Rashomon or The Hound of the Baskervilles?

I've been thinking about truth, appearances, loyalty and standing up for your beliefs recently. The controversy is continuing about Montserrat College of Art, the program segment about encaustic on WGBH-TV, credit being given where credit is due and people being willing to take a stand. Trying to sort out all this stuff is taking up a lot of my time and attention, but I really hate injustice and I just have to do what's right.

So what I'm gonna do for all those of you who are seekers of truth is to post a few things here that have appeared in the past few days.  All you Judge Judies and Simon Cowells out there, have at it. And by the way, I'm just going to highlight a few pertinent points. I'm sure you won't mind.

And the Truth shall set you Free
If you're a regular reader, you know that I gave you the whole initial story the other day in my post "Where's Joanne?" Since that time there have been many comments and messages back and forth between readers, Montserrat College, WGBH, Joanne Mattera, me, etc., etc.


So the first question is: who is responsible for leaving Joanne Mattera's name out of WGBH's program?


First up, a message from Dean Laura Tonelli of Montserrat College of Art, apparently sent to all attendees of last year's encaustic conference:


Dear Friend of Encaustic, 
We are happy that so many of you have reported high satisfaction with this year’s Encaustic Conference. By now you may have heard or read some negative feedback about some publicity the college received post conference as a result of “The Greater Boston with Emily Rooney Show on WGBH-TV.” The following is a note from Dean Laura Tonelli regarding the filming.

On behalf of the College, I want to express our deep regret that Conference Founder Joanne Mattera’s name and enormous contributions to this annual event were omitted from the recent WGBH program. It was certainly not our intention to discredit or diminish Joanne Mattera’s key role. When originally contacted, the filming was scheduled during the conference and included Joanne Mattera as the featured speaker. However, WGBH moved the interviews twice, further and further away from the conference dates, to a time when both Joanne Mattera and I were out of the state. Not wanting to miss a rare opportunity for the College to promote both the conference and the institution, it was decided filming should move forward with the expertise of our professional gallery director and college president. Interviews were scheduled and two hours of film was shot in two locations on two separate days. Joanne Mattera’s expertise, leadership and “bible” were acknowledged by both the gallery director and the president a minimum of five times during the interviews; unfortunately, the editors at WGBH edited out those references. We wish to assure everyone associated with the conference that every effort was made to provide information that would pay respect to the conference founder, to the medium of encaustic and its practitioners.

Sincerely,
Laura Tonelli, Dean
ltonelli@montserrat.edu

Now I have nothing against Laura Tonelli. She has always been extremely pleasant to me and supportive of the conference and Joanne. However, I must point out that Laura does not know firsthand that Joanne's name, credentials, etc. were mentioned a minimum of five times. She was out of town - in Italy, in fact - during the shooting. What she says is hearsay.

Next Emily Rooney, host of the show that featured the segment on Encaustic at Montserrat (from the Where's Joanne? FaceBook page)

Emily Rooney: One more thing. You are all acting like there is some intentional slight here and that we "edited" out someone who is most deserving of recognition. That is not the case. Further, we did not shoot 2 hours of footage and there were not 5 mentions of Joanne's name. I don't want to make this worse because clearly people are upset, but Greater Boston has done all of you a greater good. You should take your beef elsewhere and leave us off the invitation list next year.Yesterday at 5:03pm · 

Emily is oh so sweetly directly refuting the claim that Laura made because Emily read the email that had been linked to the FB page.

NEXT:

Excerpts from An open letter from Shelley Gilchrist of Fused Chicago to Montserrat's President Steve Immerman. (You can read the whole letter by clicking on the link.)

"Copper Falls" by Shelly Gilchrist, 2010,
encaustic on panel, 43" x 16" x  1 1/4"

TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2010

Montserrat no longer an "epicenter"

Dear Dr. Immerman,

How surprising to see that you, the titular head of Montserrat College of Art, are unable even to acknowledge the individual who conceived of the Encaustic Conference, does the lion’s share of the work to produce it, and has made a growing hit in the art world for four years. What is it that prevents you from publicly speaking her name, or giving even the slightest credit to the conference founder and visionary? You had a chance to link Montserrat’s name indelibly with Joanne Mattera’s and ride on the success of the conference both nationally and internationally. You blew it....

