The Vernacular: Bill Saves His Own Life

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

May 15, 10PM, 1908

Don't be alarmed 'tis all over now. She only stood there on the bridge + took a shot at me in place of rescuing me. But Bill has a strong right arm + hung on. A friend + I were on the river one day + took some pictures. I was suspended over the North Canadian River. Hope you are well + happy. 

M.H.S.

Addressed to Miss Jessie G Brown; Berea, Ohio

The M12: A New Vision For The High Plains

The Black Hornet racecar at the I-76 Speedway; designed by the M12

Last week we discussed Richard Saxton, a Colorado-based artist whose work considers the intersections of artistic and community practice across a number of mediums: design, architecture, photography and sculpture. Today we'd like to continue to investigate the idea of "the vernacular" in  modern art by focusing on the M12, a collective of artists who emerged from The Municipal Workshop group Mr. Saxton helped to organize. 

Here's how this "community resource for evolutionary thinking" describes its place within rural America and contemporary art:

The mission of M12 is to plan and execute new projects in the realm of contemporary public art, to facilitate creative research regarding public art making, and to promote and facilitate public art as a vehicle for exploring community identity, contemporary issues, and the creative process. We seek to engage communities and individuals in the exploration of art through exhibitions, residency programs, educational programming, and collaborative visual arts projects. M12 has a particular interest in the rural landscape and the agrarian tradition, and often develops projects that engage, celebrate, and explore the value of these often under-represented communities.

What's profoundly inspiring about the work of the M12 is the way in which these artists are able to merge both a responsibility to local communities and a responsibility to their medium While locating much of their work in areas outside of urban attention, these artists are still pushing at the conventional assumptions of what public art can articulate and achieve.

The collective's site contains many examples of this kind of innovative thinking, as seen above in the Black Hornet project, a racecar the M12 developed to "engage the regional landscape and community of the Eastern Colorado High Plains;" the car raced every Saturday of the season at the I-76 Speedway in Fort Morgan, Colorado. While many visual artists can depict NASCAR and American motor sports from a critical (and often ironic) distance, the M12 has actually engaged with this community.

The Campito is another exciting project that goes onto a terrain that many contemporary artists only consider from a distance. Here, the group has redesigned the traditional sheep wagon of the West, and--still within an condensed space--offered a portable living quarters that contains solar panels, a composting toilet and a portable garden (among many other features). The M12 sees in this commonplace structure an opportunity to assess a region's connections both to their place and their history:

The project as a whole looks to stimulate community dialogue about the campito and larger subjects inherently tied to its present day reality; heritage of the American West, contemporary agriculture and food production, globalization, immigration, workers rights, and federal policies and practices. The project fuses contemporary, historical and geographical knowledge with the intention of putting it to use on the future Western American landscape.

This fusion of "contemporary, historical and geographical knowledge" can be viewed in much greater detail on the M12's website, which is also featuring their Prairie Module--a gorgeous geometric public art structure that is powered by solar panels. Currently installed in Indianapolis, the M12 tells us these Module is "the first public art installation to return solar power to the electrical grid."

Richard Saxton's Vernacular Landscapes

from The Research Archive; 5.5” x 8.5”

A number of recent posts have dealt with various concepts of "the vernacular" across the arts of poetry, music and photography; today I'd like to bring into the discussion a visual artist whose body of work is intimately concerned with both the aesthetic questions tied up in vernacular art and as well as the ways in which this kind of art can both challenge and sustain rural communities. 

Richard Saxton is an artist and educator based in Denver. He and his work has traveled across the country and across the world in an effort to present audiences with an art that is, in Mr. Saxton's words, "interdisciplinary, blurring the boundaries of social practice, sculpture, architecture, design, and image-based research." As with previous discussions of Chris Sauter and the rural avant-garde, what we see in much of Mr. Saxton's work is an aesthetic that is deeply contemporary--yet the visual style of these pieces is not an end in itself, not a distant, theoretical veneer.

Instead, when we encounter the "social practice" of this work we are placed on a surprising terrain, and our traditional notions of what it means to be an audience for a piece of art radically changes: a rural gas station, perhaps like one in our own community, is defamiliarized by way of Mr. Saxton's lens. With that spark of recognition, the gas station in the photograph and our  own local gas station, along with our perspective on that building and all the other structures surrounding it, is transformed. We begin to see these structures--physical and social--as works of art constantly in the process of being created. And we realize that all of us are a part of this composition.

