Memoirs
Chapter 15 - Chicago Wildflower Works blooms
Chapter 14 - Implementing the Chicago Wildflower Works
Chapter 13 - Former first lady Lady Bird Johnson and Dallas arts patron Margaret McDermott work to dismiss my Wlldflower Works
Chapter 12 - Undeniable evidence that worldwide recognition of my Wildflower Works concept, across many years and from a variety of sources, directly influenced former first lady Lady Bird Johnson to establish the National Wildflower Research Center. After conducting no meaningful research and having no results to publish, it renamed itself the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. And as a result of my Wildflower Works success, Bonnie and John Swearigen, former CEO of Amoco Oil invited me to Chicago to create work, and my success there.
Chapter 11 - My masterpiece concept of a lifetime—Wildflower Works—as environmental art, used indigenous wildflowers as medium. And now because of our efforts, it constitutes a proven scientific and aesthetic solution to the world’s number one future problem: the scarcity of potable water.
Chapter 10 - The study of a man wrongfully imprisoned, the late artist Frank A. Jones, who was subsequently betrayed—while incarcerated—by a person on the “outside” who was compensated to care for Frank’s needs.
Chapter 9 - The great art collectors Olga and Joseph Hirshhorn (endowed the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.) purchased works from my personal collection including that of Jeanne Koch, David McManaway and my own work. Joseph gave Lady Bird and President Lyndon Johnson a diptych of my work; I personally delivered and hung the piece on January 20, 1973, unexpectedly spending the entire day discussing various topics with Lyndon Johnson. I was the President’s last social visitor before his sudden death on January 22, 1973 at the LBJ Ranch, Stonewall, TX.
Chapter 8 - Activists with the Dallas chapter of Artists’ Equity and the Friends of the Dallas Museum of Art challenged the legality of a multimillion dollar bequest to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts by Virginia Lazenby O’Hara after the bequest was subsequently altered to include a private entity benefactor, the Foundation for the Arts. Artists’ Equity and the Friends of the Dallas Museum of Art fought unsuccessfully to protect the public’s interest and to reinstate the DMFA as the bequest’s sole benefactor. Subsequently, a Dallas blacklist was spawned which targeted artists and their associates who were involved in the O’Hara bequest lawsuit. Arts patron Margaret McDermott was key to the blacklisting and she betrayed local artists.
Chapter 7 - The details of Dallas’ growing renaissance in all of the arts such as the Goals for Dallas program and the Free University at Lee Park (Dallas) are revealed. A new artist-run initiative at the Northwood Institute led to positive interactions with major art world players who supported the concept.
Chapter 6 - Painter and poet Françoise Gilot (and mother of Claude and Paloma Picasso), Gilot’s husband, polio vaccine pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk and I shared a distress over the direction the art world was headed. My interactions with Gilot and Salk coupled with my being influenced by the philosophy of R. Buckminster Fuller (Fuller and I were active participants in the Matrix for the Arts Symposium at the University of Illinois in 1967) brought a new direction of hope through my involvement in artists’ right. Arts patron Margaret McDermott’s personal art collection grew under my advisement.
Observations - Some history about the tragic takeover of the art world by art market manipulators; a call to arms to set the ship back on course.
Chapter 5 - News of my upcoming second New York exhibition brought an offer by executives of Braniff International Airways for our use of a 707 jet to carry the many Dallasites to the show’s opening. I prepared for a summer of painting while concurrently living at the late Mark Rothko’s home and studio in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Details of my involvement, as professional advisor, with the beginning of the Margaret McDermott art collection.
Chapter 4 - My first New York exhibit in 1963 was described as a “sellout” by Life Magazine. Prominent Dallasites attended the show and toured New York art spots, the Barnes Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art and private collections.
Chapter 3 - My work is included in exhibitions around the U.S. including New York and Boston, hence attracting top talent to study with me—and how they have succeeded! Started and guided James H. Clark in collecting art. I shepherded Clark into assembling a world-class Piet Mondrian collection.
Chapter 2 - Unexpected early success caused my importation to Dallas from San Antonio. Top prize awarded to yours truly in the Texas Annual, the state’s most prestigious exhibition. I opened an art gallery and art school in 1959.
Chapter 1 - My early and rather privileged life; some family history including nationally famous relatives. Early formal art education from age eight and finishing at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with top honors.
Introduction - Welcome!
