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, causing the mass to s

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 Commission has selected award-winning poet  Max Garland  of Eau Claire as the Wisconsin Poet Laureate for 2013