Posts from ‘Writing’
Image by Taylor Glenn
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
On Sunday, May 12th, National Geographic photographer Wade Davis makes an appearance at Jackson’s first annual Mountain Story Festival, courtesy of the Murie Center. There’s no getting away from the fact that climbing treacherous, challenging peaks here—and anywhere in the world—is a huge part of our culture. Climbers take in the outdoors in a mind-bending way. The closest I’ve come to being that high, with a few thousand feet between me and flat ground is the year I skydived, on a dare, at college. I’d do that again before I’d climb the Grand or any other giant, jagged, craggy mountain!
Others have infinitely more guts. These extreme personalities can’t keep themselves from climbing; they climb in their sleep. Which is why Davis’ talk on his new book “Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest” should be packed. Mothers, be warned! Content may be nerve racking! 7:00 pm start, Pink Garter Theater, downtown Jackson.
Wednesday, May 15th, the Murie Center’s Mardy’s Conservation Collection Book Club meets to discuss the Murie’s book, Wapiti Wilderness.
“In this autobiographical tale…Olaus and Mardy describe their life together, raising a family in the mountainous wilderness of the Tetons, while Olaus worked for the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey,” says the Center. The gathering takes place at the the Murie’s original home, Murie Ranch, in Moose, WY, at 6:30 pm. Lively discussion, reflection and inspiration are a promise. www.muriecenter.org.
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The Grand Teton Association (GTA) has announced its line-up of plein air artists for this summer’s “Artists in the Environment” (AIE) series, taking place the second Saturday of every month, June – September, in Grand Teton National Park(GTNP). Each of those weekends, regional plein air painters provide free painting demonstrations at locations throughout GTNP. Founded by the late, great plein air artists Greg McHuron and Conrad Schwiering, the program has offered countless visitors and art lovers a free chance to see artists capturing the beauty surrounding us.
I have a personal passion for this program~~I believe the history of plein air painting in this valley, and in the Greater Yellowstone Region, is one of America’s most important art history stories. Its tradition is unbreakable; the artists’ bonds are like steel.
For fifty years, the GTA has celebrated GTNP via the arts. All proceeds realized by the GTA serve to broaden education, research and interpretation of GTNP.
Times and locations are TBA, but participating artists for 2013 are: Dwayne Harty – June 15th; Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters & Co., – July 13th; Wendell Field - August 10th; and Fred Kingwill - September 14th. More on all these artists as summer progresses!
Tomorrow is my sister Annie’s birthday. If she had been diagnosed with Stage One or Stage Two colorectal cancer at age 30, she might be on this earth with us, still. Instead, destiny determined that she be diagnosed with metasticized Stage Four cancer. Lest you think 30 is not a tender age, believe me, it is. This week Annie would be 46 years old.
Whenever Annie’s birthday approaches my thoughts of her increase, and I miss her more. She liked climbing trees, and tree houses–I have pictures of her in trees from her earliest years. Sycamores were always a favorite. Seeing them brings me back to our family’s early golden, free-roaming California days. We never tired of running our hands over a sycamore’s remarkable, puzzle-like surface. In its infinite shadings, pieces and patterns sycamore bark is a natural work of art. The tree’s feminine, arcing shape adds to its great, welcoming presence, and it is filled with light.
Recently, writer Terry Tempest Williams posted a YouTube video, a short story about “a tree, a memory and washing dishes.” The piece was made in partnership with the Center for Digital Storytelling, and it is lovely. Here is the link.
The latest, most powerful way Annie let us know she’s with us, sitting pretty in some cosmic director’s chair, has to do with Super Storm Sandy.
For 10 years, I held on to Annie’s dense, warm, hooded sheepskin coat. I never wore it but could not give it up. Dropping it off at Browse ‘n Buy or some other
local thrift store felt too random. When Sandy happened, a voice whispered that this was the time to send Annie’s coat to a person in true need; Annie worked in social services much of her life. I wrote a letter~~~ “a message in a bottle”~~~ describing to the coat’s new owner who Annie was, how much she loved the coat, and that if it were possible for the recipient to write me a letter saying they had the coat, it would be forever cherished. I wished them well and prayed. I took Annie’s coat to the local team personally delivering collected warm garments to the east coast.
Winter can take its best shot, but even the frosty old man can’t hold off thoughts of summer plein air painting. A friend and I have been talking about Greg McHuron, and what he represented as an artist and influence. He is still sorely missed. Feelings about Greg run deep.
“We honor Greg by doing what Greg loved most – going out, painting, and sharing our experience and knowledge with other people,” says my painting friend. “Painting outdoors, either with a group or on our own is the best way to honor his spirit.”
There’s talk of a grant being established in Greg’s name. I’m not up to date on how that effort is proceeding. A “massive retrospective” would be one appropriate way to honor his memory, said my friend. An appropriate arts organization might purchase a substantial portion of his work, and publish a catalog.
“My idea about things in the West, it’s industrialized, it’s not perfect and beautiful…but what is tragic, or could be tragic, you make it a beautiful pattern into the landscape.” - Tad Anderson
Cosmic coincidence that I came upon a year-old Peter Schjeldahl review of a deKooning retrospective just prior to sitting down and writing about Laramie “outsider” artist Tad Anderson? Schjeldahl feels the same way about deKooning as I did when I first laid eyes on Anderson’s astounding work~~he must be amongst the most gifted artists in our state, and every work of his you see whets your appetite for more.
If Anderson created 100,000 paintings, it wouldn’t be enough. It wouldn’t be enough to satisfy Anderson, and if the public gains the good fortune to see his work, 100,000 paintings won’t be enough for them, either. It’s almost impossible to choose a single work that sums up Anderson’s immense talent, a talent displaying extraordinary use of color, composition, and multiple styles.
Remarkable, considering Anderson has schizophrenia, and “one or two high school art classes” as his sole formal training. Thirty-four years old, he’s been drawing in earnest for a decade. In conversation, Tad’s thoughts at first seem disordered, and he’s refreshingly blunt on the subject of art.
“Early on, I spent a year in Albuquerque watching New Mexico’s art scene—there’s so much crappy art for so much money. And I thought, “this is so dumb, I can do better than this, and why is it so overpriced, anyway?”
I came to understand Anderson is highly connected and disciplined about his work, relentless in his pursuit of quality. Talking with him was like getting yanked from a stupor.
Mental disorders are often linked with high intelligence and creativity, and can produce great works of art. Artists like Anderson have a gift: they rebuff prevalent artistic conceptions and introduce us to thrilling and revealing interpretations of reality.
“Artists who are good, all they are is incredibly intense people speaking from somewhere painfully, way inside,” Anderson said.
“When I think of great artists I think of Dostoyevsky or Beethoven………the cult of Van Gogh is almost overdone now; he was a vibrant person, but I’m more into the Expressionists and Post-Impressionists. Van Gogh is good, but all his works I’ve seen pale in comparison to Vuillard or Bonnard or Braque, Klimt—-those people. They had dynamic minds. And that’s why people like art—because of dynamic, curious minds exploring the world.”
Laughing, Anderson adds that he usually avoids other artists almost completely. Down in Albuquerque he’d take the bus out to the edge of the Sandia Mountains, walk in a couple of miles to his tent, and camp with his dog. That’s when Anderson started making art.
