Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Over The River

Christo 'Over the River' proposal rolls slowly on course

source: Copyright © 2006 Rocky Mountain News

Christo 'Over the River' proposal rolls slowly on course

By Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News
August 12, 2006

CAÑON CITY - One year after the Over the River project moved back into the spotlight, it is still very much a proposal.

Over the River, which began in 1992, next will be the subject of an exhaustive environmental impact statement, to be filed with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The bottom line: Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude want to hang 750 polypropylene panels in eight sections over 6.9 miles of the Arkansas River between Salida and Cañon City. They estimate 250,000 people would visit the valley to view the work.

"We're being very cautious," said Roy L. Masinton, manager of the BLM's Royal Gorge Field Office. "The ball primarily is in their court. They need to get us the complete proposal."

When all the documents are in place, Masinton will make the decision about whether the project will go forward.

A year ago, some hoped the artists could install the fabric panels for two weeks sometime in July or August 2008. Now, the artists say the earliest it could happen would be that time period in 2010. And that would be if their projection of completing the all-important environmental impact statement happens by next August.

The couple is familiar with waiting: Their last art installation, The Gates in New York's Central Park, took more than two decades to gain approval - and cost more than $21 million.

It hasn't always taken that long. Their last art installation in Colorado, the two-time attempt to stretch a huge swath of orange fabric between cliffs in Rifle, took 28 months. The second Valley Curtain lasted only 28 hours, ripped down by a fierce wind. It cost about $700,000. But those more simple days are long, long gone.

So far, Over the River has cost between $3.5 million and $4 million, said Jonita Davenport, the project director for this effort and for The Gates.

"Each one of our projects all cost the same thing," said Jeanne-Claude of the inevitable question of a potential price tag for Over the River, during an interview before an Aug. 5 slide show here in conjunction with an exhibition of their work.

"Everything we have and everything we are able to borrow from the bank."

Project engineer Vince Davenport added: "With this project, they're going to go to two banks."

Since last August, Jonita Davenport estimated the artists had been to Cañon City 15 times, her husband more. The team estimates it has walked the river 12 different times.

"We want to provide the most thorough process," said project engineer Vince Davenport. "Every issue must be addressed."

A month ago the team, with its consultants and various specialists and agency representatives, conducted an anchor test on a stretch of private property on the banks of the Arkansas.

An actual survey of the entire stretch of river for precise mapping is to begin this week. Up until now, the artists and their project managers have been working from photographs to decide where panels will be placed around what they term "interruptions." That could be a rock, a tree, a spot where bighorn sheep gather or where they've been warned traffic can be dangerous.

"We can see every tree and every rock," said Vince Davenport.

The BLM's Masinton said that since a trio of scoping meetings in January, his agency has received about 1,500 public comments. The first batch they read, about 1,100 in all, ran about 60 percent con, 40 percent pro.

Opposition has surfaced from the group Rags Over the Arkansas River (ROAR) that draws strength from the population along the river. A Salida-based group, Friends of Over the River, also is observing the project.

Jonita and Vince Davenport "are in touch on a fairly regular basis" and the artists "stop in every time they are in town," said Masinton. The BLM considers its work on Over the River a 100 percent reimbursable project, and has billed the artists about $102,000 since last August.

The agencies with a say in whether Over the River flies range from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Natural Resources. Those that choose to become "participating agencies" will have a "seat at the table."

Ultimately, though, "we still have the final decision," Masinton said of the BLM. Which is why he has not attended their exhibition or any of their talks.

"I need to try to maintain an unbiased position with them. I need to make a decision based on the impact on and the appropriate use of public land."

The artists say there is no way to compare this process to that of any of their other projects. "Each one is so different," said Jeanne-Claude.

Here, it's a matter of convincing federal, state, county and municipal agencies - and a population that is torn by an essentially rural project.

During the Umbrellas, Japan-USA, 1984-1991, where the artists placed 1,340 blue umbrellas in Japan and 1,760 yellow umbrellas in California, the couple had to woo rice farmers on one coast and ranchers on another to allow the giant objects to sprout on their land.

"We had to explain to 475 rice-field farmers, who don't speak English," Jeanne Claude began.

