Volume 9
Issue 2
June
Article 3
June 1970
Bern Porter Chronology
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J?t
!Paiute
to
Physicist
Painter
Editor
Cartographer
Poet
I/lustrator
Sculptor
Engineer
Urbanologist
Publisher
Photocollagist
Bibliographer
Essayist
Teacher
VISIONARY - REALIST
~W~
SCIENTIST - ARTIST
Colby Library Quarterly
Series
IX
June
1970
BERN PORTER CHRONOLOGY
No.2
1911 Born February 14 on a farm in Porter Settlement, near Houlton, Maine, fourth generation of Irish settlers.
1917-1924 Beginnings of art study in Houlton elementary school and by private instruction.
1924-1928 At Houlton High School active in art, school band, news-paper, yearbook. Wins regional and state prizes for oratory.
1928-1929 One year at Ricker Classical Institute. First production as a publisher; leads to his use of maps as an experimental art form.
1929-1932 Transfers to Colby College on a scholarship. Student in-structor in physics. Works his way as janitor, bellhop, kitchen hand in girls' camp. Becomes aware of the conflict in his mind between science and art. B.S. degree in 1932.
1933 Research scholarship in physics at Brown University. Sc.M. degree in 1933, with thesis on the measurement of alpha particles from radium. Conflict between science and art intensifies.
1934-1935 Starts work on beta rays for doctoral degre,e. Health breaks down. At the height of the Depression he holds odd jobs briefly as motel attendant, assistant store manager, window dresser. When all work peters out, enters Hartford House in New York City, a federally spon-sored home for unemployed white collar workers. Takes up painting again and executes his first sculpture.
1935-1940 Position as physicist with the Acheson Colloids Corporation. Writes numerous technical articles for this firm and popular scientific treatments for American and foreign periodicals. New York City art circle expands his experimental tendencies. Meets Salvador Dali and Max Ernst, who stimulate his interest in non-objective and surrealistic modes. Trip to England and France deepens his knowledge of Dada. Startles art world by his exhibition of "natural" sculpture, Metamorphic
Rhizome. Tries photography as an art form. Waterfight (1937). Dol-drums (1938). Colloidal Graphite (1938).
1940-1945 Assigned by draft board to the Manhattan District, the secret project for development of the atom bOlTlb. At the Department of
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Physics in Princeton University, meets Einstein and Oppenheinler. The Art Departnlent of the university puts on the first one-man show of his care!er: bone sculptures, surrealistic photographs, industrial brass con-structions, etc. Contributes to The Leaves Fall (1942-1945). Transferred to the Radiation Laboratory in the University of California, Berkeley. Visits Henry Miller at Big Sur; commences correspondence with Osbert Sitwell, Lawrence Durrell, Paul Rosenberg, Kenneth Patchen, and others, in preparation for books on Miller's life and works. Edits and publishes six books by or about Miller (1944-1946). Transferred to Oak Ridge, Tennessee; growing doubts about the morality of creating an atom bomb. Contributes to the little magazine Circle (1944-1946).
1945 Resigns his job as physicist on August 7, day after the explosion of the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Works as an engineer for a few months; enhances his proficiency in the art of photography through his knowledge of physics. More than ever convinced that science and art ("Sciart") must combine to reveal the beauty of natural form.
1946-1949 Retreats to hills north of San Francisco. Burst of creative activity - maps, montages, photograms, poems, essays, Art Techniques (1947). Publishes Berkeley (1947-1951). Henry Miller Bibliography
(1947). Founds the Schillerhaus in Sausalito, California, a center of "creative thought wherein the many who came there, not as a school or forum, exchanged notes on design, poems, art forms and life"; also the Contemporary Gallery, art center for encouragement and exhibition of works in the Abstract Expressionist style by young unknowns. Issues the Sciart Manifesto: "Finite worlds of infinite re'ality revealed by the tools and discoveries of Science are ripe for aesthetic development."
The Union of Science and Art (1948).
1950-1954 Assistant editor for the Guam Daily News. Information Officer for the Office of Price Stabilization. Correspondent for the United Press. Waiter in nightclub. Lectures and writes extensively on Sciart in Japan; guilt-visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Exhibition of his artistic experiments at Chugoku Museum. Designs and edits the
K V AM Pictorial, Guam's first picture magazine. Returns to San Fran-cisco (1954). Initiates Broadside (1954-1956). Promotes peaceful uses of atomic energy.
1955-1960 Technical Engineering Writer for the Convair Astronautics Corporation. Drawings: 1954-1955 (1956). Electronics work in Vene-zuela for the Collins Radio Company. Electronics engineer with the Civil Aeronautics Administration. Rejected as a security risk for job as physicist with U. S. Navy. H. L. Mencken: A Bibliography (1957). Assistant Instrument Engineer for Burnie Board, Ltd., in Australia. Returns to Maine. Teaches English and French in the Ashland Com-munity School District. Physics for Tomorrow (1959).
1961 Travels to Scandinavia and the Soviet Union. Associate Profes-sor at the College of Advanced Science in Canaan, New Hampshire.
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1962 Teaches English in interior Puerto Rico. Issues Founds, latest art works.
[The years 1962 through 1967 are fully documented in Part IV of James
Schevill's biographical sketch, which follows this Chronology.]
1967 Illustrates Taifun Willi by Dick Higgins. Cited in Royal Blue Book, London. Incident with Huntsville police nationally publicized, later called the Alabama Affair. Publishes Kalenderrolle by Ebeling and Dietrich (B. P. Books).
1968 Leaves Apollo Space Program, February 7. Consultant to Edi-torial Pedra Santa, Guatemala City, for International Executive Service Corps. Returns to Maine. Prepares lawsuits by mail in Alabama Affair. Consultant for Small Business Administration, Advanced Technology Associates, Inc., Volunteers for International Technical Assistance, and Correspondent for World Field Research. Joins Knox County Regional Planning Commission.
1969 Exhibits painting, "The Park," at Farnsworth Museum in Rock-land. Drawings published in Marijuana Review. Frequent appearances before meetings on coastal pollution. B. P. Books issues volumes on Reich, Langlais, R. Buckminster Fuller, and others. Writes A Regional
Report and A Regional Report Summary on Knox County survey. Announces candidacy for Governor of Maine "to best bring views to GOP platform and future policies for development of the state."
RICHARD CARY
BERN PORTER
