The Detroit Streetcars 1886 – 1956

Back in the late 1880′s. Detroit started building an electric streetcar system.  It must have been a thing of wonder.

We started on our feet.  Then came the wheel, the horse and the train.  Electrical rail travel must have seemed futuristic.  Eventually, the gasoline powered engine would seem to “reign supreme.”  This had both good and bad effects, even very bad effects.

I heard that if people had to wait 15 or 20 minutes for a car, they were scandalized!  In 1956, they finished dismantling it, and the buses took over.

By doing this, people might’ve thought they were doing Detroit some good.  Instead, they did us an injury.  It’s a blow which we still haven’t recovered from. Damn!

People are talking about rebuilding something similar to what was destroyed.  Now, it seems like it’s too expensive.  We need some sort of combination of buses and “light rail.”  Buses, which run without a rail “back-up” can lead to problems.  I ride the Detroit bus system regularly. It’s still pretty rough.

I was a small child when they took the last of the streetcars away.  I don’t really remember them.  I have seen them in movies.  Recently I saw a streetcar on Rick Prelinger’s collections of Detroit films.  I also remember seeing the streetcars in director Anthony Mann’s movie “T Men.”  That’s a very good 1947 film noir, which was partially shot in Detroit.

I recently ran across the old 1953 streetcar tickets, pictured above.  They’re quite small, maybe an inch and a quarter by half an inch.  This inspired me to write something here,  It’s another case of nostalgia for what I never had.  Yet I see a great need.  This need was once met.  Now it hangs over the city as if yet another sad, haunted, ghost.

This is good history of Detroit’s Streetcar System, in four parts.  More parts will be added to this later:

http://www.detroittransithistory.info/TheEarlyYears.html

http://www.detroittransithistory.info/ThePingreeYears.html

http://www.detroittransithistory.info/TheDURYears.html

http://www.detroittransithistory.info/TheCityTakeover.html

The Detroit Transit History home page:

http://www.detroittransithistory.info/index.html

Streetcars of Desire:

http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/transit39.aspx

Maps of old streetcar routes:

http://web.me.com/willvdv/chirailfan/dsrhist.html

A Wikipedia article on General Motor’s antipathy toward streetcars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

The latter-day downtown Detroit Trolley.  It was shut down in 2003:

http://www.railwaypreservation.com/vintagetrolley/detroit.htm

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=167126

further information:

http://detroit1701.org/Detroit%20Street%20Railways%20Bldg.html

Note the old streetcar pictured in this postcard.

Old Detroit Postcards

Detroit from an Airplane in 1929

I have a pretty good collection of old postcards.  These are a few of the pictures of Detroit.  The Belle Isle “air view” is retouched a bit, obviously.  I think it’s a hand colored black and white photo.

My family used to go to Scott Fountain, as a “family outing.”  We’d watch the colors change.  It was like a light show.  Maybe it was a light show.

Some times we’d drive by it.  Other times we’d get out of the car and walk around.

Scott Fountain at Night

From the verso of this card:  “This beautiful fountain was bequeathed by James Scott in 1925 for the enjoyment of the people of Detroit.  The main portion of Vermont white marble, is 112 feet in diameter and 37 feet high.  Various colored lights play on the water spraying from 109 outlets.”

http://detroit1701.org/James%20Scott%20Fountain.html

Belle Isle, as seen from an Airplane

http://dsgr.org/gallery/Detroit-Postcards/IMG_0980.jpg.php

Some More of the Artists who Showed at the Zeitgeist

TRIPLE SEC by Claudine Goux

Number 7 of a series: From the Zeitgeist Website (postscript)

Part Two of Two

This is the second of two lists of artwork and information on the internet.  These artists all showed at the Zeitgeist Gallery in Detroit.  I didn’t include many who had work in big group shows.  These are mostly artists who had larger shows there. 

The main two groups are first, Detroit and Detroit area artists.  Second, there are artists such as Jaber, Gerard Sendrey and Claudine Goux who were friends of Jacques Karamanoukian.  I met most of them when I was in France.

There were a number of artists who I wanted to include, but I couldn’t find much on them on the internet.  These may be included, i.e. “added on” at a later date.

This concludes a series which I started when the Zeitgeist website went down in May 2010.  There was an intro, three pieces on Jacques, listings for both the theatre and the gallery and two compilations of artist websites.

Claudine Goux:

http://jerzyruszczynski.hautetfort.com/archive/2007/12/07/claudine-goux.html

http://www.artfact.com/artist/goux-claudine-pvx09mdrr0

Gerard Sendrey:

http://www.deanjensengallery.com/outsider_sendrey2.php

http://www.jsaslowgallery.com/artists/gerard_sendrey/gerard_sendrey_index.html

http://www.petulloartcollection.org/the_collection/about_the_artists/artist.cfm?a_id=53

Jean Joseph Sanfourche:

http://www.askart.com/askart/s/jean_joseph_sanfourche/jean_joseph_sanfourche.aspx

Charles Keeling Lassiter:

http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/search/ArtistKeywords.aspx?artist=109546

http://www.imshacha.com/ART/Bio.html

Bob Sestok:

http://www.pkf-imagecollection.org/html/artistresults.asp?artist=1929&testing=true

http://www.dina4.org.es/artistas/fichas/artista_0331.html

Shaque Kalaj:

http://www.imshacha.com/ART/Bio.html

Tom Carey:

http://rustynailstudio.blogspot.com/

Chris Turner:

http://www.bustosbustos.com/

Mikael Lovich:

http://mikaellovich.com/

Jaber:

http://www.docarts.com/jaber.html

http://www.jsaslowgallery.com/artists/jaber/jaber_index.html

http://www.artmajeur.com/?go=user_pages/bio&artist_id=5940&login=jaber

Jaber

Some of the Artists who Showed at the Zeitgeist

At the Start; Elkerr, Valdez, The Schneiders, Graveldinger, Hansen, Mesko, Puntigam, Greenia (kneeling)

Number 6 of a series: From the Zeitgeist Website (postscript)

Part One of Two

This is a group of artists who worked with and/or had shows at the Zeitgeist. The first six mentioned worked especially hard, especially the two gallery directors, Karl Schneider, and then, Jim Puntigam.

