18 comments (Add your own)

1. Gabriel Shaffer wrote:

Besides my mom, Cher Shaffer, who is also an artist, Aethelred and his work completely annihalted the creative borders of my then young mind. I heard him read Blake in the Chapel dozens of times.He inspired me to begin experimenting with the visual medium again. His work has also inspired me to further experiment with the relationships between sound,symbol and image. I have some of his self printed volumes he would sell through the print shop in athens, when i lived there and i also bought one of his older volumes from one of his openings.
i have them decorating my fridge and the walls in my studio to serve as a reminder and a keystone.

I would very much like to know how i can contact him or send him something, im not sure if he will remember me, i was friends with his son,Saxon. I would really appreciate it if you would contact me with his mailing address.I would also like to add your blog to my website.

Sincerely,
Gabriel Shaffer

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:16 PM

2. doebtown wrote:

Well, this might sound like a strange thing to have taken from AE’s class, but here goes. I was a student at OU from 1996-2000 and had him my last quarter. My next endeavor was law school.

And–I gotta tell you–when you first start law school, you have NO idea what the hell they’re talking about . . . you know there’s some deeper meaning, connecting together what the lectures are all about, but it doesn’t quite click. And I’ll be damned, but it felt a hell of a lot like what I’d been through with AE.

I maintain to this very day that AEthelred did more to prepare me for a successful transition to the study of law than the rest of the professors I had at OU combined.

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:17 PM

3. Chanda wrote:

I was a student at OU from 1996-2000. I must say his performances were amazing, always wanting/ waiting to see what would transpire in this class. One day, I sat in the 10th row give or take and was trying to memorize lines for Into the Woods and he started discussing Jack and the Bean Stalk and Cinderella. Learn many things from this man on a human and spitual level.

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:18 PM

4. Stephen Davis wrote:

I have used elements of his lectures as models for my own investigations and discussions of perception and motivation since the early 70’s. I learned things that I incorporate into many aspects of my life. My comments would probably shock him, and I’ll bet that if we talked about it today, he would say, “That’s not what I meant.”, in his own way of course, or he would laugh at my interpretations. I’m okay with that.

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:18 PM

5. Tracy Bellar wrote:

Eldridge’s classes would begin at a point and grow and grow with his energy. He would make you feel like you should never close your expectations and your learning capabilities. Always be ready to experience and never limit yourself. Always question but never in a negative way. Question why but do it in a way to make yourself ready to learn more. Never accept something as the best you can do always strive to do better. He would make his flier/ Art that he would go through Seigfried handing out until they were gone. It gave you sense of never taking yourself too seriously or your Artwork. Make it about the creation but don’t put yourself on a pedastel. This was my take on his classes and what I got out of it. I think that each person could get a different messages from him. They could all learn different things at the same time each what they needed to learn at that time. I can’t say I understand all his art but I admire his style his spirit and his prolific tendencies. His energy and voice would wake up any student that needed a kick in the pants.

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:18 PM

6. Robbie Schneider wrote:

While living in Athens, after having graduated from OU, a friend came back and took me out to Aethelred’s home. I’d honestly never even heard of him, but my friend had taken his classes. This was the first of maybe five or six unannounced visits to his place. He was always extremely hospitable, offering us a Schlitz to drink while we talked. Actually, AE did most of the talking. My friend tried to keep-up… I just enjoyed listening! The most memorable visit was January 1, 2000, when my friend, our girlfriends and myself drove over from Cincinnati. Due to the weather, we were inside the entire time with the fireplace going. He took us on a tour of everything: upstairs, downstairs, workshop, home, etc. Fond memories!

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:19 PM

7. Kyle Browne wrote:

Before graduating in 2007, I had the chance to take his class, essentially, twice. Two similar “lectures” are listed under different headings, which, in the spirit of AE, may be a clever circumvention of the standard course-taking rules.
It is an amazing attempt to extract the bits of meaning from the tips of his many varied tangents, and pull them back together to synthesize any quantity (and quality) of new associations.
Some of my most interesting implicitly-conceived drawings have come from (I would assume) the affects of his train of thought speeches.

I wish I had noted more of his phrases, but the one which stuck without ink is stirring: “I shot an arrow into the sky. Where it landed, I know not why.”
(also, I seem to recall this being said with no pretext, nor context.)

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:19 PM

8. Vincent Gonzalez wrote:

I participated in Aethelred’s classes in my junior year. As he stated in class, I received the skinny on his classes but before I signed up or attended, I knew what I was in for; avant garde artistry. I couldn’t be more pleased with the result and I would even venture as far as to say that Autopsical Art and Art In Your Life are two of the best courses I’ve ever taken (don’t tell my philosophy professors!) I exhumed AE’s rhetoric and strove to take down notes, hoping to relive the association and craftsmanship. AE’s meticulous and impenetrable style mirror the radiance and prestige of art itself and without the proper guidance of AE to help bring out the a priori ideas / forms of ‘knowledge’ through causal relation and necessary conditioning, as well as interpreting his careful, effusive bloviation, I wouldn’t begin to have opened my mind flying it solo. Te doy gracias, Aethelred!

