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Plazm 29 Now.
Ambushed at 50 (page 2 of 5)
| In this period of Acord’s
artistic career, paperwork has stood in for sculpture. Caught in the
vortex of his project, even granite has fallen prey to red-tape.
Recently,
the DOE auctioned 66.2 tons of granite surface plate. These precision
surfaces are machined on one side to amazingly small tolerances for
engineering work with nuclear materials. Calling this a nuclear stone
carver’s dream-come-true is clearly an understatement. Or so it
seemed until the B Reactor Museum Association attempted to pull them from
the auction for Acord. Once again, James L. Acord was treated by the DOE
as if the 500 proposals he had previously sent did not exist. For seven
years he has filed proposals for his sculpture project with all known
agencies and officers of the DOE and its contractors. Suddenly, they want
another proposal; and, like naive children, they want it now. Friday, 2:17 PM. > Gerald Woodcock: Acord, Woodcock here on line 42. Listen, we are starting to get considerable heat from DOE. I have absolutely got to have that material this weekend. If there is any way possible, otherwise we are going to lose those stones, OK? Give me a call, send a smoke signal, throw a rock through my window, whatever it takes. Let’s get together on this. Thanks a lot. Bye, bye. Saturday, 8:48 PM. > Woodcock: James, this is your conscience calling. If you don’t get something to me very soon, we are going to lose those rocks. Give me a call as soon as you can. You must be out of town. I’m sure of that. As soon as you can get back and get something put together, let me know. Thanks a lot. Bye, bye. |
|
From time to time, Mr. Acord
and
I discuss the hurdles which artists face in their interactions with the
scientific community. Here is part of his story: > Acord: I run into so many blank stares.... I had envisioned that all I needed to do was give a few classes on Art History 101, and the “Da Vinci Factor” would take over. People who didn’t know me personally would take to the project based on its parallels with science. And in fact I have really seen almost none of that. Rather the engineers and scientists whose respect I have won and who are supportive of my project and who go to bat for me base their support almost entirely on their judgment of me as a person. I try to build on every commonalty I can find there. There hasn’t been any big uprising of people who are suddenly illuminated by the power of art in their lives. Many people have supported me not based on what I’m doing but on the media coverage that I generate for them. And if there was anything I was known for in Seattle’s art scene is that I was incorruptible, self-reliant. In a way it is a bridge but they are only footings to the bridge. > Brian Freer: At the same time though, the longer that you communicate, in whatever format, with those that aren’t familiar with your art, in the true sense, the more refined and polished your interactions become in this arena. > Acord: This is one of the ways in which I am changing. I had never spoken to anything but art groups. I mean this concept of bringing art and science to the masses had never crossed my mind. I couldn’t find any other way to explain to these people with anything other than words. That was the one thing, they were willing to listen to words. I’d send people invitations to my art shows six months in advance, had been in Richland six months, had a huge, color, full-page write-up in the Seattle Times entitled “Atomic Art, Moving to Richland.” It just wasn’t part of their life.8 |
NHK Television, Hiroshima, Japan is in town
to get footage for a special to air across Japan on August 6th, the 50th
anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb. Ms. Rumiko Sakai of NHK
is
saddled with the task of interpreting for the five person crew. She left a message with James L. Acord on his answering machine on April 19th at 12:19 PM. > Rumiko Sakai: Hi, this is Rumiko Sakai of Japan Broadcasting. I got your name and telephone number from George Walczak and Judith Jurji. We are in town right now, and they suggested that you will be our tour guide. So, I would like to ask your schedule. I have a cellular phone.... We are staying at Hanford House right now. We will be there until Thursday. I will give you a call again if we don’t hear from you. We look forward to meeting you. Talk to you soon. Bye, bye. For most contemporary artists, a phone call from a major Japanese television station would cause considerable disruptions. However, among the many facets of his sculpture project, James L. Acord routinely functions as an independent, unpaid news media liaison for the Hanford Site. In other words, when journalists hit Hanford they often call on Acord right off the bat and then again just before they leave. Put yourself in the shoes of a journalist. Who would you trust, a sculptor living at the last place on a dead end road with an old yellow Volvo in front, or, “Hello, Westinghouse Hanford Media Relations, may I help you?” |
