Vol.39,No.2Winter2010

INthIsIssue

New & Notable 2 Medal Day 2010: A Celebration of Jazz 4 Campaign for the Second Century 6 New Fellowships 7

architects | composers | filmmakers | interdisciplinary artists | theatre | visual artists | writers

Artis

tsletter from the director

ANeweraWhen reflecting bAck on the history of MAcDoWell, Distinct erAs becoMe AppArent. The first “third” (1907–1937) of the colony’s existence saw Marian MacDowell tirelessly working to raise funds to build the studios. The middle years (1938–1977) were focused on rebuilding after the hurricane of ’38, rebounding from the scarcity of the war years, and modernization. The latest period (1978–2010) has brought programmatic maturity and the hard-won struggle for financial stability. As we share with you this issue of the MacDowell newsletter, we are witnessing the unfolding of a new era marked by the upcoming retirement of chairman of the board, robert Macneil, who has served brilliantly in this capacity for 18 years. to commemorate his leadership, we have collected his remarks about the arts in a book titled Why Is This Important? We invite you to contemplate your own answer to this question. More infor mation about this book can be found in our Medal

Day feature on page 4, which also celebrates the life and work of our 2010 edward MacDowell Medalist, jazz great sonny rollins. our recently announced campaign for the second century — with a new, contemporary media center as its focus — reflects the colony’s resolve to continually evolve and progress, as do the recent accomplishments of some of our artists featured on the next few pages. What you’ll read about in this issue is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s happening at MacDowell. MacDowell artists and support ers are determined to be in a world electrified by creative thought. We hope you will join us as we carry forward our vision.

Cheryl A. YoungExecutive Director

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QuotAble“I spent several years putting this film together, and during that time I worked on it while in residence at MacDowell three different times. In many ways, my time at MacDowell was central to the creative process I went through with this project. Each time I was in Peterborough, I was able to focus huge amounts of time and concentration on writing and editing, and each time, I experienced wonderful creative bursts that allowed me to take giant steps forward. As anyone who has done a residency at MacDowell knows, being freed up from the day-to-day business of ‘normal life’ leaves one with huge amounts of time and energy. Being at MacDowell makes it possible for an artist to focus completely, and having the time and space to work in this unencumbered manner is invaluable.” —Filmmaker Sam Green

new & notable The commissioned site-specific painting Just a Rumor by visual artist anna schuleit is a three-story-high, upside-down portrait of a face. Painted on the facade of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, the image and its reflection — when viewed on the surface of the adjacent campus pond — produce a double portrait. Just a Rumor was displayed from September 10th through November 14th.

more new & notable projectselIsAbethtoVAbAIleyThe Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, nonfiction

ANNAbodeNANDRyANFleckIt’s Kind of a Funny Story,featurefilm

elIzAbethboultsANDchIpsullIVANIllustrated History of Landscape Design, nonfiction

RINNeGRoFFCompulsion, play

cyNthIAhoGueOr Consequence, poetry

NIckJoNesThe Coward,play

lIsAkeReszILisa Kereszi: Photographs, visualartexhibition

bARtMcleANSoundworlds, cD

lAuRApoItRAsO’ Say Can You See?,videoinstallation

ANNetteRusINRoad Work,visualartexhibition

RosAlINdsoloMoNThe Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today, visualartexhibition

MoNIQuetRuoNGBitter in the Mouth, fiction

kIMuchIyAMAArchaeo, visualartexhibition

RuthWolFFNotable Women and a Few Equally Notable Men,collectionofplays

sam Green’s new film, Utopia in Four Movements, screened at the San Francisco Film Festival in May (above) after premiering at Sundance in January. A “live documentary” that Green cues and narrates in person while the Brooklyn-based band The Quavers performs the sound track, the film is a meditation on the battered state of the utopian impulse at the dawn of the 21st century. Utopia in Four Movements will screen at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis on February 12, 2011.

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Architect jennifer siegal’s Office of Mobile Design has been selected to design the new Monterey History and Maritime Museum exhibition spaces, which will open in the spring of 2011. Integrating sound, sight, taste, and touch, Siegal’s design features four suspended baskets that represent Monterey, California’s historical ties to the sea, the whaling industry, and its Japanese and Chinese communities.

ATM or this is [not] new york, the latest project from interdisciplinary artist kevin doyle and his company Sponsored by Nobody, had its world premiere at the Monty Arts Center in Belgium in November. A play that investigates New Yorkers’ interac-tions with their city’s homeless population, the installation simulates the automated teller sections of banks — places where the city’s homeless have long masqueraded as “doormen” in return for change. Participants in the project include poet hannah poston, whom Doyle met during his residency at MacDowell in 2008. ATM is scheduled to have its New York premiere in January of 2011.

Music for the MountainThispastsummer,MacDowellcollaboratedwithMonadnockMusic,aPeterborough-basedorgani-zationthataimsto“makeexceptionalmusicaccessibletoallinintimateandinformalsettingsintheMonadnockregion,”onaspecialprojectthataimedtopaytributetotheenvironssurround-ingMt.Monadnockandthelandscapeofthearea.Sixcomposers—includingMacDowellFellowNathancurrier—wrotemusictoaccompanypoemswrittenbyMacDowellcolonyFellowschanabloch,suzannecleary,MarciaFalk,berthaRogers,Neilshepard,andelizabethWillis.inJulyandaugust,composersandpoetswereonhandtobringthewordsandmusictolifeinaseriesoffreepublicconcertsthattookplaceintownsaroundtheregion.

Dubbed the “Great American Novelist” when featured on the cover of TIME Magazine in August, jonathan franzen released his highly anticipated fourth novel, Freedom, in September.

