Sidewalk Sam

Sidewalk Sam is the performative name for Robert Charles Guillemin (born 4 May 1939), a Boston-based artist who resides in Newton, Massachusetts. He is best recognized for his reproductions of European masterpieces, chalked or painted on the sidewalk. Following an accident in 1994 that left him paralyzed, Guillemin increased his focus on large participatory art projects for communities and businesses. His motto, on a stickie at the top of his computer, reads "Entertain, Inspire, Empower and Unite".

History

In the summer of 1973, Guillemin first took to the streets of Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts to draw famous artworks on crowded street corners where passersby filled a bucket with change. ["In Boston, There Is A Danger of Stepping On, Say A Rembrandt," by Laird Hart, "The Wall Street Journal", July 17, 1974, page 1.] By the early 1980s, Guillemin found business sponsors for his street artworks and shifted to longer-lasting acrylic paints. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Guillemin also organized chalk-drawing festivals, open-air art exhibits, and public art events that engaged participants in the creation of large mosaics, murals, and banners. In 1990 and 1991, Guillemin organized the Boston Artists’ Summer Festival. ["Artist's Work Moves out onto the Streets in Summer Festival," by Christine Temin, "The Boston Globe", August 2, 1991 (Arts Section)]

In 1994, an accident paralyzed Guillemin from the chest down, confining him to a wheelchair. ["Welcome back, Sidewalk Sam," "The Boston Globe", 27 October 1995, page: 41.] After his accident, Guillemin returned to street painting and continues to organize participatory art events in Boston and internationally.

Education

As an undergraduate, Guillemin attended Boston College, the University of Illinois, and, finally, Boston University, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in 1962. While at Boston College, he also attended courses at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (a.k.a., Boston Museum School).

After gradation from Boston University, Guillemin traveled to Paris and attended courses at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie de Grande Chaumière. Starting in 1965, Guillemin studied for his master’s degree in painting at Boston University, where Walter Tandy Murch (1907-1967) was the chief graduate painting faculty. Guillemin received his MFA in 1967.

olo exhibitions

* Structural Surfaces: April, 1971, the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University. ["Art Bog: Squeeze at Brandeis Hits Rose Museum Exhibit," By Charles Giuliano, "Boston Herald Traveler", April 10, 1971.]
* Quick Sketches: December, 1971, the Institute of Contemporary Art on Beacon Street in Boston.

Group exhibitions

* Flush with the Walls: June 15, 1971, Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Guillemin worked with a group of five artists (Kristin Johnson, Todd McKie, Martin Mull, David Raymond and Jo-Sandman) to stage a protest event/exhibition in a men's restroom located in the museum's lower level. ["Painting in Boston: 1950-2000" (exhibition catalogue), eds. Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, Nicholas Capasso, and Jennifer Uhrhane (Lincoln, Mass: DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park; Amherst, Mass.: distributed by University of Massachusetts Press, 2002), page: 34-36.]

Awards and Recognitions

* Official Screever of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1984.

References

Distinguished relatives

Ernst Guillemin was his uncle, and he is the younger brother of M.I.T. mathematician Victor W. Guillemin, recipient in 2003 of the American Mathematical Society's Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement [http://www.ams.org/ams/press/steele-guillemin.html] . His brother-in-law is revolutionary historian Ray Raphael.

External links

Official Art Street Inc. website: [http://www.sidewalksam.com]

two-and-a-half-minute WGBH TV newsclip from 14 May 1990 about a mural involving 30,000 schoolkids: [http://main.wgbh.org/ton/programs/7276_01.html]

10-minute video: at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital 18 Sept 2006 [http://www.energymedicine101.com/samtrailer/index.htm]

project at Boston's Big Dig: [http://www.history.com/exhibits/bigdig/vsam.html]

17 Aug 2006—one participant at "Chalk One Up For The Arts" posted a slideshow: [http://web.mac.com/erikmeyer/iWeb/Site/sidewalk%20sam.html]

another fan blogged: [http://electkevin.blogspot.com/2005/08/sidewalk-sam.html]

addressing his alma mater, Boston University’s School for the Arts, in 2001: [http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2001/06-08/sam.html]

golden oldie—"The Harvard Crimson" from 18 Oct 1973: [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=114303]

2 August 2007, "The Boston Globe": [http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2007/08/02/youths_hopes_draw_on_vision_of_peace]

For further reading:

"The Improper Bostonian", 29 August–11 Sept 2007, p. 28

"Sayings for Sidewalk Sam", compiled and calligraphed by F.N. Wombat (e-book pending through Art Street Inc website)

"Time", 4 Nov 1985, p. 70: That's Sam to the left of Garrison Keillor, at a poetry event Sam organized on Boston Common (F.N. Wombat, "i.e.", Richard Martin Jarrell, on right); Keillor is reciting his epic satirical poem, "The Finn Who Would Not Take a Sauna".