BLOG SECTIONS
Memoirs
Chapter 15 - Chicago Wildflower Works blooms
Chapter 14 - Implementing the Chicago Wildflower Works
Chapter 13 - Former first lady Lady Bird Johnson and Dallas arts patron Margaret McDermott work to dismiss my Wlldflower Works
Chapter 12 - Undeniable evidence that worldwide recognition of my Wildflower Works concept, across many years and from a variety of sources, directly influenced former first lady Lady Bird Johnson to establish the National Wildflower Research Center. After conducting no meaningful research and having no results to publish, it renamed itself the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. And as a result of my Wildflower Works success, Bonnie and John Swearigen, former CEO of Amoco Oil invited me to Chicago to create work, and my success there.
Chapter 11 - My masterpiece concept of a lifetime—Wildflower Works—as environmental art, used indigenous wildflowers as medium. And now because of our efforts, it constitutes a proven scientific and aesthetic solution to the world’s number one future problem: the scarcity of potable water.
Chapter 10 - The study of a man wrongfully imprisoned, the late artist Frank A. Jones, who was subsequently betrayed—while incarcerated—by a person on the “outside” who was compensated to care for Frank’s needs.
Chapter 9 - The great art collectors Olga and Joseph Hirshhorn (endowed the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.) purchased works from my personal collection including that of Jeanne Koch, David McManaway and my own work. Joseph gave Lady Bird and President Lyndon Johnson a diptych of my work; I personally delivered and hung the piece on January 20, 1973, unexpectedly spending the entire day discussing various topics with Lyndon Johnson. I was the President’s last social visitor before his sudden death on January 22, 1973 at the LBJ Ranch, Stonewall, TX.
Chapter 8 - Activists with the Dallas chapter of Artists’ Equity and the Friends of the Dallas Museum of Art challenged the legality of a multimillion dollar bequest to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts by Virginia Lazenby O’Hara after the bequest was subsequently altered to include a private entity benefactor, the Foundation for the Arts. Artists’ Equity and the Friends of the Dallas Museum of Art fought unsuccessfully to protect the public’s interest and to reinstate the DMFA as the bequest’s sole benefactor. Subsequently, a Dallas blacklist was spawned which targeted artists and their associates who were involved in the O’Hara bequest lawsuit. Arts patron Margaret McDermott was key to the blacklisting and she betrayed local artists.
Chapter 7 - The details of Dallas’ growing renaissance in all of the arts such as the Goals for Dallas program and the Free University at Lee Park (Dallas) are revealed. A new artist-run initiative at the Northwood Institute led to positive interactions with major art world players who supported the concept.
Chapter 6 - Painter and poet Françoise Gilot (and mother of Claude and Paloma Picasso), Gilot’s husband, polio vaccine pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk and I shared a distress over the direction the art world was headed. My interactions with Gilot and Salk coupled with my being influenced by the philosophy of R. Buckminster Fuller (Fuller and I were active participants in the Matrix for the Arts Symposium at the University of Illinois in 1967) brought a new direction of hope through my involvement in artists’ right. Arts patron Margaret McDermott’s personal art collection grew under my advisement.
Observations - Some history about the tragic takeover of the art world by art market manipulators; a call to arms to set the ship back on course.
Chapter 5 - News of my upcoming second New York exhibition brought an offer by executives of Braniff International Airways for our use of a 707 jet to carry the many Dallasites to the show’s opening. I prepared for a summer of painting while concurrently living at the late Mark Rothko’s home and studio in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Details of my involvement, as professional advisor, with the beginning of the Margaret McDermott art collection.
Chapter 4 - My first New York exhibit in 1963 was described as a “sellout” by Life Magazine. Prominent Dallasites attended the show and toured New York art spots, the Barnes Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art and private collections.
Chapter 3 - My work is included in exhibitions around the U.S. including New York and Boston, hence attracting top talent to study with me—and how they have succeeded! Started and guided James H. Clark in collecting art. I shepherded Clark into assembling a world-class Piet Mondrian collection.
Chapter 2 - Unexpected early success caused my importation to Dallas from San Antonio. Top prize awarded to yours truly in the Texas Annual, the state’s most prestigious exhibition. I opened an art gallery and art school in 1959.
Chapter 1 - My early and rather privileged life; some family history including nationally famous relatives. Early formal art education from age eight and finishing at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with top honors.
Introduction - Welcome!
BLOG SECTIONS