An old friend left us this past week. The more than 50-year old School of the Arts
held each year in Rhinelander, WI and sponsored by the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, is no more. Robert E.
Gard was largely responsible for starting the school. Bob’s philosophy was—the arts are for
everyone. No matter what your income
level, where you lived, or how much formal education you had.
I attended classes
there in the 1960s when I had the opportunity to learn from Bob Gard. I
participated in a fiction writing workshop with August Derleth, and learned
basic skills about writing a novel that have proved invaluable. And much more.
Then in 1971, Bob Gard asked me to teach at the School of
the Arts. I did this for 32 years. It
was there that I met such national writing figures as Archibald McLeash (three Pulitzer
prizes), Dale Wasserman, Henry Mark Petrakis, Studs Terkel, Robert Bly and Jesse Stuart, all writers of
considerable note. All of whom taught workshops.
But now the School of the Arts is dead. Many of us are mourning.
Mark Lefebvre, longtime friend of Robert Gard, said this
about the School’s passing:
Learning about the demise of the School
of the Arts is hard. I broke down and cried. I thought of the many
summers I spent with Bob at the School of the Arts. I think of all the
people whose lives were awakened. I think of the
extraordinary faculty who in that very special place made real magic
happen. Bob taught me so much, most of all, how the unexpected can happen
through simple belief. I am so disappointed these days with the
University of Wisconsin. Belief is no longer part of its
vocabulary. No greater writer than Archibald MacLeish came to
Rhinelander one summer. A sophisticated guy. He could not believe
the world he had entered. Imagine these "students" being
exposed to this man who could not thank Robert E. Gard enough for putting him so close to the creative
process. Long may the banner of SoA wave over the battlefields of
ignorance!
THE OLD TIMER
SAYS: The
arts make a life worth living.
UPCOMING
EVENTS;
November
10, 6:00 p.m. Wausau Public Library, Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
November
12, 7:00 p.m. Bellville High School Auditorium with Bellville Public
Library. Wisconsin Agriculture: A
History
November
14, 9:30 -11:30 a.m. Sheboygan County Historical Research Center. Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
November
15, 9:15 Midvale Lutheran Church, 4329
Tokay Blvd., Madison, WI.The Land (TV documentary) plus discussion of Whispers and Shadows. The
community is invited.
November
17, 7:00 p.m. Hotel Red (1501 Monroe Street- corner of Regent and Monroe,
Madison.) “Wisconsin Agriculture: A History,
a discussion with Doug Moe. Sponsored by Mystery to me Bookstore. Book signing to follow.
November
18, Preview of TV Documentary, “The Land With Jerry Apps” Wild Rose High School
Auditorium. Whispers and Shadows book
signing. 6:00 p.m. Refreshments.
Presentation starting at 6:30.
Purchase Jerry’s
DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin
(a fund raiser for them):
The
library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs, Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps a Farm Story.
Also
available are several of Jerry’s signed books including The Quiet Season (on which the DVD A Farm Winter is based), as well as Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old
Farm, (which are related to the DVD Jerry
Apps a Farm Story). Also available is Jerry’s new novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County as
well as Whispers and Shadows and his
newest nonfiction book, Wisconsin
Agriculture: A History.
Contact
the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson
Memorial Library
500 Division Street
1 comment:
I have this thought of starting the Coloma School for the Arts on the last weekend in July at the Coloma Community Center, Coloma Hotel, and Lauretta's Writer's Shack. Coloma Players, Inc. Guy Kaplan
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