Sandy Michael Besser 1936-2011

Grant lost his father on Friday.  He was a passionate man who never tread lightly, leaving his indelible footprints on the art world, his family and his beloved Santa Fe community.  

SANFORD MICHAEL BESSER, 1936-2011: Collector gave artists 'permission to dare'

By Craig Smith | For The New Mexican

11/26/2011

Sanford "Sandy" Besser, who died at age 75 Friday at his Santa Fe home, was a man of first-rate parts.

Husband, father, grandfather. Navy veteran, investment banker, nonprofit volunteer and burr. Good friend, enthusiastic foe, community gadfly. And, of course, intensely perceptive and influential art collector.

There was only one small problem in keeping track of Besser. He wouldn't stay put. If you looked where he really belonged, at No. 1 on a list, you'd find that he had percolated right up over the top of the page, and stayed there.

"Sandy was a complicated guy and a collector of such stature," said Michael Bergt, one of the notable artists whose work Besser patronized over the years. "He had absolute confidence in his decisions. I don't think I've met but two or three other people like that in my career.

"The thing I admired most about him, he would go to a show and go right to the toughest work, the one most in your face, the one hardest to take. It would be the piece you knew was your best work, but that no one would ever want. And he would buy it."

Acclaimed blacksmith Tom Joyce, a close Besser friend and recipient of a 2003 MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, agreed.

"The art he collected of mine started out with the bulls I showed at the Barbara Okun Gallery in the early '90s. After that, every step I took, he was buying what other people didn't want to buy. At my EVO show, he bought two charred paper drawings, the first I'd ever done. No one else would."

Besser didn't buy because he was sorry for the artist, Joyce stressed. He bought because the difficult always attracted him. Perhaps because of his own busy and exuberant life, perhaps because he never hesitated to be difficult with other people or an organization when he thought it was deserved.

That included newspapers, editors and reporters, state government officials, nonprofit boards, gallery owners, and for an intense period of time, the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and the state's Department of Cultural Affairs. Besser's letters to the editor and thought pieces were seldom examples of overflowing cheer or kindness, but he never left one in doubt of his views.

Born in St. Louis in 1936, the son of Ida and Herbert Besser, Sandy moved with his family to Little Rock, Ark., when he was 8. A Vanderbilt University graduate on an ROTC scholarship, he was stationed at Treasure Island in San Francisco while in the Navy. He spent the majority of his professional career as an investment banker with the Little Rock firm of Stephen Inc.

His collecting delight — perhaps mania is a more accurate word — began early, with items ranging from swizzle sticks to postcards. Later, he and his wife of 36 years — Diane Pettit Besser, who died in 2001 — collected avidly but with keen eyes. Their collection was weirdly eclectic, huge, and it never stopped growing.

One artistic concept Besser especially doted on, Bergt said, was that of the vessel — from small-scale and famously wild teapots to massive ceramics and varied glass pieces. Other genres included 20th-century drawings, Indonesian and African tribal art, and Northern New Mexican carvings and straw appliqué.

Among the institutions the Bessers supported with pieces from their treasure cave were the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Spanish Colonial Arts Society and the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe; Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe; and the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock. In 2007, following on a large gift to the de Young Museum in San Francisco, Besser celebrated his 70th birthday there with a party among the Diane and Sandy Besser Collection.

"Sandy was the kind of collector that everyone in the field knew, but otherwise he was as quiet about it as he could be," Bergt recalled. "He also served on a lot of nonprofit board where he was not quiet."

"Sandy was interested in stretching the known and predictable," Joyce said. "He was interested in supporting an artist to the degree they were willing to jump the track for him — artists at a transitional stage in their careers.

"He gave you permission to dare."

Besser is survived by his sons and their spouses: Matthew Besser and Danielle Schneider of Los Angeles, Grant and Alexandra Besser of Boulder, Colo., and Kenneth and Virginia Besser of San Francisco; grandchildren Cole, Carson, Quinn and Natalie; his sister, Maxine Marshall of Scottsdale, Ariz.; and his beloved dog, Ruby.

A memorial service for family and friends will be held Wednesday at the Besser home. In lieu of flowers, donations are requested to Coming Home Connection,www.cominghomeconnection.org. Anyone interested in purchasing remaining art from the Besser collection should email mbesser@sbcglobal.net for information.

Paperwhite bulbs

Single bulb in bulb vase

Candy bowl used for bulbs

Vintage Dansk casserole dish used for bulbs

Sunny spot for bulbs

Bulbs rooting in basement

During the holidays and the long days of winter in New York, my mom brightened our home with Paperwhite bulbs.  The smell of the flowers, bright and fragrant, remind me of the holidays and of my childhood.    As soon as I had my first apartment, I bought my first bulbs, beginning with a half dozen, then increasing it as my living spaces got bigger.    This year,  I decided to start earlier and force a greater number of bulbs for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  In an effort to save money, I ordered them online from the website Caladium Bulbs 4 Less Bulbs.  I received 100 Paperwhite 'Ziva' bulbs in the mail for less than $1 each.  They are usually around $1.50 in my local stores.  