It is ironic to see that Montserrat is still taking credit as being the “epicenter” on the College website. This strikes me as academically dishonest in a place where knowledge is everything. Usually students who do not cite their sources get flagged, whereas you and the college have a far greater responsibility. As an academic, you need to summon the reporters and publicly correct the record and broadcast this through your website and links. If you continue to ignore Joanne’s creations and contributions as theconference founder and leader, you will deserve whatever you get: flagging, flogging and a thoroughly unscholarly reputation. I have a responsibility to future artists to point this out whenever they are considering an education at Montserrat.

Yours truly,
Shelley Gilchrist
Juror’s Award recipient, 4th Annual Encaustic Conference

President Immerman's response to Shelley Gilchrist's letter, also posted on Fused Chicago

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2010
Montserrat responds
A response from Montserrat's president came today:

We all feel very badly about how the interviews came out. Joanne was acknowledged many times. I began my responses talking about the central role that Joanne played in the conference. Unfortunately, WGBH chose not to use most of what was taped including all the references to Joanne and her leadership. In retrospect, given how many times the taping was rescheduled, we should have probably just scrapped the whole thing. In truth, we wanted to shine a light on the fantastic conference and the community that has developed around the art. Its a stark lesson and I assure you will not be repeated.
I have a hard time accepting the notion that we "blew it" when we did not have editorial control. If there was any mistake it was to have gone ahead in the absence of Joanne, a decision for which I take full responsibility and deeply regret.

-Steve

Stephen D. Immerman, President
Montserrat College of Art

And I might point out that Joanne M. has still not heard from President Immerman either apologizing or saying anything else about this fiasco.

Now Emily Rooney again (from FB Where's Joanne?)

Emily Rooney: Joanne, Nancy et al: I just reviewed Jared Bowen's piece on encaustic at Montserrat and must say I'm a little stunned at your egocentric point of view. I can assure you our viewers are curious about the art itself, not who organized the conference. Also Jared did try to interview Joanne Mattera several times, but she was unavailable. Jared is the most thorough and well researched reporter I have ever worked with and he knows how to make an esoteric subject accessible to the average viewer. I'm puzzled you don't see this for what it is - good publicity for an exhibit that few would know about and fewer would care had it not been for Greater Boston.Yesterday at 2:02pm · 

Emily doesn't get it that we don't believe that any publicity is good publicity. We want some real publicity that acknowledges that you can't talk about encaustic at Montserrat without talking about Joanne Mattera.

Next, we hear directly from Jared Bowen, Reporter at "Greater Boston With Emily Rooney" of WGBH-TV, Boston. This was a comment on Art in the Studio received today and also posted on the "Where's Joanne? FaceBook page (by Tonia Collins in Jared's name) .

 Jared Bowen said...

After reviewing the litany of on-line comments about my story on encaustic at Montserrat College I’d like to take a moment to weigh in.

My story was a brief and general look at encaustic. As most of our viewers were likely unfamiliar with the style, our intent was to offer a quick overview, illustrate the art through Montserrat’s two gallery shows and artist Julie Shaw Lutts’ work and to make mention of its increasing popularity. We never intended to profile the conference itself. 

Montserrat aggressively courted coverage. Only one date was ever booked for interviews. I did not reschedule any shoots. I have reviewed my transcripts and would like to correct some of what’s been posted. I conducted a roughly eight minute interview with Leonie Bradbury, a roughly six minute interview with Stephen Immerman and a 14 minute interview with Julie Shaw Lutts (although most of that time was spent having her explain her process). The rest of the shooting was of the art itself.