"Who said they didn't want anything religious there," added Christo. "The Mormons had tried to convert them."

Exhibit tracks flow of river project

source: Copyright © 2006 Rocky Mountain News

Exhibit tracks flow of river project

By Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News
August 12, 2006

Christo and Jeanne-Claude chose two types of images for "Over the River, a Work in Progress" on view at the Fremont Center in Cañon City.

They selected posters of many of their earlier projects (as well as Over the River) and 11 original pieces that interpret the artists' vision for panels of fabric that read as platinum from above and are translucent from below.

Several of the works are from 2006 and indicate increased articulation of the panels, show a better defined site, and include a swatch of silvery fabric that has been considered for the project.

The earliest piece on view dates from 1992, when the concept was merely called The River.

"This shows how the project has changed," said Christo. "From a clumsy way to very precise and elaborate."

Added Jeanne-Claude: "Then, we didn't have a river."

They had 89, in six Western states, a number culled to six rivers, and then one in late 1996, when the project was gaining its first round of steam.

Christo designed the Fremont Center exhibition from a floor plan of the center's main gallery. They also required a security guard be on duty, but in return offered to pick up the shipping cost of items that range from an unsigned poster for $40, to a signed poster for $250, to a large original piece on Over the River for $180,000.

Proceeds from poster sales go to the Fremont Center, and from originals to expenses associated with Over the River.

Christo & Jeanne-Claude

Over the River, a Work in Progress

• What: Eleven original preparatory works by Christo related to the proposed "Over the River" project, plus works of other large-scale installations by Christo and Jeanne-Claude

• Where and when: Fremont Center for the Arts, 505 Macon St., Cañon City; through Aug. 27

• Cost: $10 adults, $7 seniors and students with ID, $5 ages 13 through 18, free to members and children 12 and under

• Information: 1-719-275-2790

First of 3 meetings gathers opinion on Christo's river art

source: Copyright © 2006 Rocky Mountain News

First of 3 meetings gathers opinion on Christo's river art

By Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News

Jeanne- Claude and Christo speak to the media Tuesday in Cañon City about their proposed "Over the River" project to drape fabric across the Arkansas River. The two artists have wanted to do the project since the mid-1990s and say they have invested about $2 million in the project. Photo: Evan Semon © Rocky Mountain News

CAÑON CITY - Economic development, medical emergencies, stressed sheep and the power of art drew more than 300 people to the Events Center at Holy Cross Abbey Tuesday night to tell officials what they think of the proposed "Over the River" project.

And did they ever: From representatives of the Cotopaxi-based group Rags Over the River, or ROAR, to the Friends of Over the River, centered in Salida, those attending moved from table to table, where officials - and the artists - stood prepared to answer questions about various aspects of the installation. It gave the open-house style public meeting the aura of a job fair, with walls lined with conceptual images of the piece and plenty of maps.

The job here, though, was gathering opinion, the first of three "scoping" meetings sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management to hear concerns and opinions about a project that has divided the Arkansas River Valley for years.

"I asked them if they would donate all the money (they raise) to the state of Colorado and let the whole state benefit from it," said Joe Kendall of Cañon City.

Meanwhile, Howard resident Ellen Hopkins, who moved there from Denver about 18 months ago with her husband, was dropping off comment sheets that addressed numerous popular concerns, including the fear of medical emergencies caused by traffic tie-ups involving visitors.

"I support the project," said Hopkins, whose home is about halfway between Salida and Cotopaxi. "Whatever concerns people have can be dealt with. I live in an impacted area. I'm a wildlife supporter and I think the BLM is working on a careful plan."

Public meetings also are planned for 6 p.m. today in Cotopaxi - where emotions are expected to run higher - and at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Senior Citizens Center in Salida.

"Over the River" is not exactly new. First broached in the mid-1990s by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the project, as described now, would cover about 7 miles, in eight separate sections, of a 40-mile stretch of the Arkansas River between Salida and Cañon City with a translucent and porous silvery material. The material is to be suspended 8 feet to 25 feet above the water, and not extend over the banks of the Arkansas.

