The Saga of a Red Balloon

The saga began on a pleasant English Sunday morning in August of last year. It was the weekend between our first and second week of summer school at Cambridge University. The day before, Ann and I had gone off to Canterbury, paying homage to Thomas Becket, that “meddlesome Priest” murdered and martyred in Christ's Church Cathedral founded by St. Augustine in 597. 597! 

We slept late Sunday, hiked into town from our dorm at Selwyn College, and settled into a sidewalk café for some eggs and salmon, right across the street from Kings College and its chapel.

Kings College and its "Chapel"

This “chapel” would put to shame many of the Cathedrals here State-side. 

In front of the college and its chapel was a tent city of students demonstrating for Gazans and against Israel’s (in their view) hyper-aggressive retribution. (The English seem better than we at differentiating between opposition to IDF aggression and antisemitism.)

Student Protesters' Tent Village

After breakfast, we wandered about decrying the hordes of (other) tourists, many of whom were bus-loads of Chinese highschoolers checking out Cambridge colleges for their studies abroad. One doesn’t expect to find galleries of fine art in a university and tourism avenue, but Byard Art’s window caught our eye; the skillfully done, larger than life still lives drew us in.

 A Byard's Still Life

Now: a little background on art and Ann and me. 

Our walls are adorned with visual art; most would say over-stuffed with it. Not just the living room, but the dining area, the bedrooms, the entry hall. Every horizontal surface hosts sculptures (some mine; the better ones, other’s), vases, Lionel Joyce bowls, Philippine woven baskets, and what not. Ann’s watercolors delight guests in the guest bathroom which we have come to call “the Loo Gallery.” So, four years ago we made a solemn pact: no more art.

I was the first to break the agreement, having fallen in love with a glass sculpture by Tlingit artist Preston Singletary, a piece which was sold out from under me. So, through Traver Gallery, his agent, I commissioned another – without telling Ann. When finally finished, I sneaked it into the house, holding my breath.

Singletary's Raven

 But to my joy and great relief Ann loved it and loved me enough to forgive.

Ben Steele's Visual Pun

The second transgression occurred later that year in Sun Valley, while having a last hurrah at X-country skate skiing. We always take a gallery walk while in Ketchum. There, in Freisen Gallery, Ann was captivated by a visual pun painted by Ben Steele: Sargent Crayons. It and El Jaleo went home with us. 

The third breaching of our solemn pact was mine again. From Preston Singletary’s Smithsonian show, Raven and the Box of Daylight, I fell for Salmon Chief, bought a version for a B-day present to myself, and told Sarah Traver to hold it until my September celebration. Again, beyond telling Ann I had bought myself a present, for all she knew it might have been a pair of new shoes, I kept mum that it was more art, contrary to our agreed NO MORE ART! 

Salmon Chief, Singletary

And now comes a beautiful English summer morning in Cambridge and we innocently wandering into Byard Art Gallery. Ann’s turn. She is drawn to, enchanted by, bewitched with desire for a trompe l’oeil oil of a red balloon painted by Swedish artist, Tommy “TC” Carlsson. 

The Enchanted and The Red Balloon

And so began the saga.

Byard was staffed that morning by a pleasant young man named Toby (I had been “Toby” all my life up until my sophomore year in college) who did not pressure us but stood aside and let the painting work its magic on Ann. She, we, succumbed. Yes, shipping was included. Toby recommended and we agreed to have the painting taken off its stretcher and rolled up to facilitate its shipment and customs clearance. Byard would reimburse our re-stretching once home in Seattle. The Red Balloon, rolled and stoutly crated, departed Cambridge on the wings of UPS on August 22^nd.

So, Where is it?