The steps to forcing bulbs couldn't be easier, foolproof in fact.  First, find a container in which to force the bulbs.  My containers range from clear glass vases to shallow bowls and ceramic flower pots.  The only requirement is that they don't have holes in the bottom since they will be filled with water.  Next, I surround the bulbs with inexpensive gravel or river stones. I reuse the stones every year so I have a large supply.  I then add water to container so that the water covers 3/4 of the bulb, making sure that the top of the bulb is left dry.  Then, I leave the bulbs in a dark place for about 10 days while they begin to root (adding water as needed).  After 10 days, the bulbs have thick white roots and very pale green shoots that are about 3-4 inches high.  I then put them in a sunny window sill and watch them grow.   They grow about 18" and sometimes need to be tied so that they don't tip over.  After the flowers have faded, I compost them (my Colorado climate is too cold to plant them in the ground),  saving the gravel or stones for next year.   Bloom times vary, but these bulbs started blooming within 4 weeks of starting them.

Montreal

The venerable Arthur Quentin 

chic'd out Amy

Inspiration for winter greenery displays in Old Monreal

Biosphere from 1967 World Fair in Parc Jean-Drapeau

Parc du Mont-Royal

Adelaide and Ava preparing Amy's birthday cake

I visited my dear friend Amy in Montreal last weekend.  She has been living in the lovely neighborhood of Westmount for five months and I wanted to visit her before her departure back to California this Saturday.  Montreal has a great reputation.  People rave about its food, friendly citizens and beauty.  It's all true.  While it was an easy plane trip from Boulder,  I did feel at times like I was in France--at Atwater market, where the butcher makes extraordinary duck confit and stuffed quail; at the very French bistro Au Petit Extra, where the atmosphere, food and large carafes of house red made for a memorable lunch; and on the cobblestone streets of old Montreal, where chic restaurants and stores are tucked into the uneven streets.  On a couple of occasions I realized that this would be the best place to work on your French.  Nearly everyone is bilingual so my blended French-English sentences actually made perfect sense to them:  "C'est tres jolie, this dress.  S'il vous plait, size 6" C'est tres bon.  I love it."  My favorite spots:  the highly curated and stylish housewares shop Arthur Quentin,  the restaurants L'Express and Au Petit Extra, both delicious and decidedly French, the entire neighborhood of Westmount, and Parc du Mont-Royal, a sprawling park of wonderful paths and views that can be appreciated at 2am with no fear.  Beyond the delights of Montreal, all the hours of quality time with my lovely friend and her two wonderful daughters are what made it the get-away everything that I needed it to be...and more.  Thank you, Amy!

Good Hair Day

 

I buzzed Carson's hair into a Faux Hawk for Halloween.  It was only supposed to last a day before we shaved the rest of it off, but now we have all grown to like it.  

Halloween 2011

Disco SWAT Guy and his Zombie Bride

Last smooch before candy

Halloween snuck up on us and, as usual, we were pulling costumes together at the last minute.  My initial disappointment at Quinn's choice of costume (SWAT guy) turned to glee when at the last minute he abandoned his costume's no nonsense helmet and returned wearing a 'fro and dark glasses, a sudden and dramatic transformation into....Disco SWAT Guy.   He and his zombie bride Banyan even posed for a smooch.

Fall storms

View of snowy Flatirons from master bedroom

first snow of the season

tree damage from storm at 8th and Pine

heavy snow

snow covered trees

two silver maples at 1109

silver maples before removal

picture after tree removal

We have had two fall snow storms, both of which dumped 8 plus inches of snow on Boulder.  There was massive damage to the trees around Boulder, since many of the trees still had 75% of their leaves still on their branches.   The first storms of the season are always as dangerous as they are beautiful.  We did not have any tree damage around our property because the two most dangerous trees close to our property, two towering silver maples, were removed as a condition of  buying the house last March.   A week before we were to close on the house on Pine, a severe wind storm brought down a large branch on the east side of the property, causing damage to our neighbor's house.  We had the trees examined by an arborist from Taddiken Trees and they recommended removal.  They called the trees "hazardous".  In fact, hundreds of of silver maples that were planted throughout downtown Boulder during the 1890s could be classified as hazardous.  Appreciated for their fast growth and majestic height, 200 alone were planted by locals along Mapleton Avenue (formerly known as Hill Street), giving Mapleton Hill its leafy beauty.  Unfortunately, due to their fast growth, they are internally weak and prone to limb loss as they reach maturity.   Every year, during Boulder's wind and snow season more silver maples collapse or lose their amazing branches.  The problem is so severe that the city of Boulder posts tree recommendations on their website City of Boulder , providing alternatives to the silver maple that are well adapted to Boulder's climate and soil.  

Gravel courtyard

gravel courtyard

laying gravel over landscaping cloth

applying the landscaping cloth

removing concrete

courtyard before

While I was away in Winter Park for a ladies weekend, Grant started on our first landscaping project, the creation of a gravel courtyard, which will become our dining area next spring.  Since it is close to our kitchen and is already a flat space, we decided that it was the perfect area for future dining.  More importantly, it seemed like a project that was small enough to tackle before the cold weather.   While the project was relatively small, there was still a ton of work to be done to get it ready to receive the gravel.  First, the area needed to be cleared of ivy, dirt and shrubs, which amounted to several truck loads that had to be removed.  The following weekend, they removed the concrete around the base of the fountain (the cast iron fountain was bought by Leonard Kirby from a mansion down the street in the 1930s) so we could gain some space to fit a table and chairs.  Next, we put down a layer of landscaping cloth to control the weeds.  The area, which is about 22' x 15', needed about 2 tons of gravel to create a depth of 2" around the perimeter.  In the spring, we will plant a green screen to hide the house next door.