Intention Made Visible
Art installation recognizes impact of Eliot Society donors.
Thinking of ways to honor the members of ½ñÈճԹϒs Eliot Society, Kathy Saitas had a question for Gregory MacNaughton ’89 last winter:
Was it possible, in a few months’ time, to write all their names—1,261 total—on individual weathergram strips, and then hang them in an art installation?
“I hate to say no to requests like that,” Gregory, education outreach and calligraphy initiative coordinator of the Cooley Gallery, said.
A semester of Scriptorium classes later, ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï's Pedestrian Bridge (a.k.a. the Bouncy Bridge) was lined with 1,261 weathergrams. Each bore the names of members of the Eliot Society, alumni, parents, friends of the college who include ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï in their estate plans. The art installation publicly recognized the Eliot Society donors’ collective impact.
“By coming together in the act of tying each of their names on this bridge,” said Saitas, ½ñÈճԹϒs long-time senior director of gift planning, “½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï students, staff, faculty, and alumni can collectively remember each estate donor, acknowledge their contributions, and draw inspiration from the fact that they gave of their life’s work to enable ours.”
The art installation married two great hallmarks of ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï: the dedication of its alumni to serving the college, and the tradition of teaching and promoting Italic calligraphy.
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“It’s a no-brainer to put ½ñÈճԹϔ in your will, Stephany Watson ’82 said. Why? “It’s just so near and dear to my heart. No other organization I give to comes close.”
“½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï taught me how to think, how to question, how to develop a sense of being,” Jim Kahan ’64 said. Being part of the Eliot Society is a commitment “to helping ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï continue its mission, which is to provide an education that is unique.”
Including ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï in estate planning is also a family tradition: his stepfather and mother gave estate gifts to ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï. Kahan’s gift will supplement that fund, creating the Pressman-Kahan Family Scholarship. “I, like my parents, am giving back to a community that was important in my life,” he said.
Estate gifts have ensured ½ñÈճԹϒs existence from its very beginning, when a bequest from Amanda ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï founded the college. Over time, unrestricted bequests have significantly contributed to the growth of the college’s general endowment. The Eliot Society’s members have also set aside gifts for specific purposes ranging from the restoration of the Canyon and renovation of the library to funding named professorships, scholarships, and summer internships.
“Estate gifts impact nearly every aspect of the institution,” Saitas said. The far-ranging impact of individual financial gifts can be difficult to discern; the Weathergram Installation made it visible. And it did so using one of ½ñÈճԹϒs great contributions to visual culture in the Pacific Northwest—calligraphy.
Calligraphy was first taught at ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï by Professor Lloyd Reynolds [art 1929–69] , then Father Robert Palladino [1969–84]. MacNaughton, whom Saitas calls “½ñÈճԹϒs Chief Cultural Officer,” has been a driving force behind calligraphy’s return to ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï. That includes teaching and promoting weathergrams.
Originating in Japan and brought to ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï by Reynolds, weathergrams are short poems similar to haiku, often conveying expressions of interconnectedness, a moment, or insight. Written on strips of brown paper, they are hung on tree branches or along paths. Left to the rain and elements, they eventually disintegrate.
A weathergram’s ephemeral nature was a fitting tribute to the Eliot Society, MacNaughton thought. “Half of those people have already passed on,” he said. “Yet we remember their names.”
“Nothing at ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï happens without alumni who are willing to support it, for whom an experience here was transformative in their lives,” MacNaughton continued. “And they want to extend that experience to somebody else.”
Adapting the form for the art installation, MacNaughton incorporated writing the weathergrams into the spring semester’s Scriptorium class. He and Scriptorium students, including staff, alumni, and current students Tess Buchanan ’21, Carey Booth ’81, Marianne Colgrove ’89, Mark Conahan ’84, Nikki Johnston ’19, and Harper Lethin ’24, calligraphed each name onto strips of brown craft paper. “This was a group effort,” MacNaughton said.
Each weathergram represented an individual Eliot Society member. Weathergrams bearing the names of deceased donors were marked with a red griffin stamp and tied with white string; those tied with jute twine represented future gifts. 720 weathergrams simply read “Anonymous.”
On Thursday, April 25, members of the ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï community gathered to tie the weathergrams to the Bouncy Bridge. It was a verdant spring day, and a rainstorm had already begun to dampen the strips of craft paper.
Students crossing the bridge—some putting finishing touches on their theses, some preparing for the celebrations ahead—were surrounded by alumni who came before them, the weathergrams wafting in the breeze as the students walked by.