December 17, 2006
Halcyon Days and Harleys
by Stan Crocker
In a recent conversation with the Artsrambler, we were discussing the “Monthly Question” on her website regarding the “Self Taught” artist. The question has elicited several online responses including one from Matt Sesow the artist whose work prompted the question. Artsramble has given me an opportunity to talk about our next show at Crocker’s Mark Gallery, which in some way is my response in media res.
The title of the show is “ Halcyon Days and Harleys: A Family Art Retrospective 1844-2006”. It will open December 15th, one day after the beginning of the Halcyon Days that are associated with the winter solstice. It will run through January 31st. Yes… I know… Halcyon Days end December 28th, but this reference to them is not about the dates. More on that later.
In polite conversation in the South, there is an outside chance that eventually someone may ask who “your people” are. You know, questions like “What kind of stock did you come from?” “Who are you related too?” Maybe even “Where did you get your MFA?” I didn’t really consider any of these questions all that important until the time my brother asked his first cousin for a date at a bar on Hillsborough Street. They finally recognized one another, but not until the “Who are your peeps?” question came up. Perhaps as artists that is one way that we recognize one another. What are your credentials? Who calls you an artist? Does it really matter?

Crockers
People often ask some form of this question when they come into the gallery, “What prompted the transition from lawnmower shop to art gallery?” Depending on who is asking and the degree of my own insecurity in calling myself an artist or gallery owner that day, I sometimes hear the question this way “ What makes you think you are qualified to be either one?” Frankly, the jury is still out on that question, but the myth that I am trying to dispel with this next show, is that ordinary folk, the untrained, the self-taught cannot produce art or should not be called artists.

It gets a little tricky here calling my own family members ordinary, untrained and self-taught, because it depends on how the terms are defined. They are ordinary in the sense that none have ever made a living as an artist. Since the 1700’s they have been weavers, farmers, preachers, schoolteachers, lumberyard workers, machinists and lawnmower repairmen. They have also been homemakers, state employees and at least one forger. Perhaps he was the one true artist. His work was rather convincing. And some were trained in the arts by private teachers or in a university environment, but not as their degree. As to the question of self-taught, is anyone truly self-taught? How does one know how to anneal copper, mix a glaze, cut a dovetail, wield a pitching tool or set a rivet? Is there any way to do art without the requisite skills? Where do the skills come from?

jewelry
“Halcyon Days and Harleys” explores some of these questions from within my own experience and that of my ancestors. It is a survey of work produced by my relatives from the 1800’s through the recent past. Within the show are samples of woodworking, pastels watercolor, pencil, ceramics, metalwork, jewelry making, mixed media sculpture, photography, stained glass, the written word and a custom 1984, shovel-head, Harley Davidson Superglide. Some of the work may be considered craft or reproduction but many of the designs are original. Also included in the survey are handmade tools that in the hands of the artists produced the work. For whatever reason (one, perhaps the depression of the 30’s) my father and grandfather made many of their woodworking and metalworking tools. I have found myself doing the same as I explore my own work. It could be a genetic anomaly…

Now to that Halcyon thing. The story of the Halcyon goes something like this. Ovid tells a story about Aeolus the ruler of the winds and his daughter Alcyone. As we know with any Greek story there is rarely a happy ending. Alcyone’s husband Ceyx loses his life in a storm and the grief stricken Alcyone throws herself off of a jetty into the sea. However instead of dying “she skims the surface of the sea” as if on wings. When she tries to embrace her husband with her newfound quills, the gods take pity on her and change Ceyx into a bird, as well, and because Aeolus has a vested interest in the successful mating of the pair, he withholds the wind and provides calm seas for seven days before and after the winter solstice. Yet, it is still a long-winded story…

The story is also associated with the kingfisher, the alkyon in Greek, which legendarily nests on the sea and has the ability to calm it during its time of brooding. Milton invokes this story in his “Hymn to the Nativity” so there is a seasonal reference as well. And finally, the term “halcyon days” is generally used to describe a time of reflection on the more pleasant times of the past.

I chose the term halcyon for all of the reasons above, but especially the first. These days, in mid life, I find myself looking for a jetty more often than I would choose. As family and friends complete the circle of life, their art is one of the marks they leave on the world. I consider this show a chance to call the dead; give them a chance to try their wings. In good time, they have helped me find my own.

One Response to “Halcyon Days and Harleys”

1. Tom Starland Says:
December 17th, 2006 at 8:43 pm e

Stan Crockers’ self-review of his own exhibit is an excellent example of what you won’t read in mainstream media - too bad. It’s’ true, some reporters may have brought some parts of his offering into their article, but it would all be filtered through that reporters’ own experiences and knowledge of the subject. Some can’t help but inject themselves into everything they write or report on. And then to top it all off - whatever the reporter submitted will most likely be edited down, by someone who know’s nothing about the article, to make room for an ad appearing on the same page. (Not many space limits in cyber space.) It’s the nature of the business. The media has to put their own touch on what they report. In some cases Crocker could have had a conservation with a reporter and later while reading the article in print - wonder if the reporter heard anything he said. Here we get to read exactly what Crocker wanted to tell us. Well, maybe not exactly as everything can be added to or improved in time. But it comes straight from the horses mouth.

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