BMC Conference Features Leo Amino and More
The 13th Black Mountain College conference called ReVIEWing features Leo Amino, of whom I had not heard before this event. He pioneered the use of polymer resins as the material for abstract sculpture. My annual BMC give-away is pictured above, with a book mark quote from Amino experimentally coated with polymer resin.
This year’s conference is marked by an ever evolving process of globalizing or non-Westernizing the narrative of art in America while signaling the amazing resilience of the importance of Black Mountain College principles and experiences in that narrative. BMC was very early in integrating its faculty and student body, and the Sunday campus tours always recall the major role of beloved African-American staff were in college life. The role of students in governing the college, the powerful roles played by women throughout its history (especially during WW II and then much less so in the last failing years), and the progressive experiential and material-based art instruction at the center of its teaching, all made for a wonderful readiness to explore new ideas that permeated the atmosphere and the work done. Now BMC scholarship is investigating the ways artists like Leo Amino created art that helped open up the artistic tradition to a wider set of values.
David Larson: Dead Dads, Lt Walsh & Karl
Peter Eichenberger, David and brother Karl at Viki B’s wedding
The Dead Dad’s Club, Lt Walsh Day, the Poker Game, the Kentucky Derby Mint Julep Party, all were a big part of David’s social life and the action often involved brother Karl and his house on Sasser Street in the Oakdale neighborhood of Raleigh. And David always celebrated not just with drinking but with art.
from Alan B
The Dead Dad’s Club was invented by Karl Larson. David went through training and qualified to make videos for broadcast on Channel 10, Raleigh’s public access station. His video starring Karl and others about the club was banned from broadcast for lewdness ( the urination of Peter E off camera during the filming) but represents an excellent history of the event. Alan B posted the video here.
The annual party was attended only by people who had lost their Dad. David’s Dad died at age 50 (David told friends he thought he would die at the same age). David made a card for some of the occasions.
from Alan B DD stickers
from Bill H
from Sasser Street
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Lt Walsh was a Confederate soldier who, perhaps in a drunken angry mood, fired on the delegation of Union officers entering Raleigh to accept the city’s surrender. He was captured and hung at a spot in Oakwood near the Side Street Cafe. His grave is prominent in Oakwood Cemetery, and Karl Larson, a fervent local historian, made adorning his grave a special and sometimes large event every April 13th for over 25 years. David’s portrait was used in the elaborate brochure made for year nineteen.
from Sasser St
from Sasser St
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Karl Larson was a Raleigh legend in his own right and he as well as his hospitable house on Sasser were an important part of David’s life. Karl’s unique take on history was evidenced as far back as high school, when Steve, my classmate, would intimate stories of midnight readings of Poe in City Cemetery. A few years later, he made his claim to fame with an elaborate, well documented funeral for the original Boylan Avenue Bridge, which was torn down amid concerns for the continued existence of Boylan Heights as downtown and its throughways grew. He is seen below with Kathryn Myers at the ceremony.
lovingly appropriated from the News & Observer
Karl had a fine career as graphic designer and publication manager at NCSU, but his reverence for local history blossomed late in life with a post-retirement job as archivist for the state and especially with his magnificent accomplishment in leading the effort to restore Joe Cox’s Light Wall on the side of the NCSU Library. He also became a beloved part of a local scene blog call Goodnight, Raleigh.
“Raleigh Boy” posts on Goodnight, Raleigh
Karl’s M.A. thesis on the history of Segregation in Raleigh
Remembering the Man Who Remembered Raleigh
BY NED BARNETT
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David Larson survived Karl and his brother Steve, but not by much and now Phil Larson is left with the loss of all three brothers in a few short years. Steve’s dog Dup was a favorite subject for David, and below are some images contributed by some of the many people who have shared their art on these posts. Thanks to all, and love you some DEL!
from Lura L.
from Mary R (cut-out with collage)
from Mark H
from Jim D (linoleum print)
from the Sasser Street collection
David Larson Pastels
Shawn B’s first piece of purchased art
Here is the heart of the collection, not only in number but the many people for whom theirs is a beloved part of their homes. David was productive and at ease with this form most of his life. We are blessed to experience them.
from Cindy O via Alan B
from Ann T
from Mark H
from David E
from Maryls de A
from Marlys de A
from Joy H W
from Joy H
from Danny G
from Richard B
from Richard B
from Richard B
from Cheryl P
from Cheryl P
from Al & Jamie M
from Ron R
from Ron R
from Ron R
from Sherry M
from Mary Anne H
from Kim B
from Kim B
from Chris C via Jenny B
from Tommy L
from Sasser St
from John And Cara DJ
from Randy A
from Randy A
from Richard B
from Al M
from Randy A
from Debbie B
from Sarah G
from Cheryl P
from Sammy K
from Sam K
from Randy Alley
Dup Above the Couch from Sam K
from Debbie B
from Debbie B
from Faye L
from Tom M
from Mary R
from Pat M
from Pat M
from Alan B via Cindy O
from Mary R
from Mary R
from Mary R
from Susan C “Sadlack’s”
from Britt Zaist
from Britt Zaist
from Peter L
from The Paper Plant
from Ginny W P
from Alan B
from Sasser Street
from Sasser Street
from The Paper Plant
from Leatha Koefler, whose gallery Raleigh Contemporary Art, represented David and also helped him travel with an art group to Morocco
Slide Pastels & Smears: A Larson Bonus Page
click above to see slide images of work from David’s estate
Larson Band Posters
David Larson was the favored artist for band posters in the Raleigh punk and experimental scene around 1980. Here is a collection – if you have one you don’t see – post it at the David Early Larson Art page on FB, or send it to JDJ!
from Wayne T
from Alan B
from Kurt F
from Kurt F
Kurt Fortmeyer
Sara Bell
Chris Q’s Screaming Soul Men
Chomp
draft
This wonderful show encapsulated Raleigh’s alternative arts
John Cage Legacy Anchors BMC Conference
The 12th annual ReVIEWing BMC conference starts tomorrow and I will be giving away a very special booklet. I was so amazed to find out that John Cage made paper, no less with Beverly Plummer, the first NC papermaker of whom I was aware, with the idea of eating a poem. He is the focus of this year’s conference, and so I created my most elaborate BMC project so far. I assembled a collection of fibers and other ingredients and combined them using random pairings and combinations. Cage used the I-Ching for the chance operations that were a hallmark of his work, but I just made item cards, shuffled chosen blindly to make groups.
The materials from the list were combined with a small dose of grocery bag, cotton linter, and potato starch. Each sheet yielded 4 bookmark samples for the booklet.
The papers are lightly attached and so if anyone really wanted to eat their poem, they could, and I hope they will let me know how that goes. Thanks to Julie Thomson, BMC scholar, who hand beat the hibiscus fibers, and to Alice Sebrell, who bestowed the salvage cotton bond paper used for the booklet itself. The BMC spirit lives on and is celebrated and enacted each year at this wonderful event.
raleighrambles.com
portrait by Guillermo Velasco
Raleigh Rambles 