A view of Mount Monadnock from the Colony.

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Above: Interdisciplinary artist Zoe scofield dances to the music of fellow artist-in-residence and composer dave eggar. Right: A photo created at MacDowell by Scofield and her collaborator juniper shuey (pictured far right with Scofield in New Hampshire Studio) as part of their performance piece A Crack in Everything. Scofield and Shuey plan to present this work as a gallery piece, an installation, and a perfor-mance piece at various venues next year, beginning with the Stella Adler Studio in New York, where it will be shown as a work-in-progress on January 20–22, 2011.

Four MacDowell composers received commissions in June through Chamber Music America’s Classical Commissioning Program. More than $170,000 was awarded to nine ensembles and composers, including eric chasalow, sebastian currier (left), shih-hui chen, and jason eckardt. Commissioned composi-tions will be written for small ensembles across a diverse musical spectrum, including contemporary art music, world music, and works that include electronics.

Artist Awards, grants, and fellowships

more awards, Grants, and fellowshipsdAVIdAdJMI, playwright Whiting Writers’ Award

sARAhbRAuNsteIN, writer National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” Honoree

MARIlyNhAckeR, writer PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry

kAthRyNhAGy, visual aritist Fulbright Scholar Award

cAthlecouteuR, filmmaker Sundance/Alfred P. Sloan Commissioning Grant

JAckIeGeNdel, visual artist The Space Program Grant

GRAcekRIlANoVIch, writer National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” Honoree

lukelAMboRN, visual artist The Space Program Grant

shARoNMesMeR, writer Fulbright Specialists Award

kIRkstolleR, visual artist The Space Program Grant

bringing back the WpADecidingtoliterallybethechangehewantstoseeintheworld,interdisciplinaryartistchristopherRobbinshasbeenworkingtobringbacktheworkProjectsadministra-tion(wPa),agovernmentagencythatemployedmillionsofpeoplethroughcreativeprojectsacrossthecountryduring

thegreatDepres-sion.hijackingthegovernment’shistoricbrand,RobbinshasopenedtwowPaofficesinnewyork—oneintheruralhamletofwassaic,andthe

otherintheurbancenterofJamaica,Queens—throughwhichhehashiredunemployedpeopleaswPaworkerstocompletesmall-scalepublicworkprojectsdesignedbytheirowncommunities.Projectscompletedorinprogressincludesuchthingsasbasketballcourtrepairs,busshelterconstruction,muralinstallationsatconstructionsites,andmicro-creditprogramsinmomandpopshops.Robbinshopesthemodelprogramshe’sstartedwillpersuadethegovernmenttofollowsuit.Formoreinformationandphotos,gotowww.workProjectsadministration.org.

The House on Mt. Merino (above) by architect joel sanders (above, right) received the 2010 AIA New York State Award of Excellence in the Residential category. Embedded in a hillside in Hudson, New York, the house — which also won the AIA New York Architecture Merit Award in 2009 — functions like a movie camera viewfinder and is designed to take advantage of breathtaking views of the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains.

Playwright lauren yee is one of eight MacDowell artists to have been awarded a 2010 MAP Fund grant for innovative and cross-cultural exploration in theatre, dance, and music. Composers david lang and vivian fung; interdisciplinary artists dan hurlin, chris doyle, and peter flaherty; and playwrights erin courtney and holly hughes also received support from the MAP Fund for their current performance-based projects.

Visual artist ellen lesperance (right) received the 2010 Betty Bowen Award from the Seattle Art Museum in September. In conjunction with the award (which came with a $15,000 cash prize), a selection of Lesperance’s work — including Horehound , pictured below (gouache on paper, 22 x 29.5", 2010), which she created in its entirety at MacDowell this summer — will be on view at the museum through October of 2011.

QuotAble“This residency provided us with an amazing opportunity to work together as artists on both our choreographic works and our visual arts projects. We were able to create several photographs and videos expanding our work as visual artists, and these will inform our evening-length dance works. We also had the fortune to be with some open and engaging artists while in residence, and struck up several collaborations with composers, filmmakers, and other visual artists. The connections we made will be some-thing we will cherish for the rest of our lives.”

—Interdisciplinary artists Zoe Scofield and Juniper Shuey

PeTeRaaRon/eSToPhoTogRaPhicS,couRTeSyoFJSa

A view of Mount Monadnock from the Colony.

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christopher robbins

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correction: In the summer 2010 issue, we incorrectly reported that the play acoolDipinthebarrenSaharancrick was written by MacDowell Fellow Kara Lee Corthron. The play was written by Kara’s sister, Kia Corthron. We apologize for the error.

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on August 15th, more than 1,500 visitors came to the colony to partake in the offerings of Medal Day, our annual event that combines the rural beauty of new hampshire with the contemporary art scene that emanates from MacDowell’s studios. This year’s Medal Day was one of firsts and lasts: The discipline of jazz was honored for the very first time as the 51st edward MacDowell Medal was presented to jazz great sonny rollins, while MacDowell’s longtime chairman, robert Macneil — who will retire from his leadership post this year — delivered his final Medal Day address. picnic lunches, open studios hosted by artists-in-residence, an art show by local students, and a live jazz concert rounded out the day’s festivities. special thanks to lincoln financial foundation and the new hampshire charitable foundation for their generous support in helping to offer Medal Day visitors an enriching experience and a unique and uncommon blend of community and creativity.

t is, as ever, a privilege to be an indigent bohemian at MacDowell — for which i have two additional metaphors: first,

i think of it as the Magic kingdom, and second as the womb because everyone here is so kind and supportive to all artists. There is nothing like MacDowell. And there is no one like sonny rollins.

