Hoagy on his mind
On tour this summer to a town near you -- Hoagy Carmichael! Or at least a life-size, bronze version of Indiana's famous son is making the rounds to Indiana cities in an effort to familiarize a new generation of Hoosiers with one of America's great popular songwriters.
Photo by: Chris Meyer
A new sculpture of Hoagy Carmichael was unveiled during the Indy Jazz Fest June 15.
Born in Bloomington in 1899, Carmichael earned a law degree from IU in 1926. He worked as a law clerk briefly before devoting himself to music. Carmichael went on to become famous as a singer-songwriter-performer, composing numerous songs that are now considered American jazz standards, including "Stardust" and "Georgia on My Mind." He won an Oscar for his song "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," had his own television show and appeared in several movies.
Skip ahead in time.
Sculptor Michael McAuley grew up in Bloomington, but didn't know about Hoagy Carmichael until he attended IU and heard about him from a professor. McAuley went on to teach art in Oregon, Mississippi and Indiana, but returned to Bloomington in 2000 to open his own design studio.
In an interview with the Bloomington Herald-Times, McAuley said that when he came home to Bloomington, he visited Carmichael Center on the corner of Indiana and Kirkwood and went in, expecting to see some nod to the composer. But he didn't -- not a plaque, not a statue, no mention at all. He asked shoppers in the building if they knew where the name came from. "Most guessed it was a past president of IU," McAuley told the H-T reporter.
McAuley set out to commemorate the man and his music, and with the help of the Carmichael family, IU's Moveable Feast project, people from the School of Music and numerous fundraisers, he produced the statue now touring the state.
McAuley recently talked with Live at IU about the statue, which was unveiled at the Indy Jazz Fest on June 15.
Photo by: Chris Meyer
Randy Carmichael (left), son of the legendary Hoosier pianist Hoagy Carmichael, Dean Emeritus Charles Webb from the IU Jacobs School of Music and sculptor Michael McAuley gather around McAuley's sculpture of Hoagy Carmichael during piece's unveiling during the Indy Jazz Fest at Military Park in Indianapolis June 15.
Would you please describe the sculpture of Carmichael?
Hoagy is seated at a grand piano, jacket off and tossed over the side of the grand, his long-sleeves rolled up, pencil in one ear, and fedora on and tilted back. His left hand is on a folder of his past compositions while his right is positioned hovering above the keyboard ready for a down-stroke. He is working on a composition -- "Memphis in June."
Hoagy is rather disheveled in appearance, having spent a long night of composing as he worked out the tune in his head, which also is translated unconsciously in him physically mouthing the words. A final touch is a bit of change -- small change -- has rolled out of his slacks' left pocket and lies on the piano bench. It symbolizes his passion for creating music is his main motivator, not money. Money is certainly a concern, just not the principle motivator.
How did you go about thinking this sculpture through?
I approached the sculpture with the concept of creating a true tribute to Hoagy, and to represent the man and his accomplishments. I discounted some ideas to reduce costs by having him only playing a hovering keyboard sans piano. Even though it may work symbolically to show him as a musician/composer, for me the visual impact was too muted by this pragmatic concern. If we were going to do the sculpture, the guiding approach to the visual needed to work from concept, from intent, from what should be and what we should say about Hoagy.
Therefore, I envisioned Hoagy as composer and musician, as actor, as Midwest Hoosier. I felt that all these things, as much as would work visually, should be included. Sometimes good concepts and intentions don't translate visually and practically. But, we decided that as much as we could make work and translate to the final piece, we would.
Photo by: Chris Meyer
Randy Carmichael, son of the legendary Hoosier pianist Hoagy Carmichael, sits down to get a closer look at a life-size sculpture of his father unveiled during the Indy Jazz Fest at Military Park in Indianapolis June 15.
In a brief "sculpture for idiots" description, how do you go about preparing for and making a sculpture like this?
With a sculpture of this type and dimension, like in any disciple, a combination of elements are needed to achieve your best. They are: a love for your specific disciple first, a pure and honest vision that this project is your task, a guiding overall concept that works, skill that is matured to the level needed to achieve the specific vision, and finally -- for larger-scale sculpture -- a bit of blue-collar understanding of construction principles.
How did you come to be involved in this project?
I came home to Bloomington a few years back to start a design/sculpture studio. With Hoagy on my mind as I entered the Carmichael Center on Kirkwood Avenue, I looked forward to seeing the bronze wall plaque to Hoagy, the building's namesake. I found it didn't exist.
Surprised, I thought there should have been some recognition. I knew few students walking in Bloomington or on the IU campus would know who this creative contributor to the American music scene was. And that perspective was buoyed by the fact that I didn't know who he was when I was growing up in Bloomington. I didn't know who Hoagy was until I entered college and one of my professors from IU told me.
Walking outside, I considered since there was no real substantial tribute in all of Bloomington reflecting the true nature of Hoagy's contributions, a life-size tribute, once and for all, was timely. Providentially, I thought my idea and skill had elected me to pursue at least finding out if interest in a monument of this nature existed.
And how did you proceed?
First off, I wanted the family's blessings if we were going to pursue this. My call to Hoagy Bix, Hoagy's son, garnered his blessings and a bit of seed money to move forward. Then with Randy, Hoagy's other son, on board we were able to move forward with building committee members. The bulk of the committee members came to consist of IU faculty as the main supporters. IU President Emeritus John Ryan and Dean Emeritus of the School of Music Charles Webb were the strongest forces in making this happen. Chris Sturbaum, of the Bloomington City Council, also was a big help. As we moved ahead through the years, they were the main anchors helping to keep the vision alive.
What does your participation in this project mean to you?
Gratification and appreciation that I could play a significant part of seeing this tribute come to fruition. Much like the actor Ed Harris and his pursuit of bringing the life of artist Jackson Pollack to the movie screen, I am incredibly overjoyed with the final tangible result of this sculpture. Not all artists are able to select who they wish to apply their skills to honor on this scale. Being able to do that -- to pay respect to a fellow Hoosier who struggled to "pay his dues" with creativity, passion and a strong work ethic -- is a monumental-size feeling of satisfaction.
July 5-7, Bedford
Lawrence Co. Art Association (July 5-7)
July 14-17, Fort Wayne
Three Rivers Festival (July 14-17)
July 18-24, South Bend
Performance (July 18)
Downtown Royal Theatre (July 19-24)
Aug. 9, Indianapolis
2-Indiana State Fair performances (Aug. 9)
IU Day tent in arts neighborhood (Aug. 9)
Sept. 3-4, Jasper
German Street Festival (Sept. 3-4)
Sept. 5-13, Richmond
Earlham College (Sept. 5-6)
Walk of Fame (Sept. 8-13)
Sept. 15-17, Logansport
Taft Co. Arts Council (Sept. 15-17)
Sept. 21-27, Kokomo
Center for Performing Arts (Sept. 21-23)
History Center (Sept. 24-27)
Sept. 29-30, Madison
Chautauqua Festival of Art (Sept. 29-30)
Oct. 2-11, Evansville
Evansville Old National Atrium, Downtown (Oct.2-11)
Oct. 13-16, Greenwood
Franklin History Center (Oct. 13-16)
Oct. 18-21, New Albany
Carnegie Center/Historical Society (Oct. 18-21)
Oct. 25-31, Terre Haute
Swope Museum (Oct. 25-31)
