It’s not every freshman writing instructor who stays in touch with a student for more than 50 years, but Cornell University Professor Emeritus James McConkey was one who did…and I was the lucky student.

McConkey was my freshman writing instructor in 1967–I used to go out to his farm to exercise his horses–and he helped me through the student takeover of Willard Straight Hall, from which 130 black protestors emerged–several of whom brandished rifles.

(Jim told me recently that he sat with Dan Berrigan during the Barton Hall Takeover; also counselled University President Perkins–and tried to be a voice of reason throughout all of that). We stayed in touch for some 50 years; he and I held a joint book-signing in the Cornell Store during my 45th college reunion.

I am glad I got to seem him just before he passed away. 

In early October, Jim, his son Larry and daughter-in-law Diane McConkey were on their way back from visiting another of Jim’s former students on Northern Maine ( some 9 hours from Ithaca) and invited me to dinner at the Publick House, near Cambridge, , where I live, and where they were spending the night.

At 98, he told a few funny stories about his mother, who lived to 100 at least…and I  joked that his social life was better than mine. He was still driving–and told us that he would be driving the ten miles from his farm to lunch with friends several times the next week. He seemed frail–but sounded fine when I called to thank him a few days after our dinner.

Anyway, I’ve posted an obit Larry wrote at http://ithacadiaries.com. The Cornell obit is at https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/10/writer-emeritus-professor-james-mcconkey-dies-98 . And here’s a link to tributes from Diane Ackerman, Brad Edmonson and Robert Wilson that appeared in the American Scholar .  https://theamericanscholar.org/remembering-james-mcconkey/#.XdMM61dKg2w   .  —

–Anita M. Harris
Anita Harris is a writer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. Her books include Ithaca Diaries, a memoir and social history of her undergraduate years at Cornell; and Broken Patterns, Professional Women and the Quest for a New Feminine Identity. She is currently working on a creative nonfiction book tentatively titled “Harrisburg,” which is about her experiences founding an alternative newspaper in Pennsylvania, during the trial of the Harrisburg 8.

The new show at Lacoste/Keane Gallery in Concord, MA features both painting and ceramics—a new approach for the gallery in that it combines both the fine art of painting with (what is sometimes considered) the “lowly” craft of ceramics–and establishes a dialogue between the forms.

The show, entitled “Tim Rowan: Presence: Unifying Presence of Sculpture and Painting” features sculptures by Rowan, a leading ceramic artist in the Northeast, and abstract paintings by internationally-known Bernd Haussman,  whose works were  selected to compliment Rowan’s’ work.

The exhibit, at 25 Main Street in Concord, MA, runs through Dec. 1.

Tim Rowan
According to a gallery press release, “The ceramics elements of the show take visitors into the experience of an object’s presence and show how, by contemplating the materials and processes, the artist becomes ‘present’ with the work.

“Also, this significant new body of work by Rowan uses darker clay body with a darker firing— reflecting on how he sees our turbulent time.

“Among the upright vessels and boxes, a group of the intriguing elliptic forms (see Untitled Vessel VIII, below, left) resemble a capsule, missile or rocket mimicking a futuristic machine.

“The sense of irony is not lost to the artist as he examines the notion of man-made versus technology made works,” the writeup continues.  “What has been a study of technological forms like cogs and turbine in Rowan’s early works has evolved into abstract concepts.

“In Untitled Vessel X with Silver Tips (pictured below, right) a sleek dark grey hollow egg form with silver luster glaze conveys this and the artist’s energy.”

Shown in the gallery since 2000, Rowans work has taken a new direction, according to Gallery co-owner LaiSun Keane.

“In the past, it was the glorification of machine and this show is the critique of it – how one finds meaning in everyday life through man-made works and finding the energy of these objects as they are given in the making process.”

Bernd Haussman

Haussman’s paintings, chosen specifically by Keane and her co-owner Lucy Lacoste to compliment Rowan’s ceramic pieces, are, by and large,  two dimensional.

But, like ceramics, some are highly textured , with clay-like or even “fired” surfaces. Their colors and shapes coordinate with those of nearby ceramic pieces—and establish a dialogue with them.

Also like the ceramic pieces, the paintings show the artist’s process–and express the energy that goes into creating them.

As Haussman explained at the show’s opening on Saturday, November 10, many of his paintings express relationships–establishing dialogues– of colors, shapes and ideas– within themselves.

As artist-in residence at the Board Institute of Harvard and MIT from 2012-2015, Haussmann engaged scientists in a non-verbal dialogue through artistic work called “Dialogues.” He also participates in transatlantic exhibitions such as “KunstTraject langs de Leie”, Belgium, and “Art in Embassies.

