Sunday, September 26, 1999
'All arts, all my life'
Closson's gallery director talks about careers she's nurtured
BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Funny how these things happen: Five days a week, a hurricane storms through Closson's upscale art gallery and doesn't do a lick of damage.
That's because it's 5-foot, 100-pound Hurricane Phyllis Weston, gallery founder and director since 1964,
Grande dame of the local arts scene, co-founder of Enjoy the Arts/Start, at one time a board member of most every major arts organization in town, Earth mother to dozens of young artists who went on to become major names in the art world.
Whew.
“People keep saying to me, "Why don't you retire?' What would I do,” she asks. “My great joy is finding artists and giving them their first show, then helping build careers.”
She's not kidding. Walk with her through the gallery and let her talk about stars she's discovered.
But listen carefully. She goes fast and the subjects, well, change quickly.
“This artist,” she said, poking at a Jens Jensen. “I did his first show in 1970. Some of his art was on the walls unframed because there was no money. Now he's so collectible. I just sold a collector one for $30,000.
“What about this? Do you like this piece? He's my plumber. Eric Francke. Very good with old houses like mine. Eric, he works all day and paints at night. Isn't that wonderful, plumber by day, artist by night?”
Take a breath, Phyllis.
“Someday I'm going to give a party and invite only people I think are wonderful.
“I'll tell you a story. No, two stories. The first show I did in this gallery was 1964 — works of Vera Stravinsky. I knew her and (composer and conductor) Igor in New York, so we had a dinner party for them at our apartment. My piano was in the dining room then, and I didn't realize it but my book of simplified duets was sitting on it.
“Igor began looking at it and found one of his pieces, simplified for people like me. He doubled up laughing and said, "Oh Phyllis, I have to sign this for you.
“Years later, Keith Lockhart was here. We had a few drinks and he sat at the piano and started playing. He was amused by the simplification, but when he came to the Stravinsky page he just doubled over laughing. Roared. I was worried he was going to hurt himself.”
“I love this artist,” she continues, “but I wish she would change her name. Sally Schrohenloher. It almost hurts my allergies.
“Who would have thought I'd develop allergies at my age?
@:Those were the days
@rbody:
“All these artists. They make me think of the days when I was living in Connecticut, hanging out with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, right after Orson Welles shot my screen test.”
Huh?
“Orson Welles. It was the late '40s and Warner Bros. said I could have anyone I wanted to shoot my screen test. I asked for Orson.
“Out of that, I got an offer to be in Cass Timberlane with Lana Turner and Woman From Shanghai with Rita Hayworth. I turned them down because I had two young sons. I knew what Hollywood did to marriages.
“Maybe it was a mistake turning down the movies, but I wanted to go back East. I had a contract to replace Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday the minute she left the show, but she never left. They offered me London.
“But it came back to my two sons and what kind of life would that have been? So I went back to summer stock and ... ”
Is it time for a breath yet?
“Look at this. John Stobart. Two of his for $85,000 each. Another just sold for $450,000. We've been friends since he started years ago, and I know if I had told him he'd be getting these prices he would have had me put away.
“I'll tell you another story about wildlife art. I don't really like it, but I saw John Ruthven and loved his technique. I gave him a show, and he said to me, "Phyllis, you're embarrassing me with these prices. $85 for one of my paintings? My friends will laugh.
“You see what he's getting now — $5,000 is a bargain.
@:"A patsy for arts'
@rbody:
“Art is the one consistent in my life. I've always been a patsy for arts and creative people. All creativity.
“You know how much I love bluegrass, don't you? I remember once Nancy Kissinger was coming to town, and I was asked to find something for her to do. I got together with (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra maestro) Tommy Schippers and we set up a party at the Taft Museum.
“The organizers wanted chamber music. They said to me, "You do have a chamber group, don't you. I lied and said, "Oh yes.' I really had Katie Laur and her bluegrass band.
“But you know what? Nancy loved it so much that when she had Henry's retirement party she had a bluegrass band there, too.
“Bluegrass was something (the late) Irma (Lazarus) and I shared.
“Did you know Irma and I were two of the founders of Enjoy the Arts? It was Young Friends of the Arts then. But we were so concerned that young people weren't hearing the symphony or going to the playhouse. So we started the group and offered discount tickets. I think we hooked some new arts lovers that way.
Is it time to breathe yet, Phyllis?
“All these people I've had in my home over the years. Not keeping a guest book was a big mistake.
“I've made other mistakes. I'm sure there were artists I passed up that I shouldn't have. She's not one of them. Pat Renick. I gave her her first show. It was sculpture that a friend of hers brought in while she waited in the hall. She was too shy to talk to me.
“He wasn't a mistake either. I found Michael Scott years ago when he still lived in Covington. He impressed me with his raw talent so much that I worked with him for years and gave him his first show.
“Today he's so well known that he's in art books.
“Michelle Puttnamm, too. She's had three shows here. The first was successful. The next two were so successful that we had to have a lottery to see who got to buy them. There's a line to get in to the gallery when her show goes up.
“I don't understand, but look how wonderful she is.
“You know what some people do? Some not very good artists? They bring work in for me to see, then leave it and don't come back for it. They add "shown at Closson's' to their resume. I had some truly awful sculpture here for a year once. Took me that long to find the guy.
“Nothing like this sculpture. This is Fritz White, the cowboy artist. For 15 years I've been trying to get him in here. One day last year this guy wanders in and says, "I'm embarrassed to say this, after all the time we've spent on the phone, but I'm Fritz White.' We hit it off and now he has a show in October.
“And this glass, this art glass. His name's Zachary Hermann, and he's only a student. A student. Can you believe a student could produce something like that? He's Frank Hermann's son; I guess it's in his genes.”
And your genes, Phyllis? “Arts. All arts, all my life, since I was a little girl. In a way, when I see some of this work, I'm still a little girl.”
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