Depending on the size of the institution/gallery/museum, the Registrar is often the manager of information. Here at the Samek, that means not only collection records but exhibition and departmental records as well. I recently wrote an Archival Plan for the gallery, outlining what types of records/documents we would keep, for how long and in what capacity (manual or computerized).
Following the adoption of our Archival Plan, I dived head first in piles and boxes of old gallery records to start the sorting, shredding, purging and organizing of our history. Throughout that process, I stumbled across more than a few interesting facts, stories and legends related to the visual arts at Bucknell. Here is one such story:
John McCluskey
may 1- may 21
academic quadrangle
In the spring of 1976, a student, John McCluskey (Class of 1974, Art & Art History), installed a sculpture in the Quad. This sculpture was constructed mostly of found objects- tree branches, scraps of metal, etc. While it admittedly appeared as a pile of natural debris and trash, it didn’t take much observation to see that the random scraps were artfully arranged. To the best of my knowledge, this installation was never photographed, for within 24 hours it was destroyed. Allegedly, by a group of students.
In response, then Professor of Art Neil Anderson wrote the following public letter:
I found this story especially interesting in relation to a happening of more recent Bucknell history that has been on the minds of and a topic of discussion around the Samek Administrative Office: the yarn bombing. In the Spring of 2012, the Jay Dugan sculpture outside of Vedder Hall was yard bombed. (Click here to watch a video on yard bombing.) Now, as a museum Registrar I have to subscribe to the Kindergarten rule we all learned at just five or six years old: If it isn’t yours, don’t touch it. Though, I admit, the yard bombing was pretty awesome (considering the “bombed” sculpture was not harmed in the making of this happening). Now, the knitter in question was anonymous, but it is entirely possible that it was done by a student. A little internet research uncovered that this was not the first time the BU campus was bombed w/ yarn. Regardless, I think it is relevant to point out that 36 years later and the Bucknell campus is still being intervened with “varied forms of artistic expression.”
I sat down for lunch w/ Neil Anderson to talk about the letter he wrote and the McCluskey sculpture. Neil recognized the letter and remembered the situation, speaking of his time on faculty at Bucknell and the role he attempted to play in raising consciousness in the minds of students and the campus population. This lead me to ask the questions, “Do you think this would happen on campus today and if so, would you make the same public statement today?”
After discussion, we came to no strong conclusion on whether or not we thought Bucknell students today would destroy a public work of art, but if it were to happen I would expect a public statement from Neil. “Well, you know, I was a lot younger (in 1976)….” <pause> “but I stand behind what I wrote.”
This vandalism happened a long time ago. This is a different point in time and Bucknell is a different campus. So, I pose this question to you: Do you think the situation that happened with McCluskey’s sculpture would happen again today at Bucknell? Has the level of “art consciousness” been raised over the last 30 years?