Aaron's Blog

She was wearing a bright orange shirt matched with orange shoes and blue jeans. She sat, drinking coffee out of a paper cup in a café, and recalled with excitement her new experiences in film producing.

Her bleached-blond hair and thick black glasses would make her stand out of any crowd, and if I told you she was an artist, you wouldn’t have a hard time believing it.

Jen Dietrich is an art professor here at UMD and is taking her first stab at film with a documentary she is putting together in collaboration with Sarah Bauer on the life of the 81 year-old artist, Philip Pearlstein—whose work is currently on display at the Tweed Museum of Art.

“I’m a teacher,� Dietrich said. “I wanted more films to show students. I wanted a film to show the average working artist.�

Much of the filming took place in New York City. Dietrich worked alongside Pearlstein—a close friend and mentor for years—serving as the main communication link between him and the rest of the crew.

“It’s a lot of prep work,� Dietrich said. “I’m usually the pitch.�

Dietrich started the project two years ago, adding it to a list of about four “careers� she juggles.

“We loaded everyone into a big, 15 passenger van with Philip in the back –he wouldn’t wear a seatbelt—and drove to New York,� said Dietrich.

A wide grin cracked beneath her black glasses as she thought of an incident in the New York subway.

“We ran into trouble with the transit authorities in the subway system because of Sept. 11,� said Dietrich. “They wouldn’t let us film.�

“Our editor said: ‘We’re going to pretend that Philip is your grandfather and that you’re a New York University graduate student.’

“It worked,� said Dietrich as she laughed and continued the story with excitement and wild gesticulations. “A cop came up to us and we told him the story and he believed it. Philip had no idea what was going on.�

Dietrich said she did many of the interviews for the documentary, working with Pearlstein and who’s left of his contemporaries; Pearlstein is one of the last of his art movement.

“Interviewing is hard to do,� said Dietrich as she commended the talent of the pros. “But that’s the fun part.�

Dietrich said the screening of a trailer for the film will be shown at the Tweed Museum of Art in October, but that the film won’t be done until 2009.

“They say it takes seven years for a dock to be in the can,� said Dietrich.

The film is set to premier at larger independent film festivals such as Sundance and Telluride.

As for now, Dietrich will continue with her teaching, while she and the crew work on the tedious editing process.

Posted by Aaron Giannobile at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jen Dietrich is known around UMD as an art teacher and some may know she is an accomplished artist. She’s also a single mother and more recently, a film producer.

Dietrich is taking her first stab at film with the documentary she is putting together in collaboration with Sarah Bauer on the life of the 81 year-old artist, Philip Pearlstein—whose work is currently on display in the Tweed Museum of Art.

She started the project about two years ago, adding it to the list of “careers� she juggles.

“I’m a teacher,� Dietrich said. “I wanted more films to show to students. I wanted a film to show the average working artist.�

Dietrich said it’s important for professors to show students that being an artist is like punching in at a full-time job. She likes to show the reality and not the glamour of being an artist, saying that Pearlstein doesn’t live a “flamboyant� lifestyle.

Dietrich provided an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program to Robb Quisling, as a way to let students participate in real-life experiences.

“That’s what it’s all about, seeing it through the students’ eyes,� said Dietrich.

The film documents the life of Pearlstein—considered the father of Modern Realism—through interviews with the artist and his contemporaries.

“We loaded everyone into a big, 15 passenger van with Philip in the back—he wouldn’t wear a seatbelt—and drove to New York,� said Dietrich.

Much of the filming took place in New York City, where Pearlstein was credited with developing the Soho district as an arts district.

“We ran into trouble with the transit authorities in the subway system because of 9/11,� said Dietrich. “They wouldn’t let us film.�

“Our editor said: ‘We’re going to pretend that Philip is your grandfather, and that you’re a New York University graduate student.’ It worked, a cop came up to us and we told him the story and he believed it.�

Dietrich met Pearlstein for the first time in 1997 when she was teaching at the University of Fairbanks, Alaska. The two are now good friends.

“He’s mentored me throughout my career,� said Dietrich.

The film is still in the works

“They say it takes seven years for a dock to be in the can,� said Dietrich, who hopes to complete the film while Pearlstein is still in good health.

Dietrich said the film is projected to be finished by 2009, with a trailer ready for October of 2006. The film is set to premier at larger independent film festivals such as the Sundance and Telluride film festivals.

Posted by Aaron Giannobile at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Controversy and dissatisfaction broke out at last night’s Desegregation/Integration Advisory Council meeting in the form of a quarrel over the recent filling of the Adelante Cultural Center Facilitator Position.

The controversy came when members of the DIAC could not decide whether or not the person hired—Katy Livaddaros, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison—was really Hispanic.

The inability of the DIAC to define what it is to be a “person of color,� comes in the face of recent criticism that the Duluth Public School District does not open its doors wide enough for minorities.

“This district has a poor record of hiring people of color,� said council member Cruz Mendosa.

Council members criticized the district, saying that they did not make a good attempt to hire a person of color for the new position. The DIAC is concerned that less diversity in the district means that students of color do not receive a multi-cultural experience.

“This position was created to open doors in our cultural center,� said council member Sharon Witherspoon.

She said that in their attempts to open and keep these doors open, they “failed.� This is true if Livaddaros is, in fact, not “a person of color.�

District Human Resources Director Rob McLachlan fell under a heavy fire of verbal attack from the council as the argument continued. He was scrutinized for the short period of time the position was advertised and that the screening and hiring process did not meet the DIAC’s expectations.

Council members said they wanted to leave the position open longer to widen the pool of applicants.

“We have to make every effort to include all groups,� said Mendosa.

According to McLachlan, there were 21 candidates, a “good amount,� and that the screening and hiring process for the job had a good cross-section of diversity.

Council members were still not satisfied as the quarrel wound down after about 20 minutes. It ended, resting on the fact that there was nothing they could do—now that Livaddaros was hired.

Posted by Aaron Giannobile at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)