Artists 2 Remembering 5 Visualizing Macdowell 6 News 14 Events 15

Vol. 38, No.2 Winter 2009

In this Issue Artists 2 Remembering 5 Visualizing MacDowell 6 News 14 Events 15

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage 100 High Street Peterborough, NH 03458-2485 PAID Permit No. 11 Peterborough, NH The MacDowell Colony 2 Artists Lines ofCommunication LETTER FROMTHEDIRECTOR Executive Director Cheryl A.Young we couldn’tincludehere,joinusonFacebook! plishments byMacDowellartistsmadepossiblewithyourhelp.Foralltheothernewsitemsthat images printedonapage.Wehopeyouenjoyreadingaboutthewiderangeofcreativeaccom- that different,whenyouthinkaboutit,fromthepowerandrichnesscomeswords and richnessgeneratedfromsimplematerialssuchaspaper,glass,bitsofstring,orpaint.Notall is alsoaglimpseintothevitalityofart,evenduringtoughtimes. needed totransformhowartistsworkinthiscountry.TheMacDowellnewsletterisareport,butit that thefledglingorganizationgainedcredibilityandunderstanding,attractedsupportit Mrs. MacDowellissuedregularprintreportsrepletewithinformationabouttheColony’sworkso at howwearedoingit,thebiannualnewsletterremainsamuch-anticipatedtouchstone.Indeed, not to.ForthosewhowanttoknowwhatMacDowellisdoingandappreciateanin-depthlook whether wecouldsustainaprintednewsletter.Intheend,however,decidedcouldn’tafford This issuetakesacloserlookatvisualartMacDowell,anditisquiteamazingtoseethepower will happentotheprintedord, Readers andauthorsalikewonderhat Will theworldgopaperlessandireless? always lookingforwaystoconservefunds,weweighed Given thecurrenteconomy,andbecauseColonyis current newsandreachnewaudiences. and “green.”Thesetoolsalsoallowustoengagereaderswith our onlinecommunicationsaremultifaceted,informative, to thein-boxesofmorethan5,000subscriberseachmonth, Twitter. Alongwithoure-News,whichisdelivereddirectly and thought,MacDowellestablishedpagesonFacebook the bestoutoftechnology.Tothatend,aftermuchresearch is nodifferent.Weareworkinghardtoadaptinorderget MacDowell communicate. they way the and themselves form not justthoseinvolvedwiththemedia,arelookingtotrans- Paperless communicationsalsoofferfiscaladvantages.

National Children’s Museum exhibits, programs,andactivities. Museum willprovideseamlessinteraction between The PelliClarkePelli-designedNational Children’s attract roughly600,000visitorsannually. house exhibitsrelatedtotheenvironment,health,play,civicengagement, andthearts—isprojectedto wind turbine,asunreflector,“green”roofsystem,andanoutdoor courtyard.Themuseum—whichwill sustainable materials,andcelebratingthenaturalenvironment.” Plansforthenewbuildingincludea “serve asanactiveteachingtoolbyhighlightingtheaccomplishments ofchildren,usingrecycledand in 2013,the150,000-square-foot,LED-certifiedbuildingwill, according tomuseumrepresentatives, National Children’sMuseumatHarborinPrinceGeorges County,Maryland.Scheduledtoopen Colony FellowFredClarke’sarchitecturalfirm,PelliPelli, hasbeenchosentodesignthenew Museum GoingGreen National Children’s of MusicandtheBrain,recentlyinspiredaNOVAdocumentarycalledMusicalMinds. about visionandthebrain,tobepublishedbyKnopfin2011.Hismostrecentbook,Musicophilia:Tales —Writer OliverSacksonhisrecentMacDowellFellowship,duringwhichherevisedabookinprogress QUOTABLE of one’s own work space; and the sense of community and warmth at meals. at warmth and community of sense the and one’s space; of work own privacy the library; the in hours tranquil long, the lakes; nearby and countryside outside world.” the in impossible almost is that focus of sort a with undistracted, work to think, oneself hear to opportunity much-needed a provides this artist, or writer any

“I fellinlove withMacDowell: thesheerbeautyofsurrounding and everyone, everyone, and

Prized Poets McHugh as MacArthur FoundationnamedpoetHeather for theirwork.TheJohnD.andCatherineT. MacDowell poetswhoreceivedmajorawards September broughtgreatnewsfortwo with 2009. Thefive-yearfellowship,whichcomes is concluded inJune. cies atMacDowell,themostrecentofwhich Foundation. Shehashadatotalof12residen- Bunting Institute,andtheRockefeller the NationalEndowmentforArts, fellowships fromtheGuggenheimFoundation, books ofpoetry,Valentinehasreceived monetary prizeof$100,000.Theauthor11 in theartofpoetry,”awardcomeswitha Recognizing “outstandingandprovenmastery Award fromthecademyofmericanPoets. as therecipientof2009WallaceStevens MacDowell poetJeanValentinewasselected University ofWashingtoninSeattlesince1984. Distinguished Writer-in-Residenceatthe volumes ofpoetry—hasbeentheMilliman Fellow, McHugh—whohasauthoredeight Robert for allofus,”accordingtoMacArthurPresident ways intheinterestofbuildingabetterfuture risks, invent,andbuildinnewunexpected ages andinallfieldswhodream,explore,take

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Screen Shots Monadnock as Muse After opening the Film Comment Selects MacDowell Fellows often gain inspiration from the Colony’s serene and peaceful setting. This is perhaps one reason series at Lincoln Center in February, why they also frequently return to the Monadnock region to share their work. A total of seven MacDowell composers Michael Almereyda’s latest film, Paradise made their way back to New Hampshire this summer to participate in concerts and offer lectures as part of this year’s — a documentary comprised of footage Joan Tower captured over a span of 10 years in nine Monadnock Music Festival season. On July 9th, was the guest speaker at a free concert held at the United different countries — was presented at Congregational Church in Sullivan. George Tsontakis offered commentary at the Jaffrey Center Meetinghouse on July

MoMA in September. A four-time 12th (where his Third Piano Quartet was also played), while Melinda Wagner did the same at a concert that featured MacDowell Fellow, Almereyda worked on a her Four Settings at the Peterborough Town House on July 25th. At the same location the following day, Jonathan screenplay about social psychologist Elliott, Stephen Jaffe, Caroline Mallonée, and Eric Moe shared new songs they’d composed based on poems by 1992 Stanley Milgram during his 2009 residency. MacDowell Medalist, Richard Wilbur. MacDowell’s local environs provided an abundance of subject matter for photographer Maria Levitsky during her 3 residency last fall. Driven by her self- professed “long-standing interest in historical industrial architecture,” Levitsky took photographs of a number of historic buildings in the region, many of which she located with the help of MacDowell staff members. “I’m always on the lookout for interesting sites offering intriguing

photographic opportunities,” says The MacDowell C olony Levitsky, who photographed the Jaffrey and Harrisville mill buildings during her ANN I E R CHE RT previous residency in 2005. This time, Julie Reichert (center) and Steve Bognar (right) filming The Last Truck. she snapped shots inside numerous local barns, as well as the Pandora Mill in Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert put the Manchester and Frye’s Measure Mill in finishing touches on their most recent Wilton. “My photography is very hands- project, The Last Truck, earlier this year. A on, using techniques and processes of short documentary about the closing of a the 20th century, so I feel a very strong General Motors plant in Ohio, the film connection and affinity with the relics — which has gained staunch support from of the industrial and farming era of this Ma ri a L e vits ky (2) the country’s displaced auto workers — country,” explains Levitsky. “Because was broadcast on Labor Day as part of so many of these structures that are still HBO’s Summer Documentary Series. It standing are being transformed for other also screened at the Telluride Film uses, there is an urgency to catch them Festival in early September. in the in-between state –– when they are HBO has also laid claim to another empty and the true astonishing beauty of narrative created by a MacDowell Fellow: their construction is revealed.” An exhibit The cable network has optioned of Levitsky’s work, Chimney Dance and Middlesex, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Other Photographic Compositions, was held by Jeffrey Eugenides, with the intent of from May to September at Deborah Berke developing a one-hour series based on it. & Partners Architects in New York. And the nonfiction book East to the Dawn, written by Colony Fellow Susan Butler, is credited as one of the inspirations behind Amelia — the feature film about Amelia Earhart that was released in theaters in October. Starring Hilary Swank, Ewan McGregor, and Richard Gere, the biopic was directed by acclaimed filmmaker and former MacDowell board member, Top: The Pandora Mill in Manchester. Mira Nair. Bottom: Frye’s Measure Mill in Wilton.

New and Notable We gratefully accept donations of Fellows’ artwork, books, music, films/videos, photographs, and other work for the Colony’s Savidge Library collection. Below is a selection of some works that were recently donated and/or created in whole or in part at the Colony.