We knew it would take a couple of weeks to arrive and clear customs. In mid-September, having heard nothing, I tracked the package: in transit, came the confusing report: it had not yet left England but would be delivered in another week. A couple of weeks later: to be delivered tomorrow. Great! Tomorrow came and went. No balloons. More anxious tracking; more “tomorrows” or “cannot determine delivery date.” Then: in Lexington, TN, the US Customs Center. “In Lexingtons” persisted for several more weeks interspersed with “cannot determine deliverys.” Custom’s customer service desk no help; a nice woman I became voice-pal with told me she didn’t know what the problem was, when it would be released, and assured me that all was well. Customs’ web site offers a chat: no information. Never heard of Red Balloon. October: Customs wants my tax ID; I wish I had one. I responded, by e-mail of course, that I was not a dealer or re-seller, but the consumer, and anxiously gave who-knows-whom my social security number. Ann asks that I file an insurance claim, as I had listed the balloon on our homeowner’s policy. I hold off.

In November came word from Customs: they had ordered the crated painting returned to sender! I protested via e-mail and to my friend at customer service Lexington, and via maddening web-site chat – all to no avail. Balloon was on its way back to Cambridge.

December 9^th: Toby emails “Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!! Your Painting has arrived safely back in the gallery. I cannot believe it. It just turned up unexpectedly this afternoon.” Byard opens the crate, inspects the piece and finds no damage, re-crates and sends off again via DHL on Dec 11^th.

Tracking shows us nothing – no location, no delivery estimate, nothing. Then more “delivery to be determined” – not. Then silence. Not locate-able.

December 31^st, from my e-mail to Toby at Byard:

After fruitless hours “chatting” via computer with DHL’s not-so- customer service dept., calling their diabolical voice mail system multiple times, and getting nothing but invitations to “chat” some more – when I think of the joy of having a real chat over a Guiness in a Dublin pub – whatever. This afternoon, on a hunch that I might find help, I drove to the Seattle DHL Express “office-point”. I asked the agent, can you help me locate this shipment?

My hunch was right; the pleasant office manager checked her computer, looked up, and said “well, it’s right out back in the warehouse. I’ll go get it.” I was floored.

Red Balloon had incurred an import duty. Duly paid on the spot, we put the crate in the car and drove it home. 

Now to mounting it again

First week of January: I called Sarah Traver to get her recommendation of a framer. Dan Carrillo, of Gallery Frames: “he does all the galleries here in Pioneer Square” says Sarah. I took it to Galler Frames. Dan and his team opened the crate – truly a bullet-proof casket – and laid it out. Well, first of all, it’s not a canvas but is painted on linen – a thin and fragile linen. Second, Dan shows me how the paint is also thin – that’s part of the illusion of dimensionality. Red Balloon shows no brush marks. Dan is afraid of the thin paint layer cracking as folded over the stretcher frame; we planned to hang it without a frame, you see. Dan says he’s scared of it and declines the job. Carrillo gives me the name of two art conservators, the beginning of my art-preservation education.

The first of these is head of the preservation department of Seattle Art Museum. While he does some outside projects for dealers and museums, he declines: too busy with an upcoming show at SAM. But he recommends another, the same person who Carrillo suggested: Peter Malarkey (how’s that for a name that instills confidence?)

Malarkey turns out to be a highly trained, graduate conservator specializing in oil paintings; a sensitive, likeable, and trustworthy guy; a professional dedicated to the artwork almost more than to its owner; and expensive. In February, he came down from his studio and workshop in the San Jaun Islands to do some work at the Frye and came by to pick up the crated Balloon. His findings a few days later: a strong recommendation that we order a keyed stretcher frame, one that reduces the strain of re-stretching in light of the fragility of our thin paint on linen. The painting cost us in the upper four figures; Malarkey’s cost of a keyed stretcher plus his time and professional fees will total mid-four figures.  Ann objects: why a conservator? Why not just a framer? We have paid high three figures to have paintings professionally framed. I found myself defending Peter and opting for doing right by the piece. Ann said that’s our heir’s problem; we’ll only have the Balloon with us for a few years at best. And so it went (backgammon and bickering are our two favorite games.) Peter Malarkey said he didn’t want to get between husband and wife and he didn’t want to work with someone who did not appreciate his conservator credentials and professionalism. He returned Balloon but offered to advise.

