It has been several months since I last made a trip to the
storage locker. Traffic was light on Lambert Road, and I hit almost all green
lights on the drive. I had two cartons in the truck, archives 9 & 10 in one
box, and archives 12 & 13 in the other. I had to leave archive 11 at the
house, but by the end of the morning that turned out to be a good thing. Small
coincidences continue to weave their way through this endeavor.
I brought home the last collection, which totaled 20
paintings, some of them framed. I also brought back the boxes of bagged up xerox
copies of notes, letters, and stuff that I can describe only as ‘Pete’s last mad
ravings’.
So last Monday night I set up the lights, pulled the shades
in the den, and got the last of Pete Hampton’s work photographed.
The total count comes to eight hundred twenty
eight paintings, drawings, and sketches. All that remains of this part of the
project is the catalogue entries. I’ll have that done this week.
And then?
We shall see.
I’ve recorded everything that Pete had stored away in his
private collections. I’ve spent a lot of time reading his notebooks, his
inscriptions, his notes. I’ve seen a lot of stuff that in all probability no
one else has seen. And I’ve spent the last year searching the deep archives of
my own life, recalling incidents, events, stories.
The trip down Memory Lane is fun for only the first couple of
blocks. Stay on that street long enough and you get to the bad neighborhoods
where your every cringe inducing recollection is a pothole in an unpaved alley.
I do believe I’ve revisited my every embarrassing moment from 1968 to about
1980. I didn’t see this coming.
I tend toward tunnel vision in my work. I lock in on task,
and don’t allow myself to get sidetracked. I’ve been so focused on the process
of getting these digital archives together that small details of significance
slip out from under my notice.
Old B36, 1947 on a summer day
Like the dates on
Pete’s paintings, for example. Of course, I have recorded the dates on the
pictures that are dated, but Pete didn’t often put dates on his work.
The dates on most of Pete’s completed paintings run from the
early 60’s to somewhere around 1983 or 84. And this roughly coincides with the
years in which I, and my other friends kept regular contact with Pete. It was
for us, a time of growing out of adolescence and into adulthood. Pete was closing
in on 40, and edging into middle-age. He belonged to a world we were
reluctantly outgrowing. Like when we
were grade school kids, helping Pete promote his “Lost Canyon Trip” show.
Eventually saving the hills slid off the list of critical stuff to worry about.
Our lives became centered around jobs, and the day-today business of life. It
became easier and easier to say, “Hey we haven’t seen Pete in a while, gotta’
give him a call.” But not just now...
Not just now…
We’ll have some more from the 14th archive next week, and
perhaps I’ll post pics of the paintings in my private collection. I did not
expect to be done with this phase so soon, and to be honest, I do not know what
will come next. Just like when I was getting started, I am in unexplored
territory. Still, I have the conviction that there is a greater hand guiding
this endeavor toward a purpose I can not yet see. Do the footwork. Say your prayers. Leave the
results to God. and so we continue.
next week: All that's Fit to Print>
next week: All that's Fit to Print>
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