BOOKS Jessica Anthony The Convalescent, fiction D. Nurkse The Border Kingdom, poetry

Michael Dennis Browne What the Poem Wants: Prose on Poetry, Mary Jo Salter Open Shutters, poetry nonfiction Taije Silverman Houses Are Fields, poetry Andrea Cohen Long Division, poetry Nova Ren Suma Dani Noir, fiction Richard Connerney The Upside-Down Tree: India’s Changing Culture, nonfiction Liz Waldner Trust, poetry

Robyn Cresswell The Visitor, fiction DRAMA Jill Downen Hard Hat Optional, nonfiction Alan Berks They Want, play Doug Dubois All the Days and Nights, nonfiction Barbara Fraser Dog Park Philosophy, play Judith Dupre Monuments: American’s History in Art and Memory, nonfiction MUSIC Julie Metz Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and DuBose Heyward Gershwin: Porgy and Bess, CD Renewal, nonfiction C o urt e s y Pho t oS (2) The MacDowell Colony 4 A TRADITIONOFSUPPOR “

cultural producers ingeneral.” newfound hopeformy own work andforAmerican respect toward With fundingimpossibleto find, MacDowell nationalarts gave me Artists Thornton Wilder(HarperCollins,2008),editedbyRobinG.WilderandJacksonR.Bryer. —Writer ThorntonWilder,July24,1929,talkingabouttheexperienceofaMacDowellresidency.ExcerptedfromTheCollectedLetters QUOTABLE of concentration; alittleroutine issetup,andfinallyeven I,the reluctant author, writeafewpagesdaily.” o’clock. His lunch is brought by a cart and left on his doorstep without knocking. . . . One is caught by the contagion studios, set in deep pine woods, with views of hills and mountains, and doesn’t see another human being until five Medalist, Singleton, JuliaWolfeCharlesWuorinenand1983MacDowell interviewed theevening’sfeaturedcomposers,includingAlvin musicians —washostedbyWNYC’sJohnSchaefer,who alongside thatofup-and-comingcontemporaryclassical The concert—whichfeaturedtheworkofmastercomposers League ofComposersatolumbiaUniversity’sMillerTheatre. was featuredatthedebutperformanceofOrchestra In NewYorkonJune10th,theworkofthreeMacDowellFellows An Orchestral Engagement Composer AlvinSingletonoutsideWatsonStudioin2007. established livingcomposers.” of newmusicthehighestcaliberwrittenbyemergingand 1923, aimsto“engageaudiencesbypresentingperformances Composers indecades.TheLeague,whichwasfounded — thefirstpiecetobecommissionedbyTheLeagueof premiere ofWuorinen’sSynaxis,andSingleton’sAfterChoice performance ofWolfe’sVermeerRoom,alongwiththeworld E lliott

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Frances White Elizabeth Tuergen Karen Sherman Claire Sherman Salvatore cibona Sarah culman Steven Sater Anne Sanow Tom Piazz Jason Nodler Nami Mun Kirsten SundbergLunsrum David Leven Young JeanLee Nam Le Anne Landsman Richard Hayes Marilyn Hacker Andrew SeanGreer Evan Fallenberg Barbara Ess Lisa D’Amour Jennifer Clement Stella Betts Leslee Becker Anthony Barilla Awards,Artist Grants, andFellowships Karla Woznik Natash Wimmer

edented Now, artistsarecountingonMacDowellresidenciesinunprec- the artistisemergingorwidelyacclaimed. Each FellowshiptotheColonyholdsthispromise,whether that oftenleadstobreakthroughsintheirworkandcareers. support toartists,fillingthemwithasenseofaffirmation Every year,TheMacDowellColonydeliversvitalcreative responding community, asartistsfacediminishedresources.MacDowell is the stressslumpingeconomyhasplacedoncreative are up20percentfrom2008.Thisincreaseddemandreflects trying to To give,pleasevisitourWebsiteatwww.macdowellcolony.or g for artistresidencieswillbesustained. help, theColony’straditionofofferingcomprehensivesupport development assistant,atbmatthews talented artistsbymakingagift toMacDowelltoday. Please helptofulfillthepromise ofoursociety’smost or 212-535-9690formoreinformation.

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Map FundGrant,Bluefinger Whiting Writers’Award Fulbright Fellowship~U.S.DepartmentofState American-Scandinavian FoundationFellowship PEN/O. HenryPrizeStory,Darkness in theArts,SocialSciences,andHumanities Visiting Fellowship~UniversityofCambridgeCentreforResearch Sunday TimesFictionPrize,TheRowingLesson M-Net LiteraryAwardforEnglishFiction,TheRowingLesson Map FundGrant,Bluefinger Nelson AlgrenShortStoryAward,TheGrandTour Drue HeinzLiteraturePrize,TripleTime PEN/O. HenryPrizeStory,TheNursery Kessler Prize~CenterforLesbianandGayStudies Library Association,LightFell Barbara StonewallGittingsAwardforLiterature~American The PublishingTriangle,LightFell Edmund WhiteAwardforDebutFiction~ Moondance FilmFestival,Wicked Spirit ofMoondanceShortStoryAward~ Richard FlorsheimArtFundStudioAward~TheSpaceProgram Map FundGrant,HowtoBuildaForest Thornton Writer-in-Residence~LynchburgCollege PEN TranslationPrize The SpaceProgramGrant Whiting Writers’Award Map FundGrant,KingLear Map FundGrant,PrometheusBound Australia PrimeMinister’sLiteracyAwardforFiction, Map FundGrant,Tracing Emerging VoicesAward~TheArchitecturalLeague PEN AwardforPoetryinTranslation McKnight ArtistFellowshipforDancers~TheSouthernTheater Emerging VoicesAward~TheArchitecturalLeague The SpaceProgramGrant Willie MorrisAwardforSouthernFiction,CityofRefuge numbers. a schedule

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ARCHIVAL Photo artists canapply. its kindintheUnitedStatesfor whichindividual applicants thisyearforaPEW — thelargestgrantof egory) wereselectedfromapoolofnearly400 Heyman (whoappliedintheworksonpapercat- Brodzik (whoreceivedafellowshipinmediaarts)and two —eachcomewithacashawardof$60,000. run fromaminimumofoneyeartomaximum able periodoftime,”thePEWfellowships—which “focus ontheirindividualpracticesoveraconsider- freedom toPhiladelphia-areaartistssotheycan in theArtsearlyJune.imingtoprovideeconomic Heyman werebothawardeda2009PEWFellowship MacDowell visualartistsMarcBrodzikandDaniel PEWs for Two Daniel HeymaninPutmanStudio2007. reveals itssurroundings.” spirit andenergyofthesiteasitreflects of timeandnaturalphenomena.Itcelebratesthe the artistsexplain.“Mimeexploresintersection aimed atmagnifyingasenseofplaceandpresent,” motivated ustoconstructacontemplativework the perceptionoftimeandnaturalworld environment. “Afundamentalsenseofwonderat shifting aircurrentsandthechanginglightofits three elementsthatoperatetogetherinresponseto and morethan22feetindiameter—integrates stainless-steel sculpture—whichis32-feethigh St. LouisMetroArtsinTransitprogram,the Station inSt.Louis,Missouri.Commissionedbythe early OctoberattheRichmondHeightsMetroLink Andrew Ginzel Mime, anewpublicartworkbynotedcollaborators Airs Artistic Andrew GinzelandKristinJones. Mime, stainlesssteel,32'highx22'2"diameter,2009,by and Kristin Jones,