i’ll begin by saying something about his names, because he’s had a few, and names in jazz are different than in other art forms. i’m reminded of a story Miles Davis liked to tell about when he first came to new york from st. louis to study at Juilliard. After he got there, he started following and trying to learn from charlie parker — who was known as “bird” — and Dizzy gillespie. he decided to drop out of Juilliard to work with them. so he told a friend he had to fly home to st. louis to explain this to his father, and the friend said, “Why can’t you just call?” And Miles said, “What am i gonna say? That i’m leaving school to work with a couple of guys named bird and Dizzy?”

sonny rollins is perfectly named; his birth name was Theodore Walter rollins. but i’m reminded of homer and the way he refers to the great heroes by their patro-nymics — it’s always odysseus, son of laertes. And sonny is really the “son” of jazz to a degree that i think one would say of few musicians. barely 19 when he started recording, he seemed to have assimilated the richness of the jazz past, and was clearly on the way to forging his thoroughly original style. it is certainly true today that there is no saxophonist in the world who isn’t aff ected by sonny rollins’s playing. it is simply not possible to play anything on the tenor sax-ophone that he hasn’t already played. he

owns that instrument as few instrumental virtuosi have ever owned their instruments.

in 1955, sonny made his first long-playing album under his own name — a record called Work Time, from which i recently played an excerpt for sonny. he said that listening to it was excruciating, but this is one instance when i would ad-vise you not to believe him. A year later, he made a second album, and the label called it Saxophone Colossus. now, that is a hell of a name to hang on a 26-year-old, however great. And had it been just a marketing ploy, it would have been forgotten. but he has remained a saxophone colossus and he is almost invariably referred to by that phrase whenever anybody writes about him.

i can tell you that, as much as he seems patriarchal now, he seemed that way when i first heard him at the Vanguard in the 1960s. it’s difficult for me to believe that he was only 30-something at the time, because even then he was the most dy namic soloist one could ever hope to see. one of the things that makes him stand out for all of

us who follow him, who love music, who love jazz, is that — and this is amazing to me — he has been on this adventure for more than six decades. And during all that time, he has never been predictable. you never go to a rollins concert knowing in

advance what you will hear. There is always a quality of suspense: What is sonny going to do this time?

to maintain that kind of excitement is part of the incredible honesty that makes his music so extraordinary. There are a few technical points i would stress. one is that most musicians — no matter their instru-ment, but especially wind players — tend to focus on the middle register and use high notes and low notes for expressive moments. sonny’s playing isn’t like that; he creates music with the entire range of the instrument, producing great parabolas

of melody and rhythm. he has played the lowest notes on the tenor saxophone and the highest notes. he has innovated so many techniques and rhythms. he’s the first jazz musician to make calypso an important part of jazz. he has done more

with the cadenza, the unaccompanied im-provisation, than anybody else has ever done in jazz. he has opened up the reper-toire in a way that no one else had dared. no matter how free he got — no matter how much a participant in what we used to call the avant-garde or the new Music — he never forsook the great standards, nor ceased to enlarge it with new ones from movies, operetta, and other sources.

he’s the only jazz musician i’m aware of who recorded, and made as a significant part of his repertoire, a piece by edward MacDowell — “to a Wild rose” — which

“ [t]here is no saxophonist in the world who isn’t

affected by sonny rollins’s playing. . . . he owns

that instrument as few instrumental virtuosi

have ever owned their instruments.”

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Gary Giddins

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iJazz

Acclaimed jazz tenor saxophonist sonny rollins accepts the 2010 Edward MacDowell Medal.

Jazz critic Gary Giddins worked on the second volume of his Bing Crosby biography while in residence at MacDowell earlier this year.

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Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. gary, i’ll never for-give you for that. it’s really great to be with people who appreciate the arts. i’ve been an artist all my life — it’s just a natural thing to me. i began doing watercolors, and i have a little talent in painting. And music was the other love. i’m not qualified to do anything else, so i’m glad that the arts exist.

every time people tell me that i help make their lives a little better, why then i realize that i’ve come full circle. i love it for myself, but if i can give something to somebody else, then that’s perfect.

i really appreciate the honor. i am a big fan of [edward] MacDowell; i heard his music a long time ago, and as was said, i did play it in my repertoire. it’s also great to be in the presence of the people here. everybody seems to love art. if only the whole world could be like you guys.

Anyway, what can i say? Thank you very, very much.

is not why he’s here, trust me. in fact, we had forgotten that, and i should tell you that i was asked to chair the committee by carman Moore, a great composer and fellow colonist, who is here; and cheryl. The other jurors were Valerie capers, the pianist and educator; and Dan Morgenstern, educator, critic, and curator. The idea was, we would discuss various candidates for the Medal, tossing out different names and debating pros and cons. but after about 20 minutes of chitchat, cheryl looked a bit startled, to say the least, when i opened the discussion by asking, “Well, does anybody have an objec-tion to sonny rollins?” And that was that. in six seconds, the Medalist was chosen.

let me tell a couple of stories to give you some idea of the kind of man he is. i’ll begin with the first time i was intro-duced to him, at the half note in midtown Manhattan in 1973. i had just started writing for The Village Voice a couple of months — maybe weeks — earlier. i was

in the company of ira gitler, a great jazz critic who’s known sonny forever. After the set, ira said, “come, i’ll introduce you to sonny,” which was, you know, “i’ll intro-duce you to the Queen of england.” it was a moment. And ira said, “This is gary, he’s just started writing for The Village Voice,” and sonny said he was very upset about a piece that had ap peared about him in the Voice a couple of weeks earlier. i had read that piece, and it was extremely favorable. And i said, “What did you object to? it was very favorable.” And he said, “yes, but we played very poorly. if you can’t trust them when they say you’re playing well, how can you trust them when they say . . .” so i thought, man, is this common place? Are all jazz musicians that candid and honest? no. but sonny rollins is.

