MAGAZINE BowdoinFALL 2007 VOL.79 NO.1 THE REOPENING OF BOWDOIN’S MUSEUM OF ART MARK WETHLI’S PIPER CUB • NANNEY KENNEDY ’82 • 2007 HALL OF HONOR BowdoinMAGAZINE FALL 2007 FEATURES 16 Pictures at an Exhibition: The Reopening of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art 16 BY SELBY FRAME PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMES MARSHALL AND MICHELE STAPLETON The Museum of Art celebrated its public reopening and its renewed position as the cornerstone of arts and culture at Bowdoin in October, following an ambitious $20.8 million renovation and expansion project. Selby Frame gives us a look at the last stages CONTENTS of the project – the preparation of the exhibitions – as well as a glimpse of the first visitors. 24 Arrivals and Departures BY EDGAR ALLEN BEEM 24 PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMES MARSHALL Professor of Art Mark Wethli came to Bowdoin in 1985 to direct Bowdoin’s studio art program. In the 22 years since then,Wethli has mentored and inspired countless students and has led Bowdoin in elevating its profile in the state and national art scenes. In addition to discussing Wethli’s most recent project, Piper Cub, Ed Beem writes of the many forms Wethli’s aesthetic vision has taken over the years. 30 30 Craftswoman, Farmer, Entrepreneur BY JOAN TAPPER PHOTOGRAPHS BY GALE ZUCKER Nanney Kennedy ’82, a Bowdoin lacrosse player who earned her degree in the sociology of art, followed her own path from artisan to businesswoman and advocate for sustainability. Joan Tapper, who inter- viewed Kennedy for her upcoming book Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms,Twenty Patterns and Miles of Yarn (Potter Craft:April 2008), tells us how she built new dreams on old foundations. DEPARTMENTS Bookshelf 2 Mailbox 4 Bowdoinsider 6 Alumnotes 34 Weddings 42 Class News 46 Obituaries 72 |letter| Bowdoin FROM THE EDITOR MAGAZINE A year and counting Volume 79, Number 1 Fall, 2007 n November 10, it will be exactly a year from the date of the launch of the public MAGAZINE STAFF phase of The Bowdoin Campaign.To those not directly involved, all the Editor Oterminology can be confusing and arcane.To fundraisers and volunteers, these Alison M. Bennie benchmarks are critical, and that part seems obvious – hitting these objectives at the right Associate Editor time allows them to meet goals as planned. But what does the public phase mean to those Matthew J. O’Donnell who aren’t directly involved? Design Charles Pollock At last November’s launch event, participants received a document outlining the purposes and Jim Lucas needs of The Bowdoin Campaign, the theme of which is The Place That Makes Us,The Pennisi & Lamare Place We Make. It begins,“For some of us, it was a place we had always dreamed about. For Falmouth, Maine others, it was a place we had never imagined. For all of us, the years we spent here changed Obituary Editor us forever. Hubbard Hall in October, Dayton Arena in February, Mount Katahdin at dawn, John R. Cross ’76 Casco Bay at sunset: these are the settings for some of our most formative days.They are the Contributors places where characters were shaped, where minds were opened, where friendships were Douglas Boxer-Cook formed.Together, they form a place like no other in the world.This is Bowdoin.” James Caton Travis Dagenais ’08 Susan Danforth There is a sense of great achievement right now at Bowdoin.The completion of the Selby Frame Studzinski Recital Hall and Kanbar Auditorium last spring, the reopening of the Museum Scott W. Hood of Art in October, and the groundbreaking for the new Watson Arena at reunion are all Alix Roy ’07 tangible reminders of how beautiful the outcome can be when careful planning meets Photographs by Brian Beard, Dennis thoughtful generosity. Griggs, Justin Knight, James Marshall, Michele Stapleton, Gale Zucker, and Bowdoin College Archives. But there’s more to do, extending well beyond exciting building projects.The campaign document puts it this way, in the beginning of a section detailing the funds needed: BOWDOIN (ISSN, 0895-2604) is pub- “Everyone who passes through Bowdoin is changed.And everyone who passes through lished four times a year by Bowdoin College, 4104 College Station, Bowdoin changes it.As a result, the College is at once a place that is everlasting and a place Brunswick, Maine 04011. Printed by J.S. that is never the same.We are each the beneficiary of a legacy that reaches back more than McCarthy, Augusta, Maine.Third-class two hundred years, and each new day provides an opportunity for us to be careful stewards postage paid at Augusta, Maine. Sent free of charge to all Bowdoin alumni/ae, of that legacy.Today, we face a challenge to secure Bowdoin’s promise in a way that both parents of current and recent under- protects and transforms this remarkable place.This is The Bowdoin Campaign.” graduates, faculty and staff, seniors, and