Earlier Tuesday, representatives from more than a dozen agencies and departments, ranging from the Colorado State Patrol to the Division of Wildlife, met at the BLM office to hear the artists formally present their proposal.

In an interview afterward, the manager of the BLM's Royal Gorge Field Office said the process had begun years ago with a sense of the artists' intent. "Now we have things in writing," said Roy Masinton. He said the public meetings would allow the artists "to answer the specifics of the project itself."

The BLM requires the environmental assessment, and a draft could be finished by this summer, prompting another round of meetings to gather more comment. For the project to become real, the BLM must give it a "finding of no significant impact." The Colorado State Parks also must issue a permit.

But the artists are used to waits, to process and to answering a lot of questions, often many times, as became clear in an interview Tuesday.

"This is not our first project," said Christo. "We are 70 years old."

"We never do twice the same work of art," said Jeanne-Claude, "so the concerns of the local people cannot be the same."

"This is a very simple project," said Christo. "Concerns can be mitigated. It is not like building an atomic bomb."

Curtain Call - Christo, wife Jeanne-Claude unfurl Colorado encore 'OVER THE RIVER'

source: Copyright © 2005 Rocky Mountain News

Curtain Call - Christo, wife Jeanne-Claude unfurl Colorado encore 'OVER THE RIVER'

Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News

Many Coloradans have been introduced to Christo and wife Jeanne-Claude in recent weeks as the artists begin the process to mount Over the River.

But for others, the project brings back memories of one of the couple's first giant projects in the United States - a Colorado event that attracted worldwide notice.Valley Curtain - a pinkish-orange swath of fabric twice strung between the cliffs of Rifle Gap, and twice shattered by the wind - was made in the era of earthworks, when artists such as this pair began to turn to the land as a canvas.

The Bulgarian-born Christo, who had lived in New York since 1964 with his Algerian-born wife Jeanne Claude, at that point was known for smaller installation projects. Then came the bold strokes of Museum of Contemporary Art, Wrapped, Chicago, in 1968-69, and Wrapped Coast, Little Bay, Australia, a 1969 piece in which he used one million square feet of material to cover a section of that country's shoreline.

Christo turned to the West for Curtain, a project that, like Over the River, stirred debate over the environment, public process, community interest and, yes, just what is art.

Simpler process

"It was an expansionary view of art, a mind blower," said Jan van der Marck, a noted writer and former museum director who was project manager on both Valley Curtain projects.

Van der Marck, who lives in suburban Detroit after running the Detroit Institute of Art for several years, became close to the artists when he put his job on the line by asking them to wrap the old Chicago museum building in 10,000 square feet of canvas.

He became Curtain project director after he left the Chicago job, and was doing consulting. "I jumped at the occasion. I was the front man, dealt with the governor."

The post was pro bono, "but I got a nice collage or two. It was nice on both ends."

It also was a more simple process than today, when it's estimated it will take three or four years more for River to wend its way to reality.

The first Valley Curtain attempt came in October 1971, about eight months after Van der Marck and Christo approached Colorado officials about the project. Van der Marck had the blessing of then-Western Slope Rep. Wayne Aspinall, and approached Gov. John Love, who delegated the meeting to Lt. Gov. John Vanderhoof.

Love's response was skeptical, according to news stories of the time: "It doesn't appear to me as a great work of art."

The project did not get official endorsement, but it was on privately leased land. "I'm not prepared to fight it, but I'm not too carried away with it," Love was quoted as saying later.

The Colorado Department of Transportation got involved because the curtain was to hang over a road, Colorado 325. The solution: build an arched opening for cars and cattle.

About 2,150 people lived in Rifle then.

"The people in Rifle went wild when it happened," said van der Marck. "They became such fans in an endearing way."

Headaches of a different kind If getting the OK to do the project was simpler, so was the entire operation.

"There was a bevy of ironworkers, a dozen or 15 or so," said van der Marck. "We knew them all, we were all going to the same two bars. In 1972, it was quite marginal. Today, (Christo's projects are) almost like a big business."

