I am home, in New York, and it is good.
I was late, in the morning, missing the plane, which was also good.
... because driving from Newark airport to Park Slope, Brooklyn, would *not* have been fun at 6 pm. But at 2 a.m... which is when I finally made it across the Manhattan Bridge... things were quiet, calm, peaceful...
and that's not a bad way to transition from Berkeley back to the East.
So here I am, back in Queens for the time being, still prowling for research. My "spiral development" process, to rely terribly on a DOD metaphor, continues. And going back into Wolfgang's Vault, to find one more Gene Anthony photo of Mountain Girl and Sunshine, I discover that some of the "serene" art I had been enjoying... so different from many of the Fillmore artists... IS in fact illustrated by a woman artist.
Bonnie MacLean.
As the Fillmore folks explain: "Bonnie MacLean could have made the "Fillmore Five" artist stable the "Fillmore Six" had the idea of women's' liberation been extant in San Francisco in the late 1960s. During the early days of the Fillmore, MacLean was the most "present" member of the staff. She collected tickets, passed out handbills, blew up balloons and counted money for Fillmore productions. Impressed with her lettering skill on the upcoming attractions chalkboards, Bill Graham surprised her with an easel and art supplies for Christmas, 1967, and MacLean's poster artist career was launched. Untrained in graphic arts, MacLean's early style evolved into ornate, Medieval-Gothic designs. Faces in her posters wore trance-like stares, steady and serene, and evoke the detached spirituality of the sixties. Of her work, MacLean has said, "... What's significant is that these posters were created with an intensity that was lived." MacLean lives on the East Coast and continues her career as an artist. Recently, she has reproduced replicas of some of her poster designs on canvas. "
So here's one more tidbit on that, for future reference:
"BG100 is one of Bonnie MacLean's favorite posters. She started the assignment when she was pregnant with her son and wove the peace dove into the composition as her symbolic wish for the new year. This New Year's Eve concert continued the Bill Graham tradition of non-stop, 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. celebration and included breakfast for the diehard fans remaining on the dance floor."
Hipstorian thinks... Hmmm... New Year's Eve... 1967 rolling into 1968... Mommy was in her 4th month of pregnancy with me, crying every night when she came home from teaching first grade in North Philadelphia. Aunt Maryanne was in Korea, to be near her West Point husband, and seven months pregnant with Tommy.
It's a little strange thinking of history and women and hippies and wombs, and then comparing that to my maternal relatives' experiences at the same time.
More than a little, actually.
