UAlbany 1, Hamilton College 0

Back when I was a high school senior and was sending out college applications, the guidance counselors recommended several colleges and universities in New York where they felt I would thrive best, and I dutifully filled out the applications and wrote the essays and gave my best efforts.

Essentially, I applied to four colleges.  Here’s the results.

• Colgate rejected me.  Because of that, I switched my choice of toothpaste to Crest.
• Skidmore would accept me, but they could not provide financial aid for me.
• Hamilton College accepted me and provided financial aid.  Ended up going there and graduating in 1985.
• I still haven’t heard back from UAlbany.

That was always a running joke with me – I applied to UAlbany back when it was SUNY-Albany in 1981, and I still haven’t heard back from them as to whether or not they will take me as an underclassman.

Let’s spin the time machine forward from 1981 to 2010 – specifically, June of 2010.  I was in the middle of my photographic “polar panorama” phase, and while I was at Hamilton for my 25th reunion, I took a polar panorama portrait of the Hamilton College Chapel.  I submitted the panorama to the college alumni magazine., thinking that my photo would be worthy of the alumni magazine.  I heard back from the college.  They already had hundreds of photographs of the Chapel, from every possible angle imaginable, as they said.  They appreciated my submission, but at that time they were not interested in adding the photo to their holdings.

Oh well.

Let’s go to the next part of our story.  Once upon a time, there was a TU blogger named J. Eric Smith.  He blogged for the TU for about five years, and he and I met up at several get-together blog meetings (there was always this discussion between us about which New Zealand rock band was better, he swears by this band called the Clean, when I know that Dragon is the superior rock group).

Anyways, J. Eric contacted me a few weeks ago, and said that he really liked my Nipper Polar Panorama photograph, and wanted to purchase a copy of the picture for his office.  I obliged.

Then came the bombshell.

He later told me that the organization he works with is associated with the University at Albany, and that they’re looking for fresh new artwork for their campus buildings.  And he suggested to the architects involved in the decoration of these new campus buildings that Nipper’s Polar Panorama would be perfect for one of the campus dining halls.

Okay, let me boil this down to small words.

A college wants to buy my artwork for their holdings.

The University at Albany – the State University of New York at Albany – wants my artwork to join their world-class art collection.  This is supposed to happen to someone else.  They should be contacting Steve McCurry or Annie Liebowitz or Herb Ritts or Robert Mapplethorpe or someone.

It was at that point that I realized… my photo of the dog on top of the Arnoff Moving and Storage Building will now be part of a college’s art collection, and will be appreciated and seen by generations of underclassmen.

Wow.  Simply wow.

Oh man oh man oh man…

I knew what I had to do this weekend.

I re-generated the Nipper Polar Panorama shot to a diamond print (only one other copy of that picture exists in “diamond-print” format, and it’s in the hand of a very happy private collector).  A trip to Ritz Camera in Crossgates Mall for them to print the picture out, laminate it and foam-board it.

Then a trip to Arlene’s Art Supply on Fuller Road, where I purchased the frame rails and a custom-cut pane of glass.

Then back home, where I assembled the project.  Although there are excellent framers in the Capital District who will take the time and effort to frame your image or artwork properly, my project was very simple and could be assembled at home.  The frame rails were joined together at 90-degree angles.  The pane of glass and the artwork were CAREFULLY inserted into the rails of the frame.  I bolted the last rail to the frame, and inserted metal spacers so that the picture would not move or bounce in the frame and would stay pinned close to the front glass.  The finishing touch – I added hanging hooks to the two upper rails.

Then, at around 8:00 this morning, I brought the completed artwork to J. Eric Smith’s office, where it will go from his custody to the University at Albany.

My sincere thanks to J. Eric Smith and to UAlbany for this wonderful honor.  I am both humbled and honored that something I created is now part of a university’s art collection.

And of course, now my alma mater, Hamilton College, is on the clock.  Hey Ham Tech – if you don’t want the Chapel panorama, I’ve got a great photo of a lighthouse in Nova Scotia that might work for you…