Jacques Karamanoukian:

http://maugre22.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/memories-of-jacques-karamanoukian/

http://www.askart.com/askart/artist.aspx?artist=11197422

Jim Puntigam/DMC:

http://whyproject.blogspot.com/2007/11/dmc-jim-puntigam.html

http://www.blogger.com/profile/02813412396749968247

Diana Alva:

http://www.detroitclayco.com.p12.hostingprod.com/

Vito Valdez:

http://www.umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects05/ca/vito.html

http://newspapertree.com/culture/510-profile-vito-valdez

Karl Schneider:

http://www2.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=5987

Maurice Greenia, Jr./ Maugre:

http://research.udmercy.edu/find/special_collections/digital/greenia/

A Framed Drawing by Arnold Dreifuss and Two by John Elkerr. Also a postcard by DMC and (Flat) Five Postcards with Work by Roger Hayes

Here are a few of the artists who showed at the Zeitgeist over the years:

Robert Q. Hyde:

http://www2.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=3570

The late Mary Laredo Herbeck:

http://marylaredo.wordpress.com/

George Graveldinger:

http://graveldinger.com/home.htm

Eric Mesko:

http://www.thepioneerbuilding.com/Artists/Eric_Mesko.htm

http://www.thedetroiter.com/JULY04/ericmesko.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwjbdJwebPY

John Elkerr:

http://thedetroiter.com/b2evoArt/blogs/index.php?blog=2&p=43&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts:

http://www2.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=10029

Roger Hayes:

http://www.astoriaarts.com/rhayes/

Leif Ritchey:

http://www.martosgallery.com/artists/leif-ritchey/bio/

Mary Ellen Croci:

http://www.recklessprophets.com/2010/01/mary-ellen-croci-gallery.html

Michael Dion/ M80:

http://www.weirdmichigan.com/folkart.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tooloose-letrek/sets/72157601384802588/detail/

Joan Painter Jones:

http://www.tamarackartgallery.com/artists/?/category-104

To be continued

Theatre at the Zeitgeist Detroit 1997-2006

Number 5 of a series: From the Zeitgeist Website

Theatre at the Zeitgeist Gallery/Performance Venue

July 18 through August  10, 1997: NO EXIT (Huis Clos) A One act Play by John-Paul Sarte Directed by Troy Richard Cast: Lauren Allen, Lisa Lennox, David Chamberlain and Chris Moeller.

January 7 to February  7 1998: TWENTY MINUTE PLAYS with drinking inbetween  Written by Troy Richard. Includes Black and  White, People in the Median and Baal Sex.   Cast: Ann Bonnie, Elton Litzer, Chris Munday, Thomas Hoagland and Lauren Allen.

April 3 through 25, 1998: TWO FACES OF PINTER includes two plays written by Harold Pinter: 1. The Basement adapted for the stage  by Troy Richard. 2. The Dwarfs Directed by John Jakary.

May 8 to June 7, 1998: ABORIGINAL TREATMENT  CENTER a play written & directed by Ron Allen. Performed  by the Thick Knot Rhythm Ensemble: Doug Bauer, James Boyliss, Judith Ellis and Pam Houston-Hines.

February 5 through 27, 1999: GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS Written by David Mamet. Produced and Directed by Troy Richard.

August 7 and 8/14 and 15, 1998: VOICES IN OUR HEAD Two plays and Poetry. This Program consisted of: 1. 20 Plays in 20 Minutes  written by Ron Allen 2. Weightless Language poetic images by Ron Allen 3. Dionysus Weeps for the Plumicans written by Troy Richard.

April 9 through May 1, 1999: THE DUTCHMAN & THE  OWL KILLER/ The Dutchman written by LeRoi Jones/Amira Baraka. The Owl Killer by Phillip Hayes Dean.  Produced by Troy Richard. Directed by Boukaer Williams.

May 21 to June 26, 1999: VICTIMS OF DUTY written by Eugene Ionesco. Produced by Troy Richard. Directed by  John Jakary. Cast: Fatimah Bazzy, Sergio Mautone, Antonio Ramirez, Tara Grey and Joel Mitchell.

September 17 through October 2, 1999: WHAM Death Agent of  the Experimental Real—an elliptical look at abject desire Written by Ron Allen.

October 29 through November 20, 1999: BECKETT THEN PINTER Two Plays: 1. Krapp’s Last Tape written by Samuel Beckett. Directed by John Jakary. Cast: Andre  Latyszewsky Video: Julie Meitz and The Dumb Waiter written by Harold Pinter. Directed by Troy Richard. Cast: Joel  Mitchell and Sergio Mautone. Both produced by Troy Richard.

February 11 to March 4, 2000: EXIT THE KING Written by Eugene Ionesco. Produced by Troy Richard. Directed by John Jakary.

April 7-29, 2000: HUGHIE  Written by Eugene O'Neill. Produced by Troy Richard. Directed by Neil Alting.

July 14, 2000 (through July?): WILLIAM TESTAMENT by William Boyer. Directed by Leah Smith.

Sept. 15-Oct 8 2000: AND  THEY PUT THE HANDCUFFS ON THE FLOWERS Written by Fernando Arrabal. Produced by Troy Richard. Directed by John Jakary. Cast: Charles Slappson, Nectar Frost, Joel Mitchell, Meryl Rose, Leah Smith, Lessa Bouchard, Andrew Dawson, Sergio Mautone and Maria Haag.

October 27 through November 19, 2000: ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN  ANARCHIST Written by Dario Fo. Produced by Troy Richard. Directed by Neil Carpentier-Alting. Cast: Andrew Huff, Tim Storm, Arthur Mellos, Keith Allan Kalinowski, Joel Mitchell and Leah Smith.

January 26 through February 17, 2001: THE LAST CHURCH OF THE  TWENTIETH CENTURY Written by Ron Allen.   Produced by Troy Richard. Directed by John Jakary. Cast: Larry Barone, Therese Blanco, Nelson Jones. Chad Kushuba, Sergio Mautone, Don Williams and Inga Wilson.

March 30, 2001 (through April 22): DAVID’S REDHAIRED  DEATH Written by Sherry Kramer Directed by Leah Smith

May 25 through June 16, 2001: THE BALD SOPRANO An Anti Play written by Eugene Ionesco. Directed by Troy Richard.

July 27 through August 12, 2001: THE BUTTERFLY FLICK by William Boyer (is this the right year?)

September 14 through October 20, 2001: WAITING FOR GODOT by Samuel Beckett Produced by Troy Richard Directed by John  Jakary Cast: Thomas Hoagland, Timothy Campos, Sergio Mautone, Andrew Huff and Maria Haag.

February 15 through March 9, 2002: LEVEL written and directed by Troy Richard. Cast: Misty Stankiewicz, Emily Mern, Alan Madlane, Maria Haag, Chuck Reynolds, Theresa Lafranco, Alton Litzner and Sergio Mautone.

April 5 through 27, 2002: PERFORMING  OBJECTS STATIONED IN THE SUB WORLD Written by Carla Harryman Directed by John Jakary Cast: Amy Arena, Phil Bolden, Elana Elyce, Maria Haag, Jen House and J. Kim Welch.

June 7 through June  29, 2002: THE RELATIVE ENERGY  SACK THEORY MUSEUM Written by Ron Allen.  Directed by John Jakary.

November 1 through 23, 2002: BLOOD written by Tom Walmsley. Produced by Troy Richard. Directed by Timothy Campos. Cast: Alana Dauter and Joel Mitchell.

September 20 through October 12, 2002: THE FIREBUGS written by Max Frisch. Produced by Troy Richard. Directed by Eric  W. Maher.

February 7 through March 15, 2003: THE UBU VARIATIONS: The Death of Alfred Jarry, Pataphysician. Written and Adapted by  Troy Richard and John Jakary. Cast includes Joel Mitchell.

May 30 through June 21, 2003: THE TIBETAN BOOK OF  THE DEAD The Great Play of Natural Liberation from the Understanding  in the Between. Written by Ron Allen.