Toby, in Cambridge, said in his experience and Byard’s a framer should suffice rather than a professional conservator. He went on the web to find a couple of Seattle retail picture framing shops, one of them a do-it-yourself frame shop n Ballard. This was turning messy. I go back to Carrillo of Gallery Frames and report Peter Malarkey’s findings. Dan says he’d rather not but if I insisted, he’d want a hold-harmless release in any case. I decided not to go with a guy who doubts.

I searched the web. No question: Malarkey is the best north of San Francisco. But further searching turned up “restoration” – who knew: frame it yourself, professional framer, preservationist, restorer, conservator -- why can’t life be simple?!?

I called and chatted with Daniel Zimmerman, owner of Phoenix Art Restoration. He sounded competent and credible so I loaded Balloon, safely back in its crate, and headed north to Lyndale, WA. Zimmerman gave me confidence as I watched him uncrate and handle Balloon. He also urged on us a keyed stretcher. And he gave me a bid in the low four figures. Half the expense was the keyed stretcher; half, time and labor. Ann, our CFO, approved the compromise choice, so I left Balloon with Zimmerman and his team at Phoenix. One catch: Phoenix chooses to have their stretchers sourced in Ontario. Better woods, better craftmanship, Daniel says. So, the order goes off to Canada – just as Trump is threatening draconian tariffs on imported items. A couple of more weeks slip by: now, it’s late-April.

In the very beginning, Byard assured us they would reimburse us for the re-stretching. But clearly, they had not foreseen conservators or restorers or keyed stretchers and what not. And they were uneasy having to take my second-hand reports of what advisors and sources said. I proposed to them that we share the cost 50/50. Though it undoubtedly cost them more than they originally expected, they agreed and responsibly shared the cost with us who were making the decisions 3,000 miles away. We both have learned from this experience.

What’s up, Phoenix? Actually, it’s “Tennessee”, the operations manager with whom I had chatted a few times. On the 21^st, she tells me the keyed stretcher has arrived from Ontario but her skilled stretcher tech, “Hutch” who does the work, has been out with the flu the past ten days. (She knows; she lives with him.)

Ann so hoped to have The Red Balloon on the wall for our Welcome to Spring neighborhood party last Saturday, the 26^th. With regrets, we accepted the likelihood that we’d not have it. But Saturday morning, Tennessee called. Hutch had come in on Friday just for us; Red Balloon was ready. I hopped up to Lyndale, gave Tennessee a hug and Hutch a hearty handshake, raced back home, and had it hung by 2:30. Neighbors began arriving at four.

The Saga Ends -- alongside James Tormey's Egg

The saga of a red balloon is over, we hope. The Red Balloon is an object of delight on the wall of our dining room, right next to Egg (which the ex-foodie Chairman of Westin, harrumphing dismissively, told me “that’s a four day old egg.” But that’s another tale for another time.)

We'll be back in Cambridge for summer school this July and August and, yes, we'll browse in Byard's and visit Toby and Hanna once again. But --

-- NO MORE ART! 

(Maybe)

 

Assume I Did Want a King . . .

 On the front of my protest placard:

And on the reverse . . .

These are the Uniforms 

     

Of Those Who

Protect Us From Clowns

Open Letter to the Chief Justice

This morning, I posted the following to Chief Justice John Roberts:

Dear Chief Justice Roberts:                                                                                                

I am not a lawyer, but a citizen looking to the Judicial system for protection of our rights, especially those guaranteed us in the First and Fourteenth Amendments to my and your Constitution. Congress seems unwilling to rein in the Executive, leaving you and your associates of the Judiciary as our rampart from which to defend us and constrain the excesses of the current administration’s campaign to reform our institutions and to challenge our rights.

I read that in your past, you argued for strong executive powers, but I hope you agree that what we are now witnessing goes far beyond American norms and processes. We seem to be following a playbook written by the Erdogans and Orbans of the world and not Madison, Hamilton, and Jay. Might you and your associates be next in Trump's target? Due process: what other does that mean than processes of fairness and justice due citizens and residents of this country?

Please encourage your fellow justices of whatever court to become pro-active and call us to our senses. Your examples may embolden our legislators to restore the balance between the Legislative and Executive. More important, they will be protecting us.