In this respect, the term "vernacular art" seems to have many provocative parallels to what many of us would recognize in the folk tradition as how a song--by interacting with an audience--is altered, updated and made local, contemporary. Out of seemingly disparate materials, we're back at a point where the traditional and the modern have a great deal to share with each other.

This phenomenon is present across many of Mr. Saxton's projects. The image above is a representative from The Research Archive, a collection of over 500 photographs the artist has taken of unconventional or improvised architecture in rural America. "The archive is a celebration of freedom and autonomy in building," Mr. Saxton tells us, "and is a testament to chance, resourcefulness, simplicity, unpredictability, and everyday ingenuity."

Also housed on the artist's site is the Models and Drawings collection; these pieces "explore an interest in the poetics of the everyday vernacular landscape," and, in considering local materials and local conditions, they offer a glimpse into the artist's process of composition. In the two selections below, we see how figurative models are linked--through this vernacular, "in-process" quality--to abstract renderings:

It may not surprise folks who remember our previous coverage of The Rural Studio that Mr. Saxton served as an artist-in-residence at the Studio a few years ago. After that residency, Mr. Saxton joined in bringing a "rural renaissance" to the small town of York, Alabama. Here's the Birmingham Black and White reporting on his project:

sculptor Richard Saxton was busy renovating an old bank building to create studios and living quarters for two more artists-in-residence that The Coleman Center will support. He previously worked at [Samuel] Mockbee's Rural Studio and now directs The Municipal Workshop, described as a contemporary public art laboratory that works in conjunction with municipalities and communities to foster a more creative approach to living. One of their recent projects is Utility Now!, in which local artists work to solve the Department of Public Works' lack of transportation by redesigning old tricycles and bicycles to make them useful for routine city maintenance, yet aesthetically interesting.

The Municipal Workshop created public art projects with local communities from 2002-2007, and its work is thoroughly documented on the Workshop website. Their many creations range from a Music Integrated Kiosk Environment (MIKE) produced for the Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin to the AutoTour Vehicle built for the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Wendover, Utah. This work led from the Workshop to the formation of the M12, a collective of artists doing some very exciting work in rural America, and beyond. We will conclude this week with a separate article on the M12, as their work deserves ample space.

Until then, we recommend returning to the fantastic Art Lies issue that considered the state of the contemporary arts in rural America; contained within is "Cool Pastoral Splendor," a collaboration between Richard Saxton and Kurt Wagner, a poet and the creative center of the band Lambchop.

Stories From The Hardest Year

photograph by The Hardest Year

Last week The Daily Yonder continued its analysis of the changing demograhics in rural America; in this latest report Roberto Gallardo and Bill Bishop have coauthored a piece that considers the recession's impact: 1.2 million jobs lost in rural America. With a few exceptions (where a small amount of growth occurred) the recession has left many rural communities that were already hurting for positive economic growth in a more desperate situation. 

While, especially in an election cycle, it's easy to read these numbers, to peruse the  Yonder's maps, and feel a sense of dismay, it's important to remember the creativity and resiliency of these same communities. One source that brings us back to this foundation is The Hardest Year, a 2009 cross-country journalism project undertaken by Julie Donofrio and John Sanders. Their search for stories and perspectives led them, in most cases, into rural America; the voices they document across these videos and articles are unforgettable. It's hard not be moved and inspired by what Ms. Donofrio and Mr. Sanders have chosen to share with us. 

Their piece on Donna Sue Groves and her barn quilts was included in last week's post on the subject, but there is a lot more to The Hardest Year. I'll include two videos below, although the full story is revealed through following the links to their site. 

Here's a piece on how many tobacco farmers across central Appalachia are taking the leap of faith by transitioning from the practices of their parents and grandparents into the world of organic farming. In conjunction with Appalachian Sustainable Development, a regional organic movement is emerging in the heart of what was once tobacco country:

 

In this second selection, we travel to Eskridge, Kansas to hear the story of Maisie Devore. Ms. Devore collected cans along a one-mile circuit of local road for thirty years so that she could raise enough money to build a pool for the town's children. 

For The Weekend: Colbert, Silver Screens, and Mother Vines

photograph of The Mother Vine from southwynde.com

Here's a few follow-ups and items of interest for your weekend consideration:

Earlier in the week we discussed the United Farm Workers' "Take Our Jobs" campaign. Here's the UFW president Arturo Rodriguez with Stephen Colbert, who has become the fourth person to accept a job in the fields:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Arturo Rodriguez
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

After our mention of Patricia Leigh Brown's New York Times article on small town movie theaters, Andrea, in a comment on our Facebook page, suggested this film: Small Town Silver Screen. Produced, directed and edited by Bryce Jarrett, this film describes the culture of small town movie theaters in rural South Dakota. The trailer is included below; you can follow this link to watch the whole film on YouTube:

We're looking to explore the culture of wine-making in rural America soon, and this NPR story caught our attention: The Mother Vine, the oldest cultivated grapevine in North America (400 years old!) was sprayed with herbicides by a utilities crew this spring. Melissa Block talks to John Wilson, a member of the family who is currently working to restore the vine to health.

