We are now in beautiful LaGrange, Georgia helping to get things ready for the BIG show next month. We will attend an opening this weekend that features a meet and greet with artist, Francoise Gilot, 91, a long time Picasso companion (the "Surviving Picasso" movie is about her) who went on to marry Dr. Jonas Salk.

 

The eBay Auctions continue this weekend with only with 6 works being offered on Saturday at 10PM and none on Sunday. We will be taking an eBay break after this week as we continue the road travels so stock up now as we never know what tomorrow may bring.

 

Rich & Tee & Shirley Marvin

The Noel Rockmore Project Team- email link

The New Website -www.rockmore.org

 

PS. This nice Rockmore story came in from Peter J. Pilot who said we could share it.

We use to call Mike Stark, "the Guru of New Orleans." His great big presence in his great big body in great big overalls or caftans and capes commanded one's attention without his having to speak a word. He shared his food and drink and shelter with so many of us who wandered in and out of New Orleans on a daily basis. Some of us stayed for awhile at Mike's HEADquarters. Health Emergency Aid Dispensary on Decatur St.

 

Rockmore would come almost everyday to paint. Mike said he was doing a series called "American Youth On The Move". He would come with his multicolored pants and the same old sweater with sleeves pushed up to the elbows. He moved so fast, so hard. For a little guy, he projected so much power, energy. He seemed nuts and a genius at the same time. Nuts enough to see through the bullshit of the times and genius enough to communicate it in a uniquely creative way.

 

I refused to sit for him. I was so defiant. I felt sitting was like prostitution or something. My partner Billy had no problem sitting for hours for him. Rockmore painted him a lot, but he and Mike never gave up trying to get me to pose. I refused to pose. I don't recall what they did or bribed me with but I sat for him, not posing mind you, just sitting with an anger inside me, so defiant, staring, glaring, out the window. And that's what he wanted. I remember Mike jumping up and saying to Rockmore, "you caught him, that's it." I'll never forget the sparkle in Rockmore's eyes when he knew he caught my inner being. He painted as fast and as hard as he walked. I think he related to what he saw in me on a personal level. We had a strong inner connection from that day.

 

I think he used a lot of his subjects to learn and express his own feelings. When I first learned of his and Mike's passing it affected me profoundly, but in a way that allowed me to understand more of myself and even continue communicating with them in my own unique manner. As an artist and author, I can truly say that some of us don't relate to time like most humans. Rather than calculating by clock and calendar, we live by our feelings, faces and feelings, events and feelings, and engage a struggle sometimes to express those feelings and hope, just hope, that something's working. Both men were good teachers as well as friends, and I continue to be inspired by them and probably always will. Thank you so much for this site.  Peter J. Pilot