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Andrew Ginzel of 80,hedancedaduetwithMikhailBaryshnikovatLincolnCenter.Hewas90. spaces andusingelementsoutsideoftheiroriginalcontexts.In1999,attheage avant-garde artist,Cunninghamenjoyedstagingperformancesinunconventional until thedressrehearsaloropeningnight.Knowneveninhisfinalyearsasan created separately,andthedancersknowinglittleabouttheircostumesorsets Robert Rauschenbergwasrevolutionary,withthemusic,dance,andvisuals Zen Buddhism,hiscollaborativeworkwithcomposerJohnCageandpainter influenced bysuchthingsasthenatureofchange,ideaindependence,and in 1972and1973. his symphonyTour/RetourinIstanbul,Turkey.HehadresidenciesatMacDowell theory. In2007,the85-memberBorusanPhilharmonicOrchestraperformed Southern Maine.Healsotaughtprivatecoursesonmusiccompositionand Cleveland StateUniversity,theUniversityofTexas,and at variousvenuesinternationally,hetaughtmusicSkidmoreCollege, September 30,2008,attheageof60.Acomposerwhoseworkwasperformed George Perle_ John Updike_ Nan Robertson_ Joseph Packales_ Craig Arnold_ two-time MacDowellFellow. Times, whereRobertsonhadworkedasareportersince1955.Shewas the fightforequalityinworkplacebyfemaleemployeesofTheNewYork recovery fromalcoholism;andTheGirlsintheBalcony(1992),whichdetailed Getting Better:InsideAlcoholicsAnonymous(1988),anarrativeabouther about herbattlewithtoxicshocksyndrome.Shewastheauthoroftwobooks: feature “ToxicShock,”anarticlepublishedinTheNewYorkTimesMagazine writing aboutpersonalstruggles,shewonaPulitzerPrizein1983forher in Rockville,Maryland.Shewas83.Recognizedforherhonestyandcandor My Father’sTearsandOtherStories , whichwasreleasedinJune. he publishedatotalof60books inhislifetime,themostrecentbeing Jack Nicholson,Cher,Susan Sarandon,andMichellePfeiffer.Inall, 1984 novel,TheWitchesofEastwick,wasmadeintoafilm starring in 1981forRabbitIsRichandanother1991atRest . His Award in1964forhisnovelTheCentaurandtwoPulitzerPrizes: one awards overthecourseofhiscareer,includingaNational Book Redux; RabbitIsRichandatRest.Hereceivedmany prestigious quartet ofnovelsaboutHarryRabbitAngstrom:Rabbit,Run ; Rabbit poetry, essays,criticism,andnovels—thebest-knownbeing his was 76.Asdiverseasitprolific,hisworkincludesshort stories, John UpdikediedonJanuary27thinDanvers,Massachusetts. He MacArthur Foundationfellowship.Hewas93. time MacDowellFellowin1958,1959,and1969,hewasalsotherecipientofa he wonthePulitzerPrizeinMusicforhisWindQuintetNo.41986.Athree- influenced bytheworkofArnoldSchoenberg,ntonWebern,andlbanBerg, methods ofatonalcomposition—asubjecthewroteaboutfrequently.Heavily he wasmostwidelyknownasatheoristandanauthorityon12-toneserial A composerforchamberensembles,orchestra,soloinstruments,andvoice, MacDowell in2004. Creative ArtistsExchange.Hehadaresidencyat death, ArnoldwasinJapanwiththeU.S.–Japan Poets; andMadeFlesh(2008).Atthetimeofhis which wasselectedfortheYaleSeriesofoung author oftwobookspoetry:Shells sor attheUniversityofWyoming,hewas of atragichikingaccident.Anassistantprofes- April, heispresumedtohavediedastheresult of adangerouscliff.Reportedmissinginlate Japan afterauthoritiestrackedhimtotheedge 41-year-old poetCraigArnoldwascalledoffin Composer GeorgePerlediedinManhattanonJanuary23rd. Acclaimed writerand1981MacDowellMedalist In

May, Writer andreporterNanRobertsondiedonOctober13th Two-time MacDowellFellowJosephPackalesdiedon

the C Cunningham diedonJuly26thinManhattan. pher and2005MacDowellMedalistMerce C choreography fordecades,hefoundedtheMerce American Ballet.Themaindancerofhisown School inSeattle,andballetattheof studied moderndanceandtheatreattheCornish choreographers. Adancerfirstandforemost,he he waswidelyconsideredoneoftheworld’sgreatest Merce Cunningham_ redited unningham

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Remembering

The MacDowell Colony 5 MEDAL DAY 2009 Visualizing 6 MacDowell a Look at the Visual Arts as Medal Day Turns 50

The MacDowell C olony PresentaTion speaker Lynne TilLman Over a century of evolving aesthetics and movements, With special pleasure, I’m The MacDowell Colony has nurtured the innovations and talents of more than 1,700 visual artists. These very happy and privileged to introduce and talented printmakers, photographers, painters, sculptors, and installation artists have all come to the honor Kiki Smith, who has been, in addition to everything else she is, and fortunately for me, a Colony for singular and collective reasons: the unusual New Hampshire light; the particular privacy of its close friend since 1978. I’ve also had the good spacious studios; or the community of peers from other disciplines, which serve to directly enrich their fortune to watch her develop into one of the own work. Since Achsah Barlow Brewster painted her first canvas in 1908, Benny Andrews, Milton leading artists of her generation — one of the most significant artists in contemporary art. And Avery, Robert Cottingham, Heide Fasnacht, Qin Feng, Glenn Ligon, Faith Ringgold, and Stephen I want to thank MacDowell for asking me to Shore, among many others, have followed, each defining and contributing to this artistic laboratory for speak about Kiki Smith and her contribution to the sake of the culture outside it. art, and also for allowing me to be a Fellow here seven times, when I did a lot of writing, and no This Medal Day, MacDowell awarded its Medal in visual arts to another pioneer who has redefined the writing, and visited Colony Hall a lot, and made culture: Kiki Smith. Said Lynne Tillman — writer, critic, MacDowell Fellow, and this year’s Medal Day phone calls, and bothered people in the office. presentation speaker: “Kiki Smith’s influence on contemporary art and culture is immeasurable. In under Kiki Smith makes sculpture, drawing, pho- 30 years, Smith has invented an identifiable language all her own. She has touched materials and forms tographs, installations, multiples, one-of-a-kind objects, in two dimensions, three . . . I can’t think and transformed them, their grammar. Her art, its ideas, her commitment to art’s necessity and the process of a medium or form she hasn’t tried. Smith’s art of making it, is formidable and astonishing and revelatory. Her impact was immediate and is enduring. Her investigates, plunders, reveres, and revises myths, art has shaken things up — especially received ideas — and keeps doing so.” spirituality, art history, women in history, poetry, feminism, religion — her own Catholicism mixes It is perhaps unsurprising but no less appropriate that the Colony shares this aim with its 50th with Buddhism, paganism, deism, and pantheism, Medalist: a commitment to not only art’s necessity, but also to art that shakes things up and endures. I think. She explores sexuality, social mores, vio- We invite you to read through our Medal Day section, which features Tillman’s and Smith’s remarks, lence, fear, horror, finding ways to conjure images of the anguish, pleasures, and vicissitudes of life as well as a stirring speech given by MacDowell President Carter Wiseman. We also include special cov- in an anatomy not only of bodies but also of daily erage of the visual artists who were in residence during Medal Day, and profile a few whose work first saw existence, of how we live our lives. There may be the light of day at the Colony before appearing in current venues around the world. Enjoy! many silicon bronze crows lying on a floor but there is, as in every object she makes, much more

I’ve had the good fortune to watch her develop into one of the leading artists of her generation.

than meets the eye. What hovers below conscious- ness is being beckoned; the things that act on us without our knowing are being awakened. An artist is recognized for producing a significant body of work when — because of and through it — a space has opened up, in aesthetics, in thought generally, in imagining, in feeling, Oin people’s finding a greater capacity for under- standing, and a greater allowance or encouragement E llen Pa g e Wi l s on/ C o urt y Pace d en st i n, N ew Y r k

Continued on page 8 7

MEDALIST Kiki Smith

Thank you. I want to thank the MacDowell community very much for giving me this award, and I want to thank Lynne Tillman,

also, for her beautiful words and her beautiful The MacDowell C olony friendship. One of the titles of one of her books was Living With Contradictions, which has been my motto for trying to assemble my life. I thought getting a medal — it puts you in the lineage of other creative people, and that’s something. Many artists are living in their own heads, in their own houses, and their own hearts, so it’s very nice to be reminded that we are in a lineage. We are in a community, all of us, in the lineage of creativity and the world, and that’s something that we all can access freely at any time in our lives. I just came from New Mexico, from working in a shop making prints, and I thought, well, as you’re sleeping in this bed where all these other people for 50 years have been sleeping in this bed, or some version of this bed, making prints . . . And I’m thinking, Oh, it’s like here. Top: Visual artist Kiki Smith addresses the Like America was predicated on these utopian Medal Day crowd. communities. Then I thought, it’s like, sleeping Above: Picknickers at Medal Day. Left: here, where you have this utopian community Smith accepting the Medal from that’s based on temporariness, where people are MacDowell Chairman, Robert MacNeil. transient, coming and going. So it’s like all these people sleeping in the beds of prior creative people, and maybe some of that’s rubbing off

We are in a community, all of us, in the lineage of creativity and the world.

on them, or they’re accessing that. Then I think, New York is like that, too, or maybe it’s like the same thing. That you have a form that stays the same, but then there’s transience and movement within that form. That, maybe, is what makes it stable — is that it gets to be removed, like creativity, which generationally gets to be renewed and revealed. The only thing I would say is that I hope that future recipients of this award are not only of European descent, because our creativity in America is much broader than that. But I’m very privileged and honored to be here, and very

