source: Copyright © 2006 The Cañon City Daily Record
Artists field questions over project
Charlotte Burrous
The Daily Record
Several people voiced their opposition to the “Over the River” project, proposed by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, in a meeting Wednesday at the Fremont Center for the Arts.
The artists plan to suspend shimmering fabric panels 10 to 23 feet above the Arkansas River for 6.7 miles on steel wire cables, which will be anchored along the upper banks between Cañon City and Salida.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude were joined by project manager Jonita Davenport and project engineer Vince Davenport to field questions on traffic, safety and the impact on the environment.
The Davenports said they come to Cañon City at least once a month to check on the project, but spend most of their time in Denver, where they work with an engineering firm in Littleton, which are completing a Natural Environment Protection Act study.
“We’re working on the NEPA, which is a long process,” Vince Davenport said. “Working with the BLM and all the agencies, the permitting process and working with the government entities is very slow some-times. We’re looking toward fall or winter before the NEPA process will be completed.”
The traffic management plan will be “a tough one,” Jonita said. “(A man named) Gunther wrote the traffic management report and plan for the Glenwood Canyon I-70 freeway project in the early 80s.
“This plan that he wrote received worldwide recognition. It won an award,” Jonita said. “It is used throughout the state of Colorado as a model plan.”
However, Dan Ainsworth, who is with the Tallahassee Fire Department, said he didn’t think the plan would work in the canyon between Cañon City and Salida.
“One of our biggest concern is the canyon is just so wide. It can only accommodate only so many people,” Ainsworth said. “If you have the number of people you expect to have, there’s no way that canyon is going to accommodate it, I don’t care how many traffic plans you have. You’re talking about thousands of peo-ple, thousands of cars, hundreds of buses everyday.”
Jonita said this has been a long ongoing process. “We’re in our eighth year now,” Jonita said. “This is a rural environment compared to an urban environment. Frankly, I don’t expect that many to come.”
Christo said they work with professionals, who work for the state and the county.
“That’s all going to be part of the plan before a permit is ever going to be given,” Jonita said.
Ainsworth told the artists that it “sounds like you going to do this come hell or high water.”
But Jonita said that wasn’t true.
“We’re never going to get a permit from any of these agencies if we don’t have an appropriate plan in place,” Jonita said.
Lynn Lucke Lutkin, Judi Bassani and Holly Pierce drove down from Fort Collins to greet Jeanne-Claude and Christo.
“In the 70s, Christo was a faculty affiliate of (Colorado State University),” Lutkin said. “Judi and Holly were art teachers in Fort Collins. A year later, I wrote to them to ask if we could plagiarize their art forms and we wrapped the Denver Capitol with children’s artwork from (students in) 135 districts around Colo-rado.”
Afterwards, the women sent the video they had made to Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who responded with signed artwork for each school district.
“I followed them ever since,” Lutkin said. “I went to New York to see ‘The Gates.’ I think they’re awe-some and we want to be a part of the ‘Over the River’ project.”
Cotopaxi resident and Rags Over the River group member Cathey Young said her concern was the work was “being done on faulty figures. We keep being told that 250,000 people are likely to come see the pro-ject.”
From past experience, each time Christo and Jeanne-Claude complete a project, the numbers of people continues to increase, Young said.
But Jonita said the agencies have studied the numbers.
“We don’t want to leave you out to dry,” she said. “We don’t want to ruin your community. We don’t want to cause problems in your valley. We want to bring you a gift. It’s very beautiful and it’s very temporary. We hope you’ll all agree. If you don’t, we’ll be gone.”
Ainsworth said he didn’t have anything against Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art.
“It’s not fear that we are proposing, it’s concern,” he said. “It’s concern for the wildlife who habitat the canyon. It’s concern for the environment. It’s concern for the ecology of the canyon. It’s concern for all our lives, our health and our welfare.”
Christo said this is a common reaction.
“Wherever we go, people say, ‘we love your art, but not here,’ Christo said.
The artists also announced they would exhibit their original artwork from July 4 through Aug. 27 at Fremont Center for the Arts for the public to view.
artwork © Wolfgang Volz / Christo
photo © 1996 Wolfgang Volz
photo © 2005 Wolfgang Volz / laif
Wrap artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, not pictured, show a slide of their upcoming project to span the Arkansas River in Colorado at an evening lecture sponsored by the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Tuesday, May 23, 2006, in Cleveland. The husband wife team, speaking to art patrons, said the location near Canon City, Colo., was selected because of its river rapids and access to roads and footpaths. (AP Photo/Jason Miller)