Home Run!

I kicked off the Memorial Day weekend in grand style last Thursday, by tuning in to the CBS Evening News to catch their segment on Norman Rockwell's 1957 painting, "The Rookie," which I pitched and coordinated for Norman Rockwell Museum. Just in time for Christie's auction of the painting, which sold for $22.5 million that morning, the CBS segment was nicely produced, and original "Rookie" model, Sherm Safford was the perfect spokesman. You can view the clip below, and on the CBS News website:

As expected, last week kept me busy with press regarding Norman Rockwell's work at auction, and I fielded numerous calls from news outlets looking for perspective on the artist's enduring popularity; I thought journalist Karen Brown summed up this particular moment quite nicely in a segment for New England Public Radio, for which I was interviewed. Another news story I helped facilitate appeared in last Saturday's New York Times, including comments from our Museum's director. 

As I pointed out to The Berkshire Eagle in their May 16th article about the CBS Evening News segment, even though Norman Rockwell Museum did not own these recents works on the auction block, being consulted for these high-profile stories is "fortunate for us because it reminds people about what was so special about his [Rockwell's] work, and the fact that they can come here to see original artwork and learn more."

Interviewing Sherm Safford, Norman Rockwell's "Rookie," in the
Flower City. Photo by Sarah Clowe. ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

Keeping this in mind, I contacted some of the press in my own hometown of Rochester, New York, before heading there for the long, holiday weekend—I figured that they might be interested in knowing that Mr. Safford has been a long-time resident of the area. WROC-TV, Rochester's CBS affiliate, took the bait, and visited Safford and me in the former Rockwell model's home the day after the auction. The station, which I used to work at back in the late '90s as an editor/camera man, filmed interviews about Rockwell's legacy with both me and Safford, and I brought along several props (the artist's reference photos for the painting, "Rookie" products from our Museum store) to help bring the story to life visually. The segment is scheduled to run next Tuesday, June 3, on the station's newscast (more details soon).

After we were finished with the WROC interview, I sat down with Mr. Safford myself, and conducted a videotaped interview for the Museum's archives. This fulfilled a goal we set during our first meeting at Rochester's George Eastman House back in August 7, 2011, when I interviewed Safford during my lecture about Norman Rockwell's models, and the number of videotaped oral histories I have conducted with them for the Museum over the years. It was fun to capture Safford's emotions the day after the heady auction and experience of viewing himself on national TV news the night before. You can listen to our original 2011 Eastman House interview here:

  

The rest of the Memorial Day weekend was spent catching up with family and friends, and making it to two magnificent Rochester landmarks: Highland Park, site of the Lilac Festival (we were just in time to witness the lilacs in full bloom), and the Memorial Art Gallery. The art museum was featuring an exhibit on Henri Matisse as printmaker, in addition to its gem of a permanent collection (which includes everything from Egyptian artifacts, classical paintings and sculpture, to modern art); we were also lucky to catch a lecture on the Hudson River School and plein air painting, provided by the curator of Olana, the historic home of Frederic Edwin Church, in Hudson, New York— it's funny that we traveled out to Rochester for a talk about art created in our area of the state, but it was informative for both me and Sarah (we have painted onsite at Olana ourselves in the past).

Home grown: lilacs in bloom at Highland Park, Rochester, NY, 
May 2014. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

This week I'm back in the Capital Region/Berkshires, tackling press and preparing for Norman Rockwell Museum's upcoming exhibition on the illustration art of Edward Hopper (opening on June 7). Outside of work, I'm finishing up a couple independent video productions... trying to race against the clock. Indeed, taking a few minutes to write here feels like a welcome "seventh inning stretch."

Related Links:

"How Norman Rockwell drafted his 'Rookie,'" CBS Evening News, May 22, 2014

"Rockwell's 'The Rookie' to be featured on CBS News," Berkshire Eagle, May 16, 2014

"Rockwell Paintings Bring Windfalls - On Two Different Scales," New England Public Radio, May 22, 2014