I first saw Dick Termes' work in the summer of 2012. A local middle school art teacher, Dori Klopfer, wrote a grant to bring Dick to Cheyenne for a workshop with her ninth graders, along with a public workshop and show at the Laramie County Library. While planning our summer trip to Spearfish SD, I discovered that Dick's gallery and studio were close by. It was on our must visit list. So, with our 1974 wooden teardrop trailer in tow, we pulled into the gallery driveway. Now I need to say a little bit about our trailer. It was called Woodstock (I am using the past tense for a reason to be explained in an upcoming post) It was built by a genuine hippie from Casper Wyoming. While Woodstock was totally rocking the vibes of Termes' hand built, wooden, geodesic dome gallery and studio, we parked and began climbing the stairs to the gallery. The minute we stepped into the gallery, the assistant flipped a switch which brought to life 60 spherical globes, rotating at precisely one revolution per minute. The Termespheres are about optical illusion and 6 point perspective. Dick's technique involves way too much math for my liking but they are none the less very cool. He calls them, "An inside out view of the total physical world around you on the outside surface of a hanging and rotating sphere." We spent time looking at all the spheres including the first one he ever made. It is always interesting to me to see how an artist develops his ideas and abilities over time. We purchased a reproduction of one of his pieces which you can cut out and form into a sphere (Dave's job not mine) and headed back to the car. We think Woodstock wanted to stay longer but we needed to head down the road for more adventures in the Black Hills of South Dakota and beyond.
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Can you guess who these men were? Here's s quote from Gutzon to help you out; "The purpose of the memorial is to communicate the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States with colossal statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt." Gutzon Borglum Four powerhouse presidents were carved on the face of Mt. Rushmore between 1927 and 1941 by Danish-American scupltor, Gutzon Borglum and his assistant son, Lincoln Borglum. I did a little research on the sculptor and found his personal story as interesting as the main attraction. Here's just a sampling; born in 1867 into a polygamist Mormon family (the two wives were sisters), took art lessons, married his teacher, Elizabeth Putman who was 19 years his senior, traveled Europe, divorced after 10 years, studied in Paris, befriended sculptor Auguste Rodin, returned to the US to begin creating "American" art, carved a colossal head of Lincoln which Lincoln's son Robert saw and proclaimed, " I never thought I would see father again", created Robert E. Lee's head on Stone Mountain, got mad, got fired, and finally started working on his most well known public art piece, Mt. Rushmore. Wow! You know what I always say! "Why be normal when you can be interesting". Meanwhile back at the main attraction, Dave and I both entertained the tourist again as we painted and drew the monument. Dave had visited over 3o years earlier so when he got home he dug out an old sketchbook and compared drawings. It was interesting to see how his skills had matured. This was my first visit to Mt Rushmore and although the park was teaming with people from all over the world and we ran into an epic rainstorm complete with tornado warnings, I finally got to see one of our countries famous patriotic sites. Mt Rushmore was named after NYC lawyer, Charles Rushmore, who upon seeing the granite outcropping in 1884 called it a, "majestic pile". That "pile now draws in almost 3 million visitors a year and we were there! "That's where we are going, replied the Dad in response to his son's question. "Are we going to climb it?" No was the answer because the "thing" was Devil's Tower. After eight years in Wyoming, Dave and I finally got up to the Northeast corner of the state on our way to an art show in Spearfish SD. The National Park System is celebrating its 100th birthday so the park was teaming with tourists. I shoved in my earbuds and turned up the tunes in an attempt to dampen the sounds of motorcyclists and people commenting on our artwork. My goal was to finish one painting of the "Thing" and then move on to less crowded parts of the park. An hour later we packed up our supplies and started driving out of the park. On the way out we saw a white, circular sculpture standing alone in a field. Did we investigate? Of course! The Circle of Sacred Smoke was created by internationally known Japanese sculptor, Junkyu Muto as the third in a series of seven "peace sculptures" planned for significant sites around the world. The first was erected at the Vatican in 2000 and the other in 2005 at Bodh Gaya India ( where Buddha was enlightened ). The sculptor recognized Devils Tower as a sacred place and the Circle of Smoke was installed in 2008. The 12 foot tall sculpture is made of Carrara marble and the black granite base comes from the Crazy Horse memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The sculpture is meant to represent a puff of smoke from a sacred pipe. If you position yourself just right, you can capture the "Thing" in the puff of stone smoke. How cool is that!
Located on the United States Patent and Trademark Office campus in Alexandria, VA., the National Inventors Hall of Fame is a small but very interesting museum. There are 500+ inductees but as we discovered, there isn't anyone representing Wyoming! Hum....there must be someone from my home state holding an interesting patent, we'll have to work on nominating someone! Regardless, there were so many interesting and inspiring stories of people like African America physicist George Alcorn who invented the x-ray imaging spectrometer. His father was an auto mechanic who sacrificed so George could get an education. His son certainly honored that sacrifice! Here's a quote from Alcorn, " I'm determined, I'll work, I'll put the time into it. Going to work is not work its an adventure. I'd much rather have adventures."
Who cares about the arts....what can they do to improve a city's economy? Alexandria's Torpedo factory helps to answers that question; "Work began on the building in May of 1974, with artist volunteers and City personnel working together to remove the debris of 55 years. Bulldozers and fire hoses were initially needed and 40 truckloads of debris were eventually removed. Studio walls were built, electricity and plumbing expanded. The entire exterior was repainted. By July, artists had converted the huge space into a complex of bright and clean studios. On September 15, 1974, the Torpedo Factory Art Center opened to the public." Vision, commitment, elbow grease, civic support and the vitality of the arts, brought economic prosperity to a dilapidated piece of waterfront property. 82 artist's studios bring in over 500,000 visitors a year. Wow! The economic prosperity target gets a direct hit! The Torpedo Factory has been on my, "I want to see this," list for years. Once again the art lovers, Nancy, Dave and I, spent the whole day wander through studios, visiting with artists and taking in the Target Gallery's multi media show called, Please Touch. 20 national and international artists were chosen for this interactive show. Kurt Treeby, an artist from my hometown of Buffalo NY, made architectural tissue boxes out of plastic canvas. "Plastic canvas is a cheap crafting material often used for kitschy objects and it's most often associated with the creation of tissue box covers. These covers often take the shape of quaint country homes or cottages far removed from the modern architecture of the city. Like the tissue that gets discarded once it is used, all of the buildings recreated here have suffered the same fate." I took a picture and a tissue as I contemplated the three pieces Kurt had in the show. When I returned home, I emailed the artist and explained the project. Here is what Kurt said about his personal fabric, "I thought about your question, and I think if I were to design a fabric that represented me, it would have an architectural appearance- a brick pattern or a shingle pattern, something associated with a building." The Torpedo Factory, a direct hit for LEAP 366 ! |
LEAP 366
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