The Rebirth Of The Small Town Movie Theater

photograph by Fred R. Conrad, New York Times

We're back today from an extended Fourth of July holiday with two items. First, below this post, is the next installment in our Almamac For Moderns project: one of Donald Culrosss Peattie's dispatches that might resonate with readers who spent the holiday vacationing away from their usual part of the world.

We're also passing along this article by Patricia Leigh Brown on the resurgence of small-town movie theaters across The Great Plains. Her piece appeared in The New York Times on the Fourth of July, so some folks may have missed it. "In an age of streaming videos and DVDs, " Ms. Brown writes, "the small town Main Street movie theater is thriving in North Dakota, the result of a grass-roots movement to keep storefront movie houses, with their jewel-like marquees and facades of careworn utility, at the center of community life."

This well-written article touches on a number of themes present in the work we've been presenting on this site. It's also helpful in that it links to Meadowlark Arts Council,  a local arts organization that preserved The Dakota theater in Crosby, North Dakota. Tim Kennedy, a landscape architecture scholar, describes these movie theaters as embodying the notion of  “buildings as social capital." As rural communities look towards the future, it's an idea worth considering, worth arguing for among the other conventional ways of engendering economic growth. Here it is, in plain view on the floor of The Dakota:

Today, the Dakota is a star with many roles. It is a destination for high school students on a Saturday night. It is where county employees and local farmers discuss noxious weeds, and where the crowd pours in after football games to watch highlights on the big screen. On Oscar night, the program is shown live. Everyone in town gussies up and walks a red carpet donated by a local furniture company.

"Old Movie Houses Find An Audience In The Plains" can be read in its entirety here. 

An Art Farm In Nebraska

photograph from the flickr page of Christopher Robbins

We're cultivating culture here as a crop, and if you look around, you'll see the diversity of that crop.

The Art Farm of Marquette, Nebraska stands as one of those visionary projects that seems to acknowledge and integrate many of the concerns we have been exploring here lately: the rural-urban connection, how art can be a force for cultural and economic sustainability, and the role of younger generations in shaping rural america. Beginning in 1993, the Farm has offered over one hundred residencies to artists from all mediums; in exchange for contributing 12 hours a week to the everyday operations of the farm, these residents are given generous quarters in various rehabilitated historic barns and other structures and, most importantly, they are given the time and space to create art. 

A visit to their list of past residents (some with links to photos) is palpable evidence to how, as founder Ed Dadey tends the fields, these artists have left their own marks on this landscape. For instance, here are a few photographs of the Sculpture Pasture:

Above: Prairie Hive (clay, twine, wood, 48 x 16 x 120 inches); Mobile Home (inflated rubber, polyethylene, truck, 120 x 256 x 84, approx. inches); Worm Barn (wood, rubber, 48 x 54 x 600, inches)

Exploring the The Art Farm site allows the reader to put these various wonders into a coherent patchwork, there's also this well-done piece on the farm and some of its residents that captures the ethic and the aesthetic of the place quite nicely:

Ted Kooser and the Wessels Living History Farm

The Wessels Living History Farm of York, Nebraska offers visitors the best of both worlds: a hands-on chance to view an operating farm in the Central Plains as well as the opportunity to then go home and learn a great deal more through their online resources. The Farm's site presents a decade-by-decade overview of agriculture in the twentieth-century (with Quicktime interviews) and also focuses on many of the cultural events surrounding life on the farm. There's a great deal of audio and visual presentations here, and, to the Farm's credit, much of this is geared towards educating younger generations about rural culture. This is a fantastic site with enough to read and watch to keep one busy through a long winter's afternoon.

The site also features a selection of poems by former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. A Nebraska native, Kooser has received many accolades for his clear eye and revealing use of detail to evoke a place and a people that is at once local and universal. Aside from his collections of poetry, Kooser also published a well-received memoir about life in Southeastern Nebraska: Local Wonders.

Ted Kooser reads his poem "Tillage Marks," along with others, from his home in Nebraska's Bohemian Alps region here. Mr. Kooser also writes The American Life in Poetry column, which is offered each week, free of charge, to newspapers and online publications across the country.