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July 16, 2006
Abram Kanof: A Personal Memory
by Mickey Gault

Abraham Mickey Gault

When asked by the Artsrambler to put together my memos of the winter of 1994 has challenged my recollecting skills even though they say the older you get the more you remain in the past. Andrea Gomez and I were working together on a large installation for the main gallery at Artspace. Both being lovers of myth and story, we chose the biblical story of Ishmael, Abraham’s outcast son, little knowing that it would have the political overtones it did due to the fact that the Palestinians and the Israelis were meeting with President Clinton, shaking hands and striving for peace between their two countries after 4000 years of warfare and distrust.
At the time of this show, Anne Tharrington was the tireless and inspiring director of Artspace. She found money and gave unending support to our endeavor. Anne felt that community involvement would add a lively element. She set out to gather an eclectic group of religious and lay people to design and participate in a series of Sunday forums revolving around the show. Dr. Kanof was one of these people. He came to the first meeting, though it was obvious he had concerns about the way Andrea and I were following our own vision on material he considered historically, esthetically and scripturally sacred. We were equally concerned that he didn’t understand the excitement we felt in making the story contemporary. I had never met him before though I knew of his illustrious history as a physician and art collector. I still remember sitting with him at our first meeting explaining how we felt this story was as alive and vital today as it had been in Abraham’s day. It was obvious he had far more awareness of that fact than I. His stare was direct, his demeanor a bit gruff, yet he volunteered to lead one of the forums himself, one that would turn out to be an invaluable education experience to all who attended. The Education room was filled by Jews, Palestinians and Christians, and it was a fiery afternoon. Entitled “Brotherhood, Humanity and the Commonalities of Cultures,” Dr. Kanof amazed us all by leading us through a discussion of reconciliation. Conservative and liberal Jews began talking to each other, even though they had deep rifts in the way they felt about Palestine. Palestinians used the forum to express their need to have this holy land returned to them. We were all exhausted but exhilarated by the end of the afternoon. Old stories became living breathing truths. Abram Kanof was respected by all who were there that day.

My dearest memories of Dr. Kanof were quieter ones. He was intrigued and at first puzzled by Andrea’s gestation paintings my Abraham sculpture which I wanted to represent Abraham and his ongoing story. Formed of coils of clay, it took the shape of the Orant figures found in Sumer which dated back to the age of Abraham. To update it I covered it with biblical text, hebrew and arabic writing and newspaper articles about desire for peace. I placed the photograph of the Rabin and Arafat handshake in the White House Rose Garden on the clasped hands of the Abraham sculpture. It was this sculpture that gave me the most access to the wonderful inquisitive mind of Abram Kanof. I think he became quite fond of it for he came to visit it in my studio a number of times. On several occasions he brought others to view it. At our opening reception on a cold night in January, a large crowd came. Greeting many of his friends and beaming at Andrea and me was Dr. Kanof, proud of the story and the way we made it come alive.

Mickey Gault
14 June 2006

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One Response to “Abram Kanof: A Personal Memory”

1. Gomez Says:
July 17th, 2006 at 5:16 am e

Remembering stories about Dr. Kanof is such a significant and appropriate tribute. I have two.

The first is really an elaboration on Mickey’s comments. A show of this magnitude, complete with a yard of sand and catalogue, cost money. We, with Artspace, approached various Jewish community groups, whose response ranged from bemused tolerance to outright hostility and suspicion (but no money.)

If Dr. Kanof was ever suspicious, it was about our abilities to handle this material that he loved so much. Could he entrust it into the hands of these upstarts? His love of the art of the region rose above politics . If the audience had ears, they learned this lesson.

The other story occurred on the opening night. My son was 11, a typically non-verbal, polite but socially graceless preteen boy. I don’t know why I thought it was so important that he meet Dr. Kanof, but I did. I dragged the poor kid over, made the introductions and never said another word. Dr. Kanof began a conversation of equals, and I wasn’t invited. He spoke with Joel as if this boy was an intelligent entity capable of independent and orginal thought. I left them, walking away with the distinct and clear impression that Dr. Kanof was in the habit of speaking to every child this way; recognizing their abilities and humanity and inviting them to express it.