There’s another story that i heard second hand, and if it’s not true, sonny,

i don’t want to hear about it because i’m not giving up on this story. shortly after i met my wife, we went to hear sonny at town hall, and his guest that evening was Wynton Marsalis, who was young and fairly new on the scene. sonny got ill, and it was very dramatic; he fell over on the stage backward after a couple of numbers. The audience gasped; we were all frozen, our breaths taken. And i heard afterwards that, while sonny lay there, Wynton walk-ed over and said, “Are you alright?” And sonny opened his eyes and said, “Don’t worry. it wasn’t anything you played.”

Another indication of the way his mind works: i went to hear him one night at tramps, and he played “prisoner of love.” i was sitting next to a critic, who mumbled the name of billy eckstine, the jazz singer who recorded it. but i thought, no. sonny knows the American songbook better than almost anybody. he remembers songs he heard when he grew up; tunes fly through his improvisations so swiftly and judiciously that i suspect he doesn’t always know the

source. he’s legendary for a kind of stream-of-consciousness approach to improvisation where he dispatches quotations and referen-ces to all kinds of melodies and makes them fit into whatever he is playing. And so, i was thinking that sonny would know that “prisoner of love” was initially recorded by russ columbo. some of you may have heard of columbo, a largely forgotten ballad singer in the 1920s who was put forth as a competitor to bing crosby, and i had just agreed to write a book about crosby. so we went to say hello to sonny afterwards, and he said, “Did you notice i played ‘prisoner of love’ by bing’s great rival?”

one of the press releases that went out about today’s event refers to him as a com-poser. And he is a composer — he’s a won-derful composer. he wrote “The freedom suite,” which was, i think, the first jazz work of social conscience specific ially rela-

ted to the civil rights movement. it was written in the late ’50s, and it’s a magni-ficent piece of music. he has also written several tunes that have become jazz stan-dards, going all the way back to the early ’50s: pieces like “Airegin” and “oleo” and “Doxy,” and “Valse hot,” which was the first modern jazz waltz. he’s writ-ten a lot of great tunes in more recent years, including “here’s to the people,” “harlem boys,” “g-Man,” “silver city,” and “global Warming” — which he has described as his “freedom suite” of 1998 — that should be standards.

but in jazz, it’s not the tunes that make a great composer. it’s the ability to impro-vise; to create composition in the moment; to make each performance a distinct experi-ence. Many jazz musicians have resisted that in favor of recording, because record-ings live forever — just the way many actors have left the stage for cinema, because it’s documented and, let’s face it, easier. but sonny once said when we were doing a staged interview at the cUny graduate center, “you can’t improvise and think at the same time.” imagine the kind of musi-cianship necessary to function that way.

With sonny rollins, the reason you never know what you will hear is because you never know what mood he’ll be in when he attains the stage. The band members don’t know either. i’ve never known musicians in any ensemble to rave about just- completed performances the way sonny’s do. And i’m talking about musicians like bob cranshaw, who’s been playing with him for almost

half a century, who will shake his head in incredulity. A few weeks ago, i saw sonny in perugia. he played two hours and 20 minutes without a break. When i told him how great i thought it was, he said, “no, the next one will be better.” And earlier today, he told me that the next one — in norway — was, in fact, better.

in that respect, let me make two sug-gestions. first, if you’re going to be in new york on september 10th, sonny will celebrate his 80th birthday at the beacon Theater with a concert that includes Jim hall, and it will be historic. if you can’t be there, many of his records are on sale here today, but i want to call your attention in particular to one called Road Shows, Vol. 1, his first album consisting of per-formances drawn from relatively recent concerts — the kind of performances that those who go to see sonny rave about, but which those who know only his studio sessions can hardly imagine. This record has had a tremendous impact on sonny rollins criticism in the last couple of years. because suddenly, people who doubted the sanity of those of us who insisted that he was now playing better than he ever had, could hear the truth for themselves.

i am so honored to be here to tell you a little bit about sonny rollins. he is an idol of mine, always has been. he is also one of the nicest people you could hope to meet in your life, and one of the most brilliant, self-critical, and ardent artists i’ve ever known. if you phone him and he happens to be home, he will almost certainly have the saxophone in his lap. he still practices all the time so that he can continue to give everything, every time.

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Sonny rollinsMedAlIst

Sonny Rollins signs an autograph for a fan at Medal Day.

Back row, left to right: Resident Director David Macy, Gary Giddins, Chairman Robert MacNeil. Front row, left to right: President Susan Austin, Sonny Rollins, and Executive Director Cheryl Young.

