Architectures of Longing
Architectures of Longing
By Bethany Beeler
As an artist, I like to create snapshots that move in time. Dynamic, not static. I encourage the viewer’s eye to move in their own desired direction, at their own tempo. I also like putting “Easter eggs” in my work, again, letting the viewer discover what they will, at their own will/desire.
Baseball is an inspiration for me not only because of formative memories as a child, teen, and young adult (the 1979 Pirates will always be my “rite-de-passage” team) but because of the “frozen-in-time” beauty of significant baseball moments and monuments, human and otherwise. Derek Jeter’s flipping the ball to Posada to nip a non-sliding Jeremy Giambi at the plate. Denkinger’s Game 6 safe call that shaped the 1985 Series (I cheered it because, hey, it was the comeback kid Royals!). The bewilderment on Buckner’s face after the ball trickled through his legs. Roberto Clemente’s swan-dive grace in the 1971 Series. And, painfully, Sid Bream sliding home to seal the Pirates’ fate in 1992, along with a host of other images.
The scope and emptiness afforded by stadium architecture spawns awe in the shaping of space for a blessed activity—that’s the Roger Angell-esque inspiration behind these four works.
1925
This is a World Series that will remain cemented in imagination because of the paucity of photographs, the loss of Forbes and Griffith fields, and the haunting sepia-tone radio broadcast of the fateful Game 7 where even the mightiest efforts of the great Walter Johnson couldn’t overcome the Pirates and the vagaries of rain and mud. This painting is an imagined aerial shot from the Griffith roof of what the opening game start might’ve looked like in the dreaming mind of a young person listening faraway on nascent radio technology. (Historical Easter egg—the black and gold of the Buccos in this painting is an overlay of my youthful experience of the more contemporary Crusadin’ Corsairs. In 1925, the ‘Burghers would’ve donned gray road jerseys with blue “P’s” on the sleeves and red-piping trim.)
1951
This work is patterned after the ubiquitous (to Brooklyn fans) and ecstatic (to Giants fans) photograph of the impending home-plate celebration after Thomson’s Shot Heard Round the World. Here, I juxtapose the streamers and confetti (plus the Giants’ elation) with the slumped shoulders of the Dodgers as they exit stage left. There’s an easter egg here that you won’t find in the photo.
Ghost of 1988
Most will remember 1988 for Kirk Gibson’s Series-1st-game pinch-hitting heroics. I remember 1988 as the year Orel Hershiser dominated during the stretch run. This watercolor captures the perspective of batter after batter who had to face him.
Ghost of Our Lady of the Snows
On being asked how he spent his winters, Rogers Hornsby reportedly said, “I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring!” What did the big-league city-dweller of Hornsby’s era look for when Punxsutawney Phil glimpsed shadow on a day when the renewed promise of baseball, green fields, and summer beers by the landing radio were but a dream? They saw a snow-covered cathedral next to their pastime church of choice, all under a thin blanket of what they knew was doomed to melt but feared was here forever.
Author and artist (she does the cover paintings for her books), Bethany A. Beeler was born and raised in the Pittsburgh, PA area. After college, she settled in Texas for the next 37 years with her wife Pamalyn, raising three children, and mayoring the city of Krum, TX. She’s been a professor, teacher, and tech writer. For more info, you can visit her website, Twitter, or Instagram.