He must have been an wonderful doctor; but I witnessed a superb teacher.
The move into North Carolina called for more pages in the paper (increased printing costs), a huge spike in miles traveled, long distance calls, and especially wear and tear on both the van and the editor and publisher of the paper. After four months it was clear we had to face some hard facts. There were too many increases on the expense side of the books and not enough increases on the revenue side.
From the beginning in 1987, we have always had to make tough decisions in order to save the paper - which was all important. It was our sole livelihood at the time and many loyal supporters depended on us to keep delivering the word on what was taking place in the visual art community.
We took a hard look at North Carolina and eventually drew a line down Highway 220 and decided that we would only cover what was west of that line. How did we come up with that decision? It was easy - we didn’t have any revenue coming in east of that line. In fact, in four months we never even got one inquiry from a gallery east of that line about advertising in our paper. As far as I remember, we didn’t even get a call from anyone wondering why we were leaving this paper on their door front. It was the coldest shoulder we’ve ever received. All I could figure was that the folks in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill in the visual art community were happy with the coverage they were getting from local media - which was funny - as I didn’t see that much coverage of the visual arts in those areas.
At the time the arts in the Triangle were also under fire from conservative politicians in the area, who were cutting funding for the arts - left and left. They needed some help from a venue not affected by political clout.
I didn’t get it. The Triangle was a large area, included a lot of galleries and gallery spaces, but there were no takers on the opportunity we were offering.
So in May 1997, we stopped dropping our papers off on those door fronts.
Ever since that day - all we hear is “why don’t we include the Triangle in our paper?” Every couple of months we get an e-mail or call from someone who traveled to a place we do cover - they discover the paper - they discover there is little or nothing about the Triangle area - they discover there is nothing (almost nothing) about their gallery or the exhibit they are having, and they want to know - “what’s up with that?”
I have my response memorized by now - I’ve repeated it so many times. It goes something like this: We used to cover the Triangle. We left the area due to a lack of interest and support. We would be happy to return, but we can’t afford to do so without some sort of guarantee of support. We are not a non-profit enterprise which receives support to cover the Triangle area. What do you expect us to do?
Then I ask the $85.50 question, the cost of a 1/8 page ad in our paper - “would you be willing to advertise in our paper to bring us there?” The answers vary, but I usually never hear from the people again. And it goes on and on, but not enough support ever develops. Some tried, but they give up before others join them.
It’s nothing new - we’ve had to drop other areas in North Carolina and South Carolina. Some areas have returned to become some of our best supporters. We do what we can.
As a service to the community in June of 1999 we launched a website version of Carolina Arts including all areas of the Carolinas - as long as we hear from them by deadline. It now includes seven years of back issues and has seen over 5 million visitors. We think we are doing our part in serving the visual art community - with our time and on our dime.
So now after reviewing the first issue of Arts Ramble and the efforts of some folks who are trying to improve the coverage of the visual arts in the Triangle area - I’m wondering what kind of response and support they will get.
They say the site is averaging 770 visitors a day, but I didn’t see many signs of response, reactions, input, or even criticism. It seems that the people who make up the visual art community in the Triangle feel that it is the responsibility of the “media” to cover their every move. It’s much easier to bitch about what you’re not getting than to participate in making a change in that situation by alternative means. Perhaps they are just shy. That 770 number could represent about 50 people who just keep checking back to see what someone else did or said.
I don’t know anyone in the “media”, even those in public radio and TV who don’t have to worry about their bottom line - profits and losses. But if you listen to them - you’ll soon learn that without your donation - they aren’t going to do anything on their own for free. They want their paycheck.
Those in the “media” are in business. They need to make a profit to exist - to provide their “public” service. Right!
Not too long ago I got a call from a PR director of a non-profit art museum who was complaining about not being included in our paper. They stated that as a newspaper, it was my duty to include them - if not just for our reader’s benefit. I never laughed so loud on the phone.
I asked them if they thought that their local daily paper included all the news they knew about; if any paper included all the news they knew about; if they didn’t pick and choose what they reported on and checked with the advertising department before they did - every day?
Get real - they are in business.
Yes, people who are not advertisers are included in coverage, but without financial support - there is no media.
If you think your local coverage of the visual arts is deficient - count up the number of ads there are supporting the paper from artists, galleries or non-profit spaces. Then look at the ads from performing arts entities and auto dealers.
The folks at Arts Ramble are offering you an opportunity to make a change in the coverage of the visual arts in the Triangle - what are you going to do?
Don’t look for what others can do for you - look to see what you can do to help others and yourself.
Let’s hope they last longer than we did. It’s up to you.

