Mr. Jeff M. Poulin

Part 2: Interview with Frank Gehry by Terresa McCovey, student at Hoopa Valley Elementary School

Posted by Mr. Jeff M. Poulin, Sep 16, 2016 0 comments


Mr. Jeff M. Poulin

Mr. Gehry serves as a member of the Americans for the Arts’ Artists Committee and as an artist for the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities’ Turnaround Arts initiative, where he worked with students at Hoopa Valley Elementary School in Hoopa, California.

Read part 1 of the interview here.

Terresa McCovey: If you could travel back in time, what would you change in your life?

Frank Gehry: I think I’m lucky that I kind of got on a track that I love doing, work I like doing. I don’t think there’s much I would change.  You know, the creative process is painful sometimes, so I go through agony, like I’m designing a house now for a lady up in Atherton, and I’m suffering so much with it, I had nightmares the other night. Because I want to do something new and great and I’m getting there, but it’s such a struggle and I suffer a lot and I worry about it, so all the good things that are happening around me, you know, everybody saying I’m great, blah blah blah, doesn’t mean a thing when you’re suffering about something, right? Until you get it. I call it “positive anxiety” because it helps make the work better—you don’t take the first idea, you try to move it somewhere it hasn’t been before. If I knew where I was going, I wouldn’t do it, I’ve said that before. It’s much more exciting to push to unknown places with the buildings.

T: I can’t wait to see how it turns out. What time period would you go to?

F: Boy I don’t know, the world is kinda crazy right now, isn’t it, with all the wars in the Middle East and stuff that are really scary to all of us. I don’t know if there’s ever been a really peaceful time in history, it’s always been something scary. People just don’t know how to get along sometimes. There’s petty jealousy, you know, this person or that person has more money than you, or they’re prettier, or whatever they are—I think those kinds of things weigh on us, and they’re a waste of time. You shouldn’t waste your time on it. I don’t know if there’s an ideal time in history where that didn’t happen. Especially now, with all the communication—everybody knows everybody’s business, everybody knows where everybody is, you’re all so connected now that feelings are multiplied quickly. You have many more encounters with people, and the feelings of angst and jealousy and love and disappointment and all those things happen so quickly. It used to be you could relish being sad, you could relish being happy, you could take the time to enjoy it, enjoy these moods. Now it’s turnover every 30 seconds. I find it very confusing. From 10 in the morning until noon, in two hours, your feelings change so rapidly because you’re in so many different encounters with people, and in your head you gotta create a compass of solidity where you know you’re safe and where you can stay emotionally and mentally. I think you know what I’m talking about, you know how to do that.

T: Yeah. A lot of the English teachers are making us focus on communication and how to talk to someone without using a cell phone, since no one is really talking face to face anymore.

F: What it means I think is we each gotta find ourselves. You hear people say you gotta be centered. They want you to be clear about who you are and what you want to do and you make your judgments based on that. So for better or worse, you decide you’re going to do something because it fits you to do it. I think that’s the hardest thing, because there are so many enticements to change course, to go running in different directions, we all have it, we have it every day. Somebody calls and they want you to do something, and it gets exciting, and you run off and do it and then you find out it’s a total dud and waste of time and then you come back and say why did I do that, that was stupid- that kinda stuff. I’m sure you experience things like that, right?

T: Yeah, a lot actually.

F: You gotta find where you’re comfortable, kind of a center. People do that with meditation. Just think about it that way—where you feel comfortable, where you don’t feel threatened.

T: Yeah. I’ll do my best. Who was your best friend that sticks by you no matter what?

F: My wife, my kids, my friends, Malissa—now you! Now I can count on you too, right?

T: I heard you were on “The Simpsons”—you were telling us a story the last time you came up. How did that feel?

F: That was funny because the lady that plays Marge is a very well-known actress, whose name I can’t remember. She and I were recording the section that I did, and you know when I crumple the paper from the mailbox and throw it on the ground and there’s a big light? And I look at it? I had to say, “Frank Gehry you’re a genius!” Well I was self-conscious calling myself a genius, so I couldn’t do it with the force of reality, that it was believable that I felt that way. For 30 minutes she had me say it over and over again until I got mad at her and then I said it and she said “perfect.”.

T: Yeah I actually watched that Simpsons recently because I was nervous about this interview, and it was on TV so I watched it. Why did you change your name from Goldberg to Gehry?

F: Well it was after the war, and Hitler killed a lot of Jews, and a lot of children—6 million people. It was still scary in the world for Jewish people. I was married to a lady, who was very smart, and she was pregnant, she was going to have a baby. And she was worried about bringing a baby into a world that hated people of her religion, her faith. None of us were very religious, but you were blacklisted for being Jewish, whether you believed in it or not, you were born that way, and the name Goldberg is a very Jewish name, so it’s like a billboard to say “I’m Jewish.” She was worried our kid would have a hard time. I was having trouble at school, at University of Southern California, where I was left out of certain things that went on, professional fraternities, because I was Jewish. It was a real threat, and it’s still out there—it comes and goes. She just begged me to change the name and I wanted to make her happy and I did it. But then once I did it, every time I met somebody I told them it was Goldberg.

T: Yeah, our teacher, Stephanie Silvia, she’s Jewish and she’s been trying to teach us how to say some words, and she’s been trying to share some culture with us, and I think a lot of us kids enjoy the culture.

F: Yeah, it’s a nice culture. They have nice food and they sing good songs. And a lot of good people came out of that—Albert Einstein.

T: Did you know that you’re changing kids lives in a little town called Hoopa?

F: I hope I can be helpful, I love Hoopa, I love you guys! I’m honored to be part of it, I really feel that way.

T: We’re thankful to Turnaround Arts for giving us the opportunity to get adopted by you.

F: Well, I hope it’s helping and I hope things are working there.

T: It is, there’s a lot of art, and everyone’s having a fun experience.

F: Good. I’ve found that people start doing art, and it brings you to other things, and you get curious about other things because of it.

T: Yeah, a lot of people found their inner self, like some are enjoying photography, and drawing, and sculpture.

T: How was your first trip to Hoopa?

F: Oh it was amazing. I mean, I didn’t know what to expect- it’s different than going to a public school. It’s a different culture, you’re on a reservation with a lot of family and a lot of friends that you all grow up with, and it’s insular, it’s not as open as the regular school system. But I’ve always been optimistic about kids—once you give them something to play with or make or do that creates some self-respect or some interest, that they open up, and it always happens. That’s what we want to do, and we want to be consistent—we don’t want to just be hit and run, we don’t want to come for a day and then leave you, we’re trying to keep it going, that’s why we took some of them to Loyola. And the governor, Jerry Brown, he heard about us doing this and he wants to come. Do you think we should let him come?

T: Yeah, actually I am an 8th grader so I will be seeing you on our 8th grade trip.

F: Great! Perfect!

T: Well that was the last question, but I have one more thing for you, and I was going to see if you could figure it out. It’s a quote. “You can look anywhere and find inspiration.” Do you know who that’s by?

F: I think I said it.

T: Yeah, you did.

F: [Laughter] You got me! The way you interviewed me was very professional. You know I get interviewed a lot, I’m not kidding, I do, and they’re not really very direct and professional like you’ve been. That was great, really great. Thank you thank you thank you.

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