Hundreds of volunteers worked on the recent The Gates project, which the artists first broached to the city of New York in 1979. The OK came in 2003 from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Expenses are more complicated, too: The second Curtain curtain cost $700,000, The Gates was $21 million. So far, the artists have spent $2 million on River, which is the only project on the drawing board at this point, and which Jeanne-Claude has indicated could be their last.

While it might have been easier to mount, the project presented headaches of a different kind.

Because of what van der Marck describes as mistakes by the New York engineering firm that worked on the 1971 project, the initial curtain succumbed to strong fall winds even before it was unfurled.

Van der Marck soon after took a job teaching at the University of Washington in Seattle, but returned to Colorado during summer 1972 for the second try on Curtain.

But it was, again, not to be long lived: A little more than a day after the fabric veil was unrolled, winds caught it and battered it against the rocks.

It wasn't supposed to be that way; the cloth's manufacturer, J.P. Stevens Co. of New York, had described it as being loosely woven enough to let through some air, and five times as strong as the material used to make parachutes.

Van der Marck recalls his reaction to the second try as "seeing it go up and seeing it go down almost hours after that, I had a sense of accomplishment and then a sense of failure. That failure translated into my having failed Christo. As project director, in that vital task, I failed."

There was no thought of a third attempt. "It was a little bit like how we got out of Vietnam."

But time has changed his opinion of the effort.

"The second time, it was an act of God. The first time was a failure. Everything was done to secure that the second time would be a success. We were literally crying, seeing it go up. We were so satisfied. It was a long, jubilant day. People came from Aspen and Denver, cars were filing through the gap. It was a big event."

A different engineering firm, Ken R. White Co. of Denver, had been brought in to consult. The president at the time, Art Krill, remembers the artists as "easy to work with." They gave him a "beautiful hardback book on the project. One of the pages was a piece of the material."

"I was sorry the wind blew it down," Krill said, "but the man who did the aeronautics was not with the firm."

Staying in touch

The man who was mayor during installation of the second Curtain, John Scalzo, still sees no reason to dispute his quote about the event from years ago.

"We couldn't afford to buy the advertising we got," he said recently from his home in Rifle. "They went through channels and got all the permissions they needed. They laid it all out up front what they were doing.

"And they were really nice; the worst part of it was when the wind got hold of it and tore it."

(The mayor during the period in which the artists approached the town about the project, Bill Tadus, has since died.)

Van der Marck has kept in touch with the artists, and worked as director of the precursor to the Miami Art Museum when "Surrounded Islands" was installed in 1983.

And he attended the 25th Curtain reunion in Rifle in 1997. Organized by the Rifle Chamber of Commerce, the event drew a couple hundred people, said Sharon Church, Chamber director at that time. All the food and drink was orange, and a commemorative stamp of the event was issued.

Of the artists, she recalls, "They autographed anything anyone brought them."

Fond memories

When the second Curtain blew apart, shredded by the wind, newspaper stories made the artists sound sanguine.

"I loved it while it lasted," Jeanne-Claude was quoted as saying. "I'm not really disappointed, although it would have been nice if the curtain hadn't ripped."

"I promised I would get it up there," Christo said at the time. "I didn't promise how long it would stay."

And now? What do they think of now when they hear the words Valley Curtain?

Christo's face lit up when asked about the old project earlier this week in Salida, though he simply said: "In 1970s, we took a trip to Colorado, and decided to do the project."

Jeanne-Claude summed up her reaction in one word: "Beauty."

INFOBOX

Valley Curtain

Christo's first project in Colorado

* The proposal: Christo and project director Jan van der Marck approached state officials Feb. 18, 1971

* Where: Rifle Gap, seven miles north of Rifle, over Colorado 325

* First attempt: Partially unrolled Oct. 9, 1971 (Cost, approximately $250,000)

* Time in place: Minutes, then the wind tore the fabric off its bindings.

* Second attempt: Unfurled Aug. 10, 1972 (Cost, approximately $700,000).

* Time in place: About 28 hours.

* Taken down: Aug. 22, 1972.

* Width: Stretching 1,250 feet in the Gap.

* Surface: 160,000 square feet of fabric.

* Height: 180 feet.

* Weight: Six tons (five of it fabric).

