Just the bones

Shawn, Maggie, Emily and I decided that cutting the paper totem into pages for a book that would live in the archives of UNC might be an idea. I'll use the wooden hoop that held the bear to help bind it. I photographed the wooden matrix in several postions where the original Totem Teddy stood. This one, by what is now Gray Hall (Bru-Inn) is close to where the original stood. The well known photo of the students in 1947 shows the real position. I wrestled it around a little trying to find the right spot. The wind blew it over one time!

This is an adventure of the Spirit. The people whom I've met and have been gracious and helpful shall be remembered with much love. Steve Girault, one of my teachers throughout my entire education in Greeley used to sign his letters this way:

Much love..

ms

Ghost Retires

April 25, 2008

Met with Emily Carlton, Maggie Wright and Shawn Brackett today at the UC. Jay Dinges appeared with the lift and made sure that I understood that we had to be out of there soon. The kids decided to make a book of the paper totem, so we cut it into about 32 pieces which I’ll assemble into a book, using the wood from the hoop the bear hung in to bind it.

Chris Casey from the Tribune appeared with Jim, his photographer to do a story. Christina from The Mirror appeared later. Each of the students was charming and articulate and bright. We cut up the paper totem, then hauled the matrix outside. Dinges made it clear that if it was not removed from the UC by the end of the day, his crew would just smash it to bits. He was civil and helpful. But, obviously the art was not welcome in his UC. Ronna Sanchez never appeared. Theresa, one of the staff, was very nice.

I met some terrific kids on the way from the UC with the matrix. A beautiful girl..a quad.. let me guide her hand to sign the matrix. She was a pure spirit.. amazing.. Philip a tech major was effusive and fun to chat with. A girl who just loved God and liked to help other people helped me briefly in front of Snyder Hall. The fountain there is long gone.

All together, with the snardly attitude from Dinges and the fear of them destroying the matrix notwithstanding.. I’ve had a heck of a day.

Here’s to you, old Totem Ted.. Long may you wave.

Sheehan

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.

Forty-six Blocks, One Big Bear

Today I cleaned the car and loaded the 46 blocks that make up the ReinCairnation of Totem Teddy. Thanks to Lynn Karowsky for this term. Now, all we have to do is find a way to get the other almost four hundred blocks cut and over to the campus.

This may prove to be a challenge.

I wrote to Rico Wint, the current president of the SRC asking for his help. It would be fun to include the newly elected students, too. If anyone reading this can help recruit them, I’d appreciate that.

Why do all this work for a simple art project and a memory? I ask myself that question, especially when other folks say that they’d pretty much forget about it. Being stuck, a little, in the past.. remembering the smell of spring in Greeley.. the feedlots! Freshly cut grass.. though more in the summertime.. blue skies.. wide streets. Trees trees trees.. is part of it.

Had a nice talk today with a lovely lady who was working in the Alumni Affairs office in 1990 when I was welcomed to UNC to do my Cranford Project. Supportive and direct, she gave me some insights into the bureaucracy of the university and how various factions really need to start communicating with each other to help UNC grow. I’m not close enough to really be of much help… and from the cool reception I’ve gotten so far, it seems that creativity and imagination are not at the top of anyone’s agenda to make UNC an institution where kids really want to come to get an education.

College is a preparation for life in many ways. The nuts and bolts are important, of course.. And, of course, a little tradition isn’t going to make a major difference, but evoking the imagination couldn’t hurt. This is a time for all kinds of life experiences. Biff Rose said "Man does not live by bread alone. You gotta have a little toast."

I’ll be in the UC this coming Friday, April 25th. Hope a lot of folks will show up and we’ll find a way to inspire some fun, remember Totem Teddy and facilitate his ReInCairnation?

Rein CAIRN ation

This is a Mirror photo taken in 1947 when Totem Teddy stood between Bru-Inn and Gunter Hall. This is where he stood when I first saw him in 1946.

After the weather and other elements wore on the totem, CSC President, Dr. William Ross, placed the totem in storage where he stayed until a petition from students allowed him to be restored to Central Campus in 1963.

The bear himself sat for a while in the Carter Library.

Poor Art?

Got another interesting set back today. A professor in the art department whom I'd hoped would recruit a student to help with the Bear Cairn as a project wrote to say that it won't happen.

I wonder what all this resistance is about? The donation of a piece of conceptual art to my alma mater seemed like an opportunity for me to honor my old school and maybe give students something to discuss. Actually, the impression I've gotten as the Ghost Totem has begun to deteriorate has been that the students were inspired to make a permanent replacement maybe because they didn't understand the impermanence of my installation?

The Cairn will be up for only a short period of time. It's going to look pretty cool.. crude and ephemeral..

Growtowsky inspired a "Poor Theatre" and trained actors to just act from the essence of themselves. Their guts and spirits. It was not about the building or the sets or lights.. it was about the actor expressing himself in a very basic way.. for a primer on this, rent My Dinner With Andre (Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn.. a brilliant movie directed by Louis Malle). The Bear Cairn is like that.. a simple statement, up for discussion, even if the discussion starts with "What the heck is that?"

I'm a little disappointed that there hasn't been much response here.. but it's essentially a journal of my experience that I'll log until my trip to Greeley is complete. It's a quest.. windmills to tilt.. new folks to meet.. questions to be answered...

One question I'd like to have answered would be why the alumni folks who welcomed me in the past seem to have turned their backs on me?

Anyone?

How in the world could a few wooden blocks make much of a difference to anyone?

Bear Cairn

This image is now ready to place on the wooden blocks for the Bear Cairn.
He's about 36 inches high and 18 inches at the widest point from his right paw to his back.

There's something so simple and even pure about this unpainted image. A nineteenth century critter on a 21st century quest. What a trip.