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Also this issue: Three Sisters Still Here Gentlemen Volunteers Philadanco Project Room Benefit Party Rennie Harris Puremovement at Salute to Youth Stango Gallery opening ArtsQuicks |
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May 8-14, 2003
art
Local artists react to the death of Ella King Torrey
Ella King Torrey left Philadelphia to become president of the San Francisco Art Institute almost a decade ago. Still, after all that time, she remained a big presence here. As the founding director of the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, she'd instituted a program that went on to have a profound effect on the lives of local artists. But beyond that achievement, she was remembered because, well, she was very hard to forget. She had star quality -- a great, invigorating passion for art and for life. So, last week, the news of her death at age 45 was a shock. Ella? Gone? Impossible.The fact that she had taken her own life was even harder to accept. It may be that her apparently effortless charisma was as much a creation as any of the works of art she admired and helped foster -- and that she was, as one friend has said, more fragile than anyone realized.
Everyone in the Philadelphia arts community is mourning Ella's loss. But it is arguably the city's individual artists who benefited most from her bountiful spirit. Here, a few of the artists who knew her best -- all of them past winners of Pew Fellowships -- offer their reflections.
How wonderful it was to have known Ella King Torrey. She really "got it" about the arts...how culture was a force to help develop and nurture communities (Folklore Project)...and how artists were in many ways the opposite of the biblical lilies of the field, they toiled and needed sustenance to continue making work (Pew Fellowships.) She facilitated so many good things in Philadelphia that we take for granted and was also very happy for other people's successes.
I think that the thing I will remember most about Ella is her generosity to everyone she encountered in spite of her prominence and very busy business and social schedule. The very first year of the Pew fellowship competition she personally called me to say she had received my application and was wondering why I had applied in only one of the two categories she believed I was eligible for. She encouraged me to submit a second application in the other category, which I did. That kind of concern for other people's careers and sucesses was extraordinary. And even after she left for S.F. Art Institute she remained available for a phone call or letter of support. This coupled with her brillance and charm made her a very special person. Words don't seem sufficient.
Ella was just so supportive of my work. At the time (1993), I was working on my ICA show and the series of photographs by Jim Graham of me in various forms of drag. Ella loved the work and we immediately connected through our love of the absurd and of fashion. We joked about wearing the same size in women's shoes. Ella so wanted to see me get the Pew, and after two unsuccessful attempts, encouraged me to continue to apply, and I received it on my third try. At the opening of my ICA show and after going through the "Time Flies" installation, she approached me with tears rolling down her cheeks. I knew that she felt with great empathy the meaning of that work. She truly was one of those rare people that I held a very, very special place in my heart for. In many ways she was so generous and yet she was fragile, as we all can be, but her energy, charm and spirit belied that fragility. Sadly, we truly don't know how someone effects and influences our life until they are gone.
I adored Ella, there aren't words to express my admiration, she was inspiring. It was electric be in her presence. I think a lot about this, that in the institutionalized world many of us inhabit, there is a seemingly gravitational pull towards mediocrity, on account of attempts to avoid politicized controversy, and under financial constraints with leaders to anxious to please both their superiors and those they lead.
In order for us to survive institutional life we need people like Ella King, to press into the heretofore unknown possibilities before us. For the life of us, and for the sake of the institution we need these people who don't even realize the degree to which they are thinking about making things happen is risky or threatening, as they are so profoundly committed, so lucid as to transcend limitations.
She was a rare woman, for her unparalleled generosity, as in her ability to act as a conduit for artists, to bring seemingly disparate ideas and people together.
Receiving the fellowship was one of the best and most important things that has happened to me in my career. The meaningful nature of the support was like a catapult, it elevated all manner of [my] ability to practice.
My own anger and frustration at her death is pervasive and I sense such a huge loss.
Maybe Ella wrote a personal note at the bottom of every "Congratulations, you're a Pew Fellow," but the one she wrote me was so particularly touching, so full of what always felt like her most joyful support, that I saved it as part of that treasured moment. Now I can only wish that she had found some of that joy for herself.
Finally, an artist who took part in the initial discussions of the Pew Fellowships recalls this moment, which suggests something of the vision that Ella King Torrey brought to the table.
A court stenographer recorded every remark that was made as a table full of artists and writers gathered together for a couple of days to discuss the idea of Pew sponsoring an individual artist's grant program. We talked about what artists would need to take a year or two off to pursue their work on a full-time basis: health care, receiving some of the money on a monthly basis, getting some larger portion up front in case equipment needed to be purchased--all of these ideas came up. Ella kept the discussion going by constantly throwing out questions or ideas for us to react to. It was a novel experience for me as an artist to actually be asked what would make a difference, what would support art-making. It all seemed so abstract. When Ella suggested the $50,000 everyone was stunned. Our first impulse was to cut the amount into much smaller grants and the group spent a lot of time debating how and why to do that. It was Ella who re-focused the conversation and made us think about what it really meant to work on our art on a full-time, no waitressing, no part-time teaching, just studio time -- after all, wasn't that what every artist dreamed of?
Two memorials are planned for Ella King Torrey in Philadelphia: one on May 14 at 4 p.m. in the meeting house of Germantown Friends School, 31 Coulter St., and a second, a celebration of her contributions to the city, on her birthday, June 21, at the Fleisher Art Memorial, 709 Catharine St. To add your thoughts about Ella, please go to citypaper.net/forums.
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