October 31 through November 23, 2003: HAMLET MACHINE HAMLET written by William Shakespeare and Heiner Muller. Directed by  Jennifer George. Technical Director: John Jakary. Cast: Sarah Galloway, Joel  Mitchell, Mike McGettigan, Amie Warrow, Darrel Glasgow, Alan Madeleine, James Mio and Chris Korte.

February 20 through March 13, 2004: THREE  TWENTY MINUTE PLAY WITH DRINKING Another Experiment in  Drama. Written by Troy Richard. Includes The Girl With the Cut Off  Foot, Dictator Makes a Move and Bone-Dragging Grizzley Bear. Cast: Kelli  Rossi, Dax Anderson, Alan Madlane, Charles Reynolds, and James Mio.

April 23 to May 16, 2004: THE  CHAIRS Written by Eugene Ionesco. Cast: Leah Smith and Roy K. Dennison.

March 24 to April 29, 2006: THE  ARCHITECT AND THE EMPEROR OF ASSYRIA written by Fernando Arrabal  Produced by Troy Richard. Directed by John Jakary. Cast: Chuck Reynolds and Joel Mitchell.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

This list was originally compiled by Maurice Greenia, Jr./ July 20,2007

P.s. also we've had  several CD release parties (Donald Baker, VisionEar, etc.), a Julie Meitz installation thing, a wedding, 2 Broken Clock Festivals. 8 or 9 Naked Eye Cinema shows, a long-running poetry series etc. etc. I'll try to add some photos and plays that were staged here after 2007...

L. Smith and R.K. Dennison

 

Gallery Exhibits at the Zeitgeist Detroit from 1997 to 2008

Art by Diana Alva and DMC plus assorted show cards

Number 4 of a series: From the Zeitgeist Website

Prehistory: The 1990′s were a very strong period for the local art scene. The Space Gallery and the 2-South Gallery were doing good exhibits in downtown Detroit. In Ann Arbor, most of us participated in some astonishing exhibits at Galerie Jacques. This was the gallery of our good friend, the late Jacques Karamanoukian. In 1996 August 9 to 16 was “spinal art/healing nerve” (one of the last blasts of the Willis Gallery). Then, the next month I went to show my work in France, sponsored by Jacques. In 1997 I was busy drawing on the Hudson’s building, yes that too, was kicking in.

The Zeitgeist opened with its first play No Exit in June.   There was an art exhibit by Karl Schneider and Cathy Saman Schneider up during the run of the play. We got by over the Summer to work on the place, start the mosaics in the backyard and hang our inaugural exhibit. It became known as the Zeitgeist Gallery and Performance Venue.  This is a Zeitgeist Gallery exhibit listing. Let us know if we missed any.

This listing was compiled by Maurice Greenia, Jr. in July 2007.

PREMIER OPENING
opened September 6, 1997 (through October?). Artists: John Elkerr, George Graveldinger, Maurice Greenia, Jr., Robert Hyde, Jacques Karamanoukian, Eric Mesko, Jim Puntigam, Robert Hansen, Cathy Saman Schneider, Karl Schneider, Vito Valdez / at the opening: poetry by Ron Allen/ (on this card, was noted: “formerly the Michigan Gallery” this was on cards through 1998 into early 1999).

An aside: these people were all important parts of this galley’s history. Also, the theatre side: Our impresario (and owner of the building) Troy Richard & too John Jakary.

Karl Schneider founded the gallery and served as our first gallery director from August 1997 until October or November 2001. Since then Jim Puntigam has served as gallery director with assistance from Troy, John, Maurice, Vito and sometimes others as well.

THE HI & GOODBYE SHOW opened November 15, 1997 (through December?). Paintings by Jacques Karamanoukian / Sculptural Woodcuts and Prints by Karl Schneider (preview for collectors) November 14)Noted on the postcard: DETROIT’S OUTSIDER GALLERY.

THE JIM PUNTIGAM & ROBERT HYDE SHOW opened January 9, 1998 (through February?). Performed at the opening: The Donald Baker Band.

THE GREENIA & MESKO SHOW opened March 7 1998 (through April). Art from Maurice Greenia, Jr. and Eric Mesko. Performing at the opening: Live Puppet Show (by Maurice) & the Jug Band.

ELKERR & HAYES SHOW opened May 2, 1998 (through June). Art work from John Elkerr and Roger Hayes. Performing at the opening: Mikhal Caldwell and The Truestories Orchestra.

GEORGE GRAVELDINGER & CATHY SAMAN SCHNEIDER opened July 11, 1998 (through August). Performing at the opening: Music by Visionear.

2^ND ANNUAL COLLECTIVE SHOW opened September 11, 1998 (through October?). Artists: Diana Alva, Grace Amemiya, Theresa Atkins, Tracey Boni, Tom Carey, Simone De Sousa, Patrick Dodd, John Elkerr, George Graveldinger, Sharony Green, Maurice Greenia, Jr., Robert Hansen, Roger Hayes, Robert Hyde, Shaque Kalaj, Jacques Karamanoukian, Eric Mesko, Jim Puntigam, Cathy Saman Schneider, Karl Schneider, Chris Turner and Vito Valdez/Performing at the opening: The Donald Baker Band.

FRIENDS OF JACQUES SHOW opened November 14, 1998 (through December). Artists: Goux, Sanfourche, Sendrey, Koczy, Lassiter, Strubel, Herreria, Aubert, Nitkowski, Jaber, Thomas-Roudeix, Schneider, Saman-Schneider, Puntigam, Valdez, Elkerr, Hayes, Loverich, Richey, Heyligen, Botte Manne, Dodd, Maugre, Zimmerman / performing at the opening: Mikhail Caldwell and friends.

DODD & RITCHEY SHOW opened January 9, 1999 (through February). Art by Patrick Dodd & Leif Ritchey: These are both artists we got to know though Galerie Jacques. They both still work with us.

TURNER-ALVA SHOW opened March 6, 1999 (through April). Sculptures by Chris Turner and paintings by Diana Alva.

MAESTRO’S TOUCH opened June 4 & 5, 1999 (through June?). Art by students of Eric Mesko and Vito Valdez.

SAINTS, STREETS & STATIONS opened July 17, 1999 (through August) Paintings by Vito Valdez.

ZEITGEIST COLLECTIVE EXTRAVAGANZA with Special Guest: Galerie Jacques opened September 4, 1999 (through October). Too many artists to list!! Performing at the opening: Donald Baker Band. Card Art: Schneider, Maugre etc.

SHAQE KALAJ & TERESA ATKINS opened November 27, 1999 (through January 2000). Performing at the Opening: VisionEar plus a January 29: a performance with puppets, films, Don’t Look Now Jug Band.

LOWE & GREENIA opened February 5, 2000 (through March). Ivan Lowe: mixed media artist and additive sculptor plus Maurice Greenia, Jr.: drawings and paintings. Performing at the Opening: Music by Space Band (in the theatre: Eugene Ionesco’s Exit the King).

ALTERED LANDSCAPES (3 Canadian Perspectives) opened April 1, 2000 (through May). Art by: James Gordaneer, Jeremy Gordaneer and John Climenhage. (in the theatre: Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie).

