Maddenation
The Gates
If you haven’t already heard about it, take a look at this site and get educated. I hadn’t heard about it either, until Duncan Tooley, our old friend from Baton Rouge, mentioned it the other day when he called about staying at our house Saturday night. He is up here visiting with an artist about a stained-glass project he is doing for the Port Authority of NY/NJ. It turns out one of their project managers needed to know what the term Dalle de Verre meant and found the definition on Duncan’s website. Next thing you know, Duncan was preparing a sample of his work to submit for a project in Brooklyn. Now he’s going to be putting up stained glass at a subway station on Flushing Avenue. Today, we took him to meet his collaborating artist in West Milford, NJ, after which they were to head off the New York to inspect the train station and meet with the MTA.
But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. On Saturday, after picking Duncan up at Kennedy, we asked him what he wanted to do, and he said he only wanted one thing—to see The Gates in Central Park. So we did. At his suggestion, I had already taken a brief look at Christo’s website and come to the conclusion that the project was pretty ridiculous. I found out later that my reaction was pretty much correct, and probably anticipated by the artists. Christo and his wife (?) Jeanne-Claude have been doing these outrageous, massive, “meaningless” projects for a long time. In fact, they conceived of The Gates 26 years ago, but had to wait that long before getting approval from the City of New York (they are friends with Mayor Blumesberg). Duncan told me they had 600 8-man crews employed putting up the 7500 gates throughout Central Park in just a few days. The gates will be dismantled after 16 days and the materials recycled. Crazy! But I have to admit, now that I’ve seen them, The Gates are impressive and strangely compelling. Duncan and I inspected them and marveled at the design, even “looked under the hood” covering the bolts that secured them to the base. We talked to people, took photos, and wondered why anyone would do such a thing. I wondered how long they would be left unscathed, how long before some serious vandalizing would take place. Now I’m going to have to go back and see for myself.
After spending less than an hour in the cold park, we left for home and caught up on the two decades that have gone by since we left Baton Rouge. Duncan and mom went to 7:30 Mass at Notre Dame the next morning (I had to sing at 12 at OLM). After mass, mom introduced Duncan to Fr. Jude and mentioned his stained-glass work. Jude said, “Come with me” and took them to the small side chapel in the church. Jude had already gotten an estimate recently for redoing the stained glass. $120,000. Duncan thought he could do the job for half that. As I dropped him off in West Milford, he said he thought Notre Dame church would be his next project, after the Brooklyn train station. How’s that for networking?
Dad • News • 02/13/05 • 0 comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
Please capitalize your name properly and use the same information each time you comment. We will not send you spam, and your email address will not be posted.