Sincerely,

 
Fletch Waller

PS If the Judiciary steps up assertively, I promise never again to tell a cheesy lawyer joke.
PPS Ignore the April first date; I’m not fooling. 

Art, Artists, and Artworks

The perennial, unanswerable question: what is art? It was posed again for Ann and me this weekend when we toured SAM’s (Seattle Art Museum) massive show of the works of Ai Weiwei. SAM titles its three-venue show – at the downtown SAM, SAM’s Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park, and SAM’s Olympic Sculpture Park on the waterfront – Ai Rebel. This is the largest exhibition of Ai Weiwei’s work ever curated, much more extensive than the show Ann and I saw eight years ago at the Strozzi Palace, in Florence.

But back then, the same question was posed. I wrote in our trip log that the show made me “Mindful of Tom Wolfe’s The Painted Word, for the meanings of Weiwei’s constructions need to be explained – the reaction to the Thousand Flowers duplicity, the Sichuan earthquake school collapses, the Red Guard rampages, rejection of veneration, etc. Few of the pieces stand alone as artistic expressions; all need explanation to be understood and appreciated."

About ten days ago, Jannie, a Chinese American friend, alerted several of us to SAM’s current show and encouraged us to see it. She opined (I no longer have her exact words) that Ai Weiwei’s work was of enduring quality and importance.  We had attended SAM’s premiere member reception and lecture by Foong Ping, SAM’s Curator of Asian Art. That and Jannie’s e-mail got me ruminating once again on what is enduring art; indeed, what is art? 

Ai Weiwei: immigration, porcelain;
snake, Sichuan victims' back-packs  

Oldenburg, Philadelphia

I answered Jannie that I wondered (i.e., a polite euphemism for doubted) whether Weiwei’s works would stand the test of time since they were a function of current political relevancy and when the political relevancy passes into the realm of history, would his artworks stand alone or be dependent on explanation? Artists who want us to see or hear differently, in a new way or with a new perspective, use shock and surprise to jolt us out of our usual framework. Jeff Koons’ gigantic, chromed balloon puppies and his ballerinas; Claes Oldenburg’s giant cherry on a giant spoon, his giant clothespin; the artist is startling us into seeing prosaic articles in a new light. Did not Braque and Picasso do the same, “seeing” in multi-dimensional cubism?  

Picasso, 1919

Stravinsky in his Rites of Spring shocked the hell out of its 1918 premiere audience. Lichtenstein did the same by looking at comic books in magnification. Warhol made us "see" Campbell soup cans.  Once seen, is that enough? Which of their works will endure?

Are the resulting artworks novelties, tricks, or worthy of being venerated as aesthetic wonders? Is endurance a function of artistic insight and intent? Of aesthetic appeal? Of explanation? Does the medium matter? Braque worked in paint; Chihuly in glass; Oldenburg in outdoor steel constructions; Shostakovich in music; Weiwei in any number of media but dependent upon an army of artisan joiners, stone carvers, ceramicists, welders, mechanics, and so on. 

And who is to say: the critic, the professor, the viewer, the collector, the dealer and gallery owner, the speculator and the auction market? Somebody paid $58million for a Koons Orange Balloon Dog. What were they thinking?

Or better to the point: 58 million! What were you thinking!?!

 

SAM’s Ai Rebel is an important show, perhaps the best SAM has done. Ai Weiwei and his messages are important. The explanations confront and stimulate, much needed in this time when authority and convention need to be challenged. For those of you in the Northwest, the show is must-see; for those of you from away, Ai Rebel is worth coming to Seattle to see (as is our new waterfront). Don’t miss it.

Homage to the Nap

The nap: the most accessible, most effective, most universally endorsed and prescribed, most time-tested health regimen in the history of mankind. La siesta, das nickerchen. un pissolino, demež, xiaŏshui, son, kulala usingizi, o uttvvákoς, la sieste, alqaylula, et hitnuma, and in scores of other tongues -- everywhere, whomever – ah, the ubiquitous nap.