CROSSROADS a solo show by Jacques Karamanoukian opened July 8, 2000 (through August 19). This was an exhibition of Jacques’ paintings & drawings. Performances at the Opening: Faruq Z. Bey, Ron Allen, Allan Colding, Vision Ear & Maurice Greenia, Jr. Puppet Show.

ANNUAL COLLECTIVE SHOW opened August 26, 2000 (through October 14) featuring U.S. and Euro Greats!” Who played at opening?

THE JABER SHOW opened October 21, 2000 (through December). Jaber, a “Tunisian Artist Direct from Paris!” This was a major one-person international exhibit. The artist did not attend but many of us met him, in Paris. He’s a real character, a street performer as well as artiste. Performing at the opening event: The Donald Baker Band.

BLEDSOE/PUNTIGAM opened January 6, 2001 (through February). Art by Jim Puntigam & Michael Bledsoe. Performing at the opening: Stunning Amazon featuring Audra Kubat.

RODRICK DENNE & ROGER HAYES opened March 10, 2001 (through April). Performing at the opening: Chad Kushuba.

JOHN ELKERR/ KARL SCHNEIDER opened May 5, 2001 (through June) Performance at the opening: Stunning Amazon.

THE THREE SCULPTORS opened July 14, 2001 (through August). Sculpture by Tim Burke, Robert Hansen and Mary Herbeck. Performing at the opening, “certain members of Immigrant Suns perform on sculptural piece.” Mary and Robert are Zeitgeist “mainstays.” They’ve done a lot of work with us. Tim is now located at the Heidelberg Project.

TWO PAINTERS AND A STONE ARTIST opened September 7, 2001 (through October). Paintings by Robert Hyde and Greg Stevens. Stone Carvings by Ron Gabaldon. Performances at the opening by Audra Kubat and friends.

GROUP SHOW AND SILENT AUCTION opened November 10, 2001 (through December 31). A Group show featuring Karamanoukian, Hayes, Elkerr, Richey, Alva, Valdez, Mesko, Graveldinger, Maugre, Hyde, Hansen, Hogan, Schneider, Dodd, Burke, Passeno, Turner, Puntigam, Saman-Schneider, Palazzola and Kalas. Performances at the opening: The Space Band and K-9 (was this Jim Puntigam’s first show as gallery director?)

PAVSNER/HOGAN SHOW and FACES (a group show) In Bar Gallery. opened January 12, 2002 (through March 2). Art by Ronald Pavsner and Sean Hogan. Performances at the Opening: Casa Maria Percussion Ensemble, Free Style Sword Dance by Sean Hogan and Conspiracy Wind Collective featuring Faruq Z. Bey.

GRAVELDINGER/PITTS SHOW opened March 16 (through April 27, 2002). Art by George Graveldinger and Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts plus “In the Bar”: Jason Passeno, recent works. Performances at the opening: Casa Maria Percussion Ensemble and Ibn Pori and Band Unit No. 10.

ART THERAPY FOR A SICK WORLD opened May 18, 2002 (through June 29). Maugre Heals in the gallery (art by the Maugre aka Maurice Greenia, Jr.) Performances at the opening: Maugre Puppet Show & Space Band. This exhibit in memory of Jacques Karamanoukian 1940-2002.

ON THE SPOT/DANCING PAINT opened July 20, 2002 (through August 16). Our first ever collaborative show: (aka “Visual Jam sessions” #1) “Artists painting together, collaborating, creating rules and breaking them, on the spot in the theatre space.” (Too Many Artists to Mention).

THE KIDS SHOW Opened August 21,2002 (through August 31). Show included young students of Kalaj, Mesko, Puntigam andValdez.

SESTOK-HENDRICK Opened September 6, 2002 (though October 19). Art by Robert Sestok and Sherry Hendrick. In the “bar gallery”: Bryant Tillman’s “TRANE” series. At the opening: a SLIDE SHOW.

TOO MUCH ART…NOT ENOUGH TIME… opened October 26, 2002 (through December 7) “The Collective Holiday Show” Performing at the opening event: The Donald Baker Band.

JOHN ELKERR/ RECENT WORK Opened January 11, 2003 (through March 15). Also in the “Bar Gallery work from “Not Enough Time” Show.

ME, MYSELF & EYES opened March 22, 2003 (through May 3) Art by Diana Alva and Jeff Everts. In the “bar gallery”: DMC-recent work. Performing at the opening: The Naked Experience and K-9.

DRIEFUSS/ JOHNSON EXHIBIT opened May 17, 2003 (through June 28). Paintings by Arnold Dreifuss and Jack Johnson (who also did found object sculptures). The late Arnold Dreifuss only had this one major show with us. He also participated in group shows and came to paint with us in Visual Jam Sessions. He was a strong and unique painter and a good guy. He’ll be missed. I believe this was Mr. Johnson’s debut exhibit. Performing at the opening: the Eastern Winds Trio.

Noted: for nearly a year (July of 2002 to May of 2003) Naked Eye Cinema was showing film programs at Zeitgeist for one night a month. Also of note: In 2003, Troy Richard, John Jakary, Jim Puntigam, Maurice Greenia, Jr. and Vito Valdez all chipped in to purchase a large collection of artwork for the gallery’s “permanent collection.” This was work which collected by and later installed at our gallery by Jacques Karamanoukian.

VISUAL JAM SESSIONS opened July 26, 2003 (through August 30). Performing at the opening: an open drum circle. This was the first year we called it “Visual Jam Sessions” yet actually it was VISUAL JAM SESSIONS 2. The highlight: “20 artists come together to create collaborative murals to be hung on the front of the building.” These still cover the face of our building today. There were also many collaborative paintings and drawings for sale.

HERBECK/VALDEZ opened September 20, 2003 (through October 18) Art by Mary Herbeck and Vito Valdez. In the “bar gallery” Jayadeva: Recent Work (Jayadeva assisted us with the first version of our web site). Performing at the opening: World Music Duo.

WINTER SOLSTICE SHOW & SELL the card says two days only: November 28 and 29, 2003. with “over 20 artists…lots of art…)

GERARD SENDREY opened January 24, 2004 (through March 13). “Zeitgeist invites you to an exhibition of a master of line from Begles France in the Bordeaux district” (an exported solo exhibition).

GENDER X opened March 27, 2004 (through May 15). Recent artwork by Shaqe Kalaj and Jean Wilson. Performing at the opening: the Space Band, Tuka, Wade, and Susan Sunshine.

TOUGH TIMES IN THE USA opened June 5, 2004 (through July 24). “exploring political, social and military issues with a sarcastic and biting humor, by artist ERIC MESKO“/ performing at the opening: a drum circle.

VISUAL JAM SESSIONS III opened August 14, 2004 (through September 4). The front of card lists some 32 artists yes “ARTISTS CREATING TOGETHER VIA EXQUISITE CORPSE, COLLABORATIVE PAINTING, COLLABORATIVE INSTALLATIION, SCUPTURE AND MOSAIC.” We did it again! Work on our big mosaic wall in the backyard. It’s amazing to be creating together visually.

THE EDGE OF DISSOLUTION opened September 10, 2004 (through October 23). Recent art by Roger Hayes. Performing at the opening: K-9.