E llen L a b en s k i / C o urt e y Pace Wi l d st n, N ew Y r excited to be in New Hampshire. Artwork by Kiki Smith. Left to right: Constellation, glass and bronze on Nepal paper, installation dimensions variable, 1996; Born, bronze, 3' 3" x Thank you very much. ] O 8' 5" x 2’, 2002; Sleeping Girl, bronze, overall installation approximately

K e rr y Ryan McFa t e/ C o urt s Pace Wi l d en st i n, N ew Y r k 44" x 55" x 2¼", 2004. Continued FROM page 6 mysterious, as if Smith is discovering its special properties as she works like an alchemist with paper, glass, bronze, for questions, doubt, ambivalence, and joy. The artist’s sense papier-mâché. In her hands — and she is a very hands-on and sensibility, ideas, skill, psychology, beliefs, gender, reli- artist, her hands are always at work — glass becomes sperm, gion . . . all of her life has led her toward what she wants to a teardrop, a drop of blood. A sculpture of a human body make and put into the world. Her artwork realizes itself when turns light as a sparrow in papier-mâché, or heavy as a black it appears before viewers whose vision and experience create hole in bronze. She innovates in textiles and others of the its various meanings. The greatness of art has, historically, so-called homely arts, and remakes their missions. By incor- relied upon the range of interpretations viewers find in a porating them into her practice, she challenges the division work, each era redefining it on its own terms. And though art between domestic and public spaces, between high and may hang on walls or sit on floors or be pasted on billboards, low art. Her work is tactile and tangible and solid, and also it functions in us. It works in us. nearly invisible and fragile and ephemeral. 8 In 1980, I think it was, Kiki showed me some paintings Presentation speaker Lynne Tillman (left) and Medalist Kiki Kiki Smith’s influence on contemporary art and culture Smith in Savidge Library. is immeasurable. In under 30 years, Smith has invented an from a series she called Severed Limbs. She’d painted an identifiable language all her own. She has touched materials arm, a leg, each separate on a board — separate limbs in independent of a person’s will and attitudes. And what we and forms and transformed them, their grammar. Her art, its hard, bright colors. Weird, severe, and charming, Severed do is try to survive. ideas, her commitment to art’s necessity and the process of Limbs gave me a hint of what was to come. In 1982, at The Smith’s first solo gallery exhibition in New York was making it, is formidable and astonishing and revelatory. Her Kitchen, an alternative music space in New York, she pro- in 1988 at The Fawbush Gallery. I attended the opening. impact was immediate and is enduring. Her art has shaken duced work for a small show entitled Life Wants to Live. The gallery was crowded; everyone was very excited — things up — especially received ideas — and keeps doing so. That sentence, “Life wants to live,” also augured things something new was happening. In a way, Smith had gone The MacDowell C olony Smith’s work is frank and tender, brutal and compas- to come. It contained her philosophy about human en- back to basics, peeling away and revealing the body, focusing sionate. It seeks to communicate without having any particu- durance, about all of nature facing multitudes of obstacles. on its interior spaces. Things were inside out. Two pieces lar message. Her application of a material is unique, almost The body, she says, makes incessant demands. It has cycles especially come to mind. Called Untitled, though it relies MakeArt As part of the 50th anniversary of Medal Day, the Colony wanted to offer a memorable art-making experience to guests. Envisioned by sculptors and Colony Fellows John Bisbee and Wade Kavanaugh, the Make Art program began three days before the event with the assembly of a steel armature donated by Belletete’s, a hardware store in Peterborough. With a generous grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation — as well as help from the Sharon Arts Center, several volunteers, many donors of yarn, and, finally, the great enthusiasm of the Medal Day crowd — the site-specific sculpture grew each day, knot by knot, string by string, until a vibrant network became a stand- alone sculpture.

On Medal Day, young and old spent minutes and some- times hours contributing to the sculpture by taking a skein and weaving it around the armature, connecting their Above: Volunteers participating in Make Art. string with another’s, or dramatically tossing yarn over the Right: John Bisbee (left) framework to see where it would go on its own. Lit from and Wade Kavanaugh, co-creators of Make Art. beneath at night, the Medal Day sculpture was a colorful Below: Make Art at night. symbol of how individual expression can unite all of us in creative, thought-provoking experiences. was an opera singer and actor who appeared on Broadway and architectTonySmith,hermother,Jane until hermid-20s.Herfatherwastheacclaimedsculptor but become an artist, though she didn’t decide to be one as muchherart.Butinaway,KikiSmithcouldn’thelp have anyparticulartalentbogglestheimaginationalmost materials thatthefactshehassaidofherselfdoesn’t structure was a strikingly vulnerable entity. huge jars were heavy and brooding. A piece of the body’s together with thread and hung from nails, as delicate as the 1987, apairofhumanribsmadewhiteterra-cottasewn one wehideandcan’tcontrol.TherewasRibs,alsofrom —12 bottles, 12 months. It’s the body we don’t see, or the Mucus, Urine, Diarrhea, and Vomit. The 12 sat on a table labeled Blood, Tears, Semen, Saliva, Oil, Milk, Sweat, Pus, of 12 large bottles — glass, water-cooler-sized containers — on naming,madein1987,oneinstallationwascomprised RiverMead Nan Quick/QDGdesigns,LLC Monadnock PaperMills,Inc. Franklin PierceUniversity Yankee Publishing,Inc. The oadstoolBookshops Roy’s Market Public ServiceofNewHampshire Orr &Reno,P.A. the lakesgalleryatchi-lin Lake SunapeeBank Knight’s Autobody The KingsburyFund The KeeneSentinel James ThomasSalon Jack DanielsMotorInn CGI BenefitsGroup Calhoun &CorwinForestry,LLC other BusinessSponsors Patrons Medal DayLeadContributors Medal DayCorporatePartner Medal DayBusinessSponsors: We recognizewithappreciationandgratitudeour2009 THANK Y Smith produces in so many media and in so many Medalist. Edward MacDowell Nevelson, the1969 Visual artistLouise

Her itsideas,hercommitmenttoart’s art, necessity and the process of making it, is formidable and and theprocess ofmakingit,isformidable OU...

astonishing andrevelatory. spaces and architectural forms are exhibited around the world. spaces andarchitecturalformsareexhibitedaroundtheworld. an artist,andherresonantsubtlephotographsofinterior Seton Smith,knewfrom[theageof]12thatshewantedtobe included BarnettNewmanandMarkRothko.Hersister, filled withtalkaboutcontemporaryart,andvisitorsthat York?” Jane Smith was exceptional in all ways. “Doesn’t KikihavethemostromanticfrontyardinNew ominous. Jane looked toward the East River and declared, subway. Wewentoutside.Itwasverydark,andtomeitfelt have alift.Iwasscaredtowalkaroundandfindcabor when hermother,Jane,decidedtoleave,Iaskedifcould abandoned andstillsalty.Onenight,Kikihadaparty, very fardowntown,whentheSouthStreetseaportareawas once had a loft in an isolated building on the East River, an elegant,unusual,intelligent,andbeautifulwoman.Kiki Smith for many years. She died on August 5, 2006. Jane was in theoriginalOklahomaandCharley’sAunt. I knew Jane Kiki grew up in New Jersey in a Victorian house, but Kiki grewupinNewJerseyaVictorianhouse,but Bearing In 1999, was movedtotearsatbeingwelcomedintothat recounts Rhein.“WhilewanderingMacDowell,I experience inthehillsofNewHampshire,” “Leaves wasconceivedthroughamystical named forthedeceasedindividuals. leaves inspiredfacsimiles“drawn”inwireand tance whohaddiedfromtheepidemic.Theactual each invokingmemoriesofafriendoracquain- woods atMacDowell,hegatheredautumnleaves, new HIVmedications.Walkingthefieldsand adjusting tohisreturnhealthfromthethen- When RheincametotheColonyin1996,hewas dorial residenceinCameroon,Africa. Leaf Projectiscurrentlyonviewattheambassa- sponsored bytheU.S.DepartmentofState.The included aspartoftheArtinEmbassiesProgram of hisMacDowellFellowshipin1996andrecently referring toisTheLeafProject,begunbyRheinout live morefullyinthepresent.”WhatAtkinsis suggesting thathonoringthepastisonewayto like EricRhein’scanhelpharmonizeourviewsby been tobearwitness.Surelyanartofmemory tragedy, andtheroleofartisthasfrequently played aroleincomingtotermswithcollective historian RobertAtkinswrote:“rthasalways notedAIDSactivistandart

Courtesy Photo In earlyOctober, Political Appointments Nevelson’s modelforhersculptureSkyCovenant. Diebenkorn’s Berkeley,No.52;JasperJohns’sNumerals,0through9 ; andLouise Washington, D.C.November1963III;GlennLigon’sBlackLikeMeNo.2 ; Richard of ArtandchosenfortheObamas’personallivingquarterswere: EdwardCorbett’s Fellows andthreebypastMacDowellMedalists.Borrowedfrom theNationalGallery Obama fordisplayatthefirstresidence,includingtwoworks by MacDowellvisualarts Witness

