THE TM 911 Franklin Street Weekly Newspaper Michigan City, IN 46360 Volume 26, Number 29 Thursday, July 29, 2010 Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art at the MCA by Barbara Stodola Alexander Calder (1898-1976), whose exhibit of Alexander 60 sculptures is Calder’s at the Museum fl ying fi sh. of Contemporary Art, Chicago, thru October 17. “Form, Balance, Joy” the exhibit is subtitled, with the assertion that, surprising as it seems, such with an accent on the Joy. Just imagine a room full infl uences have only recently been manifested. of Calder mobiles, gently swaying in the air cur- Alexander Calder (1898-1976) holds a unique rents, and a little zoo of Calder stabiles pouncing place in the world of art. He invented a new art on the fl oor. The Museum of Contemporary Art has form – the mobile, the sculpture that moves – and brought Chicago a rare treat – on view thru October he remained its unrivaled master. More than 2,000 17. creations bear his name – ranging from large steel Across the hall, curators have installed the work pieces in public squares to tiny, whimsical fi gures. of seven Calder-infl uenced contemporary artists – Calder Continued on Page 2 A room full of Calder sculptures: mobiles (which move) and stabiles (which don’t.) THE Page 2 July 29, 2010 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 delivered to public places in Michigan City, New Buffalo, LaPorte and Sheridan Beach. Calder Continued from Page 1 Jason Middlebrook, a sculptor from Hudson, N.Y. Alexander Calder’s performing seal. Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of in- fants have had their fi rst exposure to art through the colorful mobiles that fl oat above their cradles. Most striking is the piece by Hudson, N.Y. sculp- Such toys did not exist prior to Calder’s invention; tor Jason Middlebrook, whom the museum com- nor had the concept been explored. The artist was missioned to create a huge mobile, to hang in the trained as an engineer, and his delightful creations entrance hall. The piece weighs 3,500 pounds and, were based on the element of balance. queried MCA Director Madeleine Grynsztejn, “Do The MCA exhibit features some favorites: a fl ying you really want to stand under it?” Of course you fi sh, a cat with attitude, a performing seal balanc- do, under it and a little to the side, and then up to ing balls on his nose. They are fashioned of wire and the 4th fl oor balcony, for the best view of this stun- steel and little pieces of discarded or left-over ma- ning piece. terials. Calder was a pioneer in the use of recycled Middlebrook’s mobile has a 13-foot tree trunk materials. at one end and, at the other, a starburst cluster The artists who acknowledge Calder’s inspira- of wooden discards – window frames, shutters, tion today are invoking themes of their own – pop brooms, mops, a segment of fl ooring from a Frank culture, fl ags fl ying, comic books, fl uorescent lights, Lloyd Wright house. In order to balance it, Middle- environmental abuses – any number of new slants. Middlebrook’s mobile in the MCA atrium: From the Forest to the Mill to Alexander Calder, the Store to the Home mobile. to the Streets and Back Again (2010). THE July 29, 2010 Page 3 brook hollowed out the log and fi lled it with sand until the weight equaled the other side. The project took an entire year. He named it From the Forest to the Mill to the Store to the Home to the Streets and Back Again. Its environmental message is clear: “We throw away so much and go out and buy more,” Middlebrook said. “I wanted to make a connection between the growing thing and the way we live and use the products.” Other contemporary sculptors shown in the Calder-infl uenced gallery are Kristi Lippire, Aaron Curry, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Nathan Carter, Ja- son Meadows and Martin Boyce. Each of them uses a different approach. Abraham Cruzvillegas’ mobile, with fl ags fl ying. in France, is represented here by a piece with fl ags fl ying. Nathan Curry’s wire sculptures capture a bit of the Calder playfulness. A close look reveals such imagery as zeppelins, rockets and