Over the course of my interviews there was only one mention of Joanne Mattera and that was by Stephen Immerman at the top of his interview. He said the following: “It all starts with the ambitions and the energy of our faculty and Joanne Mattera who is arguably one of the national experts on encaustic who had the idea, had the passion. But it fits with Montserrat and the reason why is there are several themes that the conference exhibits that Montserrat also has. Montserrat was founded as a college by artists for artists…”

I am (and was) well aware of Joanne Mattera’s contributions to encaustic and appreciate her role in its resurgence. I did endeavor to interview her but unfortunately my schedule did not coincide with her own. While we would have preferred to have an interview with her, in the end I concluded it was best to shed some light on encaustic than none at all.

I stand by my story. Despite the rancor it has generated, I continue to admire the community you artists have fostered around your passion for encaustic.

Jared BowenAugust 5, 2010 11:05 AM

Joanne Mattera

My excerpted response to Jared, posted as a comment today on Art in the Studio, Where's Joanne? (click the link to read the whole thing)

 Nancy Natale said...

Jared, thanks so much for your courteous and professional reply. I appreciate your response and your serious consideration of our criticism of your work. I'm also glad to see that you have noted Joanne Mattera’s prominent place in the encaustic "world", and the fact that she is an acknowledged authority in the field who deserves recognition for her important contributions.

...  If it is true that the only mention of Joanne's name was by President Immerman in a casual kind of introduction (and you do have the hard evidence of this), then I do understand why it was edited out as an unimportant detail. If President Immerman and the Montserrat Public Relations Department had really stressed that you can’t say “encaustic” without saying “Joanne Mattera,” I think you probably would have included at least a mention of her as the founder and director of the annual encaustic conference. 

That Joanne’s name was not even mentioned in your piece is what has us so steamed because we know that it’s not Montserrat College of Art that is encaustic’s “champion”, but Joanne Mattera. If you don’t mention Joanne, then Montserrat gets the credit for Joanne’s vision and hard work. This is not fair to her and to those of us who are so indebted to her for so much. We who were there (and have been for four conferences over four years) know that the reason that Montserrat had the two encaustic shows on display is that they were organized in conjunction with the encaustic conference. If there had been no conference, there would have been no encaustic shows.

And without Joanne Mattera, there would have been no encaustic conferences at Montserrat.

...What was really the problem is that your visit was scheduled while neither Joanne Mattera nor Dean Laura Tonelli was available at Montserrat. This meant that you were not going to get the real story about encaustic at Montserrat. Montserrat’s going forward with your visit in Joanne’s and Laura’s absence and Montserrat’s continuing promotion of your coverage of “Encaustic at Montserrat” without a disclaimer about the omission of Joanne Mattera is dishonest and shameful

I hope that there are no hard feelings and thank you again for taking the time to review your video and try to set the record straight.

August 5, 2010 6:11 PM

Whoops! I almost did a Montserrat on you! What about Joanne herself? you may ask. Doesn't she have anything to say about all this?  Indeed she does and you can catch the wave at her new encaustic conference blog.

But for one more comment that you can read here from Joanne herself, try this one on. It sums up her opinion of what went on and what should and will happen now.

Joanne says:

I also have tremendous respect for the dean and, frankly, I don't think this fiasco would have happened had she not been on a trip abroad with students.

However, after seeing how badly the college and the president looked in the video--in addition to seeing that I was nowhere to be seen--why would the college continue to promote the video on its website? AND send out emails with a URL urging its recipients to view it? (I saw it only because a Boston art professional emailed me with the link and said: "You have to view this video, NOW.")

Also, I have to ask: How desperate is *any* institution for publicity that it would go ahead with a video without the person who made the event possible? So to my mind there is no excuse for a) scheduling it without me, and b) promoting it when they saw that my name was not even mentioned. I could have provided more accurate information as well--i.e. encaustic is not a "style"; what we make is ART, not "encaustic art"; we are not do-it-yourselfers teaching each other but professionals who gather to share information, ideas and technical expertise.

(The president and gallery director said they mentioned me, and I believe them. But seeing the final product, someone at the college should have said, "It's missing a key component. We are not going to promote this in any way.")

Also, by the way, the president has not responded to me directly. I mean, what, the secret service won't allow it? He allowed the PR person to respond to my first email. I wrote: "I see that I am nowhere to be seen on the college's website regarding the video." The PR person's response, and I'm paraphrasing: Sorry, you were away when it took place.