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:20 PM

9. Matt Leach wrote:

At the risk of sounding stupid, but not *really* caring if that’s the case, this is a man who some 40-45 years ago fed me pancakes after I had spent the night with the Eldridge clan on Morris Avenue. As I was well under 10 at the time and have suffered much memory loss over the decades, this is about the best I can do. EXCEPT to say he was part of a group of OU parents that made this/that kid feel like he was part of a large, interesting family. A large, interesting family of artists, no less. It was a mysterious and exciting world.

And occasionally there were pancakes for breakfast.

Hi Karla.

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:20 PM

10. John Swanson wrote:

I used to sit in on Eldridge’s class in free time, a kind of brain scrub. It’s a performance, but he’s lead-pipe serious.

Evan, if you do indeed have recordings, feel free to email.

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:20 PM

11. Michael wrote:

Still probably in my top 3 of classes taken at OU. I’ve learned that college is pretty useless in general, but he at least shook me awake, and I never missed a class.

Our final exam was to make a man out of bread, and I made a George Bush breadman about two feet long, spead out over a map of the middle east spreading jelly within Iraq’s borders with a butter knife (this was before the war). Mine was the only breadman that went beyond the assignment…

He took one look at it, and then demanded to know who was responsible for it. When I raised my hand he screamed “That’s not a breadman, that’s a goddamn political statement!” Then he made the entire class get up and look at my masterpiece one by one.

Thanks AE.

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:21 PM

12. Andy H wrote:

Back in 1978 I remember interviewing Aethelred for a photo essay assignment. When I was in his office alone with him I had the distinct feeling that unseen others were in the room hovering around my head? I have never had this feeling before or after that interview.

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:21 PM

13. Debbie Hunter wrote:

I visited Golgonooza several times many years ago, thrilled by the magic and kindred spirits. Though Aethelred and Alex seemed to be years ahead of me on the journey, I recognized and was heartened to meet comrades-at-arms. My Golgonooza is a musical/mystical construct, a work in progress, and the journey is the work; Beauty is Love and the Song is Logos is Creation. I hold Aethelred in my heart always.

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:21 PM

14. Matthew McLennan wrote:

Great site. Thank you. For the last few years I’ve stuffed envelopes and sent them off to AE at
OU not knowing if he was still there . Usually a package arrived (indescribably euphoric) with a gracious response and more of his art. Perhaps I’ll be able to post these letters somewhere soon. Hope this site stays active I have a few more AE stories. Once again, great job!

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:22 PM

15. Matthew McLennan wrote:

Matt. Sinews and thews and corded thighs unt chinks spread thru little curd cheese on fled on line intimately splashing pig walls with bricks enjoyable in so far as relentless perfection pursued remits withdrawal no further than ‘gainst the grit the sword removes its sheath
engraved upon what first of surface gambled up front countenance on like everything never set upon by the sun never raising sculpted death to smokers warnings delighting in infirmity bulleting portable plastic along smouldering fed expressed grants caught up with spinal oversights receiving citations from the small engrailed edge incorrigible and no where else to go in where it’s coming from that chores serious first prize winners currently laffing thru their grits in narrativ discontinuities new begotten.
AE 2005

Tue, October 12, 2010 @ 12:22 PM

16. Oroboros wrote:

I took every course of his that I could.

The unofficial story we learned was that in the 70s he'd hosted some really wild acid parties and just took one too many trips. Sometime around then the College of Arts and Sciences decided to move him away from impressionable young English majors and punted him over to the College of Fine Arts (because he had tenure and couldn't be fired, and presumably the art students were already pretty fucked up and it would limit the damage).

At least one of our class projects involved planting tin men on the lawn around the College of Arts and Sciences.

I remember the big MLK day controversy in the early 90s. He was censured at some level for having said to some black students "you had your fucking holiday" on the day after MLK when they were talking in class and not paying attention. I think the Fish Party (or at least Elliott Ratzman) helped stage some kind of street theater mocking the politically correct lynch mob mentality. Good stuff.

I was one of only a few people who ever actively participated in his class. I could follow maybe 30% of what he was talking about.

Mike

Fri, December 3, 2010 @ 4:44 PM

17. Ken Shapero wrote:

Stumbled upon this website. What a joy. If you might remember I lived in a Teepee on your lake in the winter of 1970. Wrote poetry. Gary Snyder was my far away adviser. Took many a class and be in's with you in the late 60's. Worked at Art Park. Now living near the Everglades and admiring the gators. Glad you are still happening.

Sun, June 12, 2011 @ 9:46 PM

18. Martje wrote:

I was stniitg here thinking about your post wondering what it was you were really trying to say, either way I think you re doing a great job with this site- keep up the great work.

Sat, February 11, 2012 @ 12:00 AM

Add a New Comment

Your Name:

Your Email/URL (Optional):

Your Comment:

Enter the code you see below:

 

Comment Guidelines: No HTML is allowed. Off-topic or inappropriate comments will be edited or deleted. Thanks.