The WhiteHousereleasedalistof45artworksselectedbyMichelle eyes cast down modestly. It’s an unnerving piece. The other eyes castdownmodestly.It’sanunnervingpiece.Theother away from her body, her palms open to receive, head bald, about five-and-a-half-feet high. Mary’s arms hang slightly body madefrombeeswaxandcheeseclothwood.Itstands and uncannyapproaches.OnecalledVirginMaryisaflayed kinds ofwars,internalandexternal. were neitherheroesnorvictims.Theysurvivorsofall everywhere. Theyweremelancholy,blessed,ethereal. splayed onthefloorfromherurethra,glassurinepooling beads trailingfromherrectum,onewithyellowglass were abject;theycrawledonthefloor,onewithdarkglass portrayed inallpreviousarthistory.Herfemalefigures female body.Shetookonthesubjectasithadbeen reimagined, andnewlyrepresented,inparticular,the the body — and for some years afterward, she revamped, art. Andherhouseisoftenunderconstruction. electrical work.Andpartsofthatknowledgearealsoinher the inevitable,shelearnedplumbing,EMT,carpentry,and But beforeKikidecidedtobeanartist,almostasifwardoff Two sculptures from 1992 demonstrate Smith’s canny With her Fawbush show, Smith mapped her territory — must firstneverforget. reminder that,inordertohonormemory,one than 180portraits,whichserveasamoving decade now,andhiscollectionhasgrowntomore Rhein hassustainedtheprojectformorethana extended familytree.” were pinnedtothewalllikelimbsofan was gatheredinmyarms,86all.The‘portraits’ one, Ipickedupleavesuntilahostofkinsmen ence. Mysenseswereacutelyopen,andoneby my healthwouldnothavepermittedtheexperi- vibrant communitywhen,notevenayearbefore, Visualizing MacDowell Continued page10

Courtesy Photo

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Continued FROM page 9 and have told themselves for thousands of years to explain she cannot completely know. Her courage has been an over- the unexplainable. coming that feeds her art as she reaches for the huge subjects sculpture, Getting the Bird Out, is a bronze head that lies on Smith is incredibly prolific. Everything she touches turns and questions — the greatest we have. She boldly takes on the floor, a piece of string coming from its open mouth, at the to art, so I can only describe a few works of hers and hope to taboos and sacred cows, but she also, just as boldly, doesn’t end of which is a bronze bird. It’s a little wicked. Both works give you an idea of her complex and manifold project. concern herself with what’s fashionable or unfashionable. are handled very differently, formally and conceptually. Mary Recently, Kiki Smith has been addressing death, not so She goes where she has to go to create images with which she is more than naked; she is stripped of flesh. The bronze head much as a physical body but as the absence and loss of a orders and reorders her experience, and then ours. is spitting out a secret, or vomiting a burden, or realizing a body — the spirit and what remains after death — in draw- In Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, Freud said, kind of renewal. I think of the head as a haiku. ings of imagined spaces and empty chairs, and portraits of “We can only laugh when a joke has come to our help.” To Kiki Smith is thoroughly engaged in art history, the seated and standing women with windows framing them. paraphrase him, we only respond to art when it speaks to our history of iconography, and the language of materials, and In addition to telling people she has no particular talent, wishes and hopes and fears and doubts and thoughts. A work also in words and narratives. She has used poems by Emily Smith also tells everyone she can’t draw, but her drawings of art reaches us — it helps us — because we need it. 10 Dickinson and collaborated with contemporary poets, are unique, modest, and honest. Honesty in art is hard to So, we needed Kiki Smith. We need her work, bril- such as MeiMei Bersenbrugge. She plays with fairy tales. explain. Maybe I should say that the eye, mind, and hand of liance, insights, wit, extraordinary talents, and her courage In 2001, Smith made an installation for the International Kiki Smith are moving together, not holding back. The draw- — which has encouraged so many of us. She goes to the Center for Photography in New York City based on the ings seem to be direct transcriptions from the imagination of heart of things with a good heart. Her peers, and younger fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. She sculpted a wolf in memories, of cherished objects that have been lost. and older artists, cite her work with awe. They rely on bronze; its head raised up; a small, red, cloth glove gripped Kiki Smith keeps changing and questing and finding things its generosity. And, returning to what makes significance in its mouth. There was a sculpture in papier-mâché of out, and her work describes unseen and weird states of being. and greatness in art, generosity is a big part of it. Work is Little Red Riding Hood in a red cape, her face bearded. She’s a daring artist. If you asked her, she’d say she’s not generous when it generates. And hers does. Kiki Smith is The MacDowell C olony Humans and animals, part animal/part human creatures, brave. But she is. Being brave means, really, to work against and has been and will continue to be the most generative emerged more and more. Smith departed from or shifted fear. Her pieces don’t arise from the desire to please or fit into of artists, her work growing richer and richer in time, and, direction from the female body to the stories humans tell a program; they result from a compulsion to delve into what with time, offering us more and more.]

This past spring, artist Jinnie Seo opened her impressive end of the Rainbow Under the installation at the Mongin Art Center in Seoul, South Korea. But it was in the winter of 2008, in Alexander Studio, that this large-scale stunner began. “Being completely secluded in the midst of a monochromatically serene landscape at MacDowell, my creative mind also became devoid Rainbow of cluttered thoughts,” writes Seo. “In the end — and through this lucid problem solving — I was left with the essence of my desire to explore space: spatial relationship and spatial movement.”

Seo’s treatment of space is striking indeed and offers a paradox of liberation and constriction that both focuses one’s mind and frees it. The installation creates labyrinth-like passages where the diagonal lines of steel fence and curvaceous steel bands intersect, offering unusual entry into the temporal and spatial realms. These passageways then become points of encounter between what Seo calls “the artist’s and the viewer’s cognition.”

“The viewer roams through, contemplating endlessly changing multiperspective views of intersecting spatial lines. Contrary to its title, which implies the traditional definition of a colorful presentation of a rainbow, the installation is purposely achromatic, emphasizing the elasticity of steel. Consequently, the perception of the material also becomes redefined. Moire-like effects and rhombus shapes offer an additional gravity-defying experience.”

The rainbow as symbol is also intentional,

C o urt e s y Pho t reinforcing Seo’s exploration of perspective. As it end of the Rainbow, steel turns out, an actual rainbow will seem farther band, dimensions variable, away the more one tries to reach its end. And two 2009, by Jinnie Seo. people standing in two different spots never see the same rainbow because the phenomenon depends on the relationship between the viewer’s position and the sun. These playful oppositions provoke a point: “We cannot ever reach the end of a rainbow to discover ‘a golden pot,’” says Seo, “and similarly, it is doubtful that there is such an answer waiting at the end of the Rainbow. But it is always the human progression towards the unattainable that is laudable.”

with what it produces: artists like Kiki Smith, and people like the gatestogether.Andwearethrilledtohaveyouallhere. interruptions. Thisisthedayweallgettocomethrough for thisistoallowtheartistscreatewithaminimumof studios tothepubliconlyonedayeachyear.Thereason As youallknow,TheMacDowellColonyopensits C In other places and other times, this institution — along In otherplacesandtimes,thisinstitution—along PRESIDENT arter Wiseman art history. MacDowell mightinspirenewinstallmentsinaseriesthat combinesartandhistorywiththeaimofmaking whom shemetatMacDowell.NextforJavensissetting up herownstudioinHarlem,whereasmallbitof As ithappens,theonlylivingpersonJavenshaspaintedfor theNamedForseriesislegalscholarDerrickBell, brush), andfinallyforhercanvas,wheretheanimalsarere-animated andoftenreborninhauntingfashion. animal hundredsoftimestostudyitsfeatures),thenforher needleandthread(topositionthesubjectforher others, thathaveprovidedbarnswallowsandotherinspirations, firstforhercamera(sheoftenphotographsan Though JavenslivesinNewYork,herhusband’sfamilyowns afarmoutsideBath,Maine.Itisthislocale,and a horseswimmingin(against?)theocean. abolitionist whointerviewedformerslaveshadcome throughtheUndergroundRailroad—heispaintedas Furseth, alaborleaderofthe1930s,immortallyrenderedoncanvasascrow.OrBenjaminDrew,an American historyandendowstheirspiritsoressences,ifyouwill,intopaintingsofanimals.Takendrew way ofgettingitright.The“it”inthiscaseisherNamedForseries,whichtakesobscurebutpivotalfigures It mayseemodd Animal to keepexpiredbirdsinyourfreezer,butKateJavenshasresortedthisasa Energies no lessaware ofitsenduringvalue, tobothenrichandinspire. The with whattheythemselvescalled“degenerate”artlooted with CranachsandDürers,whilemakingdealsontheside as HermannGoeringwerefurnishingtheirhuntinglodges littered thefloor.”Yetatsametime,suchNazileaders motorcycles drivenoverthemusicalmanuscriptsthat composer Tchaikovsky’shousewastrashedandarmy Yasnaya Polyanawereburnedinthestoves,while lived weredeliberatelytargeted:manuscriptsatTolstoy’s houses inwhichfamousRussianculturalfigureshad describes scenesfromtheNaziinvasionofRussia:“The headquarters.” Department’s Fire Berlin the of courtyard the in cise andgraphicswereburnedasapracticeexer- watercolors, drawings, 3,825 and sculptures and paintings 1,004 1939, 20, March on . . “. that, reported Nichols H. for long.Writingin1994TheRapeofEuropa,Lynn you whosupporttheColony—wouldnothavesurvived Totalitarians hatetheuncontrolled nature ofcreativity. But theyare enrichment theyare willingtoexploit; itistheinspiration theyfear. In amorerecentbook,thehistorianRichardJ.Evans

