too sophisticated to bend that way ever again. Or, some bluenose may have decided it smacks of hazing!
Actually, the Freshman Handbook, that held the basic Rules of the Road for incoming students, was loaded with not only helpful facts, but recounted the history of the university. Freshmen were required to learn those facts and any upperclassman could quiz them on the information. It was a 'medium' of exchange that may have smacked a little of 'hazing' but it was a way for new students to be welcomed by students who had to learn the information when they were Freshmen. It was just a way to meet and greet in a good natured way.
In 1959 (God.. that seems like yesterday and at once a very long time ago) I was elected Vice President of the Freshman Class and loved bonding with the other kids who were immediately identifiable because of our beanies. Vicky Meyers was our Freshman Class secretary and seeing this bright young woman in a beanie was a major treat. Find the Cache La Poudre for 1960 and you'll see what I mean. We were all pretty cute, actually.
I wax nostalgic again. The halcyon days ... more innocent that this 21st Century, remain warm and truly wonderful to me. We were never made to bow down to Totem Teddy, but we knew his history and there was a certain pride in the image of the Bear Totem that appeared on ID cards and elsewhere.
These days I don't see much tradition. The UNC band, of course, is a unit that literally plays together. Playing, I think, passes the obvious and maybe it's the band that will rise to the idea that a rally point for tradition is a good one. I met some of the UNC band members a couple of years ago and their obvious joy in their music was wonderful.
So.. the school year begins. No beanies. No Freshman Handbook. No Bear Totem. No Homecoming Parade?? (I don't know about Homecoming these days? Do the Greeks decorate their houses? Make floats for the parade?) Is there anything that helps to bond the new kids with the returning students? How are they welcomed?
Finally, on point. I've been in touch with Dr. Andrew Svedlow, Dean of the UNC college of Performing and Visual Arts, as well Arts professor Lydia Ruyle regarding th Bear Totem and am learning lessons from them. What will it take to get the university on board? More support and open arms. Thanks to Lydia and Dr. Svedlow, as well as Dr. David Grapes and Mike Johnson, VP of Alumni Affairs.
Here's to the Class of 2014. Your graduation will herald the centennial of the arrival of the Bear Totem on Campus. That's something!
Michael Sheehan
Freshman Beanies bit the dust over forty years ago. Kids today may be too sophisticated to bend that way ever again. Or, some bluenose may have decided it smacks of hazing!
Actually, the Freshman Handbook, that held the basic Rules of the Road for incoming students, was loaded with not only helpful facts, but recounted the history of the university. Freshmen were required to learn those facts and any upperclassman could quiz them on the information. It was a 'medium' of exchange that may have smacked a little of 'hazing' but it was a way for new students to be welcomed by students who had to learn the information when they were Freshmen. It was just a way to meet and greet in a good natured way.
In 1959 (God.. that seems like yesterday and at once a very long time ago) I was elected Vice President of the Freshman Class and loved bonding with the other kids who were immediately identifiable because of our beanies. Vicky Meyers was our Freshman Class secretary and seeing this bright young woman in a beanie was a major treat. Find the Cache La Poudre for 1960 and you'll see what I mean. We were all pretty cute, actually.
I wax nostalgic again. The halcyon days ... more innocent that this 21st Century, remain warm and truly wonderful to me. We were never made to bow down to Totem Teddy, but we knew his history and there was a certain pride in the image of the Bear Totem that appeared on ID cards and elsewhere.
These days I don't see much tradition. The UNC band, of course, is a unit that literally plays together. Playing, I think, passes the obvious and maybe it's the band that will rise to the idea that a rally point for tradition is a good one. I met some of the UNC band members a couple of years ago and their obvious joy in their music was wonderful.
So.. the school year begins. No beanies. No Freshman Handbook. No Bear Totem. No Homecoming Parade?? (I don't know about Homecoming these days? Do the Greeks decorate their houses? Make floats for the parade?) Is there anything that helps to bond the new kids with the returning students? How are they welcomed?
Finally, on point. I've been in touch with Dr. Andrew Svedlow, Dean of the UNC college of Performing and Visual Arts, as well Arts professor Lydia Ruyle regarding th Bear Totem and am learning lessons from them. What will it take to get the university on board? More support and open arms. Thanks to Lydia and Dr. Svedlow, as well as Dr. David Grapes and Mike Johnson, VP of Alumni Affairs.
Here's to the Class of 2014. Your graduation will herald the centennial of the arrival of the Bear Totem on Campus. That's something!
Michael Sheehan
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