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“ he’s legendary for a kind of stream-of-

consciousness approach to improvisation where

he dispatches . . . all kinds of melodies and makes

them fit into whatever he is playing.”

thecAMpAIGNFoRthesecoNdceNtuRyisacommitmenttothere-sourcesthatMacdowellprovidesartistseveryday.Anunprecedentedinitiativeforthe

colony,thiscampaignwillinvest$13millioninFellowships,stipends,andfacilities,truly

enhancingtheresidencyexperienceforgenerationstocome.Asofthispublication,more

than$10.5millionhasbeencommittedtothesecrucialprojects.butwestillhavea

considerablechallengeahead:Macdowellmustcompletefund-raisingbyMarchof2012,

whichgivesusalittlemorethanayeartoraisetheremaining$2.5million.

sofar,thecampaignhasrenovatedcolonyhall,expandedMacdowell’sstipend

program,andendowedanumberofnewFellowships.thecompletionofanewlibrary

complexandaddedFellowshipendowmentareourprioritiesforthefinalstage,the

centerpiecebeingtherevitalizationofsavidgelibrary.Respondingtotheevolving

needsofartistsandtheircollaborations,thehistoriclibrarywillbeupdatedtoinclude

anewmediacenter.the$2.5millionprojectwillresultinaversatilemultidisciplinary

centerforcontemporaryartscollection,creation,andpresentation.(Formoredetails

onthelibrarydesign,pleaseseepage14inMacdowell’ssummer2010newsletter.)

byadding$5.5millionforFellowshipendowment,thecampaignwillpermanently

secureFellowshipsfor55artistseachyear.Fellowshipsofferartiststimeandspace

topursuecreativeworkbycoveringthecostsofaprivatestudioplusroomandboard

foruptotwomonths.Already,25oftheseFellowshipsareinplace.

thankstoseveralearlygrantstotalingmorethan$800,000,stipendsarealreadyhelping

artistsbyreplacinglostincomeandcoveringtravel,rent,andothercontinuingexpenses.

stipendsgiveartistswithdemonstratedneedthepeaceofmindtoworkexperimentallyand

productivelywhileatthecolony.

Asawhole,thecampaignwillensuretheexcellenceofMacdowell’sresidencyprogram

asthecolonyembarksonitssecondcenturyofsupportingartistsintheircreative

pursuits.Anenvelopeisincludedinthisnewsletter,andwehopeyouwilljoinusin

supportofthecampaign.Formoreinformationaboutanyoftheseprojects,please

contacttimAnderson,Macdowell’scampaignofficer,at212-535-9690ortanderson@

macdowellcolony.org.

ood afternoon and welcome to MacDowell Medal Day 2010, our annual picnic under the

pines and a chance to visit the usually clois - tered studios of the artists-in-residence after we bestow the edward MacDowell Medal — this year to a gloriously talented musician. i’m robert Macneil, chairman of the MacDowell board of directors, and this is the Macneil report for 2010, with several items of news important to the MacDowell community.

first and most important this year, the MacDowell Medal selectors have chosen to honor for the first time a jazz musician — in fact, one of the greatest jazz musicians of our time. And i’ll come back to that.

second, today we publicly announce our campaign to raise funds to make what is already the most successful artists’ colony anywhere better still for our second century. We began this campaign in our centennial year in 2007, but — as is usual with such efforts — we kept it to our selves while we reached out to private donors and every member of our board. today, i can announce that that effort has raised more than $10 million dollars, the largest fund-raising effort in MacDowell’s history.

At first, we set our sights on a final goal of twice that amount, but like every other arts organization, we’ve had to face the reces-sion. so, we’ve trimmed our sails and reset the campaign goal at a realistic $13 million. That means as we go public today, we have only $3 million still to raise, and we hope many of you MacDowell loyalists will feel like helping us, in amounts small or large.

What is this money for? some of it has been spent renovating colony hall, the

main hall and the kitchen — the heart and hearth of the colony. some goes to pay for fellowships, the cost of which in cludes selecting, housing, and feeding each of the 250 artists who come each year. some goes to a new program: small stipends for needy artists who couldn’t otherwise afford to come. And some will go to main-tain the endowment, which is our storm anchor in troubled times.

but the biggest item is announcement number three. We have adopted a brilliant design to renovate, extend, and bring into the digital age our much loved but outgrown savidge library. you can examine a model of the design by the internationally renowned architects tod Williams and billie tsien, which is on display in colony hall.

now, some personal — and personnel — news: i am retiring as chairman this year. This is my 18th Medal Day in that capac ity, and i am particularly glad that this is the year the colony, founded by a great musician, is honoring an outstanding musician in the idiom that has long been a glory of American culture and an expression of the American spirit around the world.

i like the conceit that an understanding of freedom is instinctive. A hindu poet wrote that “even in his sleeping hours, a man cannot be content with subjugation.” but obviously, freedom is apprehended most vividly by people who are most blatantly denied it. And among no people was that truer than the African slaves and their American descendants who created jazz, or among the subjugated citizens of the soviet Union who adored jazz in clandestine radio broadcasts during the cold War.

in this, i feel there is something shared with the english language; that is, a resis-t ance to arbitrary authority. That is why english sloughed off the inflections and case endings of its germanic origins and abandoned the arbitrary assignment of gen-der to nouns, and why english has resisted efforts to set up bodies such as the Académie française to enforce language rules.

some experts believe that resistance argues a dawning sense of political free-dom among the english-speaking peo-ples, with the American Declaration of independence its most seminal expression. And if the analogy is not too far-fetched, jazz is, in itself, such a declaration. And

i am personally delighted that this hap-pens on my last opportunity to confer the edward MacDowell Medal.

so, the old order changeth, yielding its place to the new, and MacDowell fulfills it-self in many ways, including the presi dency. After 11 years of creative and congenial leadership, the architectural scholar carter Wiseman has stepped down as our presi-dent to pursue his own career as a teacher and author. carter is with us, and i ask him to stand so that we can applaud his years of devotion to MacDowell and its artists.

so today, we introduce our new president, susan Davenport Austin. susan, a member of the MacDowell board, has impressed us all with her clear mind, her organiza tional skills, and her devotion to the colony. educated at harvard and stanford — and

with extensive experience on Wall street, in-cluding a vice presidency at goldman, sachs — susan has been widely honored as a lead-ing figure in the communications industry. she is senior vice president and ceo of sheridan broadcasting corporation (sbc), which has radio stations in many cities, and

president of sheridan gospel network, which operates a 24-hour gospel network with some 40 affiliate stations. sbc is also majority owner and manager of American Urban radio networks, the only African-American owned national radio network with more than 300 affiliates.

susan is a busy and accomplished ex-ecutive, and we are delighted to have her as our new president.