When I turned eighty, Jenny Pohlman, a sculptor friend, gave me my first formal prescription: sternly, she said, “take daily after lunch, whether needed or not.” But that wasn't necessary; I took them in kindergarten, didn’t you? I had been using the treatment ever since college when I could arrange my schedule to accommodate. In the army, I would fall asleep in minutes on a smokes-&-water break, nestled on a pile of tires or a gun carriage, pack under my head, helmet tipped over my eyes. At world headquarter of (one-man) FCW Consulting, I closed the blinds of my workspace office and stretched out on the oriental carpet, thinking I was getting away in secret but much to the amusement of my knowing neighbors. Today, my nonagenarian nap is de rigueur and should be as well for you youngsters in your seventies and eighties.

My tips? Effective napping is probably as individual as any other habit, but fwiw, here’s what I do. First, I try to fool the body into thinking it is going to bed. If possible, I go to bed -- but lay atop so I don’t have to make it again. Doff my trousers and socks, take off sweater or shirt. Out with hearing aids, off with eyeglasses. Snuggle under a duvet or blanket.

I set an alarm on my phone: twenty minutes minimum, no more than an hour. If I nap for more than an hour, I wake groggy and disoriented rather than refreshed and later have trouble getting to sleep. I often doze and lucid dream; much of this reflection was mentally composed atop the guest room bed this afternoon as I lay on my belly, inhaling an intoxicating mix of fresh air and stale exhale. I never wake up on my belly but I neither do I ever remember having rolled over.

The nap: to it I owe much that I still am in this countdown of precious days. Try it; you’ll like it.

WTF is happening?

 A friend sent me a doctored tape of Macron speaking French in the Oval Office, with insulting subscripts in a phony English "translation" and Trump sitting there, grinning and befuddled. I responded to BR saying: 

"That’s funny – but not funny. Macron told him what Volodymyr Zelenskyy and others have, that Europe’s support is not a loan to Ukraine nor needs be re-paid, but Trump repeats his falsehood again and again. I am more emotional about these goings-on than I have ever been. Usually, I am analytic and put on a mask of rationality, but now I am deeply anxious and depressed.

"It’s all beyond belief, beyond acceptance that men will put their malign intent so openly on display. Where have gone pride and at least a pose of statesman-ness? Godfather as President, something off Francis Ford Coppola’s cutting room floor, surrounded by Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. Musk sophomorically waving a chain-saw about, dominating the President and Cabinet, not removing his hat in the White House, showing no deference to the office of President of the United States; arrogant 20-somethngs firing professional public servants who don’t work for them; Vance and Trump berating an invited guest and on television, no less; Trump parroting through-the-looking-glass claims of a Russian war criminal and child kidnapper; Trump calling out enemies in Congress by name, taunting Sen. Warren as “Pocahontas”; talking of “getting” Greenland and "taking" ownership of Gaza; insulting and castigating Canada, our most reliable neighbor and friend. It goes on and on. WTF?!?

"WTF is happening in, to, my country? My country: 'tis of thee, sweet land of Liberty . . . crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea. True, we have never managed to fully live up to our ideals, not even coming close at times, but never before have we so blatantly besmirched them. Our representations of Liberty, a Native American atop the Capital and a Euro-American standing in New York harbor, are weeping."

 

Sister-City Kyiv?

 I just sent this e-mail to Mina Hashemi, Seattle's Director of Inter-governmental Relations and copied the Seattle city council. 

Let's use Seattle's long-time leadership in the Sister-City movement (having established our first, with Kobe, in 1957, and now having 19 sister-cities) to send a message to our and Ukraine’s leaders. Recruit and promote a Kviv Sister-City Association and establish sister-city agreements with Kyiv. 

The city put a moratorium on sister-city agreements back in 2019. Isn't it time to lift that and use our power to signal support of Ukraine and disagreement with the Trum/Vance tilt toward justifying Putin's rapacious war?

I am neither Ukrainian nor active in a Sister-City association, but I am willing to participate, support, or contribute in whatever way makes sense.