The president also did not respond to my certified letter informing him and the dean of my termination of contract. Going through the dean, in a matter like this, is unacceptable. An "Im sorry. We blew it," would have gone a long way toward assuaging my displeasure.

Thea asks why I have said nothing on my blog. Thank you for asking that, Thea. There are a couple of reasons:
1. I am not a victim. I am the person who created the most fabulous encaustic conference ever. I don't particularly wish to be known as as the person who got omitted from a stupid video for a show I'd never heard of on the local public TV station.

2. Mindful of my contract, I want to tread carefully. The college is an institution with financial resources (and a healthy profit from the conference). I am an independent contractor who earned a modest sum for my work who would have to pay for legal representation out of my own pocket. I am about to speak with my attorney now at $200 a hour.

3. On the relocated conference blog, www.encausticconference.blogspot.com, I have been putting up information slowly. For instance, my letter to WGBG is there.

Thanks, everyone, for your public and personal words of support, encouragement, leads and ideas. Please stay in touch with me (joanne@joannemattera.com) or via the new conference blog.

I am trying to take August off, but I'm responding to the many offers that have come in. A couple of venues are quite promising. My criteria: must be institutional or organizational, with an established infrastructure, interest in encaustic, the financial resources to pay me sufficiently for the enormous amount of work I am about to sink into the project, and a healthy respect for the tremendous gift I (and WE) are about to give them.

Now more questions: would you take a stance if you believed in something? Do you have the courage of your convictions? Do you dare speak truth to power?

REFERENCES:

• The piece about encaustic produced and reported by Jared Bowen for "Greater Boston With Emily Rooney" on WGBH-TV. 
• The link to Montserrat's promotion of themselves as the "Epicenter of Encaustic Painting" according to WGBH-TV.
• The link to my initial blogpost on this, "Where's Joanne?"
• The link to my FaceBook page "Where's Joanne?"

Happy 100th Birthday, Hedda Sterne!

Today, August 4th, is the 100th birthday of Hedda Sterne, a pioneering artist who happened to be a woman. Congratulations, Hedda, on reaching this milestone and thank you for paving the way for those of us who are women and want to be taken seriously as artists.

Hedda Sterne in the 1950s as photographed by Margaret Bourke-White. (Image from "Uninterrupted Flux: Hedda Sterne," a catalog of a retrospective of Sterne's work, published in 2006 by the Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, edited by Karen Hewitt, exhibition curated by Sarah L. Eckhardt. Most of the images in this post are from this catalog.)

I have written about Hedda's work and career earlier in this blog, as follows:
Who Was That Woman, April 1, 2009
A Virtual Connection Made Real, March 8, 2010
Hedda Sterne: Part Two, March 11, 2010

I hope you will take a look at these earlier posts because they try to summarize Hedda's very interesting life and career.

My interest in Hedda began when I was writing my long series of posts on Rothko back in March and April 2009. I came across the famous Life Magazine photo of "The Irascibles" and became curious about the only woman in the picture. That photo has haunted Hedda throughout her life and become her most enduring public image. Through my posts, I tried to publicize other images of Hedda that portrayed her as the serious and independent-minded artist she was.

Photo by Nina Leen published in Life Magazine in 1951. 

L to R: Theodoros Stamos, Jimmy Ernst, Barnett Newman, James Brooks, Mark Rothko, Richard Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, Rotert Motherwell, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlied, Ad Reinhardt, Hedda Sterne. The protesting artists were termed "The Irascibles."

Last February, during the unusually heavy snowstorm that New York received, I met Hedda's niece Veronique Lindenberg, a resident of Paris who was in New York visiting Hedda. During that meeting where Veronique, my friend Binnie Birstein and I had lunch, Veronique very kindly presented me with a copy of the now out-of-print catalog of Uninterrupted Flux, Hedda's 2006 retrospective exhibition at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois. Having the catalog meant a great deal to me because I could see the range of Hedda's work and get an idea of her accomplishments unrelated to the Irascibles photo.