Tom Starland, editor and publisher Carolina Arts

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3 Responses to “What’s Up With the Triangle Area?”

1. leehansley Says:
July 9th, 2006 at 5:17 pm e

Tom Starland makes many good points in his article on arts coverage in the Triangle. However, it is obvious he has never worked at a real newspaper. I have worked at many and I can state clearly that the news coverage in a real newspaper has no connection to the advertising department. Now, in art pulbications like ArtNews and Art in America, he is exactly right. I have even heard Milton Esterow, editor of ArtNews admit that who gets reviewed depends on who advertises. That, however, is certainly not true with any of our Triangle newspapers. I know because I’ve been and advertiser for the 15 years I’ve been in business and I have been overlooked often by editorial departments. I was open five years before a show at my gallery was ever reviewed in The Independent. I also have to take exception with Tom about his lack of success in North Carolina. I was willing to advertise and wanted the Triangle covered and I discussed that with him. He obviously forget. I don’t see how he can justify dividing the state in half at Hwy 220. This state is made up of three very distinct metropolitan areas: the Triangle, the Triad and Charlotte-Meck. We have two fairly strong art submarkets at Asheville and to a lesser degree at Wilmington. I invite Tom to give the Triangle another stab and allow more than a few months to get the word out. I, for one, will support his efforts to cover the whole state. It will open up so many opportunities for the magazine with the Monet show coming to the North Carolina and with the new kid on the block, the Nasher at Duke. There’s also the constant public art controversies to right about in Raleigh, not to mention the shows at the Ackland. No other region in North Carolina is stronger is the visual arts than the Triangle. And I can’t believe that the institutions and businesses wont support Carolina Arts if the magazine makes a stand statewide. Lee Hansley, Lee Hansley Gallery, Raleigh
2. Tom Starland Says:
July 15th, 2006 at 8:31 am e

I’m sorry this took so long - I was in the middle of the deadlines for the August issue. They do come first, but I’m offering this as a response to Lee Hansley’s remarks and to set straight any impression people may be thinking about my participation with Arts Ramble. This is a supporting role, not an exploration laying the ground for a return to the Triangle. It just wouldn’t be that easy. Talk is talk - action is another thing all together. Don’t get me wrong it is possible - anything is possible. Like the N&O could double - even triple their coverage of the visual arts. And we could get major commitments for support from the leaders in the community. My 18 years of experience tell me - fat chance. Of course I could win the lottery too - if only I could remember to buy a ticket. Frankly I think there are some hard times ahead for the Carolina art community - we may have trouble holding on to what we have now.

