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Buckminster Fuller in Chicago by Barbara Stodola the World Is Catching up with R

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Buckminster Fuller in Chicago by Barbara Stodola the World Is Catching up with R THE TM 911 Franklin Street Weekly Newspaper Michigan City, IN 46360 Volume 25, Number 14 Thursday, April 16, 2009 A Timely Show: Buckminster Fuller in Chicago by Barbara Stodola The world is catching up with R. Buckminster Fuller. To put it another way, awareness of the world’s prob- lems is catching up with Fuller’s attempts to provide solutions. Fifty years ago, his fabulous inventions were the stuff of international trade fairs – in Afghanistan, in Moscow, in Montreal. His 200-foot gold-anodized alumi- num dome drew so strong an approval rating from the tyrannical Nikita Khrushchev, that he suggested Fuller “come to Russia to teach our engineers.” But a starring role at trade fairs was not Fuller’s major ambition. What he aspired to was nothing less than fi nding “what a single individual can contribute to changing the world and benefi ting all humanity.” In the words of his grandson, Jaime Snyder, Fuller focused on “how to make the world’s resources support 100% of the planet.” And that is what makes the current exhibit so time- ly: Buckminster Fuller: Starting With The Universe, at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, thru June 21. A brilliant inventor and philosopher, an ecologist and engineer with a heart extending to all of mankind, Fuller died at age 87, in 1983 – years before sustain- able design, recycling, and alternative energy sources became issues of global concern. One of Fuller’s goals was to make affordable hous- ing a viable option for people everywhere. To this end, R. Buckminster Fuller, 1963, as drawn for Time Magazine by Boris Artzybasheff; original in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. he designed innumerable ingenious products – such as a prefabricated Dymaxion Bathroom (1937) in which, he claimed, a person could take a satisfying shower using just one pint of water. Paradoxically, his designs often found application during wartime, in the service of U.S. military forces. Dymaxion Deployment Units, modeled on corrugated steel grain bins he had seen in the Midwest, were used during World War II as housing units, hospitals and radar stations. These were the fi rst of his designs to be mass-produced. Ann Dahm of Michigan City converses with Jaime Snyder, Buck- minster Fuller’s grandson, at the MCA media preview in Chicago. Buckminster Fuller Continued on Page 2 THE Page 2 April 16, 2009 THE 911 Franklin Street • Michigan City, IN 46360 219/879-0088 • FAX 219/879-8070 In Case Of Emergency, Dial e-mail: News/Articles - [email protected] email: Classifieds - [email protected] http://www.thebeacher.com/ PRINTED WITH Published and Printed by TM Trademark of American Soybean Association THE BEACHER BUSINESS PRINTERS Delivered weekly, free of charge to Birch Tree Farms, Duneland Beach, Grand Beach, Hidden 911 Shores, Long Beach, Michiana Shores, Michiana MI and Shoreland Hills. The Beacher is also Subscription Rates delivered to public places in Michigan City, New Buffalo, LaPorte and Sheridan Beach. 1 year Call 6 months $21 3 months $13 1 month $6.50 Buckminster Fuller Continued from Page 1 Fuller’s greatest fame was achieved through his design and construction of geodesic domes, the fi rst of which was erected in 1949. Based on geometri- cal principles, the geodesic dome structure is self- supporting; consequently there is no practical limit to its size. Once again the U.S. military saw the potential of Fuller’s invention, and geodesic domes began springing up all over the world. An estimated 250,000 were built. Botanical gardens fl ourished in their protected environment. In Arctic regions, the domes demonstrated their applicability to weather extremes. The largest geodesic dome was the 250-foot-di- ameter structure built as the U.S. Pavilion for 1967 Expo at Montreal. It contained an Apollo space- craft and paintings by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichten- stein and Jasper Johns. The dome was sealed with Dymaxion Deployment Unit designed by Fuller was inspired by a corrugated steel grain storage bin he had seen in the Midwest. a transparent skin of acrylic glass panels, and was described as “sensational.” In 1976 it went up in Dymaxion – a word coined from dynamism, maxi- fl ames, as a result of careless welding during rou- mum and ion – was the term Fuller applied to the tine maintenance. different types of lightweight, effi cient and portable housing units he designed. He missed out on an opportunity to create his hexagonal, glass-walled Dymaxion House for Chicago’s Century of Progress Exhibition in 1933. But he did display his stream- lined, three-wheeled Dymaxion Car. It stood in the driveway of George Fred Keck’s Crystal House. Fuller’s three- wheeled