REVIVING THE TREE OF LIBERTY opened October 30, 2004 (through November 13). Part one of a two part group show organized by the Zeitgeist (with special participation from Eric Mesko). Part one: before the (presidential) election. Artists include: Mesko, Sousanis, the Fifth Estate, Ferretti and Herbeck. Included in the show were a bunker & a group of artistic voting booths/ Performing at the opening: political puppets & others.

RESTORING THE TREE OF LIBERTY opened November 20, 2004 (through December 18). Part two of a group show organized by the Zeitgeist: “A Post-Election Artistic Critique.” Performances at the opening: The Constitutional Collective and the Don’t Look Now Jug Band. Performances at the closing event: poets, angry puppet show (Maugre) and Mesko Rants.

LE MINOTAURE LIVES A friend’s tribute to Jacques Karamanoukian opened January 29, 2005 (through March 12). This is part one of a two part tribute to Jacques Karamanoukian (1940-2002). There had been a previous tribute exhibit at the University of Detroit Mercy. This show had works by a great many artists who knew Jacques and worked with him. Some were from the Detroit area and around theU.S. Others sent us work fromFrance. Performing at the opening: Ron Allen and the Vision Ear/ Performing at closing event: Maurice Greenia, Jr. Puppet Show and Poetry Reading.

OUTSIDE/OUTSTATE Art by Mikael Lovich and Bill Santen: “Outsider Artists beyond Michigan Borders.” opened March 26, 2005(through May 1). Performing at the opening: The Space Band & the Donald Baker Band.

JACQUES KARAMANOUKIAN RETROSPECTIVE “Part two of a two-part tribute” opened May 14. 2005 (through June 26). This exhibit featured Jacques’ own paintings and drawings (mostly from the Maurice Greenia, Jr. collection). Performing at the opening: Speaking in Tongues Quartet (Faruq Z. Bey saxophone, Kenny Green keyboards, Ali Alan Colding, drums, Greg Cook bass).

TOP TO BOTTOM/ MORE IS MORE opened June 10, 2005 (through June 25). “A Group Expressive with Limited Time & Space.” Artists include (partial list): Alva, DMC, Elkerr, Goux, Graveldinger, Hansen, Hayes, Hogan, Humes, Hyde, Johnson, Lewandowski, Los, Karamanoukian, Lieder, Lovich, Math, Maugre, Mesko, Moore, Pascal, Schneider, Sendrey, Sestok,Valdez. Performing at opening: a drum circle.

VISUAL JAM SESSIONS 4 the work started on July 19, 2005 “This is an invitation to Detroit artist to work together and learn from each other through collaborative painting.” It continued for nine “working days” throughout July and August (culminating in an August 6-7 backyard mosaic-building session and an August 13 closing reception). Noted: “This is the only gallery we know of that has an annual collaboration show.” Yes, work done both on-site and off-site. Is anyone else doing this every year?

RELIEF opened September 17, 2005 (through October 30). Wood and Lino Prints by Brett Colley and Eric Skoglund (Who played music at the opening?? The show card does not say.)

ALL MONSTERS WELCOME Universal Metaphors for Anxiety opened November 12, 2005 (through December 18). “Artists: Alva, Burke, Canich, Dodd, DMC, Hayes, Higham, Johnson, Lewandowski, Los, Math, Maugre, Mesko, Moore, Petrea, Schneider, Valdez and many more…” Performing at the opening: The Don’t Look Now Jug Band.

POETIC MYTH opened January 14, 2006 (through March 5). Recent work by 3 internationally known artists: From France, Claudine Goux and Pascal Hecker, and from the USA, Robert Hyde. Performing at opening: Flamenco music and dance by Alquima Humana, with Djeto Juncaj & MaryLaredo.

CONSULTING DEMONS opened March 18, 2006 (through April 30). Painting, collage and sculpture by DMC (aka James Puntigam). Performing at the opening: African sword dances by Sean Hogan. The Scavenger Duet with Frank Pahl and Joel Peterson.

DANCE OF LIFE/CELL SENSATION A Fundraiser for Artist Mary Laredo Herbeck on May 6 and 13, 2006. This two night event was to help fund “treatments at an alternative cancer hospital in Mexico.” It was a success and a great many visual artists and performers were involved.

VISUAL JAM SESSIONS 5 (aka The Fifth Annual Visual Jam Sessions) The work started on July 7, 2006. This year, we had a very ambitious program of three 3-day weekends of collaborative art-making. Then, on July 28, we had a closing reception and fund raiser.

KILNMALL opened September 16, 2006 (through October 14). The mundane culling from world ceramic history and culture, curated by Billy OBryan. This was a wild, sprawling exhibition of a great many amazing ceramic artifacts. There is much that can be done with clay. Performing at the opening: Frank Pahl.

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS opened November 2 & 3, 2006 (through December 2). Artist Ofrendas by Terry Burton, Matthew Hanna, Mary Laredo Herbeck, Dennis Jones, Maurice Greenia, Jr., Monte, Karl Schneider, Deb King and Vito Valdez. This exhibit celebrates the holiday “The Day of the Dead.” This will be an annual event, for a few years at least. Performing at the opening reception (November 3): The Space Band (with special giant, dancing skeletons).

PLAYFUL CHAOS opened January 13, 2007 (though February 24). This exhibit was an installation by Jacob Montelongo Martinez (aka Monte) with collaborating artist Eric Martinez. Performing at the opening: DJ Dr. Ron. This wild and beautiful sprawling installation took up two full rooms and changed the very shape of the gallery. It was poetic and often strange.

WINDOWS TO OTHER WORLDS (with select artifacts) opened March 10, 2007 (though April 21). Work by Carlos Bruton, Gwen Joy, Maurice Greenia, Jr. (aka Maugre) and Karl Schneider. If you went inside a painting or drawing and brought out some debris, what would this look like? Is a painting a window looking into another world (as the Surrealists said)? These and other questions were posed and sometimes answered. We brought back our former gallery director, Schneider and showcased two younger artists. Performing at the opening: Puppets and Third Grade Bird Cage. Performing at a closing event: Puppets and the Space Band.

PERSONAL ABSTRACTION opened May 5, 2007 (through June 16). Work by M. Saffell Gardner, Alvaro Jurado, Jocelyn Rainey and Gilda Snowden. Curated by Gilda Snowden. Performing at the opening: Classical guitar stylings by J.B. Davies.

THE ZEITGEIST 10^th ANNIVERSARY FUN-RAZOR ART EXTRAVAGANZA AND TOTAL SENSORY FREAKOUT Opened July 6, 2007 (through July 28). This wild, month-long event celebrates our first decade and looks toward the next one. At center stage: over 50 artists displaying nearly 500 works of art!  Sideshow number one: VISUAL JAM SESSIONS 6, incorporated into these festivities. No solo work will be permitted. Artists! Come out of your caves and your studios and come together to create in attempted cooperative collaboration!