Robert macneil

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chAIRMANoFtheboARd

meda l day 2010

The rejuvenated Savidge Library (shown at left in its current state) and new Fellows Media Center will encourage artists-in-residence to share their work, offer dedicated space for individual research, and provide a home for a comprehensive collection of Fellows’ work.

“ today, we publicly announce our campaign to

raise funds to make what is already the most

successful artists’ colony anywhere better

still for our second century.”

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fellowships open new Directions for MacDowellnewFellowshipsarehelpingtoexpandMacDowell’sgeographicreachanditssupportofarchitectureanddocumentaryfilmmaking—twoofthecolony’sfastest-growingartforms.a2010grantfromTheFledglingFundestablishedthecolony’sfirst-everFellowshipfordocumentaryfilmmakersworkingonexploringcriticalsocialissues.ThegrahamFoundationFellowshipforadvancedStudiesintheFineartsisprovidinganewresidencyopportunityatMacDowellforanarchitectwhoseworkexplorestheintersec-tionsbetweenartandarchitecture.earlierin2010,TheheinzendowmentsestablishedtwoFellowshipsforartistsofalldisciplinesfromthePittsburgharea,aregionwitharichculturalheritageandathrivingartsscene.TheseFellowships,whichcoverallcostsofaresidencyforuptotwomonths,areawardedtoartistswhoareacceptedtoMacDowellthroughthecolony’sstandardapplicationprocess.

new board members

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Architectjennifer harmon was named the first recipient of MacDowell’s Graham Foundation Fellowship in October.

The national council goes to the berkshiresnationalcouncilpatronsgatheredintheberkshiresinwesternMassachusettsSeptember10–12forMacDowell’sthirdannualnationalTrip.ParticipantstouredMaSSMoca,theclarkartinstitute,andthehomesofcontemporaryartcollectorsintheregion.colonyFellowsjoinedthegroupforareunionbrunch,followedbyatourofMaSSMoca’sexhibitionMaterial World: Sculpture to Environment,whichfeaturedthecollaborativeworkofMacDowellFellowsWadekavanaughandstephenb.Nguyen.Forinformationaboutthe2011nationalTripornationalcouncilmembership,contactbrittonMatthewsat212-535-9690orbmatthews@macdowellcolony.org.

MacDowell DowntownaseriesoffreepresentationsofferedbyMacDowellcolonyartists,MacDowellDowntowntakesplacethefirstFridayofeachmonthfromapriltonovemberatthePeterboroughhistoricalSociety.artistswhohaverecentlysharedtheirworkatthiscommunityoutreachprogramincludecomposerlarrypolansky(May),writersheidiJulavitsandRuthkonigsberg(June),interdisciplinaryartisthasanelahi(July),filmmakerlaurapoitras(September),interdisciplinaryartistGeorgehiggs(october),andvisualartistAnnaschuleit(november).

MacDowell in the schools MacDowellartistsbringtheexcitementofthecreativeprocesstolocalclassroomsonaregularbasisthroughourMacDowellintheSchoolsprogram.inapril,painterGwenessalam,filmmakerJesseepstein,andplaywrightchristineFarrellvisitedconValhighSchoolinPeterborough,wheretheysharedtheirworkandtalkedwithstudents.writerdarcyFreyspenttimewithstudentsinawritingclassatconValinJune.

Medal Day

Composer larry polansky performing at MacDowell Downtown.

short films Delight at new hampshire benefitThisyear’snewhampshirebenefit,whichtookplaceatthePeterboroughTownhouseonoctober9th,featuredaselectionofshortfilmsbycolonyFellowsJoannapriestleyandkarenAqua,AnnabodenandRyanFleck,Jesseepstein,lauraheit,l.M.kitcarson,GeorgeGriffin,Meredithholch,andJessicayu.Filmmakerandboardmembergeorgegriffinhelpedtoselectthefilms.Morethan200guestsattendedtheeventandvotedyu’sSour Death Balls theirfavoritefilmoftheevening.Thefilmscreeningwasfollowedbyaconvivialdinneratcolonyhallfor90supporters,guests,andartists-in-residence.

Top: A still from laura heit’s animated short, Look for Me, which screened at the New Hampshire Benefit. Above: President Susan Austin and board members Tom Putnam and Eleanor Briggs enjoy the benefit dinner at Colony Hall.

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Left to right: Executive Director Cheryl Young, stephen b. nguyen, President Susan Austin, board members Rick Stone and Eleanor Briggs, and wade kavanaugh pictured in front of White Stag — an installation by Kavanaugh and Nguyen on display at MASS MoCA.

Make Art: The Colors of Jazz, a special Medal Day outreach program sponsored by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, featured a jazz concert tribute to Medalist Sonny Rollins by The Fred Hersch Trio (jazz pianist fred hersch is pictured at left), and a school-based program that utilized the sounds of jazz to inspire students to create works of art. Pictured below is a Make Art water-color created by Dublin Consolidated School student Clara Martorano.

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Left to right: Interdisciplinary artist heidi kumao, writer ZZ packer, composer Gordon beeferman, architect john lee, and visual artist mimi kato.