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closed the Bauhaus. Those arch-vandals have long vanished, closed theBauhaus.Thosearch-vandalshavelongvanished, teries andtheirmanuscripts,284yearslaterHitler are doingsovoluntarily—notbecausetheyweretoldto. is why the artists who are opening their studios to you today MacDowell doesn’tofferregulartourstoseeartistsatwork.It they knewthattheprocessneededprotection.Thatiswhy the Colony102yearsagotoencourageinspiration.But are willingtoexploit;itistheinspirationtheyfear. value, tobothenrichandinspire.Theenrichmentthey of creativity.Buttheyarenolessawareitsenduring and aresource.Totalitarianshatetheuncontrollednature is evidenceofthefrighteningpowerartasbothathreat from museumsandprivatecollectionsalloverEurope. In 1649,OliverCromwelldestroyedtheIrishmonas- Happily forus,EdwardandMarianMacDowellcreated Why thisapparentlycontradictorybehavior?Ithinkit

Courtesy of Jane South and Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York Peter Schroth,andJaneSouth. Newman, PaulSantoleriCarrieScanga Anthony Krauss,JuliaKuninJohn Croix, Pang-ChiehHsuWadeKavanaugh MacDowell visualartists:BlaneDeSt. This year’slistofrecipientsincluded10 such asstudiorentandhealthinsurance. needed materials,andpayforexpenses to helpartistscreatenewwork,purchase artists whoworkonpaper,thegrantsaim to painters,sculptors,printmakers,and based onartisticmeritandfinancialneed visual artistsinSeptember.Awarded the recipientsofits2008–2009grantsfor The Pollock-KrasnerFoundationannounced G VISUAL Artists recipient JaneSouth. structure; 15'x14'3';2009;byPollock-Krasner Wall; hand-cutpaper,ink,andacrylicwithwood Visualizing MacDowell ran ts Continued page12 for 10

11 The MacDowell Colony 12 The MacDowell Colony stand inthewayoftanks. Whether youareinsideoroutsidethegates, people willwanttodestroy. all theworksofartyettocomethattoomany our paintings,plays,symphonies,buildings,and our cars,computers,orcellphones,but yields ourculture’smostpowerfullegacy—not one day,youareparticipatinginthemysterythat out ofMacDowellfor364daysayear;rather, which futuregenerationsmeasureusasanation. at MacDowellmaywellproducetheworksby Because ofthisprotection,theartistswhowork they arefreefromoutsideinfluenceandpressure. the culturetowhichPeireferred.Inthesewoods, replied, “Regimes come and go; culture endures.” murderous. Withdeepsadnessinhisvoice,he about workingforagovernmentthathadturned I askedPei,asanativeofChina,howhefelt rebelled, andmanywereshotdownbytanks. In themiddleofitall,studentsBeijing of hisBankChinabuildinginHongKong. Medalist, hewasoverseeingtheconstruction architect I.M.Pei,aformerMacDowell confusing andoffensiveartists. inevitably turntotheworksofthoseformerly we measurethestatureofanation’sculture, tator, acongressman,oranayatollah.Butwhen offended someoneinpower—whetheradic- every importantartistinhistoryconfusedor sure ofyourrolehere,rememberthatvirtually art maybeconfusingoroffensive.Ifyouarenot ing toprotectartfromsuchthreats,evenifthat the usual“appropriatemeasures.” have threatenedwriterswhoopposethemwith Islam. Andinrecentmonths,theleadersofIran they offendedthegroup’sinterpretationof because Afghanistan in Bamiyan of Buddhas ago, theTalibanblewup1,500-year-old years eight Only passed. not has danger the but Continued FROMpage11 Ju-Yeon Kim Cheryl Young(atleft), produce the works by which Thank youforsupportingMacDowell. Think ofitthisway:Youarenotbeingkept MacDowell endurestohelpartistsperpetuate When Iwasworkingonabookaboutthe You are, by your presence at MacDowell, help- future generations measure at MacDowell maywell The artists whowork The artists opens us asanation.

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Courtesy Photo overstated.” tance ofexploringandsharingourfindingscannotbe crisis ofourownmaking,”writesLamia,“theimpor- future. “Asweconfrontaworldwideenvironmental these unknownterritoriesaspivotaltoasustainable ship betweennatureandsocietyisinflux.Hesees technology andnatureoverlapwheretherelation- interest toLamiaaretheunchartedspaceswhere science, innature,andthought.”Ofparticular still remainvastexpansesofunknownaroundus—in the earth’ssurfacehasbeenmapped,”hesays,“there About Thework: NICK LAMIA visual working onaseriesofmaps,whichheregardsas About theartist: MacDowell Fellow. Lintel GalleryinNewYork.amiaisafirst-time Workshop inNewYork.HeisalsoadirectoratVon currently afellowattheRobertBlackburnPrintmaking he receivedaGuggenheimfellowshipin2003andis University Gallery inRichmond,Virginia.Agraduateofthe Fine ArtinNewYorkandMidniteSnacksatGhostprint was includedinTheBrandNewDealatCarenGolden numerous soloandgroupshows.Mostrecently,he records of California-Berkeley of the Recently, NickLamiahasbeen Lamia’sworkhasappearedin discoveries of and man. Boston “While University, most of

Courtesy Photo Courtesy Photo 47" x36",2007,byBillJacobson. Some Planes#436,archivalpigmentprint, About theartist: About thework: GILLIAN PEARS to intertwinephysicalspacewithmetaphor.” graphic work.Throughintensiveexplorationoftheseelementswithinthatspace,Idiscoverednewways Studio providedtheneededspacetofurtherdevelopuseoflight,color,andmaterialsinmyphoto- the elusivenatureofplaceandmetaphor,”shesays.“DuringmyresidencyatMacDowell,Alexander imagined, revealingconditionalhumanemotions.“Iamfocusingonabodyofworkthatintendstoevoke Fellowship andtheMeritScholarshipatCranbrookAcademyofrt.Sheisafirst-timeMacDowellFellow. University ofPennsylvania.ShehasbeentherecipientVirginiaMuseumFineArtsGraduate Gillian Pears holdsanMFAfromCranbrookcademyofrt,andM.S.Edthe Pears’s workfocusesonthebreachofboundariesbetweenfamiliarand About theartist: About thework: BILL J W traveled toseveraldesertlocationsintheAmerican patterns oflightandshadows.” woods, usingthecameratorecordresulting 40-inch pieceoffoamcoreatdifferentpointsinthe stay atMacDowell,Ispentmostdaysplacinga30x had alwaysintriguedme,”hesays,“Duringmyrecent symmetry ofgeometryandtheasymmetrynature two equalrectangles.“Therelationshipbetweenthe create, photographically,somethingapproximating but rathertolookforplacesinnaturewherehecould and isafive-timeMacDowellFellow. W Modern Art,theMuseumofFinertsinBoston, Guggenheim Museum,theSanFranciscoMuseumof the MetropolitanMuseumofArt,SolomonR. and Europe.Hisworkincludedinthecollectionsof had University andtheSanFranciscoArtInstitute,hehas graphs asateenager.SincegraduatingfromBrown H tion attheNationalPortraitGalleryinWashington,D.C. 1998). In2010,Jacobsonwillbeincludedinanexhibi- Cantz, 2005),and1989-1997 (Decode Books,2009),BillJacobsonPhotographs(Hatje monographs ofhiswork:ASeriesHumanDecisions Albert Museum,andmanyothers.Therearethree e est. hitney

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Courtesy Photo 13 The MacDowell Colony 14 The MacDowell Colony