selected members of the Association of Bowdoin Friends. It is easy to connect the gift of a donor to a new building, or to an expansion or renovation project. Even the least financially-savvy of us can understand that money buys Opinions expressed in this magazine are materials and pays architects’ fees. those of the authors. Send class news to classnews@bow- But money is also a necessary component in creating a vigorous and engaged faculty, and doin.edu or mail to the address above. it is that as much as outstanding facilities that makes Bowdoin such a very special place. Advertising inquiries? Please e-mail mag- [email protected] or fax 207-725- Ask any one of those whose scholarship we mention in this issue – Mark Wethli, Jim 3003. Please send address changes to Higginbotham,Aaron Kitch, Susan Wegner, and many more – how endowed funds work the mailing address above. Send ideas to make them better scholars and teachers.As students, the benefits of such engagement or letters to the editor to that address or by e-mail to bowdoineditor@bow- may not be obvious, but they are in fact evident daily, in the way courses and curriculum doin.edu. evolve, in what and how professors teach, and in the vividness they bring to their subjects. And that, as they say, is priceless. Cover:The Bowdoin College Museum of Art celebrated its public reopening on October 14, 2007, following an AMB ambitious $20.8 million renovation and expansion project. Photograph by Michele Stapleton [email protected] 1 bookshelfBOWDOIN 68 Knots Mount McKinley are narrated with McGoldrick’s at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, his A high-adrenaline story of sense of spirit and appreciation for Alaska’s natural wife gave birth to twin sons. Doerr cleverly adventure and struggle, the latest wonder. iUniverse, Inc., 2007. weaves together narratives about his exploration book from Michael Evans ’81 of Rome and the Italian countryside with the follows eight teenagers who find Doing Child and Adolescent narrative of being a first-time parent (with themselves with absolute freedom Psychotherapy twins). Divided by season, Doerr’s stories range on a schooner full of food for the Richard Bromfield ’74,a from lighthearted tales to a poignant depiction summer.The teens are participants in a leadership faculty member at Harvard of the vigil for the dying Pope John Paul II. cruise, but when their leader commits suicide out Medical School’s Massachusetts Scribner, 2007. of depression, they are left to their own devices. Mental Health Center, presents Tanglewood Books, 2007. new tools and techniques for A Gift of Dreams providing effective psychotherapy for children and The ’60s was a particularly Alaska Memories adolescents. By discussing the therapy process in formative era in which to grow up, After his Bowdoin graduation, and its entirety, Bromfield highlights the challenges, when influences like rock-and-roll, before medical school, John nuances, and rewards involved in child war, and illegal drugs began McGoldrick ’77 traded the psychotherapy. His straightforward and engaging infiltrating traditional society. In friendly confines of campus for the writing style makes the complexities of the this memoir, Robert A. seemingly infinite wilderness of therapy process understandable and interesting. Benjamin ’66 shares his experiences as a high Alaska, which he would call home John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007. school student living outside the popular trends for the following six years.Through this memoir, of the time and celebrates the power of readers experience some of the adventure, Four Seasons in Rome: On individuality in the face of external pressures. excitement, and wonder that McGoldrick lived in Twins,Insomnia, and the Helm Publishing, 2007. those years. Events ranging from salmon fishing to Biggest Funeral in the History winter-long survival in the back of a broken- of the World down school bus to jumping from a military On the same day that Anthony helicopter to rescue plane crash survivors from Doerr ’95 learned he’d be going to Rome for a year for a fellowship |Q&A| FOOTNOTES Matthew Klingle Emerald City:An Environmental History of Seattle ssistant Professor of History and Environmental Studies particulars might be relevant to Seattle, the larger ideas can apply to Matthew Klingle explores the history of Seattle and the places as far flung as New York City or Millinocket, Maine. Aimportance of viewing nature, culture, cities, and the environment—natural history and human history—as inextricably BOWDOIN: Did you find anything surprising about the intersection intertwined. He applies the insight that one can’t see nature without between nature and culture? seeing human culture and vice versa to the study of the most KLINGLE: Yes.We tend to think of an environmental ethic as only seemingly unnatural human creation: the city.