Over the River

Christo's proposed project in Colorado

* What: Seven suspended sections of aluminum-coated fabric, in 75 segments of 962 panels. In all, 1 million square feet of fabric.

* Where: Intermittently across 40 miles of the Arkansas River, from the Chaffee County line to Parkdale. (Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude traveled 15,000 miles in 1992 to look at 89 rivers before choosing the Arkansas.)

* The effect: From above, designed to look silvery; from below, a translucent quality will allow viewers to see sky and clouds.

* Inspiration: When lifting fabric off a barge, while wrapping the Pont Neuf in Paris, the artists looked up, and saw the light.

* When: The artists hope for a two-week period between July 15 and Aug. 15, 2008, "at the earliest."

* Financing: No grants or sponsorships, just income from the sale of work Christo makes as "preparatory studies" for this particular piece. So far, $2 million has been spent.

chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2677

Christo project unlikely to fly in 2008

source: Copyright © 2005 Rocky Mountain News

Christo project unlikely to fly in 2008

Feds: Lots of issues face 'Over the River'

By Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News

Todd Heisler © Rocky Mountain News

Artists Jeanne- Claude, left, and her husband, Christo, meet Elizabeth Eads, of Denver, after discussing "Over the River" in Salida. The piece would consist of fabric draped over the Arkansas River.

CAÑON CITY - Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude would like to install their "Over the River" project in 2008, but a federal official said Tuesday that he doesn't believe the piece can be placed that soon along the Arkansas River.

"I'm not sure they could get it in place in 2008," said Roy L. Masinton, manager of the Royal Gorge field office of the Bureau of Land Management, after a Tuesday meeting to discuss the project with the artists and state parks officials.

"It wouldn't surprise me if it were delayed one year or maybe two," said Masinton, citing the numerous issues that must be addressed.

"Over the River," conceived in 1992, was put on hold when the artists won permission to install "The Gates" in New York's Central Park.

The artists and their staff, including director of construction Vince Davenport and project director Jonita Davenport, have been in Colorado for more than a week meeting with state and county officials. They also have visited the Arkansas between Salida and Cañon City, where the project might go.

Monday in Salida, Jonita Davenport said the goal was to get the draft environmental report done by June 2006, spend a year installing anchors along the river, then put the fabric panels in place for a two-week period between July 15 and Aug. 15, 2008, "at the earliest."

Tuesday's meeting was the kickoff to get the project back on track with state and federal officials, said Vince Davenport. Jeanne-Claude, Christo's wife and partner, said the reception of officials was "wonderful."

Masinton said the meeting, which lasted a little more than an hour, touched on the environmental assessment, site cleanup, engineering, traffic concerns and impact on rafters if the piece were installed during the height of their season.

He said Vince Davenport seemed "very well-versed in the engineering aspects of this. . . . This is not a fly-by-night outfit."

A new round of public meetings will be set over the coming months, Masinton said, in Salida and Cañon City, and perhaps smaller communities along that stretch of U.S. 50.

chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2677

Artists lobby residents, agencies for 'Over the River'

source: Copyright © 2005 Rocky Mountain News

Artists lobby residents, agencies for 'Over the River'

Christo, Jeanne-Claude offer ideas for project to span Arkansas River

By Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News
August 2, 2005

Todd Heisler © News

Christo and his wife and collaborator Jeanne-Claude presented their proposal Over the River Monday to a sold-out crowd in Salida. The project would install silvery cloaks on stretches of the Arkansas River between Salida and Parkdale. The artists have been meeting with state agencies to get the go-ahead.

SALIDA - Fielding questions that ranged from the aesthetic potential of suspending silvery panels over the Arkansas River to fears about harming the bighorn sheep that have given the canyon here its name, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude put the art project Over the River back on center stage during a sold-out program Monday night at the Steam Plant Theater.

"We're very eager to do the river," Christo said during the first presentation here on the project since 1997. "One reason we chose the Arkansas is that it is so habitable. There are so many human activities on this river."

The slide lecture and lengthy question-and-answer period came after they spent a day on the river with their director of construction and project director taking photographs. An engineer working on the crucial environmental assessment accompanied them.