212-535-9690. welcome. Tomakeagift,please contactWendyBelser,directorofdevelopment,at worked inthestudio,and generalpublictofundtherenovationproject.Yoursupport is MacDowell isseekingcontributionsfromDeltaOmicronmembers, artistswhohave Prizes; composersGeorgeTsontakisandMarilynShrudehave workedinthestudio,aswell. poet StephenDunn,andplaywrightuzan-LoriParksallwrote therebeforewinningPulitzer years toincludeartistsofallartisticdisciplinespracticedatMacDowell. NovelistAliceWalker, than 480artists.Originallydesignatedforcomposers,thestudio’s usehasexpandedoverthe Since DeltaOmicrongenerouslyfundeditsconstructionin 1927, thestudiohasservedmore composers andwillbeupdatedtoserveanothercenturyof artists. studio willevolvetoaccommodatethespatialandacoustical needsofcontemporary members, includingthefraternity’sboardofdirectors.Under theproposedrenovation, presented renovationplansandahistoryofthestudiotomorethan100DeltaOmicron president ofDeltaOmicronFoundation,Inc.,MacDowell’sResidentDirectorDavidMacy ence ofDeltaOmicronInternationalMusicFraternity.AttheinvitationKayWideman, A campaigntorevitalizeDeltaOmicronStudiobeganinJulyduringthecentennialconfer- A Drive toRenovate Delta Omicron News

Hellers, wholovedtheoutdoorsandcreativeenergyofColony. porch. Withitsviewofapinegroveandanabundancelight,theporchisfittingtributeto year inperpetuity.AbronzeplaquecommemoratingRedandPick’sgenerositywasinstalledonthe the ErnestandRedHellerFellowships,whichsupportresidenciesoftwocreativeartistsevery 2003; hertotalbequesttoMacDowellexceeds$1million.In2004,aportionoftheendowed were generousfriendsoftheColonyanditsartists.Mrs.Hellerservedonboardfrom1980until side ofColonyHalltothelateRose“Red”ellerandherhusband,Ernest“Pick”eller.Theellers Over MedalDayweekend,TheMacDowellColonydedicatedthenewscreenedporchonsouth Dedicated to theHellers Colony HallPorch Courtesy of Bruss Construction fan Stay ontopofthelatestMacDowellnews,events,andannouncementsbybecominga F personal accesstotheColony! receive our“tweets”onTwitter.Findusonlineandsignuptodayforfrequent Parks: America’sBestIdea. Faithful eruptinginTheNational Yellowstone NationalPark’sOld ollow UsonF

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recently acebook andTwitter! Craig Melish month attheLiteraryColloquiuminBerlin. $10,000, alongwiththeopportunitytospendone Krüger’s TurinerKomödie(TheExecutor),received received theawardforhisversionofMichael John HargravesonJune8th.argraves,who Translator’s PrizetoMacDowellboardmember awarded the2009HelenandKurtWolff In otherboardnews,theChicagoGoethe-Institut history” todocumenttheAmericanlandscape. stunning cinematographyinFlorentineFilms’s interviews, andwhatBurnssaysisthe“most uses historicalaccounts,archivalphotographs, land. Filmedoverthecourseofsixyears,film themselves topreservingpreciousparcelsof system andprofilesthepeoplewhodevoted explores thehistoryofAmerica’snationalpark in September.Thesix-part,12-hourseries National Parks:America’sBestIdea,airedonPBS Board memberKenBurns’slatestfilm,The From theBoard

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lecturer inplaywritingattheYaleSchoolofDrama. had aresidencyatMacDowellin1995,iscurrently Arts, andtheCalrts/lpertFoundation.Kron,who Sundance Institute,theNewYorkFoundationfor Foundations, theNationalEndowmentforArts, organizations astheGuggenheimandCreativeapital received awards,fellowships,andgrantsfromsuch theatre company,TheFiveLesbianBrothers,andhas member oftheOBIEandBessieAward-winning Award-winning 2.5MinuteRide.Sheisafounding her playsaretheTony-nominatedWellandObie coming toNewYorkfromMichiganin1984. Among Kron hasbeenwritingandperformingtheatresince Lisa KronalsojoinedMacDowell’sboardthisfall. and theElizabethFoundationforArts. the Arts,MuseumofFinertsinBoston,rt21, decade atsuchorganizationsastheBronxMuseumof an artseducatorandadministratorformorethana Center. A2003MacDowellFellow,shehasworkedas MIT’s ListVisualArt Center, MassMoCA,and venues astheWalkerArt around theworldatsuch work hasbeenshown among otherawards.Her Creative apitalGrant, Foundation Grant,anda Grant, aJerome NYSCA IndividualArtist Media ArtsFellowship,an Rockefeller Foundation Hargest hasreceiveda of power,race,andclass,” investigate thehierarchies consumer cultureto and thelanguageof “uses humor,technology, ary artistwhosework directors. Aninterdisciplin- MacDowell’s boardof Committee andjoined Fellows Executive elected presidentofthe In May,TanaHargestwas Hargest andKron Join Board Courtesy Photo New F aces Office assistant Courtney Brecht Tana Hargest Lisa Kron

Susie Page Tana Hargest genesis oftheColony,LadyinWings. 1954 HallmarkallofFamefilmaboutthe MacDowell screenedanannualfavorite,the 11.6.09 essayist, novelist,andactivist. documentary examiningthelifeoffamed Regarding SusanSontag,afeature-length Nancy Katesscreenedherwork-in-progress 10.2.09 animals displacedbyhumans. Estates, aninitiativethatcreatesdwellingsfor lawns intoediblelandscapes;andAnimal movement thataimstotransformresidential recent work:EdibleEstates,anecological Architect andartistFritzHaegpresentedhis 9.4.09 provoking talkonvisualstorytelling. of HugoCabret,andofferedafunthought- his CaldecottMedal-winningbook,TheInvention Writer andillustratorBrianSelznickpresented 7.26.09 and OtherTalesofFoodLove. Vapnyar’s latestcollectionofstories,Broccoli, Wars, andthePunkRockBirthofGirlPower work-in-progress RiotGrrrl:Feminism,Culture excerpts oftheirwriting,includingMarcus’s Writers SaraMarcusandLaraVapnyarshared 6.9.09 MacDowell Downtown Cheryl Young Andrew Gellatly his award-winningbook. MacDowell Downtown.Above:The authorpresenting Left: YoungreadersgatherforBrian Selznick’s journalism students. shop forConValHighSchoolcreativewritingand Writer CecilCastelluciofferedawritingwork- 10.5.09 from TheWaldenSchool. questions foragroupofaspiringcomposers played selectionsoftheirworkandanswered Composers PaulBrantleyandAndrewNorman 7.23.09 and MaryGoldthwaitealsoattended. works-in-progress. ArtteachersBenPutnam ConVal tovisitHeinzStudioandinteractwithhis Sculptor JohnBisbeeinvitedartstudentsfrom 5.14.09 MacDowell intheSchools before TheLetterposterattheSantaFeOpera. of JeanandMichaelKlein.Bottom:AgroupSantaFetravelersstand Top: Tears,glass,approximately6"x6”,1994,byKikiSmith.Collection visit www.macdowellcolony.org. contact DirectorofDevelopmentWendyBelserat212-535-9690or For informationaboutMacDowell’s2010nationaltrip,please Moravec, whocollaboratedwithwriterandlibrettistTerryTeachout. preceded thepremiereperformanceofTheLetter,firstoperaby At theSantaFeOpera,abackstagetourandopeningnightdinner Harmony ammondhostedvisitorsattheirstudios. dance byartistRulanTangen.VisualartistsMayStevensand featuring readingsandaperformanceofcontemporaryindigenous Diane R.Karpandartists-in-residencejoinedthemforaprogram Mexico attheSantaFeArtInstitute,whereExecutiveDirector Abiquiu. TripparticipantsmetwithColonyFellowsworkinginNew toured O’Keeffe’sGhostRanch,aswellherhomeandstudioin recipient ofthe1972EdwardMacDowellMedal.Colonyguestsalso Georgia O’Keeffe,NewMexico’smostfamousartistandthe Landau Director,BarbaraBuhlerynes,discussedtheworkof Georgia O’KeeffeMuseumResearchCenter,theEmilyFisher Native AmericanartattheSchoolfordvancedResearch.t The MacDowellgroupalsoexploredhistoricalandcontemporary architectural settingssurroundedbythearea’smountainscenery. Santa On July22–25,2009,MacDowellboardmembersandpatronsvisited Santa Fe Sojourn and composer PaulMoravec’soperaTheLetter.Inaddition,collectors Fellows, includingtheworldpremiereofPulitzerPrize-winning destinations —toexperiencecontemporaryartandworksbyColony patrons