The catalog from Uninterrupted Flux

While Hedda's body has been subject to the infirmities of her great age, her mind and spirit remain strong. I hope that you will join me in congratulating her on her birthday and thanking her for pursuing a unique artistic path during her long life. Veronique is with her in New York and has told me that she will read birthday wishes to Hedda, so if you would like to pass those along, please add your comment to this post.

Hedda Sterne, about 1963-65, photograph by Theodore Brauner, from the Uninterrupted Flux catalog.

The Questionnaire: Kimberly Curry

The Questionnaire is meant to be a lighter version of a bio, a little more revealing in some respects and personal without all the facts bogging it down. I supply the questions and the respondents supply the answers. Either one or both of us supply the images.

            K i m b e r l y  C u r r y           

What is your favorite color?

I don't really have a favorite color. Even as a kid, my "favorite color" was pink, yellow, blue (I would say it as one word if anyone asked me) I can say I have "leanings" toward one color over other at different times in my life. These days (and for sometime) I have leaned toward orange.

Kimberly Curry: Urban Legend, encaustic on board, 5.5" x 5.5", 2010

What is your favorite word?

Actually.  (I love that you can stick it any where and it makes you sound like you are about to say something profound.) 

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Balance, humor and whimsy 

Kimberly Curry: Galactic Silhouette, encaustic on board, 5.5" x 5.5", 2010

What turns you off?

Stress 

What profession other than artist would you most like to be?

Motivational speaker and author 

Rainer Maria Rilke,

What is your favorite book or movie? 

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke 

4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926) Rilke was a Bohemian–Austrian poet and art critic. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language. His haunting images focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety: themes that tend to position him as a transitional figure between the traditional and the modernist poets. (from Wikipedia)

Who is your favorite musician, musical group or style of music?

This totally varies on my mood! Range is from pop, folk, classical, electronica. I do get melty when I hear Jason Harrod (folk singer) who is in NYC. He performed at my 40th b-day bash. That was fun! 

What do you most value in your friends?

Consistent kindness laced with humor 

Name three artists whose work has influenced your own or whose work you most relate to.

(Cosmina,Oxi and Doru are artist friends of mine I met in Romania when I was there as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I own a lot of their art. I have been deeply influenced by them.)  

Doru Dragoi, Silence

1. Doru Dragoi
Note about Doru - talented in many levels - poetry, music, visual and performance art. Doru is a natural leader. This piece Silence is a reflection of his sensitivity and awareness. He is currently finishing up his studies at the University of Bucharest to be a theatre director

Cosima Dragomir, Blue Nude

2. Cosmina Dragomir 

Note about Cosmina - a textile artist by training, this piece (which is 6'x2') uses lots of texture in her work. This is one of her final paintings from university. She was broke and had to use tar and trash to create it. She received very high marks for the work and I feel in love with it immediately. She works huge.

Oxi Axinte, Our Lady of Sorrows

3. Adrian "Oxi" Axinte
Note about Oxi - I was in Spain on a bus, traveling with 35 Romanian, Spanish and Italian youths. Oxi sat next to me with his unlit cigarette (being unable to smoke on the bus, he kept the cigarette in his hand or his mouth until he could lite up) when he declared "I want to make you a sculpture! I will do this for you." And so, a year later I received a package in the mail and it was this Romanian icon. Oxi is not at all religious, but he is very proud of his country and icons in Eastern Europe are sometimes more of a statement of culture than religious symbol. He and Cosmina went to the same university in Bucharest. His degree is in metal sculpture and painting. 

Name an artist whose work you admire but which may be unlike yours.

Joan Miró 

Joan Miro: The Garden

Kimberly Curry (right) with Jeanne Griffin at the opening of Ancient Medium, NEW Terrain
at the Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, Mass., May 17, 2009

What is your idea of earthly happiness?

A good cup of coffee, a quiet morning and a great book in my hands

WORKS BY KIMBERLY CURRY

Time Travel, encaustic, handmade paper, thread on panel, 6" x 6", 2008

Change in Motion, encaustic, handmade paper, thread on panel, 18" x 14", 2008

Zazzle, encaustic, handmade paper, thread on panel, 6"x 6", 2009

Atomic, encaustic, handmade paper, thread on panel, 20"x16", 2009

Kimberly will be showing work in the Teeny, Tiny Show at Three Graces Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, this September.