In response to Lee Hansley’s comments on my piece, I want to clearly state that I have never worked at a real newspaper, nor would I want to. Furthermore I don’t have any education in journalism. All I have is my 18 years of experience in keeping the only publication devoted to the visual arts in the Carolinas alive. I would also add that the “real” newspaper business has changed in the last 15 years. If he wants to believe that the revenue generated by advertising from art galleries doesn’t have a relationship to the amount of space the editors devote to visual arts coverage or people paid to cover galleries - so be it. Public service to the community only goes so far and there is a lot of competition for that space in any paper.
I would also add that I can’t imagine ignoring an advertiser or even a non-advertiser for five years, much less a few months - with the exception of a few galleries that I will not include in our paper, for one reason or another. I’m sure that those publications - like us - receive more requests for coverage than they have space for - each time they publish - forcing an editor to pick and choose what gets in and what doesn’t. Any publication that ignores a financial supporter for too long a time is committing publishing suicide - although in the case of the “real” papers - it’s a long-term illness. It doesn’t mean that advertisers have to control your publication, but they are your partners - without them you can’t publish.
Selecting which articles get in and which ones don’t is a tightrope walk I don’t enjoy walking each month. That’s one of the reasons we created our website version of the paper, but even there we have deadlines people have to make to be included.
Now as far as remembering conversations from nine years ago - I have learned from my wife over the years that I don’t have total recall of discussion that may or may not have taken place - years ago much less a few days ago. I’ve learned to always admit my failings on this point - right. All I can say is an ad from Lee Hansley Gallery has never appeared in our paper and I can’t imagine leaving the area with a positive sign of hope in hand. I’ll admit that it could have happened, but at this point I need to describe our paper’s financial standing a little further.
We started our publication 18 years ago on a shoestring and it continues to operate that way to this day. Carolina Arts is published by Shoestring Publishing Company. There is only a staff of two. I fully accept the fact that much of the reason we left the Triangle area was due to our lack of financial ability to wait for things to develop, but in the same respects, we were not offered much hope that anything would develop.
How we decided to divide NC by Hwy. 220 was more a physical factor dealing with the delivery of the paper. At that time all of our support in NC was west of that highway. Even if we had support from Greenville, Rocky Mount, and New Bern - it would have been impractical to serve those areas. The Triangle was the key to the region and it wasn’t happening there. We had hoped that we would regroup and someday return to that area, and although people have continually expressed an interest in having us cover that area - they did not seem to want to invest in that happening in the future.
And, although Lee Hansley has offered to support us - if we cover “all” of North Carolina and imagines that others would be willing to do so also - if we give it another try - it’s not that easy.
In Hansley’s opinion - not mine - the Triangle represents the strongest and most dynamic community in the NC visual art community. How could we cover the Triangle without a significant change in our paper - in addition of pages, numbers of papers printed and distributed, and time involved in processing all that info? It would have to be matched by a certain amount of revenue. That could not happen overnight. We always keep our options open, but…
We gave up being art missionaries many years ago. I do not feel that my mission in life is to cover all the visual arts in the Carolinas - we are not a non-profit publication that receives funding from government sources to do this. Many people seem to forget that factor. We also don’t try to make coverage in our paper a competition among regions of the Carolinas. It’s not totally up to us which areas are covered and which are not in the printed version of the paper.
We’ll work with people to do what we can within our means and in respects to the support we receive. We get a wonderful amount of support from small towns in WNC including Boone, Blowing Rock, Hendersonville and Tryon and in return we support the area all that we can.
But we’re not shopping for expansion of our paper here. My interest here is to support Arts Ramble. They are offering the area something we can’t. Carolina Arts doesn’t offer reviews of exhibitions, open dialogue on certain subjects dealing with the visual arts, and in some instances - instant responses to statements made. We also could not compete for local coverage in the Triangle area with publications already there. We don’t try to anywhere. We have a two-state audience - limited as it is - where readers get to see what’s going on in other areas of the Carolinas. Our website offers a worldwide audience a look at all who send us info by deadline.
I offer my input to support how important I feel this site can be - if the people who make up the visual art community in the Triangle participate.
And, I don’t keep mentioning our deadline to get people to send us more info. I mention it so someone who didn’t get included because they sent the info two weeks late doesn’t offer the next response. I’m covering my ass. Besides, I’m not doing myself any favors generating more work on our website.
I also offer these explanations of our paper and past actions to illustrate that Carolina Arts is not like other papers - real or not. We’re not the best - we’re not the worst. We’re the ones trying to do what we can.
By the statements made by Lee Hansley, there is obviously a gap in visual arts coverage in the Triangle. How big or small that gap is depends on what the people in that community think. I hope Hansley decides to continue to participate in Arts Ramble and support their efforts to make it all it can be to the community and his gallery - for there is more to gain there than waiting for Carolina Arts to arrive on the scene.
And, finally (the most wonderful point of any piece by me) let us not fool ourselves into thinking that the entire community out there thinks that the visual arts are that important in their lives. If they did - the newspaper would be full of visual arts coverage. I’m not fooled, but I’m not going to give up on trying to make them think - they are missing something by not checking us out.

Tom Starland, editor/publisher Carolina Arts
3. Administrator Says:
July 15th, 2006 at 8:33 am e

artsRambler’s note: Might be time to speak up here with a little history. As I, a mere artist, hardly a “newspaper man,” began to assume this new role, I spent quite a few hours on the internet, AS I STILL DO, looking for artsmagazines and sources. I wrote to quite a few organizations and the few–correction–one art magazine in the region I could find, letting them kn ow about us. Tom Starland wrote back immediately, saying he had listed a link to our site, and offering general good advice. This was in June. To date, he has given us support in the form of an ad and an article–now two.
Additionally, in the interest of full disclosure, I have known Lee Hansley for years on a professional level. My artist colleagues and I would trek from our studios to see the many significant shows he brought to downtown Raleigh and then to Glenwood Ave. Good galleries, like Lee Hansley’s, as well as the host of other serious galleries in the area are part of the life support system of the cultural body, and specifically the visual art organism.
Good journalism/publiications are another intrinsic part. And the heartbeat, of course, is the artists.