Dymaxion U.S. Pavilion Montreal, Expo 1967, Car, which could image courtesy of Buckminster Fuller estate. turn on a dime, caused traffi c Models of geodesic domes, photographs and draw- jams wherever it ings are among the artifacts currently displayed at appeared; shown the Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibit was here at Crystal House, Chicago organized and shown at the Whitney Museum of World’s Fair. American Art, New York, with cooperation of the Fuller family. Chicago curators augmented the ex- hibit with archival materials relating to Fuller’s presence in Chicago. In 1948 he taught at Chicago’s Institute of Design. As early as 1929, his fi rst Dy- maxion House was displayed at Marshall Field’s. During his years in Chicago, Fuller was drawn to Lake Michigan. THE April 16, 2009 Page 3 “Bucky fi rst and foremost was a sailor,” recalled his grandson, Jaime Snyder, during the MCA’s press preview. Fuller’s childhood vacations were spent on Bear Island, off the coast of Maine. As a teenager he made a “mechanical jellyfi sh,” an umbrella-like device used to propel a boat. Over the years he de- signed and patented rowing machines that were re- sistant to being tipped by waves. One of these, a Rowing Needle included in the current exhibition, is a fi berglass/aluminum structure modeled on a catamaran. Fuller’s early plans for houses also drew on ship design. His 1929 Dymaxion House was a hexago- nal structure suspended from a central tripod-mast. On the shores of Lake Michigan, Buckminster Fuller is photographed The pie-shaped rooms radiated around the central with his wife Anne and daughter Allegra, 1928. core – a plan similar to the Kecks’ House of Tomor- row, which was displayed at Chicago’s Century of Progress Exhibition and later moved to Beverly Shores, Ind. – where it remains today, property of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The Rowing Needle, evidence of Fuller’s lifelong interest in boats, was produced in 1978. It is made of aluminum and fi berglass. Watercolor drawing of Fuller’s Dy- maxion House, 1929, painted by his wife R. Buckminster Fuller and his Institute of Design students demonstrate Anne, bears the strength of the geodesic dome they constructed in Chicago in 1949. strong re- semblance to George Fred Keck’s House of Tomorrow which debuted at Century of Progress Exhibition, Chicago. Educational programs relating to the Fuller exhibit have been scheduled for Saturday morn- ings, at 11 a.m. On April 25, guest speakers will be Chicago fi lmmaker Deborah Stratman and Eric Ellingsen, an IIT professor who built a 23- foot vertical farm model for the Museum of Sci- ence and Industry. Other gallery talks will be presented by Michael Rakowitz and Elizabeth Tunstall, on May 30; Nance Klehm and Chris- tine Tarkowski on June 6; and Steve Belletire R. Buckminster Fuller, photographed by Patrick Hobgood c. 1946, on June 13. is shown with Skybreak Dome and Standard of Living package. THE Page 4 April 16, 2009 Church Organ 40th Anniversary Recital The Fine Arts Board of The Presbyterian Church in England and the Netherlands. Teacher include of La Porte will present Larry J. Long, organist of Robert Anderson and Philip Gehring, organ; Eldon New York City, in recital, on Sun., April 19, at 4 p.m. Balko and Lloyd Pfautsch, choral conducting; and The church is at 307 Kingsbury Ave., LaPorte. Richard Proulx, composition. The American Guild of Organists has designated Long is a member of the New York City and Chi- 2008-2009 as the International Year of the Organ; cago Chapters of the American Guild of Organists. the Fine Arts Board has planned this recital to cel- The Presbyterian Church of La Porte celebrates ebrate the “king of instruments” as well as the 40th the 40th anniversary of its Möller pipe organ with anniversary of the church’s Möller pipe organ. Long’s recital. Installed in 1968, the organ was Since 2005, Long has worked as a free-lance made possible by the gift of George Mathis and his church musician in New York City. Prior to moving family and is named in his memory. to New York, Long worked in Chicago for 25 years. The instrument is a two-manual and pedal pipe While there he served as musician at Saint Luke organ, with classic tonal traditions and includes Church (ELCA), Augustana Lutheran Church of three divisions, each with its own keyboard. There Hyde Park, Resurrection Lutheran Church, Irving are 22 ranks and more than 1,200 pipes ranging in Park Lutheran Church, and St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Logan Square. length from more than 16 feet to less than half an Active as a composer as well as an organist and inch. The organ is powered by a 2-horsepower mo- conductor, Long has compositions published by tor-blower unit, and the console is connected with Augsburg Fortress, GIA, St. James Music Press, the organ through electric wiring to the various and World Library.
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