Check out Kimberly's website - www.kimberlycurryart.com

and newenglandwax.org

Where's Joanne? (The Person Who Is the Encaustic Conference)

Have you seen this artist and conference organizer?

I really get a kick out of most newspapers and TV that say they follow "The Arts." What they usually mean by that terminology is everything but visual art unless it's on a commercial scale like Takashi Murakami, who sells Louis Vuitton handbags at his shows, or perhaps Jeff Koons, who creates giant reflective balloon animals as public sculpture. So let's just say that my expectations were not high when I saw that WGBH in Boston had featured the encaustic conference on "Greater Boston," the evening news show hosted by Emily Rooney.

Money Talks and the Media Walks (after it)
Of course it was money that drew attention to encaustic - the medium Jasper Johns used to paint the flag, formerly owned by author Michael Crichton, that sold recently for $28.6 million. You can just see the head scratching that went on when those writing and telecasting about The Arts were asking themselves, "Uh, what the hell is encaustic?" So enterprising and emmy-winning reporter for WGBH, Jared Bowen, found "encaustic" at Montserrat College of Art, which had been promoting itself for hosting the encaustic conference.

Jared Bowen

President Stephen Immerman

On July 8th Emily Rooney presented Jared's piece about the the encaustic conference at Montserrat. On camera were the new President of Montserrat, Stephen Immerman; the Director of the Montserrat Gallery, Leonie Bradbury; and Julie Shaw Lutts, who demonstrated how she uses encaustic in her work. Jared said that Montserrat had "taken ownership" of encaustic by presenting the conference, which he referred to as a "massive brainstorming session" where "the small number of artists scattered across the country" who use this "style" come together to talk to each other. President Immerman said that he had never heard of encaustic prior to his arrival at Montserrat and described the conference as "a group of artists teaching each other."

Joanne with Miles Conrad at the 2010 conference

Where's Joanne?
"Where's Joanne, " I kept wondering as I watched this piece. I kept waiting for Joanne Mattera, the Director of the Encaustic Conference, to appear on camera since she was the person who conceived the conference in the first place and brought it to Montserrat and is the person whose incredible energy, passion, contacts and vision have made the conference the wonderful experience that it has been for each of its four years. Joanne's ground-breaking book, The Art of Encaustic Painting, (known as the bible of encaustic) established her authority in the medium of encaustic and led to encaustic's current flourishing popularity (despite what Jared had to say about its limited use). I waited until the end of the video, the chat between Jared and Emily after the video and the end of the segment and nowhere did I hear the name of Joanne Mattera. "How could Montserrat have let this happen?" I asked myself. Are they trying to take credit for Joanne's work? Where is Joanne to correct these wrong descriptions of the conference as a DIY-fest where the 25 people who use the "style" come together in an art potluck? How could this happen?

Joanne introducing scholar Roberta Bernstein, 2010 keynote speaker

I am angry that Montserrat could pretend that this conference was all their own idea. I'm angry at the injustice of their taking the credit because I know how hard Joanne has worked on developing the annual encaustic conference into the incredibly well-organized, informative and enjoyable event it is. She does everything from the top down on this conference with very little help from Montserrat. I found her this past year on the day before the opening of the conference delivering palettes and setting up tables in the classrooms. Meanwhile, she was the one who had:

• arranged the juror for the conference show
• found and invited Roberta Bernstein, the Jasper Johns scholar, to give the keynote talk
• reviewed and accepted proposals for talks and classes
• scheduled all those talks and classes - including all the contact with presenters
• conceived, arranged and moderated the panel of guests for Saturday morning
• invited the artists, chose the works, hung the show and wrote about "Wax Libris II: The Library Show"
• devised and developed the plan for "Best Foot Forward," the wonderful hallway show of works by all the conference attendees
• designed, wrote and continually updated the conference blog
• answered all the questions, completed all the details, and barely drew a non-conference breath during months of preparations

Joanne moderating the Saturday morning panel at the 2010 conference

But perhaps it was not Montserrat who was responsible for this glaring omission of Joanne from the story of the encaustic conference, but rather Jared Bowen, who missed the lead in the story?

