Blog
“From the earth around us”: discussing Garysburg Trapper’s Lodge with steward Mike Spriggs
“My whole life was digging in the earth…That's when I really learned something about the earth, by digging deeper and deeper. Each layer is like another chapter of a book.” (artist Q.J. Stephenson, interviewed by Barry Gurley Huffman, 1988)From the 1950s until his death in 1997, Q.J. Stephenson collected objects which surfaced in the course of his work as a dredger, trapper, and dragline operator in eastern North Carolina––including animal bones, fossils, iron ore, driftwood, shells, plant matter, and human-made artifacts––and incorporated them into a handbuilt cinderblock lodge constructed in the front yard of his Garysburg home.
Seymour Rosen: Inclusive Curator
In one of my undergraduate classes at Utah State University, we looked at arts and museums participation statistics. We talked about how many people had never been to a museum, the demographics of the people statistically most likely to visit museums, and the people mostly likely to not to visit museums. Then we talked about what might discourage people from coming into museums and the ways we might change museums or programming to be more inclusive and welcoming. Since I graduated and started working in museums, I’ve repeated that conversation over and over again at conferences, board meetings, and one-on-one conversations with colleagues. How to bring new people into museum spaces is just something the museum field never stops considering.
Remembering Jim Bowsher
Jim Bowsher, the creator of the Temple of Tolerance in Wapakoneta, Ohio, was a man of many interests, talents, and friends. After hearing of his passing on June 12, 2024, we reached out to several of these friends – who are also friends of SPACES – to learn more about what made his life and work so special.
Seymour's Darkroom: Shaped Buildings
In 1976, Seymour Rosen’s photographs were exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. That groundbreaking exhibition, commissioned by SFMOMA as part of their bicentennial celebration, titled “In Celebration of Ourselves,” included over 700 photographs as well as materials from 34 California art environments.
50 Years in the Field: Jo Farb Hernández and Singular Spaces II
Jo Farb Hernández took on the enormous task of stepping into the role of SPACES Director following the death of Founder Seymour Rosen in 2006. She oversaw moving the Archives from Los Angeles to Aptos, California, organizing the vast array of materials and making them accessible to the public. After more than a decade at the helm, her final project before her retirement in 2019 was transitioning SPACES to the care of the Kohler Foundation in Kohler, Wisconsin, where it remains a preservation project today. We recently caught up with Jo to see what she's been up to since then, including the recent release of the second volume of Singular Spaces, her extensive documentation of art environments in Spain.
Out of Office: Oklahoma and Kansas
This past August, I had the great honor of joining the “Totem as Monument & Archive” workshop and lecture series organized by artist/conservator Erin Turner. This site-specific series was created with the intention to activate the Ed Galloway Totem Pole Park near Claremore, Oklahoma, and examine the art environment through a critical lens addressing issues of Native representation and cultural appropriation.
The Environments of Environments: looking away from artist-built sites
Gregg Blasdel, view of Eugene Mountains from the entrance of Frank van Zant’s Thunder Mountain Monument. ©SPACES Archives
Seymour's Darkroom: Murals
In 1976, Seymour Rosen’s photographs were exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. That groundbreaking exhibition, commissioned by SFMOMA as part of their bicentennial celebration, titled “In Celebration of Ourselves,” included over 700 photographs as well as materials from 34 California art environments. Most of the images and objects on display illustrated events, people, and arts that had never before received museum exposure—including street murals. Rosen later published a book with the same title (1979) that documented the range of works included in that noteworthy exhibition - in this book, Rosen reflects on how these murals developed and how they reflect the creative community at the time.
Bridget Lacey and Safekeeping: The Art of Val Polyanin
In June of 2022, Val Polyanin vacated his art environment outside of Crescent City, California, and left a note gifting his vast body of work to the City, his home of more than 20 years. Several city employees immediately saw the value in saving this collection and urged the City of Crescent City to acquire the work. Since that time, they have been diligently working toward a plan to permanently display this collection and tell Polyanin’s incredible story. Thank you to Bridget Lacey for sharing the details of this important project with SPACES in the interview below.
Daniel Paul on the Historic Preservation of Art Environments
Architectural Historian Daniel Paul has more than 25 years of experience in the historic preservation field and has successfully listed local, state, and federal landmark applications that include the Capitol Records building in Hollywood, Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey’s Bottle Village, and early U.S. Border Inspection Stations in Vermont. During his time with Bottle Village, Paul worked with SPACES Archives founder Seymour Rosen (pictured in the background of the above photo). He recently spoke with SPACES about his experiences in the field of art environments and where he sees this work headed.
