William Stobb

I recently watched the documentary, Black White & Gray , about Sam Wagstaff, the New York curator, collector, and photographer who was Robert Mapplethorpe’s partner in a variety of ways.  It’s a really compelling study of a complex human being.  It's insightful, vivid and smart, and really honors Wagstaff's life and legacy without oversimplifying it.  It streams on Netflix.  In addition to all the ways that I really enjoyed the film and respect it as an excellent documentary profile, I was delighted and surprised to learn that Wagstaff had represented Michael Heizer during the (short?) phase of his life when he worked and made a splash on the east coast (later, Heizer would say, “I’d been to the east, and didn’t like what I saw.  It looked like it was degenerating.”).   Wagstaff put Heizer’s works in his shows, and set up a famous earthwork exhibition at the Detroit Art Institute, where Heizer was to drag a heavy mass across the lawn, ...

I've been honored this year to join the Wisconsin Poet Laureate commission, and today am excited to announce that Max Garland has been appointed as our state's new laureate for 2013 - 2014.  In honor of the announcement, I'm embedding the interview I did with Max a few years ago as part of my  miPOradio  podcast, "Hard to Say."  It features Max reading from his first book, The Postal Confessions , and talking about his years working as a rural mail carrier.  The episode was produced for miPOradio by Didi Menendez. Press Release from the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, & Letters: January 3, 2013 Contact:  Cathryn Cofell , WPLC Chair,  920-209-0066                  Jason A. Smith , WASAL communications director,  608.263.1692 x21 Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission Selects Next  Poet Laureate MADISON—The Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commissio...