MICHAEL ALMEREYDA, Film/Video ArtistNew York, NY

ANTHONY ALOFSIN, Architect Austin, TX

EVAN ANTONELLIS, Composer New York, NY

CHLOE ARIDJIS, WriterLondon, UNITED KINGDOM

LEE ARNOLD, Film/Video ArtistBrooklyn, NY

JAMES ARTHUR, Writer University City, MO

SHIMON ATTIE, Interdisciplinary ArtistBrooklyn, NY

JESSE AYERS, Composer Canton, OH

KIM BECK, Visual ArtistPittsburgh, PA

JOHN BECKMANN, ArchitectNew York, NY

GORDON BEEFERMAN, ComposerNew York, NY

LORNA BIEBER, Visual ArtistNew York, NY

HAYES BIGGS, ComposerBronxville, NY

MALACHI BLACK, WriterProvincetown, MA

TIA BLASSINGAME, ArchitectNew Haven, CT

JONATHAN BLUNK, WriterCrompond, NY

NATALIYA BREGEL, Visual ArtistSomerville, MA

MARSHALL BROWN, ArchitectChicago, IL

ERIC CARROLL, Visual ArtistBrooklyn, NY

MICHAEL CHABON, WriterBerkeley, CA

PAUL CHARLTON, Theatre ArtistDurham, UNITED KINGDOM

LELAND CHEUK, WriterSan Francisco, CA

HARRIET CLARK, WriterSan Francisco, CA

ANGELA CO, ArchitectLexington, KY

TA-NEHISI COATES, Writer New York, NY

TOM COLE, Theatre Artist New York, NY

LISA CRAFTS, Film/Video ArtistNew York, NY

DOUGLAS CUOMO, ComposerBrooklyn, NY

SEBASTIAN CURRIER, ComposerNew York, NY

RUTH DAVIS KONIGSBERG, WriterPelham, NY

CAITLIN DOYLE, WriterEast Hampton, NY

RICHARD DUBUGNON, ComposerParis, FRANCE

DAVE EGGAR, ComposerNew York, NY

HASAN ELAHI, Interdisciplinary Artist College Park, MD

BARBARA ESS, Visual Artist Elizaville, NY

MELISSA FEBOS, WriterBrooklyn, NY

HALI FELT, WriterPortland, OR

MIA FEUER, Visual ArtistWashington, DC

STEPHEN FIEHN, Interdisciplinary ArtistChicago, IL

CRISTIAN FLORES GARCIA, WriterHemet, CA

TONYA FOSTER, WriterNew York, NY

JOHN FOX, WriterBelmont, MA

DARCY FREY, WriterCambridge, MA

GABRIEL FRIED, WriterColumbia, MO

GARY GIDDINS, WriterNew York, NY

ANDREW GILLIS, Film/Video ArtistFayetteville, NC

EUGENE GLORIA, WriterGreencastle, IN

MAXIMILIAN GOLDFARB, Visual Artist Hudson, NY

FRITz HAEG, ArchitectLos Angeles, CA

JAMES HANNAHAM, WriterBrooklyn, NY

JEAN HARPER, WriterRichmond, IN

RICHARD HAYES, ArchitectStaten Island, NY

LISA HEIN, Visual Artist Brooklyn, NY

FRED HERSCH, ComposerNew York, NY

GEORGE HIGGS, Interdisciplinary Artist Dublin, IRELAND

JAMES HONG, Film/Video ArtistSeal Beach, CA

CHLOE HONUM, WriterFayetteville, AR

CHING-CHU HU, ComposerNewark, OH

LEE HYLA, ComposerChicago, IL

BILL JACOBSON, Visual Artist Brooklyn, NY

SHERRIL JAFFE, WriterSan Francisco, CA

LARS JAN, Interdisciplinary ArtistLos Angeles, CA

CHELSEY JOHNSON, WriterOberlin, OH

JEFF JONES, WriterMoscow, ID

HEIDI JULAVITS, WriterNew York, NY

FARRAH KARAPETIAN, Visual ArtistLos Angeles, CA

LARRY KARUSH, ComposerLos Angeles, CA

MIMI KATO, Visual Artist St. Louis, MO

KIRSTEN KEARSE, Film/Video Artist Brooklyn, NY

TRICIA KEIGHTLEY, Visual ArtistBrooklyn, NY

LISA KERESzI, Visual Artist New Haven, CT

EUGENIA KIM, WriterWashington, DC

JOSEPH KIM, WriterSan Francisco, CA

SUKI KIM, WriterNew York, NY

COLLEEN KINDER, WriterBrooklyn , NY

NICHOLAS KRAMER, Visual Artist Los Angeles, CA

HEIDI KUMAO, Interdisciplinary Artist Ann Arbor, MI

GWENESSA LAM, Visual Artist Vancouver BC, CANADA

CATH LECOUTEUR, Film/Video Artist London, UNITED KINGDOM

EUN YOUNG LEE, ComposerChicago, IL

JOHN LEE, ArchitectNew York, NY

YOUNG JEAN LEE, Theatre Artist Brooklyn, NY

DAN LEFRANC, Theatre ArtistBrooklyn, NY

ELLEN LESPERANCE, Visual ArtistPortland, OR

GASPAR LIBEDINSKY, ArchitectBuenos Aires, ARGENTINA

SAMUEL LIPSYTE, WriterNew York, NY

RICARDO LORENz, ComposerEast Lansing, MI

KELLY LUCE, WriterBen Lomond, CA

FIONA MAAzEL, WriterBrooklyn, NY

KATY MCAULAY, WriterGlasgow, SCOTLAND

ANNA MCDONALD, WriterNew York, NY

MAUREEN MCLANE, WriterNew York, NY

TERRENCE MCNALLY, Theatre Artist New York, NY

JIHA MOON, Visual Artist Atlanta, GA

NAMI MUN, WriterChicago, IL

TYLER MYERS, Interdisciplinary Artist Chicago, IL

SUSAN ORLEAN, WriterPine Plains, NY

SYLVAN OSWALD, Theatre ArtistBrooklyn, NY

zz PACKER, WriterAustin, TX

ELENA PASSARELLO, WriterGrand Rapids, MI

LAURA POITRAS, Film/Video Artist New York, NY

LARRY POLANSKY, ComposerHanover, NH

ANzHELINA POLONSKAYA, WriterMoscow, RUSSIA

