Fine-Tooning

Roz Chast details the fine art of blogging...
Courtesy: Roz Chast. All rights reserved.

The busy fall foliage season is winding down at Norman Rockwell Museum, and we celebrated in grand style yesterday with our "Back in Time" family cruise-in, featuring a classic car show and tribute to the 30th anniversary of Back To The Future. I was responsible for the latter, and couldn't be more pleased with how the event came together...it was one of the best days I have had in some time. I'll talk more about this, the other unique event I experience last Wednesday ("Future Day"), and provide a more thorough post about my all-time favorite movie, in the days to come.

For now, we bid farewell to Roz Chast: Cartoon Memoirs, which closes tomorrow, October 26. It has been a lot of fun working on this exhibition—not only creating the video (which one of my co-workers rather sincerely and kindly called, "a work of art in itself"), but spending some time with the artist herself. I had, once again, the unique opportunity to get to know a successful and influential artist, working in a medium I am passionate about. 

Last August I spent the afternoon with the cartoonist, driving her to New Haven, CT, for a special radio interview I arranged for her with my friends at WNPR Radio. Roz is not a big fan of driving, so I acted as her chauffeur for the day; I also appeared as a guest during a portion the segment, which you can listen to here. 

Keep Calm... and Mind The Cartoonist!
With Roz Chast and WNPR's Colin McEnroe.
Courtesy: Lydia Brown/WNPR

That late summer radio interview went well, gave us some great publicity for the exhibition, and I totally enjoyed Roz's company for the day; what I did not anticipate was feeling like I was in one of her cartoons! 

Before arriving at Roz's home/studio in southwestern Connecticut, I inadvertently drowned my smartphone (don't ask). Previously running ahead of schedule, I now found myself frantically trying to mop up the thoroughly drenched device...as the minutes began ticking. Trying my best to look upbeat, I finally arrived at the artist's home, and we hightailed it to New Haven. 

But the fun didn't stop there... suddenly we found ourselves stuck in mid-afternoon traffic, and the grey clouds started to form over my head, as I crossed my fingers that we would make it in time for the live interview. It worked out, with moments to spare, as we dashed from the nearby parking garage into the nearby studio, and proceeded with the interview. All went well and we caught an enjoyable lunch together, but when we returned to my car, I couldn't figure out how to get out of the garage...the gate was not accepting my credit cards, and there was no attendant in sight! We eventually tracked one down and got out of the "prison cell," and made our way back to Ridgefield. 

Not so fast, mister... after a few miles, we realized that my GPS was taking us in a completely wrong direction, and pulled over to attempt to reroute ourselves. At this point in the day, I wondered if I might find myself pictured in one of her quirky, New Yorker cartoons in the weeks to come... it was so neurotic... and totally me, not Roz (who was understanding, good-spirited, and funny as always). It reminded me of a question I had asked her last winter during our interview for the exhibition video. Here is an edited clip, where you hear me ask her about people recognizing themselves in her work:

Don't get me wrong... I was honored to spend the day with the artist, and we spent most of the afternoon talking about cartoons and comic art, which was my first real artistic passion and what I saw myself doing as a career in later years. What a wonderful opportunity and insight...it made me want to pick up a pencil and paper, and get cartooning again myself.

Related Links:

Roz Chast's website

"Roz Chast: Cartoon Memoirs" exhibition video

"Getting Graphic With Roz Chast," The Colin McEnroe Show, WNPR, August 19, 2015

It's a Living

The Berkshires' summer season has begun. In my opinion, there's no better time to visit the area. 

First impressions: entering the Berkshires from New York's Hudson Valley.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

A couple weeks ago I appeared as a guest on the WNPR morning show, Where We Live, extolling the virtues of a trip to Western Massachusetts and Norman Rockwell Museum. Not my smoothest interview, but I was happy to take part. I was joined by representatives from Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (coincidentally, how I first learned of the area), Shakespeare & Company, and The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, where the radio interview was broadcast. 

WNPR is based in Hartford yet the show's host, John Dankosky, lives in an area of Connecticut not far from the Berkshires and so decided to broadcast his show live in Great Barrington, on the occasion of the Berkshire International Film Festival. It's interesting for me to recall that during my own years in Hartford, where I attended college, I had no concept of the Berkshires and frequently drove right through its outskirts (none the wiser) during trips to visit my family in the Hudson Valley. 

Go pro: courtesy "Out" magazine.

As I mentioned to Dankosky before we went on the air, my first impression of the Berkshires was that of a "summer camp" for artists, after being tipped off to area by a dancer who was studying at Jacob's Pillow. While working part-time in New York City and living in the Hudson Valley over ten years ago, I started making frequent trips to the Berkshires, enjoying its beautiful countryside, finding part-time work at the Pillow, performing with acting troupes in the area and, of course, working full-time at Norman Rockwell Museum. The rest, as they say, is history.

In the May issue of Out magazine, I offered further insight into my time spent in the area, and was featured as a "pro tip" on the joys of hiking the Berkshires' scenic hills. This is certainly a unique aspect of the area. 

As I mentioned in the WNPR interview, right down the street from the Rockwell Museum  you can take a hike up the mountain where Herman Melville was inspired to write Moby Dick. We talked about the other significant artists and activists who lived in the area, including Norman Rockwell, and theorized about what it was about the area that continues to draw such people. Following the interview, I drove a few miles away to finally visit the newly opened W.E.B. Du Bois homesite, dedicated to the influential American humanist and civil rights activist, who grew up in Great Barrington. Like much of the Berkshires, it was a pleasantly meditative stroll through both nature and history.

History happened here:
entrance to W.E.B. Du Bois homesite.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

They say the grass is always greener... for me, living in the Berkshires for a few years started to feel a little claustrophobic (especially during the winter), so I am happy to now be commuting from the nearby Capital Region. It's the best of both worlds. Due to a technical glitch, you'll hear my mic cut out at the end of the radio segment, but what I was trying to say is that the Berkshires is an easy drive from such areas as Albany, Boston, and New York City, and visitors are in for a real treat this summer (we just opened a show on New Yorker artist Roz Chast, and I'll write more about that shortly). Personally, I'm looking forward to the exhibition of Vincent Van Gogh's landscapes that will be on display at the Clark Art Institute... Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists, and what could be more fitting than a show about the great outdoors here in the Berkshires?

Related Links:

"Live from the Mahaiwe: Arts in the Berkshires," Where We Live, WNPR, May 29, 2015

"Spotlight on the Berkshires," Out Magazine, May 25, 2015

Berkshires.org