So I tell you what I'm doing to find out the truth: I'm writing to Jared Bowen and Emily Rooney at WGBH and to all the staff at Montserrat including President Steven Immerman, Laura Tonelli - Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs - and to Jo Broderick at the Montserrat Public Relations Department. I want this injustice to be corrected and for Joanne's vital role in the conference to be acknowledged and applauded. If WGBH does not do it, then Montserrat should post the correction on their website. I urge everyone to write and get this fixed. Meanwhile, I have started a FaceBook group called "Where's Joanne?" and I urge everyone to join.

Big Bambu - on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum

That wacky weather in New York the weekend I visited kept the exhibition on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum closed for most of the day because of torrential rains, but when Binnie and I were about to walk out the front door of the Met at five o'clock, Binnie spotted the sunshine outside and asked if the roof had opened. Sure enough, it was open and we decided to delay our progress to the Whitney and take a look at "Big Bambu, You Can't, You Don't and You Won't Stop" by Doug and Mike Starn. (Link to Met site.)

Overview of early construction with Doug and Mike Starn at left (from the Starn website) NOTE: Be sure to click on this picture and others to enlarge them so you can see the detail. The Starns' wide pix especially are hard to see in this small size.

If you watch the video below, you'll see how the Starn twins finish each other's sentences without skipping a beat. Imagine how much more art-making you could achieve with a truly simpatico other half of your being - you could be in two places at once and have twice the creative power! It makes me envious just thinking about it. but surely it can't always be true? Anyway, it's true as far as Big Bambu goes.

Looking up through the forest of poles

Binnie observing (Doesn't this remind you of that Degas painting of Mary Cassatt looking at a painting at a museum? All the Binster needs is an umbrella.)

This is a massive work, ultimately to be 100 feet long x 50 feet wide and 50 feet high, that takes the form of a cresting wave made of 5,000 bamboo poles lashed together with 50 miles of nylon rope. The work combines sculpture, architecture and performance as it continues to be constructed throughout the exhibition period by the Starns and a team of rock climbers. By opening day on April 27th, the construction had reached its 100 feet long x 50 feet wide dimensions, but the height was 30 feet then and will continue to be built up on either end during the course of the exhibition until it reaches about 50 feet high.

Part of the rock-climbing team adding poles to the construction (also from the Starn website)

When you come out onto the roof garden from the elevator, you are surrounded by bamboo poles and it's pretty hard to get an idea of what's going on. The tendency is to walk outward toward the edge and the view of the skyline and then to look back at the structure.

Even when you go as far away from it as possible, you are still not able to get back enough to see the whole structure.

Browning hedges in foreground, exit on middle left with people leaving and to the right of that, a pile of bamboo branches with leaves still attached that are being added as construction continues.

And did I mention that when we went out on the roof from the air-conditioned museum, it was about 98 degrees and 75 percent humidity? That's the reason for the pained look on my face. I don't do heat.

The views of the skyline were really fabulous.

But I think that being in the midst of all the poles, what struck me most were the ropes and the intricate ties that joined the poles together. Apparently each thickness of rope was a different color and the rope had been cut in pre-established lengths so that any extra rope hung down from the ties.

I was really taken with the pathway coming down on the left side of the structure. It had amazing groups of poles that had obviously been put together with great care.

These conjunctions were my favorite part of the installation. As the Starns say in their video, "The interconnections are where all the activity happens and something gets made."





Putting this work more in context
In case you think this kind of construction is unique to the Starns, take a look at some of these sites that show how bamboo is used for scaffolding on building sites in Asia: http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/6888/hong-kong-bamboo-scaffolding.html
http://www.uoregon.edu/~struct/courseware/hk1/hk1_bamboo/bamboo.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5yTvE3_qp4  (I wasn't able to embed this video but it's pretty cool.)