University of Washington print technician Larry Sommers died last week in Chicago of a heart attack. With his major impact on generations of students, he certainly deserves but did not get an obituary in the Seattle PI (online only) or the Seattle Times.
This could be a piece about journalists stretched too thin to cover their communities, but instead, it’s a piece about Sommers’ name in lights across Seattle’s art blogosphere. Two of his former students have blogs and know how to use them.
Emily Podhast Pothast of Translinguistic Other offers great insights into how he did his job, followed by his view of heaven:
One time Larry told me if he could live in any place at any time, he’d
be a rich girl in the 19th century because they all had ponies. I
tried to tell him that if having a pony was a big priority for him, he
could probably make it happen in his present life. He didn’t listen. He
was too busy chanting “PONY PONY PONY!”
Christina Olsen Burtner on Toys & Noise explains why he was the glue that held everything together.
Thanks Regina for posting this.
Larry was a good friend and a rare personality.
He always shared his quirks with the rest of us.
His enthusiasm and knowledge for, among other
things, Joan of Arc, all things french, social
and political activism, proud union memeber,
and a complete and thorough love for printmaking
and papermaking. We not only lost a friend, but
a resource in the arts community. He was also one
of those faculty members who actively supported
students and alumni by going to their shows and
always being available for a conversation or a
drink. Larry helped me find printing presses for
my studio, and when we do our large annual print exchange show, he would quietly bring in a stack of 50 silkscreened Anti-George Bush posters, and lay them down for people to take.
I was so looking forward to his pro Obama poster
this year. Thanks for taking time to acknowledge someone who rarely gets (or seeks) the attention, but so richly deserves it, especially now.
A “Friends of Larry Sommers” page was started
on facebook with tons of photos and people can
share their memories as well.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63804947309&ref=nf
Brian Lane
UW Printmaking ’01
Regina,
Here is the full obit. After returning from Chicago We had to get facts right, & permission;
Larry Sommers, who taught printmaking and was Instructional Technician in the School of Art at the University of Washington in Seattle, died on Thursday, April 2, 2009, after a heart attack and open heart surgery at age 55. He was in Chicago attending the Southern Graphics Council Conference at Columbia College. He was surrounded by friends and family at the time of his death. Born and raised in Michigan, he had lived in Seattle for the past 30 years. He is survived by two grandmothers, Jeanette Collins and Marian Sommers, mother Jean Gordon, sisters Cindy and Kristy, and brothers Roger and Randy, cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, many long time Seattle friends, and hundreds of friends in the art and labor union worlds.
Larry earned a BFA in Printmaking at Central Michigan University in 1975, and an MFA in Printmaking at the University of Oregon, Eugene, in 1978. He worked at the University of Washington since 1985 and was master printer to visiting artists. He managed the printmaking, painting, and fibers studios and was advisor to the Student Printmaking Association at the university. Additionally he taught at the Pratt Fine Arts Center and was a consultant to Shev Shoon/ Ballard Works and Arttech in Seattle. He was on the executive board of the Book Arts Guild and a founding board member of the Seattle Print Arts, as well as having memberships in the American Print Alliance and the College Art Association.
Larry Sommers owned and operated Inky Dink Press since 1982. Corporate clients included the United Parcel Service and Weyerhauser, Inc. Larry had a scholarship at the Anderson Ranch Art Center, CO, in 2008, and residency at Centrum Foundation, WA, in 1992. His expertise in papermaking, paper castings and all aspects of printmaking welcomed collaborations with artists Barry Herem, Tom Jay, Max Karst, Jeffry Mitchell, and Scott Fife.
Larry was a wonderful and charismatic teacher to many students and he was also known for his irreverent political posters. He was also a proud and active member of the State Employees Union # 925. He curated an exhibit of Seattle printmakers (Ink + Paper) at the G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle, in December, 2005, and his own work was included in several other exhibitions. Larry’s personal artwork is included in the collections of the Center for Study of Political Graphics, Los Angeles; Special Collections – Suzzallo Library, University of Washington; Portable Works Collection, Seattle City Light; Irkutsk Museum of Fine Arts, Soviet Union; and the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas, Mexico City.
Please visit ‘Friends of Larry Sommers’ on Facebook for comments & photos, or the memorial page on Seattle Print Arts web site. Larry was also a puppeteer, great whistler, and a very warm, generous, and funny man. We were never bored. A memorial party is being arranged at a later date in May.
– Contributed by Gail Gibson, Jill Hughes Richey, & Amy Hamblin, Seattle (known as Larry’s “common law sisters” while in Chicago at the hospital)
Unfortunately Seattle is now a one-paper city. The Seattle PI closed it’s doors last month and has limited on-line coverage. The Seattle Times has absolutely no excuse though! I also hope that UW School of Art does something to honor Larry’s life and 20 odd years of dedication to the program he loved. A group of Larry’s former students that feel strongly about having a memorial to celebrate his life are putting something together though, and we will post date and time on the “Friends of Larry Sommers” Facebook page.
To honor and remember Larry, Seattle Print Arts has created a page on Facebook “Friends of Larry Sommers’where you can post memories and photos.
This is an open group, so feel free to invite others to join.
You can also visit Seattle Print Arts website:
http://www.seattleprintarts.org
for addition information and to see images of Larry and his work. Seattle Print Arts is an organization that Larry helped create in 1999, and which he supported and loved.
Larry touched so many people’s lives in so many ways, his passing is a profound loss to all who knew him.
Sally
Sally Schuh, President
Seattle Print Arts
http://www.seattleprintarts.org