1979 - Screen of the Rolling Sorcerer

The Northwest Chamber Orchestra commissioned me to do staging for their Imagination Series, a performance in 1980. I was to integrate video and stage backdrops. This is one of six screens I created, using a framework of Baltic birch, hand cut around my Loci series. I treated each screen with a unique lamination of paper collage and string. (I created a videotape during the paper-stretching stage with William O. Smith playing clarinet and my hand stapler acting as my percussion instrument.) The folding wings are made of wood and paper and measure 76" X 60". The six filigreed panels were hand-cut, drilled, and painted by the Mexican Magicians: Dennis Evans, Keith Beckley and Charles Luce. Then I lined the openings with thin, stretched Asian paper, string and collage.

Stamp 'N Story Trivia from the Absent Professor's Closet

A. The name "Mexican Magicians" came from the fact that:

Dennis, Keith and Charles are Mexican artists.
These three perform Mexican tricks at summer art festivals.
The Mexican Magicians magically produced money for a friend in need.

B. William O. Smith is:

One of Bill's students who had taken clarinet lessons.
A former professor at the University of Washington.
One of the Mexican Magicians, a jazz group.