The piece, first proposed in 1992, took a back seat to the artists' The Gates project when, after more than two decades of discussion, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2003 gave the go-ahead for installation.

This past February, they sited 7,500 saffron-swathed portals that marched through Central Park, attracted about 4 million visitors and cost about $21 million.

Over the River would cover a total of seven miles in intermittent stretches along about 40 miles of the river between Salida and Parkdale.

Jeanne-Claude said that so far the project has cost about $2 million.

The artists arrived in Colorado last week and have met with various state officials whose agencies must give the OK to the project, which they envision as being in place for two weeks between mid-July and mid-August.

The 11 agencies involved must sign a memorandum of understanding before anchors can be put in the banks of the river.

Today in Cañon City, they are scheduled to meet with BLM officials Roy Masinton, Royal Gorge field office manager, and John Nahomenuk, river manager, as well as state parks officials Michael French, Southeast regional manager, and Rob White, Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area manager.

The project is the only one on which they are working. In the past, there have always been two or three vying for money or permissions. "Now we are 70 years old," said Jeanne-Claude.

"I don't know if there will be another project."

The project has attracted equal portions of support and criticism from Cañon City to Salida, from those who see an economic boon to the southern part of the state, to those who fear for wildlife or dangerous traffic congestion.

Before the program, representatives of the group ROAR - Rags Over the Arkansas River - handed out fliers asking for "a closer look at Cristo's (sic) Folly."

"We're concerned they are going to use our ambulance service and other emergency services," said chairwoman Cathy Young, a Deer Mountain resident. "There is only one way in and one way out. People think of the money that this will bring, but you don't realize what this means to people who live here."

Concerns about traffic prompted the artists' director of construction, Vince Davenport, to say the project would cover the cost of stationing ambulances at both ends of Bighorn Canyon and in the middle, plus have helicopters on site to airlift ill or injured visitors to medical attention.

"At our expense," added Jeanne-Claude.

Flyovers of the canyon have helped the artists pinpoint seven spots along the river to place the material. He said the environmental assessment is about three-quarters done, and must address such issues as medical emergencies and harm to wildlife.

Potential problems prompted Tom Massey, Salida's state representative, to attend the program. Before it began, he said, "I haven't formed an opinion. I heard about it way back when it was a concept. I want to hear more." After the session, he said the artists would have to deal with the traffic issues.

"I see it as a huge economic boon," said Massey, who added that he would "help expedite" the project.

The split even has affected families. Mary Gage, a nurse who lives in Salida but works in Denver, said she had no opinion yet, but "I know the dangers of the canyon road." Her husband, Hugh Young, sitting across the table from her at a nearby café, said, "I think it is kind of cool.

"People are resistant to change and different ideas. It would add a sense of character and excitement for a couple of weeks."

chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2677

Colorado Christo project on rebound

source: Copyright © 2005 Rocky Mountain News

Colorado Christo project on rebound

By Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News
July 1, 2005

© Special to the News
Christo's 1992 rendering of his project shows how he would cover a 7-mile stretch of the Arkansas River between Coaldale and Parkdale.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who in February blazed their way through New York's Central Park with the saffron-colored The Gates, will meet Aug. 2 in Cañon City with officials to put their Over the River project back on track in Colorado.

The piece, first proposed in 1992, would cover a 7-mile stretch of the Arkansas River between Coaldale and Parkdale with billowing white fabric. River landed on a back burner in 2003 as the New York-based artists pursued The Gates.

"We'll bring the project up to date," said Roy Masinton, Royal Gorge Field Office Manager of the Bureau of Land Management, on Thursday from Cañon City.

"A fair amount was put on hold," he said, while the artists concentrated on The Gates. The meeting involves the BLM and state parks officials, just two of numerous federal, state and local agencies that must sign off on River. Masinton estimated 2009 as the earliest the project could be installed, considering the legal requirements and the artists' need to test fabric and other technology. No cost estimate has been made.

The first step is completing an environmental assessment, which must address everything from traffic flow to wildlife protection.

The artists also will speak about their works in a program at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 1 at the Steam Plant arts center in Salida.

The couple has donated more than two dozen photographs of past works that will be sold to benefit the center.