Olympia, 2010

In our "Introduction to 701CCA", we were projecting how the installation of what, at the time, we had called "Impressions of Olympia" would develop. We had a three-month residency at 701 to produce a work having to do with the social and architectural history of the Olympia Cotton Mills and the operatives' living quarters called Olympia Village. This was October 2009.

Today, February 2nd, 2010 we are taking a critical look at what developed from the original projections. Today, in the space of 701CCA, there is, in reality, a vast installation in six parts dedicated to the different facets we explored of "OLYMPIA" - the name finally given to the show - with the help of the amazingly present and dedicated 701CCA volunteers and board members. There are also three open spaces.
Although we can say that, from our very first visit, we had acquired a precise sense of how to use the space of the gallery and of the visual anchors, (we have a freehand sketch, presented to our sponsors the second day of the residency, which is still relevant today), it is through research and discoveries that, little by little, we consolidated the ever growing scope of the show. Every final decision, formal, spacial and conceptual was informed by facts on the ground. The product we ended up with is due, as much and possibly more, to what we learned than to what we knew.

 

There were less "Impressions of Olympia" than fact-checking, translated into fact-shaping, artifacts, art moments.

Furthermore, our exploratory walks through the neighborhoods, our readings on and around the Mill Culture, Gwylène's encounters with local personalties at their home or at a local bar, our own intentions to raise issues of labor, race relations, paternalism, religion ...became the source of multiple new entries into and visions of Olympia. Besides, the necessity to plot a clear time line from the 1900's till now, if we wanted, with some relevance, enlighten the subject matter with a touch of historical perspective, turned into a search for local historians, anthropologists, political and social figures. Finally, the subject "OLYMPIA" drowned our "Impressions of Olympia" and we envisioned transforming the semi-mystical white cube-and-glass expanse of that magnificent gallery into a public forum, where the art pieces we were bringing would embody the vision, understanding and hopes of the community as much as our own. We were becoming hired hands, public artists without, mind you, the romanticism attached to such notions. How so? Because there is no embellishment, no gilding, no decorating in this show. The work is rather raw, simple in form and in intent. A visual response to the developing dialogue. It may belong in the art scene but, when, at the very end, it is left in the hands of the auctioneer it is more like in a gesture of "giving back" than of "making a killing". Although 701 CCA or the artists do not live of thin air!

The most transformative aspect of the efforts described above has to do with 701CCA's intent to reclaim its historic place in the Olympia neighborhood. 701 Whaley street, in Columbia, was the cultural center for the operatives of the mills, sometimes referred to as the YMCA. Yet, between then and now the sociocultural changes have been mind boggling. From "company store" to rental property, it takes a bit of deconstructing! And that is where the show, "OLYMPIA", has been most energizing. It is the mix of visual works - in a gallery space ripped open to the public - with multiple activities - and weekly meetings and/or entertainment - animated by a fully dedicated team of volunteers and board members - plus a critical sense of history - which have made the experience successful. As for us, the artists, the lesson is: visual arts are a catalyst for change when its actors do not see themselves as outsiders looking in. Perception of place and role.

 

Now we can walk through "OLYMPIA" and double-check with the images attached to this text.

Earlier, we said: an installation in six parts and three open spaces, all in one gallery and with one ambitious intent: that of offering to the Olympia community an image it could call its own.

 

The open spaces are public spaces, reminding us of what 701 Whaley street used to be. Among other things, at the Center, there was a theater: we offer a THEATER, a stage, a café-like space with tables and chairs. On the tables, canvas transfers of images from the original theater and audiences, memory as continuity. Extra chairs are stacked along a wall just in case. It is here that most of the public activities, every Wednesday evening, take place for the duration of the show. Then, there is a LIBRARY; table, chairs, shelves full of books and documents about and around the show. Books can be exchanged, (at the end they will go). The perfect place for small group meetings, book clubs, reading, writing ... The third open space is vertical: WALL SPACE where, for example, a local teacher exhibits artifacts relating to mill and village. Where a gentleman said he would present an original cotton spool from the mill; it belongs to his mother who worked there for 33 years. Where the local Boys and Girls Club displays children drawings of the mill at night, as they see it. Where, also, the director of the quarry hangs some historic pictures of it.

The installation in six parts grew from different aspects or elements that make up OLYMPIA. Four of them anchor the show visually: the railroad track, the gravel pit, the mill, the village. The others feed content and inferences into the show.

The Railroad Track is as present in the gallery space as it is around Olympia: cumbersome and noisy.

The Gravel Pit is a rusty steel trough filled with stones, straight from the quarry, imbedded with four DVDs of more trains, bells and whistles included.

The mill is actually The Mills: Olympia Mills and Granby Mills, combined into an 800 pound polyurethane rubber cast with inlays of objects, images, architectures, all representing aspects of the mills, from their industrial past to luxury condominiums. This aggressive gentrification process is further emphasized by the swimming pool, at the back of the building, adorned with a Disney-like rendition of the mills' bell towers.

 

 

The Village is an ensemble of twelve scaled down buildings, landmarks of Olympia Village, from the Union Hall to a two-story shot gun house. From five prominent churches in the neighborhood to a run down trailer. Let's not omit the school and its architectural twin, the armory. Each building perched on a stand which is more like an extension of it, a root. The challenge, here was to stay away from any reference to maquette, doll house, bird house and the likes! One of the pieces represents an architectural detail from the power house of the mills. Commentary on the strong aesthetic quality of Olympia's industrial architecture.

The house of W.B. Smith Whaley, founder and original owner of Olympia Mills. One mile away, on a hill, this photo-collage, this puzzle of a thousand windows and few walls, emulates the ten thousand windows of the mills. It is all here: distance, elevation, ambition!

And right below, a multicolored, horizontally stretched fresco of some twenty pairs of skinny legs, feet and shoes, standing deep in mud. Those of child laborers. Art and innuendo!

A set of two large charcoal drawings, on woven bands of white canvas. Top drawing, a chimney stack proudly puffing out its black smoke. Bottom drawing, a white cotton field with black workers picking cotton to feed the mills. Treated in the impressionist/pointillist style, the further you are from the drawings the clearer you can read them. Distancing. And remembering that, although black workers were not, until World War Two, permitted to work in the mills, they could well do for picking, bailing and unbailing the goods.

The indigo, batik banners: with handwritten texts by two local personalities. One about what the statue of "The Dough Boy" represents for the neighborhood, at a time when some would like to see it go. The other, a letter to the parishioners of St Luke about the future of Olympia, at a critical time when one of the anchors of the neighborhood is moving away: the Farmers Market. All stories collected and hand processed as testimonials to local vs. global.

The junk pile, made of leftover wood from the molds and structures used to cast the mills. Some minor scraps actually fell on the railroad track ... during transport ... to ... from ... where?