University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations Spring 2016 Where time forgot : a bowlers guide Matthew Earl Williams University of Iowa Copyright 2016 Matthew Earl Williams This thesis is available at Iowa Research Online: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3218 Recommended Citation Williams, Matthew Earl. "Where time forgot : a bowlers guide." MFA (Master of Fine Arts) thesis, University of Iowa, 2016. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3218. https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.or9oa24c Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd Part of the Art Practice Commons
WHERE TIME FORGOT: A BOWLERS GUIDE by Matthew Earl Williams A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Art in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa May 2016 Thesis Supervisor: Professor Margaret Stratton
Copyright by MATTHEW EARL WILLIAMS 2016 All Rights Reserved
Graduate College The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL This is to certify that the Master s thesis of MASTER S THESIS Matthew Earl Williams has been approved by the Examining Committee for the thesis requirement for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Art at the May 2016 graduation. Thesis Committee: Margaret Stratton, Thesis Supervisor Jeff Rich Jon Winet Sarah Kanouse
To Brittney, for all the support and encouragement you ve given ii
I ve got a story to tell And though I m not sure what it is I m sure its funny as hell And tragic and dramatic And personal and universal It s about a boy with stars in his eyes Or, maybe just a man whose Dreams were never realized Whichever one it is It s essential I get it just right Tim Kasher iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank everyone who ever had a hand in helping me with this. There s far too many people, places, or things to name. If you have gotten this far in the text then know that I couldn t have done it without you, whoever you are. iv
PUBLIC ABSTRACT It s about living It s about feeling incomplete It s about nostalgia It s about culture It s about joy It s about how life flashes before our lives It s about sorrow It s about what s hidden under the rug It s about fitting in It s about getting away It s about a journey It s about language It s about class It s about how something clean can leave a stain It s about goodbyes It s about fiction It s about place It s about blame It s about obsession It s about feeling stranded v
It s about itching a scratch It s about holding on It s about being found It s about how we all settle eventually It s about desire It s about conflict It s about you It s about me It s about future It s about community It s about failure It s about wondering which one of us is next It s about the American dream It s about right now It s about the people we will become It s about the search It s about routine It s about finding It s about change It s about living vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS LISTS OF FIGURES viii WHERE TIME FORGOT 1 vii
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Just a mile outside of town, 2016... 4 2. Lane overture, 2016... 5 3. Business as usual, 2016... 6 4. Requiem, 2016... 7 5. Some golden age they never had, 2016... 8 6. Constant efforts, 2016... 9 7. Becoming, 2016... 10 8. The troubles bring good friends, 2016... 11 9. Tuesday night, 2016... 12 10. The way these strangers stand so close, 2016... 13 11. Eternal endeavor, 2016... 14 12. Our novels need to be written, 2016... 15 13. Folklore, 2016... 16 14. Sea of secrets, 2016... 17 15. Memories don t have to change, 2016... 18 16. Something so tame its wild, 2016... 19 17. Things can wait, 2016... 20 18. Two sugars, 2016... 21 19. Handed down to me it felt brand new, 2016... 22 20. While the world went on outside, 2016... 23 21. End of an era?, 2016... 24 22. The only way to know what you re made of, 2016... 25 23. Heart of the American dream, 2016... 26 24. Where Time Forgot: A Bowlers Guide, Thesis Exhibition, Levitt Gallery, 2016... 27 viii
WHERE TIME FORGOT Sometimes you find something without ever looking. Some people might call that finding yourself, or something finding you. No matter what you want to call it, I found it. It was a mile outside of town. The outskirts of the city limits before you hit the country roads. There it was Colonial Lanes in bright red and blue lights on the side of a white building. In the middle of fields and the factories you can see the dark outline of what is characterized colonial figures coming off the building. Upon pulling the door handle towards you to open this façade, a haze of bowling oil comes past your body, escaping to the outside world as if it had been trapped for decades. Trying to recreate this sense or compare it to any other smell is purposeless because there is no experience this can possibly create a truthful comparison to. Once inside the smell that was foreign to your breath no more then seconds earlier has become one with you and the rich orange wooden panels that line the walls confront you with its age. Your eyes moving left to right, top to bottom you notice something extraordinary. Your there! Transported back to a simpler time. When the American dream was believed by the many, not the few. Where one believed that hard work and dedication was all you needed to climb up the economic ladder. This was the promise of the nuclear family, and during this time it was more of the reality then fiction, at least that s what most believed. During this period people worked on machines and made things with their hands. After a hard days work they relaxed with bowling. It was America s sport, on the TV every Friday night when there was only five television stations. You would watch the greatest bowlers become greater and then want to go out with your fellow workers to practice the professional forms that were just televised. The Colonial Lanes bowling alley may have been top of the line in the 60 s with its futuristic chairs and consoles, and automatic pinsetters but few things have changed since then. It is as if time has forgot this place and kept moving on around the walls. 1