MICHAEL POUNDS, ComposerMuncie, IN

RUTH REICHL, WriterNew York, NY

ERIN RILEY, Visual Artist Philadelphia, PA

ELISABETH ROBINSON, WriterNew York, NY

NEIL ROLNICK, ComposerNew York, NY

ROBIN ROMM, WriterEugene, OR

MARY RUEFLE, WriterBennington, VT

HUANG RUO, ComposerNew York, NY

JULIE SALAMON, WriterNew York, NY

JANINE SALINAS, Theatre Artist Los Angeles, CA

TANU SANKALIA, ArchitectBerkeley, CA

ADAM SCHOENBERG, ComposerNew York, NY

zOE SCOFIELD, Interdisciplinary ArtistSeattle, WA

BOB SENG, Visual Artist Brooklyn, NY

BRENDA SHAUGHNESSY, WriterBrooklyn, NY

JUSTIN SHERIN, Theatre ArtistMt. Laurel, NJ

KAREN SHERMAN, Interdisciplinary Artist Minneapolis, MN

JUNIPER SHUEY, Interdisciplinary Artist Seattle, WA

JASPREET SINGH, WriterToronto, CANADA

HASANTHIKA SIRISENA, WriterRocky Mount, NC

GRETCHEN SKOGERSON, Visual Artist New York, NY

KARINA SKVIRSKY, Interdisciplinary Artist Jersey City, NJ

DEBORAH SMITH, Theatre ArtistProvidence, RI

POLLY SPARROW, Visual Artist Austin, TX

PEGGY STAFFORD, Theatre Artist Brooklyn, NY

STACEY STEERS, Film/Video Artist Boulder, CO

SUSAN STEINBERG, WriterSan Francisco, CA

DEBORAH STRATMAN, Film/Video Artist Chicago, IL

YOUNGSUK SUH, Visual ArtistDavis, CA

LUIS TENTINDO, Interdisciplinary Artist Brooklyn, NY

CORI THOMAS, Theatre Artist New York, NY

HUI Y. TSAI, Interdisciplinary Artist San Francisco, CA

DEBORAH VOIGT, Theatre Artist New York, NY

JEN WANG, Composer Richmond, CA

ELLEN WATSON, WriterConway, MA

JOSH WEIL, WriterStonington, CT

MAC WELLMAN, Theatre Artist Brooklyn, NY

MEGAN WILLIAMS, WriterRome, ITALY

MABEL WILSON, Architect New York, NY

CATHERINE WING, WriterCarlisle, PA

BESS WOHL, Theatre Artist Los Angeles, CA

PINAR YOLDAS, Interdisciplinary Artist Los Angeles, CA

FRANCESCA zAMBELLO, Theatre Artist New York, NY

MARINA zURKOW, Interdisciplinary Artist Brooklyn, NY

FromMaythroughoctoberof2010,TheMacDowellcolonywelcomedatotalof147artistsfrom25statesandeightcountries.Thisgroupincluded54writers,22visualartists,20composers,15theatreartists,15interdisciplinaryartists,11architects,and10film/videoartists.

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on the cover…

theMacdowellcolonyislocatedat100highStreetPeterborough,nh03458Telephone:603-924-3886Fax:603-924-9142

Administrativeoffice:163east81stStreetnewyork,ny10028Telephone:212-535-9690Fax:212-737-3803

Website:www.macdowellcolony.orge-mail:newsletter@macdowellcolony.org

Visual artist patricia villalobos echeverría puts the finishing touches on Salpullido @ 18°28’13.46” N, 69°54’36.84” W (EPS foam, wall intervention, 2010), on view at the Interna-tional Caribbean Triennial at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

MacDowell is published twice a year, in June and December. Past Fellows may send newsworthy activities to the editor in Peterbor-ough. Deadlines for inclusion are April 1st and October 1st.

editor:KarenSampson

designandproduction:JohnhallDesigngroup,beverly,Ma

Allphotographsnototherwisecredited:JoannaeldredgeMorrissey

printer:ShawmutPrinting,Danvers,Ma

Mailinghouse:SterlingbusinessPrint&Mail,Peterborough,nh

No part of MacDowell may be reused in any way without written permission.

© 2010, The MacDowell Colony

ThenamesofMacDowellFellowsarenotedinboldthroughoutthisnewsletter.

The MacDowell Colony awards Fellowships to artists of exceptional talent, providing time, space, and an inspiring environment in which to do creative work. The Colony was founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and Marian MacDowell, his wife. Fellows receive room, board, and exclusive use of a studio. The sole criterion for acceptance is talent, as determined by a panel representing the discipline of the applicant. The MacDowell Colony was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1997 for “nurturing and inspiring many of this century’s finest artists.”

Applications are available on our Web site:

www.macdowellcolony.org.

chairman:RobertMacneilpresident:SusanDavenportaustinexecutivedirector:cheryla.youngResidentdirector:DavidMacy

thecolonyisgratefulforthegeneroussupportofthefollowingorganizations:

RoDRiguegloMbaRD

bencollieR