creatively ren- dered animals – a frequent Calder motif. Even as a child, “Sandy” Calder made little ani- mals to give his parents for Christmas. His father and grandfather had both been sculptors. The fam- Kristi Lippire’s mobile. ily moved frequently, from Pennsylvania to Califor- Kristi Lippire does mobiles with Calder-like pet- nia to New York and back to California. Wherever als swinging in the breeze. Aaron Curry’s curving they lived, studio space was given to the talented slabs of wood and metal are inserted into one an- young boy. But, encouraged to pursue a different other, achieving a delicate balance. Abraham Cruz- career, he studied engineering and then held jobs villegas, who held a residency at the Atelier Calder as a hydraulics engineer, automotive engineer, and fi reman in a ship’s boiler room, before deciding to enter art school. Calder Continued on Page 4 Aaron Curry’s steel sculpture. Nathan Curry’s wire sculpture. THE Page 4 July 29, 2010 Calder Continued from Page 3 garde artists, who adopted Calder into their circle of friends. Calder’s circus act was videotaped and can now be seen on YouTube, courtesy of the Whitney Museum. After Calder returned to the U.S., his reputation developed on both sides of the Atlantic and his ca- reer fl ourished for 50 years. His large steel sculp- tures have always enjoyed wide popularity, and can be seen in public squares from the UNESCO gardens in Paris to the Olympic stadium in Mexico City. La Grande Vitesse(1969), a large steel piece in A scene from Grand Rapids, Mich., was the fi rst public work of Calder’s circus, 1926. art funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Flamingo (1973), his 50-ton red steel sculpture at the Chicago Federal Center, was the fi rst to be in- stalled under the General Services Administration’s Per Cent for Art program. At the age of 25, Calder joined the Art Students League of New York, and also took a job doing il- lustrations for the Police Gazette. He was sent to cover the Barnum & Bailey circus, an experience which made a permanent impact on his life. Calder began making tiny circus animals and fi tting them up with motors. Soon he had entire collection of performing dogs, acrobats, a horse with bareback rider, tightrope walkers, clowns, trapeze artists and a ringmaster. He packed the entire set into a trunk and took it to Paris, where he made a living, staging performances of his hand-operated minia- ture circus. These shows became a hit with avant- Alexander Calder, La Grande Vitesse, 1960, Grand Rapids, Michigan. NOTE: When Alexander Calder’s 50-ton Flamin- go was to be unveiled in the Chicago Federal Plaza, in 1973, the person in charge of this event was ar- chitect Carter H. Manny Jr., who had been born and raised in Michigan City, Ind. Manny, a partner at the prominent Chicago fi rm Naess/Murphy, came up with the idea of an old-fashioned circus parade to inaugurate the installation – evidently based on Calder’s own history with circuses. Manny ar- ranged for circus horses to be brought in from Peru, Ind., and Baraboo, Wis. Colorful local fi gures such as Ronald McDonald and the Chicago Bears mas- cot also participated. Manny himself dressed as the ringmaster and rode in the Schlitz bandwagon with Calder. As Manny later told the story, “When I blew my whistle, the bandwagon with all these forty horses stopped… I introduced to the crowd ‘Alexan- der the Great, Sandy Calder!’… the mayor accepted, on behalf of the city, and a couple thousand balloons Alexander Calder, Flamingo, 1973, Chicago, Illinois. went up.” THE July 29, 2010 Page 5 Micky Gallas Properties 123 (219) 874-7070 CRS T 1-800-680-9682 www.MickyGallasProperties.com Micky Gallas ABR, CRB, CRS, e-PRO, GRI, SRES Cell 219/861-6012 Life’s Great By the Beach NEW PRICE 2011 Juneway Drive • Long Beach 2915 Oriole Trail • Long Beach 101 Chickadee Trail • Michiana Area $439,000 $432,500 $399,000 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. Wood fl oors; bay 2 bedrooms plus sun room, 1.5 baths. 2 bedrooms plus den, 2 baths. Fieldstone window. Large country kitchen. 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