What purpose does this building play in the year 2016? We have a connected world now and know more then just the town we live in and the next one over. We get information about what s happening globally in any town in an instant. When most companies are using credit cards and the ones and zeros of binary information to transfer money, this place only accepts true coins and paper money as currency. The Café has no vegan or gluten free options of entrees and the soda on tap is RC Cola served in a Styrofoam cup because they are not concerned with the large sums of money Pepsi and Coca-Cola put into marketing campaigns or environmental issues. Colonial Lanes is occupied with different types of people depending on the day and time you enter. The week days are filled with the senior bowlers looking for a slice of nostalgia and an escape from their lives now filled with daytime television shows and reading the paper. The weeknights are filled with league bowlers, the working class folk that look forward to bowling night while they labor all day at their jobs. The league bowlers have hopes of getting the perfect game and out performing their opponent. It s a feel good moment that cannot be accomplished anywhere else. The weekend afternoons are jam-packed with families celebrating birthdays and other occasions, an excuse to get together and catch up with each other s lives. The weekend nights bring the youthful crowds of high school students trying to find a place with no parents and the college kids out to drink and forget the week. What do they all have in common though? Is it that they come here for an escape from the real world? Maybe the idea is that they have settled for something in their life and somehow this is all they have for enjoyment. Maybe this demographic was created by the fall of American growth and its effect on the middle class. Robert J. Gordon makes this argument in his latest book The Rise and Fall of American growth: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War. This book published only a month ago shows how the American workforce has changed since the civil war. He argues that the biggest reason why economic growth has almost come to a stand still in America is because we haven t seen a 2
great industrial revolution that has charged the American workforce. We had inventions like the car and the plane to help with travel of goods and unless something as dramatic and as large scale of an invention as this happens soon we won t see that growth that the economy needs to stay strong. This lack of an invention affects the lower and shrinking middle class peoples lives more directly then anyone else. At some point in time we all feel the need to get away from the world. We try to find a place that leaves us feeling new and refreshed. Or maybe that place finds us and we can t explain how that happened or what it is about being there that creates this sense. No matter what it is you see in the bowling alley know that this is an escape for these working class people to forget the trouble that lie outside. What is it about this place that brings these people here? Maybe it s that fact that time has forgotten it in its path. It feels different then the other business around. The nonmodernization is comforting for all of its quirks. It s filled with great sadness when you look at the lack of updates, yet this creates much comfort and charm for the same reasons. 3
Figure 1. Just a mile outside of town, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 4
Figure 2. Lane overture, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 5
Figure 3. Business as usual, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 6
Figure 4. Requiem, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 7
Figure 5. Some golden age they never had, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 8
Figure 6. Constant efforts, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 9
Figure 7. Becoming, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 10
Figure 8. The troubles bring good friends, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 11
Figure 9. Tuesday night, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 12
Figure 10. The way these strangers stand so close, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 13
Figure 11. Eternal endeavor, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 14
Figure 12. Our novels need to be written, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 15
Figure 13. Folklore, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 16
Figure 14. Sea of secrets, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 17
Figure 15. Memories don t have to change, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 18
Figure 16. Something so tame its wild, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 19
Figure 17. Things can wait, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 20
Figure 18. Two sugars, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 21
Figure 19. Handed down to me it felt brand new, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 22
Figure 20. While the world went on outside, Archival Pigment Print, 20 inch X 20 inch, 2016 23
Figure 21. End of an era?, Famous Moments In Bowling Video, Television at the bottom of a stairwell, 2016 24
Figure 22. The only way to know what you re made of, Shattered Bowling Ball With Core Removed, 2016 25
Figure 23. Heart of the American dream, Core of bowling ball, 2016 26
Figure 24. Where Time Forgot: A Bowlers Guide, Thesis Exhibition, Levitt Gallery, 2016 27
Figure 24 cont. Where Time Forgot: A Bowlers Guide, Thesis Exhibition, Levitt Gallery, 2016 28