Meanwhile, enjoy the Impeachment Trial and Bar-B-Que and the Trial Impeachment and Bar-B-Que. Choose from several great film programs in The Improbable Movie Parade. Listen to the great sounds of the Broken Clock Jam Sessions. Howl with laughter as stand up comics and improvisation teams face off against each other and against insane puppets. This will be The Post-industrial Comic Jamboree and Pig Roast. It will all end in one last blast July 28 from noon to midnight in The Zeitgeist Official Tenth Anniversary Freak Out. Great musical acts, theatrical stunts and amazing surprises will certainly be all around, everywhere you look!

Additional Exhibits:

“The Zeitgeist Gallery/Performance Venue 1997-2007 Ten years of art displays, theatre work and more”  was an Exhibit at The Library of the University of Detroit Mercy. The exhibit was in the lobby of library’s first floor. Exhibit opened Friday July 13, 2007 (it ran through September).

At the Zeitgeist:

Azutunarasharedo New and recent work featuring:Azucena Nava-Moreno, Mary Fortuna, Kathleen Rashid, and Mary Laredo Herbeck. September-October 2007

Dia de los Muertos: Four Interpretations 3 Days of Celebration: November 1 through November 3, 2007 Offerings by: Nora Mendoza, Baaba Ibn Pori Pitts, S. Kay Young and Eric Mesko (Curated by Vito Jesus Valdez).  The exhibit ran through Saturday December 1, 2007

3 The Hard Way: New Work By Tom Carey, Topher Crowder and Dennis Jones opened February 16, 2008 and was up into March. The opening event included performances by Monster Island (Destruction of Mu Shadow Play) and UVU (Honey Moon Killers Psych Unit With Live Video Art Feed).

March 29 – April 26:  WIRED a solo exhibit in the Main gallery of wire sculptures and abstract photos by Robert Hansen. Also: New Work by Diana Alva, who uses encaustic, acrylic, and ink in these recent paintings exhibited in the Bar Gallery. RECEPTION: Saturday, March 29 @ 7pm – midnight. PERFORMANCE: Puppets by Maurice Greenia Jr. & The Space Band @ 9pm.

Spontaneous Combustion: Art by Joan Painter Jones and M80 (Michael Dion) May-June 1998

The Last Days of 1984 Curated by Eric Mesko.  It was on display from  September 20th to November 8th, 2008.  This art exhibition dealt with political, social, and environmental, issues that were closely co-ordinated with the 2008 Presidential Election. Various local and national artists address these enormously important topics with a wide range of mediums, themes, and styles with the implications of the elevation of a new president in mind.

Plus, in the Bar:  The 10th Year Anniversary of the Hudson’s Building Demolition from Maurice Greenia Jr. included various photographers.

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, September 20th, 2008 from 7pm till Midnight (free of charge), PERFORMANCES: Starting @ 8pm- MESKO RANTS, Ron Allens BREAD AND THE AMERICAN DREAM ( a 15 minute politically poetic play), a political puppet extravaganza by Maurice Greenia Jr., political protest songs and more by Greg Sumner and more.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST @ 3 PM ARTIST TALK (Mesko Rants again).

CLOSING RECEPTION: Saturday, November 8th, 7pm-Midnight, to celebrate and/or commiserate the results of the election/ @ 8pm Mesko Rants (again and again), Puppets Dance, and Sumner Sings.

Then, we decided to close the space, enough, that’s it!  I’ll have more on this soon.

p.s. More Words and Images will be added to this!!

The Surrealist Spirit of Jacques Karamanoukian

Jacques Karamanoukian at the Zeitgeist

 Number 3 of a series: From the Zeitgeist Website

The Surrealist Spirit of Jacques Karamanoukian  (from MAUGRE May 16, 2002)

This is the first in a series of pieces I’ll write about my late friend Jacques Karamanoukian.  We lost him three days ago to the cancer.  He didn’t make it.

He’ll be very much missed by numerous friends from theDetroitarea, aroundEuropeand elsewhere. 

Jacques was not specifically a Surrealist yet he knew Surrealism well.  He had a special connection with Arshile Gorky due to their shared Armenian heritage and the fact thatGorky(though often overlooked) was one of the most powerful artists of the last century.  His work was so strong, so fully realized.

Some of his other favorites were Jean Dubuffet, Antonin Artaud, Victor Brauner, Wifredo Lam and Andre Masson.  I shared an exhibit at Galerie Jacques inAnn Arborwith a group of Masson’s erotic lithographs.  (Jacques was an art dealer/promoter/collector, a writer on the arts, a fine artist himself and much more). 

He was very knowledgeable about Surrealism–one of the few aroundDetroitwith whom I could talk about its “fine points”–its ideas and participants. 

Yet, if Jacques was not explicitly SURREALIST, he embodied the Surrealist spirit better (and more fully) than anyone I’ve ever known.  

The same Surrealist spirit I sense in Artaud, Breton, Duchamp, Bunuel, Peret and others was strong in Jacques (surrealist in LIFE).  It’s also strong in me (how strong I’m not sure, but when I want it to be stronger yet, I’ll often think of Jacques). 

His sense of “black humor” was often evident (an unusual and intense sense of “umour.”) 

He knew what he was against and what he was for and was never shy about making his opinions heard.  He often crossed paths with the pretentious, poseurs, phony or imitative art/artists, mistaken and bewildered art critics, all “art fairs”, trendiness, the art-ificial, squares, know-it-alls, the pompous, the wind bags, the two-faced back stabbers, the condescending, the stuffed shirts, the “petite bourgeoisie” and yes ALL of the “enemies of love” (who ever and where ever they may be).  In the presence of these he’d often respond by saying things like “The IDIOTS! Then, he’d proceed to detail exactly why these people were wrong or mistaken or misguided or dangerous.  

There was a very strong sense of being unwilling and unable to compromise.  He did things the way HE thought he should.  Within this was a sort of intensity (like a storm) which was wild in ways yet always filtered through intellect, though careful and measured thinking.  He studied both what he loved and what he hated, both “friends” and “enemies.”  We’d talk about AWARENESS, a living and growing knowledge. 

This sort of intense spirit is part of dada that Surrealism kept (to let it grow and mutate).  It is marked by a great anger, indignation and disgust balanced with great stores of love, tenderness and the capacity to be surprised/amazed.

It’s strength was just as powerful when it came to political and social issues.  He was a true radical, but in his own way.  Jacques was no friend to the “powers-that-be” not any of them. 

He was uncompromising unless the compromise was absolutely unavoidable.  Thus it was with that final compromise (the one we all make, eventually/ whether we like it or know it or not).  Having cancer must be like being in another world.  His suffering (and the way he fought to LIVE despite it) were the last signs of his spirit, his strength.

Memories of Jacques Karamanoukian

Number 2 of a series: From the Zeitgeist Website

Memories of Jacques/  Jacques Karamanoukian remembered 

From MAUGRE (aka Maurice Greenia, Jr.) written in 2002 and 2003

Introduction:  Ah, I can hardly believe that it’s eight or nine years later now.  The Zeitgeist space for art and theatre is  gone now.  I don’t think this was on the Zeitgeist website, maybe it was.  This is especially for those of you who knew Jacques and hadn’t seen this yet.

Part one

I’ve been showing my art-work in Detroit galleries since 1980.  I’d heard stories about this guy, Jacques, up in Ann Arbor.  He was running some adventurous galleries (including Le Minotaure Gallery).

