Christo dies

May 31, 2020
From CNN the sad announcement that Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, 84, has died. 

My love of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work goes back for many years. My correspondences with them were infrequent, but always personal and supportive.  One of my pieces of art is in their collection, to my humble pride. 
For folks who were in Southern California in the eighties, you may recall The Umbrellas dotting the landscape up along the I-5 Freeway.. Videos of The Running Fence and The Rifle Gap Curtain are available and for anyone who doubts the power of Art, they are a must see.  We see lives changed.

Credit: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images/Serpentine Galleries

The artists never accepted volunteers. Every person who worked on any of their many installations was paid.  The installations were financed from the sale of Christo's preparatory  works of art that sold to museums as well as to collectors. They donated artwork to be sold to benefit institutions like Pepperdine University where I bought my lithograph of The Umbrellas.

The CNN article below is fairly thorough. If you are outside the art world and have not been exposed to these installations, take a moment. Find the videos. Come back to the analog world and send a note of appreciation and condolences to the artists' son, 
 Cyril Christo 
48 Howard Street
NYC, NY 10013 USA

I am a fan.  Unabashedly so..  and sad for this passing. Make art now!!!  That's most likely what both Jeanne-Claude and Christo would say if asked for advice. Make Art now. Yes.

Michael Sheehan
May 31, 2020 
Please copy and paste the link below or do a search for CNN Christo dies at 84.




https://www.cnn.com/style/article/christo-artist-dead/index.html?fbclid=IwAR26PqJcJAq9ZS9neywb5OJaMeZoRCmyP2xFtlwwmeMZAKNGdXiAUocHwKE

The Typewriter

I've always had a typewriter.. 

The one I really like is an old Royal portable.. It's green.

It's reliable. 

Recently, I sent a typed letter to a guy I admire who also may be enthrall with the analog way we used to communicate.  He is a busy guy, but I admire his work and how he's good at seemingly everything.  I was going to send him a typewritten letter, but he's busy. So... I've decided that I'll post the scans of my typewritten note here and send him the link/address. That way, if he's on line one of these days, he can take a look.  It's Art. 

Most visitors are here by a broader invitation. I won't be publishing this anywhere.  However!! If you wander in?  Hello! You are also welcome. 

** Of course, that should be 'whoM'.. 

 In tYpe.. Michael Sheehan

TOO MUCH TIME?

Tom Paine starts The Crisis with "These are the Times that try mens' souls..." The world is up against it, but I have faith that the dumb people will maybe die a little and the smart people will stay away from the dumb people and life will go on. Recently, I realized that creativity is also under the quarantine.   We are all tired and a little loopy.. loopier than we were before, being confronted with a brand new terror.  Make no mistake, the television news wants us to tune in to see the results of the terror.  Statistics that list recoveries I have not stuck around long enough to hear.  I do know personally of friends who are victims and getting better every single day. Good news.. 

As our souls are tried and found flagging a bit, I had something happen recently that could have been damaging.  Negativity.  Practicality. What if?? What about??  

When a creative person has an idea, that idea needs to be nurtured.  No matter that smart adults can see the many holes in the idea.. unless there is a death at the end of the idea, shut up.. Ask questions and make positive suggestions. or, please, Just Shut UP!  Shut up.. 

Spinning from an idea that was almost derailed by a well meaning pal, this true story came back to me. Take from it what you will.  I like my story. It has a happy ending.. 

New Artwork that has only a little to do with this story

// 

This then is about practicality.. 

Years ago, I was cleaning the gutters on the back of my house.; walking on the aluminum patio cover when, all of a sudden.. the patio released from the edge of the house.. and down we fell!  I rode it down, so it was  sort of like a slide.. Bam!

Independent guy that I am.. I decided that I had to put that thing back up by myself.   What I needed was a 'sky hook!'.. a hook that would be in the sky to attach a block and tackle to to lift the 200 pounds or so up and reattach it to the house. Of course there is no such a thing as an actual 'sky hook' barring a giant crane or a helicopter to send down a line to pull the patio cover back up.. I also had to redo the ledge that the thing rested on. 

Days pass.  The outer edge of the cover is in place and holding. 

Days pass. And, without telling the whole story.. I "invented" a sky hook, attached it to the fallen patio cover, used a block and tackle to raise it to the new ledge that I'd installed and with some luck and patience, I screwed the thing back together!

This is, of course.. bragging on my silly independence.  With someone who actually knew what they were doing, it would have been a one day job, Zip Zap.. but. the satisfaction of doing it myself was the pay off.

This essay all turns on "Practicality."  Had I been practical, I'd have hired the job done.  But, with no one to deter me, the practicality took a back seat to a "project" that still gives me great pleasure to recall to memory.

And, this is as much to say, When someone has an idea.. That's the kernel of any project.  To nay say or offer ideas that may deter the idea is wrong.  It's okay to chime in with ways to make it work, even offer to help.. but to deter an idea that may not seem practical.. is to stifle creativity and the opportunity to witness a miracle.

We'll be needing more than one miracle in the coming days not only in the USA.. but in the World.  This little story ends with a plea to find a middle of the road person who might have thought that this president was okay or voted for him to vote against Mrs. Clinton..  I was among millions who thought our country could never elect a person with no qualifications but bluster.  We were wrong.  Don't stifle creativity by bringing up stuff that won't help the Blue Candidate. Find a way to recruit intelligent folks and even those whom we may have dismissed in the past.  Do this to save our United States. Do this to save our lives.  Do this deliberately and consciously and, of course, with care.  With love even.. Take them to lunch.  Just hope that enough smart folks see what's happening and has happened and might happen. and will move to put our country back on the road to kindness and consideration and success. 

Okay?

Okay. 

May 2, 2020

michaelsheehan