Born in Tuebingen, Germany, Haussman has lived in the USA since 1994.

In my own view, the provocative ceramic works and beautifully crafted paintings amount to more than the sum of their parts. The novel combination—or dialogue– of objects and paintings makes a statement on the relationship of fine art to crafts–and to artistic creativity. And it turns the Lacoste Keane exhibition space into a work of art in itself.

At Lacoste/Keane Gallery 25 Main Street • Concord, MA 01742 978.369.0278 • www.lacostekeane.com* through December 1, 2018.

–Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris is a writer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. 
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also of Cambridge. 

Lacoste Gallery was founded 28 years ago by Lucy Lacoste with a focus on ceramics. In May, 2018, Lacoste joined forces with LaiSun Keane to form Lacoste/Keane Gallery– marking a new chapter in this gallery’s life. This gallery remains deeply committed to clay as an art medium focusing on showing contemporary, post WWII ceramic artists both established and emerging. In conjunction with its main ceramic shows, the gallery will present a 2-D art focus several times a year to broaden the dialogue between its ceramic works and audience. the gallery also offers for sale functional ceramic works by many well-known potters.

Had a great time at this year’s women’s march…Much good cheer; great signage, and a wide range of participants. At about 2 pm, half-way through, a police officer told me that the crowd estimate was 4000…but he believed the number of participants was twice that, and I’d guess even a few more. (Given that there were only about 10 porta-potties, I’d also guess that was many more than the organizers expected). The sound system left something to be desired (from my perch on a monument, I could see the speaker but not hear an understandable word) but I much enjoyed the creativity of the signage and enthusiasm of the attendees.

–Anita Harris
Anita M. Harris is a writer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. She is the author of Broken Patterns, Professional Women and the Quest for a New Feminine Identity  

and Ithaca Diaries, Coming of Age in the 1960s. 

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a pr and content marketing firm  in Cambridge.

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Much enjoyed the current show at Lacoste--which has long been my favorite Concord, MA, Gallery. This time, owner and former ceramicist Lucy Lacoste is featuring the work of ceramicist Don Reitz– pieces from as far back as the 1960s through equally-if-not-more exciting work from 2014, just before he passed away in his 80’s.

As Lacoste explains, “Don Reitz is one of the great geniuses of contemporary ceramics and was devoted to clay, color and expression throughout his career.

“The show  encompasses three periods in the Reitz’s career– the Sara series, in which he used color to narrative stories on earthenware clay, his wood-fire period using fire and ash for expression, and his color with wood-fire and salt, which was a summation of the many elements in his life works.

‘There are also connector pieces that led from one period to the next such as the colorful plates that preceded the use of color in the Sara series and earthenware with expressive brushwork that came at the end of his life.”

My favorite pieces were those embodying both painting and sculpture. That is, ceramics in the three-dimensional form of brush strokes, incorporating  and exhibiting both color and motion. 

 
According to Lacoste, “The driving force in Reitz’ life was to be an artist and communicate through his art.  As a youth with dyslexia, he found making marks in dirt to be expressive. He took this into his ceramics throughout his career with markings on clay being his personal language. His marks, symbols and signature were always important to him whether in his salt-fire work, where the salt melted in firing to become a revealing skin; or in the ‘Sara’ period where everything was a mark or symbolic imagery done with a colorful palette; or wood-fire where the marks were revealed through the ash. The artist has always approached his work intuitively and expressively.

I Go Without Fear, 1984, earthenware, low-fire salt with engobes,

“Among the pieces in the show is a  wall plaque I Go Without Fear, 1984, earthenware, low-fire salt with engobes, 2 x 25 x 20” from his ‘Sara’ series.  Reitz’s ‘Sara Series’ was born of adversity: while he recovered from a serious car accident and his young niece from cancer, the two exchanged drawings in what amounted to a healing partnership. A childlike sensibility with color and form in abundant informs Reitz’s work from this period. This is an endearing yet powerful work showing a stick figure cautiously and optimistically moving out into the world.

Jammin’

“Jammin’, 2013 is a powerful triptych being shown for the first time from the private collection of his family.  This piece stands out for its bold, dynamic color and free calligraphic painting.  It is one of the strongest and largest of his series of triptych showing the artist at his most painterly.”
The exhibition is free and open to the public and is wheel chair accessible.
Through March 27, 2017 at the
Lacoste Gallery
25 Main Street • Concord, MA 01742
978.369.0278 • www.lacostegallery.com

–Anita M. Harris

Anita M. Harris is a writer, photographer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. 
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also in Cambridge, MA.