By the late 1980′s, Jacques and I were both getting involved with the Heidelberg Project-an enclave of abandoned houses and fields–which were painted and decorated.

Tyree Guyton, his wife Karen and his grandfather Sam Mackey made quite a team.  They were responsible for the project.  It was Tyree’s vision but they got to help out and contribute.

Jacques really connected with “Grandpa” and his work.  He knew he’d found something special.  He’d started painting very late in life yet his work was strong and unique.

So, in the orbit of the Heidelberg project, we first crossed paths, exchanged words.

Yet we didn’t really connect until 1992, when I moved to Detroit’s “Cultural Center” area.

He saw my artwork and felt an immediate connection with what I was doing (that I was “on to something.”)

I started going up to Ann Arbor and hanging out at his art space “Galerie Jacques.”

Thus started a friendship which stayed strong and grew: staying steady for (an all too short) ten years.

I’d often take the train up there just to hang out, talk, draw and just “shoot the bull.”

I got to see his work.  He was a very good artist (as well as a self-taught historian-archivist-dealer-collector etc.).  He did some large paintings yet had a special affection for drawing over ads/postcards or drawing on napkins.

He supported himself by teaching high school French classes.  Since the 1960′s, he was showing art in Ann Arbor–going back and forth from France to Michigan.

I performed many times up at Galerie Jacques with my poetry and puppets and such.  I also showed my work there quite often.

In 1996, I showed my work in France and Jacques showed me around Paris.

Then, just after the turn of the century, he became ill and left us (less than a month ago as I write this).

This work will be more impressionistic than strictly biographical or chronological.

These are pieces in an unsolvable puzzle.

Jacques at home, on Wesley Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Part two

My visual artwork comes directly out of surrealism with a lot of other influences thrown in (art brut/outsider art, abstract expressionism, regular expressionism, dada, Picasso etc. etc.)

Jacques always responded to my work .  For ten years he’d encourage me but he’d also challenge me, push me.

He’d often give his honest opinion (very good, this one works or it needs more etc.)

The painting I titled “For Jacques” (on the eve of my latest exhibit/in the wake of his death) I thought it was finished.  I misplaced it for a few days.

When I found it again it was as if I could hear him “Maugre!  It’s a nice start/ but I think it needs something more.”  So I went back into it with more detail work, some candle smoke, volcanic ash, wax drippings, glitter etc. (on the day of the opening).

He’d support and encourage experimentation.  We’d do collaborations, try new materials and methods etc.  I always did stuff like that but he got me to take it a bit further than I would have.

This is harder to explain: when you’ve spent 25 years as a “serious artist” there can be a sort of personal language that develops.  It’s as if you’ve

created another world and can see into it through your art (sometimes at least).

Jacques always seemed to encourage and/or UNDERSTAND my need to go to the “wild places,” to be obsessive, to push the envelope, to try a little harder, to take more risks etc.

I’m in a different place within my own visual world than I’d be now if I’d never known him.

A whole sort of scene grew up around Jacques.  It seemed to really flower in these last years (though I’m sure it was always interesting).

Artists would hang out and draw together and look at each other’s work and sketchbooks.  We’d see work by the European artists whose work he showed.  We’d look at art books and talk about art history and great artists past.  There was a real “cross-pollination” going on.  It was unique.

We’re trying to get something similar going here at the Zeitgeist in Detroit.  It’s an art-space and theatre space.  We’re trying, but I’m not sure we’ll make it.

Jacques was involved with Zeitgeist in ways (especially after he closed Galerie Jacques).  He’d show his European artist friends with us and kept a wall of selections from his collection.  We’ll try to keep it going in the same spirit he had at his space.

The man informed and enlarged a great many individual (often eccentric) artistic sensibilities at a great many levels, in a great many ways.

The work he created himself, as an artist, was also inspiring.  Jacques lives!  His energy continues.

Part three    (2003 now)

We loved to talk about art.  There were discussions about the Detroit-Ann Arbor art scene and “goings on.”  He’d talk about Europe and the artists he knew over there.

We always kept going back to art history.  He had a huge collection of art books and really knew his stuff.

Certain figures came up again and again.  We’d look at books and talk of their work quite a bit: Dubuffet, Picasso, Arshile Gorky, Andre Masson  etc. (and various movements and groups with which they were aligned or crossed paths with).

We’d talk about more obscure figures too.  We’d talk of artists whose work we loved.  Sometimes we’d talk of those whose work we disliked.   It’s good to get it in the open, put it on the table, to try to better understand.

We’d talk about music.  Jacques was a huge fan of “be-bop” (Bird, Monk, Max, Dizzy) and most jazz.  He also loved Cuban music.   He had open ears.

Jacques knew literature well too-especially the works from France: Alfred Jarry, Lautreamont, the Surrealists, Rimbaud, Baudelaire and many more.

We shared a deep and complex knowledge of and love for a certain vista of CULTURE.  When human beings dig deep into themselves and really CREATE, then good things can come forth (surprises and wonders).  We search for these.  We wished that they’d turn up more often, that they didn’t often seemed to be reduced, endangered or threatened.

Jacques Karamanoukian's Drawing on a Paper Napkin

Part four

In 1996 I flew to Paris I caught up with Jacques.  I was showing my work in Begles near Bordeaux as part of an annual “Gardeners of Memory” show.

Maybe someday I’ll try to tell the whole story of my adventures in France.

For now, I remember Jacques showing me around Paris.  We met up with Jaber several times.  Once we went to a private “art space” and played pantomime games.  Jaber would wind me up (with an invisible key in my back).  Jacques became a bull and Jaber a bull-fighter.  It was sheer exuberant nonsense (like living in a Marx Brothers movie).

Jaber took a group of us out for cous cous and tried to show us every place in Paris that had some of his work.

We went to a few cafes, museums and galleries.

We took the fast train down to Bordeaux.  I drew rows of tiny drawings (to represent everything flying by out the windows).

At the opening, it went quite well.  My French was almost non-existent yet I got some translations and communicated through drawing.

I got to meet more of Jacques’ friends including Gerard Sendrey and Claudine Goux.

Back in Paris, we explored the city together.  We’d run into people he knew.  I’d explore it by myself as well.

I remember seeing his place there in Clamart.  I met some of his family and his neighbors.  His brother Leon was quite ill.

There was a little store nearby where we got bread and olives when I first arrived.  He picked a fresh fig off of a tree outside the house for me (delicious!)

He was my sponsor and first guide to Europe, to France.  The days were packed with life, with art and adventure.

Part five

Once, we went to a concert of Armenian music (I believe it was in Ann Arbor).  There he talked to me all about the troubles, the Armenian genocide of 1916.

We’d talk about it off and on for the rest of his life.  We’d talk of that and of all the troubles in the world: racism, greed, violence, cruelty, indifference, stupidity, hate and the entire awful and endless parade.  There are things very wrong with this world.

We’d go through a good part of “the list” and get to more heated areas of conversation:  World trouble, American trouble, artist trouble (and an enormous spider-web of woes) seem to be at the heart of everything.

I start a series of “Trouble Books” and get back to protests and writing more manifestos/statements.