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Mexico state, metatMacDowell. tatives fromartsorganizationsthroughoutthe The ArtsSatelliteNetwork,agroupofrepresen- 7.15.09 residency experience. from LeadershipMonadnockanddiscussedthe Composer YotamHabervisitedwithmembers 5.20.09 Library beforevisitingJohnBisbeeinhisstudio. Leadership NewHampshiremetinSavidge 5.7.09 Other Outreach their

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Outreach Events 15 The MacDowell Colony 16 The MacDowell Colony Jennifer Chang, San Francisco,CA Matt Bondurant, Brooklyn, NY Robert Bledsoe, Brunswick, ME Jan Beatty, Brooklyn, NY Paul Brantley, Plattsburgh, NY Theresa Bloise, Indianapolis, N Brian Culhane, New York,NY Alan Berks, Pittsburgh, PA New York,NY Sharon Doli, San Diego,CA interdisciplinary artist Kristine Diekman, Greenwood, VA Nathan Currier, Seattle, WA Robyn Creswell, Austin, TX Frances Cowhig, New York,NY David Cote, Brooklyn, NY Alexandra Collier, New York,NY Patric Cohen, Watertown, MA Andrea Cohen, Iowa City,A Henry Cobb, New York,NY Catherine Chung, Troy, NY Adam Chanzit, Charlottesville, VA Deric Carner, Seattle, WA interdisciplinary artist Donald Byrd, Mason, OH Katarina Burn, New York,NY David Barker, Brooklyn, NY Annie Baker, Brooklyn, NY Kira Appelhans, Brooklyn, NY Donald Antrim, Cambridge, MA Jonathan Aaron, Scott Coffel, New York,NY John Bisbee, New York,NY Leona Christie, Berkeley, CA Chantal Bilodeau, Minneapolis, MN eight interdisciplinaryartists,sevenfilmmakers,andsixarchitects. and fourcountries.Thisgroupincluded51writers,21visualartists,18theatre13composers, From MaythroughOctober,2009,TheMacDowellColonywelcomedatotalof124artistsfrom19states

artist DonaldByrd,playwrightFrancesCowhigandcomposerLizaWhite. FellowshipsClockwise fromtopleft:architectDavidSerlin,writerFarnooshathiEileenMylesinterdisciplinary theatre writer theatre architect visual artist theatre writer filmmaker visual artist theatre writer writer composer visual artist writer writer writer visual artist visual artist architect writer composer

writer theatre writer writer writer writer

theatre theatre

Christine Evans, Elizaville, NY Elizabeth Graver, Brooklyn, NY Sam Green, Lincoln, MA Chanda Feldman, Iowa City,A Jennifer Gilmore, New York,NY Stephen Dunn, Judith Dupre, Frostburg, MD Bill Jacobson, New York,NY Cathy ParkHong, South Nyack,NY Mike Holober, Hardwick, VT Meredith Holch, Alice Springs,AUSTRALIA Eleanor Hogan, San Francisco,CA interdisciplinary artist Keith Hennessy, Somerville, MA Kythe Heller, Los Angeles,CA Laura Heit, Oxford, MS Lou Haney, San Francisco,CA Daniel Hander, Royal Oak,MI interdisciplinary artist Bang GeulHan, Los Angeles,CA Emilie Halpern, Los Angeles,CA Fritz Haeg, Brooklyn, NY Yotam Haber, San Francisco,CA Elisabeth Frost, Brooklyn, NY Kermit Frazier, San Jose,CA Barbara Fraser, Brooklyn, NY interdisciplinary artist Peter Flahy, Cayce, SC John FitzRogers, Brooklyn, NY Dan Fishback, Richmond, VA Jenn Figg, San Francisco,CA Michael Fauver, Mountain View,CA Farnoosh Fathi, Providence, RI Barbara Ess, Oxford, OH David Ebenbach, Mamaroneck, NY Brooklyn, NY visual artist visual artist architect filmmaker filmmaker visual artist composer architect writer theatre composer visual artist writer theatre visual artist writer writer writer writer writer theatre filmmaker theatre writer writer writer composer writer writer

Nick Jones, Detroit, MI Maya Jasanoff, David Kechley, New York,NY Julie Nagl, New York,NY Kirsten Lunsrum, Los Angeles,CA Sharon Lckht, New Castle,NH Janaki Lennie, New York,NY James Lapine, Berkeley, CA Allison Landa, Brooklyn, NY interdisciplinary artist William Lamson, New York,NY Nick Lamia, Brooklyn, NY Ju-Yeon Kim, Costa Mesa,CA David Km, Williamstown, MA Ellen Kaufman, Brooklyn, NY Dan Kaufman, Woodstock, NY Joel Katz, San Diego,CA Chido Johnsn, Cambridge, MA Minneapolis, MN Dominc Orlando, Brooklyn, NY D. Nurkse, New Haven,CT Andrew Norman, Fredonia, NY writer Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Houston, TX Eileen Myles, Austin, TX architect Smilja Milovanovic-Bertram, Brooklyn, NY Katie Merz, New York,NY Maureen cLane, Brooklyn, NY Missy Mazzoli, Brooklyn, NY Sara Marcus, Kanuma, Tochigi,JAPAN Yutak Mkino, New York,NY Heather MacDonald, Danbury, CT Ilya Kaminsky, Brooklyn, NY writer filmmaker writer visual artist visual artist theatre visual artist visual artist writer writer theatre composer writer composer visual artist composer writer composer writer visual artist writer composer theatre writer

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writer theatre

John Pielmeier, Philadelphia, PA Mira Rosenthal, Buenos Aires,ARGENTINA George Tsntakis, Wilmette, IL Meghan O’Rourk, Eva Talmadge, Chicago, IL interdisciplinary artist Hoyun Son, Brooklyn, NY Stephanie Snder, New York,NY Judith Simonian, New York,NY Marina Shron, La Jolla,CA David Serlin, Brooklyn, NY Brian Selznck, San Francisco,CA Christina Seely, Camden, ME Elisabeth Schuman, Jackson Heights,NY Yuko Sakt, New York,NY Oliver Sacks, Jacksonville, FL Martin Rejtman, Garrison, NY Gillian Pears, Athens, GA Ed Pavlic, Brooklyn, NY Long IslandCity,NY interdisciplinary artist Joe Winter, Studio City,CA Dylan Willoughb, Jamaica Plain,MA Liza White, New York,NY Suzanne Walters, Staten Island,NY Lara Vapnyar, Iowa City,A Ryan VanMeter, New York,NY Jean Valentine, Cambridge, MA Ken Urban, Brooklyn, NY Christopher Turner, Shokan, NY Hans Thomalla, Brooklyn, NY Tess Taylor, New York,NY Benjamin Taylor, Brooklyn, NY writer composer theatre writer writer architect writer writer visual artist writer theatre writer theatre writer composer writer visual artist writer visual artist filmmaker writer visual artist writer visual artist composer writer writer writer

On theCover… E-mail: newsletter Web site:www.macdowellcolony.org Fax: 212-737-3803 Telephone: 212-535-9690 New York,NY10028 163 East81stStreet Administrative office: Fax: 603-924-9142 Telephone: 603-924-3886 Peterborough, NH03458 100 HighStreet The MacDowellColonyislocatedat © 2009,TheMacDowellColony without writtenpermission. No partofMacDowellmaybereusedinanyway Printer: ShawmutPrinting,Danvers, MA Joanna EldredgeMorrissey All photographsnototherwisecredited: John HallDesignGroup,Beverly, MA Design andProduction: Associate Editor:KarenSampson Editor: BrendanTapley October 1st. Deadlines forinclusionareApril1stand worthy activitiestotheeditorinPeterborough. and December.PastFellows maysendnews- MacDowell ispublishedtwiceayear,inJune Resident Director:DavidMacy Executive Director:CherylA.Young President: CarterWiseman Chairman: RobertMacNeil www.macdowellcolony.org. Applications areavailableonourWebsite: many ofthiscentury’sfinestartists.” Arts in1997for“nurturingandinspiring Colony discipline oftheapplicant.T as determinedbyapanelrepresentingthe The solecriterionforacceptanceistalent, room, board,andexclusiveuseofastudio. Marian MacDowell,hiswife.Fellowsreceive in 1907bycomposerEdwardMacDowelland to docreative work. TheColonywasfounded space, andaninspiringenvironment inwhich to artists ofexceptional talent, providing time, The MacDowellColonyawards Fellowships in boldthroughoutthisnewsletter. The namesofMacDowellFellowsarenoted T Kavanaugh andStephenNguyen. wood, dimensionsvariable,2009,byWade The ExperienceofGreen,redKraftpaperand this and D.U.M. of and-glass settingagainstafantasticalforest and builtenvironmentofthearea’sbrick- Green. with theirinstallation,The Experience of between artists, “accentuatingtherelationship persists and longing,naturethesublime.” his following organizations: generous supportofthe The Colonyisgratefulforthe

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