Art historian finds his creative outlet in writing fiction.Byline: Oregon Author by The Register-Guard Name: Stewart Buettner, Portland. He wrote: `The Confessions of Ines' It's about: `` `The Confessions of Ines' tells the life story of a spiritual leader who lived on the frontier On the Frontier: A Melodrama in Two Acts, by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the third and last play in the Auden-Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1938. of 19th century California. Strongly influenced by her mother's devout Catholicism, Ines grows up in the arms of the church. ``In her early 20s, she marries a much older man who, upon his death, leaves her land inhabited by the California Shoshone, among whom she begins to live. There, while facing impossible adjustments to her life, she creates her famous Rancho La Culebra. Eventually, she meets and marries an outcast out·cast n. One that has been excluded from a society or system. out  cast tribal shaman shaman (shä`mən, shā`–, shă`–), religious practitioner in various, generally small-scale societies who is believed to be able to diagnose, cure, and sometimes cause illness because of a special relationship with, or , who teaches her a unique form of
nature mysticism mysticism (mĭs`tĭsĭzəm) [Gr.,=the practice of those who are initiated into the mysteries], the practice of putting oneself into, and remaining in, direct relation with God, the Absolute, or any unifying principle of life. .
`When her first husband's greedy brothers attempt to force her from the land she inherited, she encounters a group of Chinese road workers who help her and the Shoshone defend their rancho home. One of the recent Chinese arrivals, a former Ch'an Buddhist practitioner, works with Ines to create a spirit garden that reveals to her and her followers followers see dairy herd. the secrets of life for which her Catholic education and her exposure to Shoshone beliefs served as ideal preparation.' What do you do for a living? `This is my 30th year of teaching art history at Lewis and Clark College Clark College: see Atlanta Univ. Center. , where I came immediately after completing my Ph.D.' What motivated you to become an art history teacher? `I have been an unrepentant lover of fine art ever since I took a trip to Europe between my freshman and sophomore years in college. Since I also love to write, going for an advanced degree in art history seemed the ideal thing to do. I'm a natural in the classroom and love teaching students about things that have meant so much to me over the years.' Are you by chance also an artist? `No. Writing fiction is my one truly creative endeavor.' What are you working on now? `I'm working on two books. The furthest along is an academic book on the emergence of spiritual ideas in contemporary art on the West Coast. I'm also working on a follow-up to Ines, set in present-day California. It's a novel of the road, a kind of spiritual `Thelma and Louise.' '' Family? `No kids. No pets. But a much loved partner, Kara Kara (kär`ə), river, c.140 mi (230 km) long, NE European and NW Siberian Russia. It flows N from the N Urals into the Kara Sea, forming part of the traditional border between European and Asian Russia. It is navigable in its lower course. Adams, an architect, who tolerates the time I spend writing (and should probably be spending with her) amazingly well.' He's reading: `Miranda Carter's biography of the great art historian and not-so great spy, `Anthony Blunt' (`Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), known as Sir Anthony Blunt, KCVO between 1956 and 1979, was an English art historian, formerly Professor of the History of Art, University of London and director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, London , His Lives'). I've also just started Howard Norman's `The Haunting of L.' ' Oregon authors appears regularly on the Books page. Direct comments or suggestions to Assistant Features Editor Paul Denison, who can be reached by phone at 338-2323, or by e-mail at pdenison@guardnet.com. |
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