A Fence so Long, it Disappeared over the Horizon

by Richard von Sternberg

I heard a rumor one day that a fellow was proposing to “fence off” a portion of Sonoma County, but only for a few days. It made me chuckle to hear of what sounded like a madman’s mental machinations. It was the middle of the 1970’s, Northern California was in the throes of a severe drought, people were obsessed by the dryness of the vegetation, the starkness of the rainless hillsides, so it sounded like just another worried local unnerved and disturbed by the arbitrary ways of Mother Nature.

During this rain dearth, one night on the evening news, they interviewed a Bulgarian-American artist, born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, June, 1935, who called himself simply Christo about a project he was envisioning he referred to as a “Running Fence”.  After a few seconds of interviewing, it occurred to me that Christo was the “madman” I had mistaken for a deranged local.  A well-to-do internationally renowned artist “partnered” in life with Jeanne-Claude, also a “hyphenated” American: French-American born Jeanne-Claude Marie Denat, June, 1935, Casablanca.  Together these two were known around the world simply as Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

There are times when an idea is voiced, one that is so well known and understood that it seems self-evident, times during which our internal response to the idea is only confirmation because it fits right into our thinking.  No time is lost wondering what to “make” of the idea.  There are also times when an idea has no familiar internal context to drop into within us.  A good example would be the world’s initial reaction to Copernicus’ scientific iconoclasm about the Earth NOT being the center of the universe. Such ideas leave us open to a kaleidoscope of responses that come from our lack of familiarity, ideas that touch on our insecurities about things unknown.  Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s proposal, perhaps due to its grandiosity, perhaps due to its first-of-a-kind status, perhaps due to Christo’s rippling visionary passion, well. . . . .their proposal rocked many local boats and nearly swamped them.

In the beginning they were considered an oddity by most of us who lived here.  The notion of miles of nylon “fencing” running through our county, then removed after only a few days, must have seemed an odd exercise in futility to most as they tried to make sense of it.  Christo had envisaged a way to do something temporary to make a permanent impression, to have an artistic act become a permanent part of our folklore and culture to celebrate what we have here. The message was ethereal, hard to conceptualize.  In my mind, experiencing the kalaeidoscopic responses I mentioned before, their proposal wavered from “How silly” to “Intriguing” to “Why would any one bother?”, all over the place.

In one of the many spots he had on evening news broadcasts, Christo said he thought our area was, if not THE, then among the most beautiful and inspirational places he had ever been.  As of this writing I have been a resident of Sonoma County 45 years.  At the time Christo proposed his running fence I had already been here 10 years and I “got it” about Sonoma County.  Hearing a world-traveler say he appreciated what brought me here to begin with changed how I felt about what he was wanting to do.  I pondered those I had heard of who had been deeply touched by this area, people of great stature.  Luther Burbank maintained he had found the paradise he sought right here.  Ansel Adams loaded his highly esteemed photographic portfolio with magnificent landscapes of our gently-rolling, curvaceous hills with morning-misty valleys. 

Frank Lloyd Wright's last great work:
The Marin County Civic Center

Frank Lloyd Wright dignified our area with the Marin County Civic Center forever celebrating these gently rolling hills in a timeless architectural wonder that allows the human-made to blend somehow naturally with the nature-made hillside.

To “practicalise” his vision, Christo had to sell it.  He had to meet all the farmers and ranchers and general landowners who held title to parcels of land that made up the place where Christo’s vision was to touchdown on the landing strip of reality.  The first landowners he spoke with said no thanks.  Discouraging, no doubt.  To move forward required a miracle and a hero, both of which surfaced in one unusually receptive individual, a rancher named Lester Bruhn, memorialized by the Smithsonian Museum in an on-line article about this subject:

“Lester Bruhn never claimed to have an eye for art. So the California rancher wasn’t sure what to do one afternoon in 1973, when a couple knocked at his door and introduced themselves as Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The strangers asked, in accented English, if Bruhn would consider leasing them land to erect a temporary art project: a large fabric fence that would stretch across ranches and highways before dipping into the ocean.

Bruhn may have been a bit apprehensive as he sized up the two artists. But unlike the handful of ranchers who had turned the couple away, he invited them in for coffee.”

The rancher and the artists set about to get the OK from all land-owners and local authorities who needed to approve, a daunting task.  The reason this project became the huge success that it did, I believe, is that Christo intended for what appeared to be something dividing people as, in and of itself, a way to bring them together.  Perhaps a bit idealistic and naïve sounding, nevertheless, that is precisely what occurred.  First there was a struggle, then full-blown resistance from a group formed that called itself “The Committee to Stop the Running Fence”.  This group tried to block Christo’s dream at every turn, politically, attempting to get needed permits denied.

Christo’s spirit did not falter, he marched forward offering to pay the ranchers for letting him run the running fence through their land and offered to let each landowner keep the materials at the end of the project. Nobody, not even those ranchers, knew that one day those “materials” would become so famous that the Smithsonian would create a museum display using some of those pieces of the now-famous Christo Running Fence.

I will never forget the rush of emotion the first time I drove up to a place high enough to look out over many miles of the Running Fence and saw Christo’s creation from his rippling passion rippling in the wind, standing nobly and gently framing the breathtaking panorama that is this part of the Earth.  Christo would disagree with my use of the word framing as I know he made a point of his Running Fence not fencing anything in, but tying together, beginning in the ocean and ending in a small village.  That small village (Valley Ford) has a tribute to Christo where they have encapsulated the pair of boots he wore as he walked hundreds of miles through the terrain that held his great work of art wearing out his boots but leaving a permanent impression.

Were you here at the time of the fence?  Have a story to share?  Were you NOT here and have a story to share?  Please share it.  Impressions, questions, stories……….all welcome at this blog.  Please post a comment.

Here is a link to the Smithsonian’s article about Christo and Jeanne-Claude:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Christos-California-Dreamin.html?c=y&page=1#

Here is a link to a video done by the Smithsonian that includes a recent interview with Christo.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/Running-Fence-Revisited.html