Jacques landed in Ann Arbor in the 1960′s when things seemed more hopeful.  There used to be a more complex sense of possibility.

As much as Jacques loved magic and imagination in art, in life he was quite the realist.  He’d try to find the truth and see the hardest facts, to bring it into the light.

Part six

Jacques was a great talker and story-teller.  He’d listen too.

I think his work as a teacher helped develop a certain side to his interactions with other people.

He could rub people the wrong way and get them upset.  Yet that was often because he insisted on being himself and on being honest.

He was a real reader and a great “book person.”  He had a mysterious side to him, hard to get to really know.  He loved art and loved life.

I remember his last year when he was sick.      We’d visit him at Wesley Street (or elsewhere).      Sometimes he looked better and sometimes worse.

Many of our conversations then were tape recorded.  We’d bring up some food and have a little repast.

His neighbor’s cat was often there and Jacques would talk to it and play with it a bit.

We’d talk about life, art, music, politics, world events (including then recent September 11 attacks), history and more.

Sometimes just one or two of us would visit.  Other times there’d be five or six of us.      There’d usually be some music playing in the background.

He’d talk about his plans and hopes, the things he wanted to do if things turned out o.k.      Yet in all our farewells (especially that last one) there was a silent worry about losing him.    Everyone makes the “brave face” and continues.

He’d been well enough to go out and play a little tennis but back in France he got worse again.

There were a few phone calls and a few letters sent back and forth.  His final letter to me was especially powerful and moving.

Yes Jacques died, but for some of us “Jacques lives” in his way.  His fight was our fight.  His dreams were close to ours and inspired ours.  We “take the torch” and carry on as best we can.

Jacques Karamanoukian, a Few Adventures

Jacques Karamanoukian by Cass Cafe, with My Sidewalk Drawing

Number 1 of a series: From the Zeitgeist Website

Jacques Karamanoukian loved art.  He collected it.  He bought and sold it.  He studied it.  He promoted it. Then, ultimately, he created it.

Over the years, he created a wide-ranging and amazing body of work.

There’s a new art book out in France dedicated to Jacques’ art work.  At 110 pages (mostly in full color), this book is a strong taste of what he was capable of.  It’s called “Jacques, le Karamanoukian.”

This exhibition here at Zeitgeist, our “Retrospective” will also cover a lot of ground.  Much of it is from my own collection.  I was able to buy a good group of Jacques’ art from his family, after we lost him in 2002.  Then too, we always made our formal and informal trades.  These were small pieces.

There are also a number of his other works on display.  These are lent by the Zeitgeist staff and by Detroit area art collectors.

Jacques loved artists as well.  He always told me that he wouldn’t show someone who made astonishing artwork if they couldn’t get along.  He had to like someone as a person if he was to exhibit their work.

Jacques knew that we who create have to sacrifice a lot in order to do so.

To be a real artist, to try to do the best you can, to take it as far as you can, is no easy task.

Jacques was part of the tradition of drawing and painting as a means for growth and understanding.  Sometimes, obsessive and incessant drawing can be a way of making sense of the world (in parts at least).

That tradition seems to be totally out of fashion now.  Yet for most of Jacques’ “circle” (here and abroad) it’s far from passé.  It’s a point of view, a quest, an experiment, an adventure, a way of life.

Like myself, Jacques sort of came out of literature.  That is, he was informed by a great love of books, of words.  That was the focus of his college studies. 

Though I had to make do with translations, we both had read a lot of the great French literature: Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Gerard de Nerval, Artaud, Lautreamont, the Surrealists and others.  We’d talk about that.

When we were in France (to show my work there, in 1996) it was like stitching history to life and to the future.  More and more it was as if we friends of Jacques were with him “on a mission” to push art further, to find some of the best and to make it more visible, more widely seen.   It was always very much “onward and upward” and just “continue the work.”

In Paris and at Site de la Creation Franche in Begles, Jacques translated for me in more ways than one.  Later, other Zeitgeist artists were also able to exhibit in and explore France with Jacques.

Yet despite this sense of purpose (directed) Jacques would impress upon me that it’s really not a “big deal” to be an artist.  One shouldn’t think oneself “special” or part of any unique elite.  So you’re a serious artist?  Deeply committed?   Smashing down boundaries between life and art?

Well, so what?  Just keep doing your work and maybe assist those others whose work you like (or as least try to see what they’re doing).

I’d wonder whether his comments were just to help prevent one from getting a “big head” or if they were reflective of how art and artists seem ignored and devalued?  This seems to be especially true in the United States.

Jacques was interested in creating a strong and varied body of artwork, himself.  At the same time, he spent a lot of time looking at, promoting and exhibiting other people’s work.  The artists who run the Zeitgeist try to continue in that tradition.   We’ve tried to track down and stay in touch with the artists he worked with.  Most of them showed in part one of this exhibit.  We keep our eyes open for new artists who fit into our vision.

 Jacques’ life in art is our primary example.  We talked with him about how to best run the Zeitgeist, how to make it work.  We continue.

In sad reflection, in the “aftertaste,” his life and work take on deeper and deeper meaning to those of us who knew him well, who were true friends.

We’d draw together and comment on each other’s work.  It never felt like a “school” or anything (but sometimes maybe it was).

I always loved his work while he was with us.  Yet I’ve grown to love it even more.  I think he was onto something. 

He’d often use collage or draw on top of brightly colored magazine pages.

His palette would vary: sometimes dull and muddy, sometimes bright (a bit fierce).  Jacques knew that the materials themselves can meld with the artist.

It’s like the musician merging with his instrument.  Paint, ink and paper (etc.) dialogue with the artist’s hands to find lost images.

He came up with some of the wildest: heads and almost heads, haunted landscapes, strange figures grasping at lost form and much more. 

For those of us already going in that direction, Jacques verified art as a search of sorts.  One always tries to touch (or make visible) what one can’t quite reach.  It’s an exploration and a way of life.

I don’t know if he was “optimistic” enough to make the Utopian leap from this approach to art leading to a similar approach to life (and actual change in the world itself).  I know he was often saddened and angry by the ways of humans, by the state of our poor world.

He was not one to “suffer fools.”  We loved him too for his candor, his outspokenness.  He usually did his best to “tell it like it is” and try to cut through the tangled webs of lies and illusions.   Look at his artwork.

writings by Maurice Greenia, Jr. (MAUGRE)May 12, 2005

Jacques and Mr. Imagination

Here’s another piece that I wrote on Jacques:

http://artremedy20.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/jacques-karamanoukian-take-one/

The Zeitgeist Detroit Website is down, perhaps lost

We tried to keep the Zeitgeist website going as a sort of tribute to all our hard work there.

It served as a sort of history of both the art gallery and the theatre sides of our endeavor.  There was a listing of all the plays which were performed there.  There was a listing of all the gallery shows that we had there.

A few weeks ago, it vanished.  If you click on it now, I think that Japanese ads come up.

I thought that we had it backed up on a disc somewhere, but we didn’t.  Thus, it seems unlikely that it will ever be restored.  I’ll try to reproduce some parts of it here in my blogs.

I especially want to keep my texts on the late Jacques Karamanoukian available online.  So, stay tuned, as they say…