07/13/2023
Before I begin let me say that the entire body of my late wife Jeri Wagner's body of artwork is available in catalog format in hardcover, paperback and Kindle at the following link as well as others:
https://a.co/d/ez2ZgRH
Many of my late wife Jeri Wagner’s contemporaries from the powerful generation of artists that came out of her class at Stony Brook University moved at an alpha pace to get into art shows in New York or to make big bucks at a feverish climb up the patron ladder but the one common denominator between all of these creative luminaries, unlike Jeri, was they all worked in a single media say oil paints or like the infamous Sculpture Dogs of the art department, sculpture.
Whereas Jeri maneuvered through several fields of art – wood construction, collage, ceramics, photography and fiber as well as other fields de minimis to her overall production though no less prolific - reaching the top of her craft on her own terms and choosing carefully shows she wished to exhibit in rather than trying to grab it all and like many of her contemporaries who worked dual careers say as an artist and an art teacher she did the same as an artist complementing her artistic journey with a monumental 34 year career at the Met rising from a retail cashier at a small gallery specific gift shop to the slide librarian of the Met.
And Jeri was the foremost authority at the Met on digitalization and the concurrent fluid copyright laws always putting the interest of the venerable Met institution first while flying low below the radar yet with such powerful knowledge that the lawyers would defer to her, although she refused to work directly with them saying that was above her pay grade but having no problem working on any legal issues directly with their superiors in the director’s suite or the curatorial departments whether it be Pop Art or Ancient Near Eastern or Zhou Dynasty bronze works or medieval European tapestries, all of that was within her pay grade.
And if she was having the occasional bad day being say berated by an art prima donna she would leave her desk and view part of the Met’s trillion dollar art collection briefly before returning to her office refreshed and back on an even keel.
Jeri would also act as a sort of translator between her intellectually savvy supervisor Julie who thought in a circular way not unlike Native Americans and the linear thought process of most of the curatorial staff.
Jeri also flew low under the radar like the so called Invisible Hand spoken of by British economist Adam Smith and adopted by many esteemed American jurists who all also were flying under the radar.
Jeri also broke through the glass ceiling of the guild like wall of the art world dominated by those with Masters Degrees in Fine Arts (MFAs) and PhDs all with elite private school pedigrees while she rode her public university BA in Studio Art to the top of the Met over a career that spanned 34 years.
Jeri broke away from the Met briefly twice, once heading down to the now defunct SoHo Guggenheim which she found as a satellite of the uptown main branch not up to Met standards and quickly returned to the Met with ease.
Then she also spent time working at the now defunct 57th Street Y but solely to work on her ceramic skills with 24-7 access to their pottery wheels and kilns while swapping her ceramic pieces with those of the giants of pottery in New York. And again, she had no problem returning with the closing of the Y to the Met which hungered for her broad skill set like a fentanyl user.
Once during our first trip to the Louvre I looked at her and said I think you have mislead me all these years about the Met being the greatest art museum in the world and without breaking her stride Jeri replied calmly, the Louvre had a Sun King for a patron and we had robber barons. And in no way was she using the term robber baron in a derogatory way as the wealthy Met patron base followed the strict code of American philanthropy established a century earlier by fellow Scottish American Andrew Carnegie himself which was you made your wealth now give it back to our society.
She could turn around a rush image order for say Toni Morrison or the Cluny Moyen Age in Paris while turning down the late New York icon Tony Randall’s request for a Met discount because his membership had expired whereas she followed the strict mantra of Cheap is Cheap, as Randall stumbled away in shock teary eyed.
And while doing check in at a Met gala once the comic actor Chevy Chase said to her jokingly as he headed through the entranceway, are you sure you want to let me in there pretending to stumble in his trademark slapstick fashion while Jeri looked at him emotionlessly finding no humor when it came to any risk to the Met collection whether real or part of a joke line. Needless to say, Chase walked away puzzled as to the ineffectiveness of his comic banter.
Jeri also did not hesitate to socialize with her Met colleagues whether off campus at a local French bistro or on campus at the Met’s mezzanine wine bar as a string quartet performed in the background with me often in tow.
Jeri also participated in Met functions like the annual Met employee holiday party sponsored by the late Manhattan socialite Brooke Astor at the Temple of Dendur glass enclosed atrium and open to all 2,000 Met staffers.
She also never missed placing one of her works in the Met’s annual employee art show while partaking in the opening night’s reception with colleagues and of course me gleefully in tow. As an aside it is worth noting that actually the Met guards were the superstar artists of the show year in and year out.
Jeri and I often attended Met lectures featuring god like figures ranging from the very personable likes of Zahi Hawass and Mary Beard to the entire multi-institutional curatorial team assembled for of one of the Met’s most important Hudson River School special exhibitions.
Jeri was also in demand for special projects on a regular basis by Jeff Walker the curator of the Walker Evans collection where she had the uncanny ability to differentiate almost exact images between both of Walker Evans’ photographic copyright holders, the Met and the Library of Congress.
Both she and Jeff Walker were perfectionists when it came to art of which I had firsthand experience helping Jeri to prep her art tediously over a period of hours or even days so that not the slightest microscopic blemish was visible on any of the images of her works being readied for submission to shows in Chelsea, SoHo, the Village, the Hudson Valley and Europe. Not unlike John Lennon and Yoko Ono or Paul McCarthy and the other Beatles working intensely together or individually in a studio
And turning now to her creative artist career she did indeed exhibit at the aforementioned major art capitals. It was based on our successful move to Brooklyn with both she and I realizing that her art career and my professional career were going nowhere fast on Long Island. Our move to Brooklyn allowed me to attend Brooklyn Law School whereas soon after I was elevated to the bench as a New York State Human Rights judge serving under three governors.
Meanwhile, Jeri with lightning speed as a member of a feminist art organization which took a special interest in grooming her specifically and quite successfully for the New York art scene. Yet, it took her years to meet her ultimate goal of having a piece entered into the world renowned Small Works Show at NYU which she finally attained turning out with friends and family from far and near to the Opening reception so that the galleries were packed and dominated by Jeri aficionados.
And no sooner had we moved years later to the Hudson Valley after a time doing the ubiquitous town and country summer home thing in the Catskills in Margaretville than her art was accepted into a prestigious gallery in Poughkeepsie by the famed muralist Franc Palaia who also like Jeri was a top-notch multidisciplinary artist acting as curator.
We attended this Opening with our new Hudson Valley friends who abruptly realized that they were in the presence of someone special when Franc Palaia himself along with the other select curators awarded Jeri First Prize which she accepted matter of factly, yet with sincere gratitude.
Unfortunately, Jeri’s art and Met career were cut short by breast cancer the traumatic details of which I will not go into other than to say that she was the bravest person I ever knew and is best exemplified by Jeri, me and Franc’s Hudson Valley political leader, former long time Dutchess County Democratic chairwoman and fellow Hillary Clinton presidential organizer and fellow Stony Brook University alumni, Elisa Sumner who simply stated upon Jeri’s passing, “Too early.” Enough said, let’s head towards her body of art.
Michael Boyajian, July 13, 2023
A Compendium of Art: The Collected Works of Jeri Wagner
