For me, “The Gates” began in 2000 when I attended a conference where Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude were to be speakers,” says David Smith, assistant professor of art. “I arrived early, sat in the front row and they came in, and that’s how we started talking. They described the project—and said they would hire people to help install the work in New York’s Central Park. They were very down-to-earth people, and very dedicated to their work.”Smith was immediately interested, and—with the encouragement of provost Mike Looney—he applied for acceptance on Christo’s Web site. |
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After two fairly intensive interviews, Smith was selected as one of 600 people who would be paid minimum wage to work on “The Gates.”
In fact, he was selected as a team leader, responsible for one segment of the 23-mile long installation. “It brought out all of the management skills I never knew I had,” says Smith. “On my team was a woman from Columbia, two senior citizens from New York City, a student from Washington and a young woman from Chicago, among others. A very diverse group.”Smith and his crew—indeed, everyone connected to “The Gates”—saw themselves as participants in the installation of a great work.
The crews began their work on Monday morning and finished by Friday afternoon. “I was impressed with so many things,” says Smith. “The quality of the materials was outstanding. Synthetic cloth material that was extraordinarily strong. Youngsters could hang from it. Steel beams and anchors that had been ground and filed so that nothing—clothes or skin—would snag on them.
And Christo demanded that the site be spotless, so we picked up every bit of trash, including cigarette butts. When we dismantled “The Gates” after its 16-day exhibition, Central Park was cleaner than before we arrived!”
Smith had been teaching a design course at Schreiner when he left
for the week in New York. After a hard day of work on “The Gates”, Smith took a very long subway ride—three transfers—to Brooklyn where he stayed with friends. “Then, after some dinner, I would go over to Brooklyn College, get online with my students at Schreiner, download that day’s photos, and we’d chat about the installation until 11 p.m. or later. Then I was up the next morning at 5 to work on ‘The Gates’.” |
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