Covering All Bases

Home run! One of my photos appearing
in this past week's "Metroland."

Over the past month, I had the good fortune of being hired by the Albany Institute of History & Art to take some promotional photos of their current exhibitions and educational programs. In addition to their outstanding permanent collection, the museum has been hosting three baseball-themed shows (from national to local) with related family programs. I enjoy baseball history, so it's been a cool gig.

It doesn't hurt that my wife works there, but it has also been fun to spend a couple whole days walking around another museum and its beautiful gallery spaces, and hunting for visually striking moments. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

Related Links:

Albany Institute of History & Art website

"Bob Goepfert Reviews 'Triple Play' At The Albany Institute," WAMC Radio, April 21, 2015

"A Home Run at The Albany Institute," WAMC Radio, March 30, 2015

Did Her Part

Mary Keefe ("Rosie") signing autographs
at Norman Rockwell Museum, July 2013.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell
Museum. All rights reserved.

I was sad to learn the news that Mary Doyle Keefe, the model for Norman Rockwell's iconic Rosie The Riveter painting, died this past week at the age of 92. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Mary on several occasions during my time at Norman Rockwell Museum, and she was always quite pleasant and modest about her experience posing for the artist. 

Like many of Rockwell's models, Mary was also one of his neighbors during the years the artist lived in Arlington, Vermont. She was just 19 and the town telephone operator, when Rockwell called and asked her if she could pose for his latest painting. "You knew he used a lot of people in Arlington," she recalled during a 2002 video interview I conducted with her for the Museum. "You just knew that that's what he did. So I said 'sure' and went down, and sat there for maybe two hours or so. Gene Pelham, his photographer, took all the pictures." 

Several weeks later she received a call from Rockwell, apologizing for changing her petite frame into the hefty, muscular figure (inspired by Michelangelo's painting of the Prophet Isaiah on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel). She seemed to take it in stride, despite the occasional ribbing. The illustration appeared on the May 29, 1943 cover of The Saturday Evening Post, becoming a beloved symbol for women who joined the workforce during World War II. 

It is amazing to see how Norman Rockwell's images continue to resonate to this day. Shortly after hearing the news of Mary's passing, I started to receive numerous press calls at the Museum looking for comment and more information. Today's New York Times features an article, which includes excerpts from my 2002 interview; and I have also shared audio from that interview with such radio outlets as WAMC, our local NPR station, as well as Hartford's WTIC (coincidentally, where I once interned during college). 

A blog post I created on our website has been cited by numerous sources, and my Facebook post about the news has set a record for us (currently reaching over 2 million 200 thousand people, with over 9700 likes and 15,470 shares). Our Facebook fans have been posting comments of appreciation and even archival photos of family members who served as real-life "Rosies" or modern-day tributes. 

With "Rosie," August 2012 at Norman Rockwell Museum.
Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

From my years of conducting videotaped oral histories with Rockwell's models, I can offer a certain level of insight about the artist and his collaborators, and that is a great feeling. It is also satisfying to be able to share the story of everyday people, who have found themselves in extraordinary situations. 

As I told a reporter from the Nashua Telegraph this week, "I think several people from the Arlington area were unsuspecting of the legacy they would suddenly be carrying with them. They became part of Norman Rockwell’s world and became more aware of this lasting impact as generations went on." As a sweet side note, Mary's granddaughter Hillary went on to intern with us at Norman Rockwell Museum.

The last time I saw Mary was in 2013, when she attended one of the Museum's model reunions (her arrival always seemed treated like "royalty" by our visitors). She looked great and was gracious as always, signing autographs and posing for photos. A rather reserved woman, I think she just accepted this larger than life "celebrity" that she became associated with, and was happy to share her memories with an appreciative public. "It was a privilege to be able to sit for Norman Rockwell and be able to do all these things, because he was quite an artist," she told me. "I got quite a bit out of it."


Related Links:

"Mary Keefe, Model for Rockwell’s ‘Rosie the Riveter,’ Dies at 92," The New York Times, April 24, 2015

"One-time Nashua resident who posed as 'Rosie the Riveter' dies," Nashua Telegraph (subscription only), April 24, 2015

"Rockwell Museum Remembers Mary Doyle Keefe, a.k.a. 'Rosie the Riveter" (video interview), Time Warner Cable News, Albany, NY, April 23, 2015

"Rockwell Museum Remembers Rosie The Riveter Model" (includes audio clips/interview), WAMC Northeast Public Radio, April 23, 2015

My Facebook Post for Norman Rockwell Museum (includes photo and fan tributes), April 22, 2015

"Remembering Rosie The Riveter," my blog post for Norman Rockwell Museum website, April 22, 2015

Development

The last couple weeks have found me focusing on a handful of video editing projects, which has been a nice change of pace. I think my colleague put it best when he recently remarked that, "when it rains it pours, huh?..."

Below are two videos I produced for the development department at work. The first one utilizes some of the footage and music I used for my recent WMHT-TV segment, as well as the aerial footage I shot on the Museum's campus a couple years ago (yes, I can mark that bucket off the list):

The second video was created to promote the fellowship program through our Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies. I think I might try and add some music, and further massage the audio when I can find the time:

Both videos were created using Adobe Premiere Pro CC. The editing program takes a little getting used to (counterintuitive, in some ways, after using Final Cut Pro all these years), but there are some useful tools found within; it certainly complements the rest of the company's Creative Suite.

"The Schenectady Gazette" April 2, 2015. Courtesy of Jeff Wilkin and
"The Schenectady Gazette."

I am particularly pleased with how the :30 second promo came together. It is one of a few music-based edits I have worked on recently, and I find myself really hitting my stride when it comes to such projects.

Apart from creating these videos and some photography at the Museum, I have been promoting our current and upcoming programs and exhibitions. We currently have an exhibition on the art of illustrator J.C. Leyendecker (a hero to Norman Rockwell), which features all 323 covers he created for The Saturday Evening Post. It is a remarkably strong display, and a few weeks back I was pleased to be contacted by my local newspaper for an interview about the exhibition (yeah, it never gets old seeing your name in boldface).

Related Link (Professional):

"Artist had more Saturday Evening Post covers than Rockwell," The Daily Gazette, April 1, 2015

Inspiration (Personal):

"Teaching Students To Hear The Music In The Built World," NPR, April 21, 2015