Department of Cinematic Arts
the
gus blaisdell
write-ups and memorials
An obituary and article both printed from the Albuquerque Journal, Tuesday September 23, 2003:
Obituary
by Ira Jaffe, Professor Emeritus
BLAISDELL -- Gus Blaisdell, writer and educator, died in Albuquerque on September 17, 2003, four days before his 68th birthday. Blaisdell created and taught popular courses in cinema studies such as Teen Rebels and Poetry and Radical Film for almost 25 years at The University of New Mexico, where his work helped to establish a program and then a department in media arts. Blaisdell also taught in the Department of Art and Art History, and served at UNM on numerous master's degree and doctoral committees. Previously Blaisdell had taught philosophy and mathematics for six years at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro.
Blaisdell's publications were as various as his teaching. His critical essays addressed still photography, motion pictures, painting, and philosophy, among other subjects, and he lectured widely in Europe and the United States. His book with photographer Lewis Baltz entitled Park City was published by Leo Castelli Gallery of New York City in 1981; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art published his monograph on painter Guy Williams the following year. A former student of literary critic Yvor Winters at Stanford University, Blaisdell also composed books of poetry and fiction, including Fractionally Awake Monad, Prose Ocean, and Dented Fenders, all in the 1970s.
Blaisdell savored friendships with internationally renowned figures in the arts and humanities, including Baltz, philosopher Stanley Cavell, the writer Evan Connell, poet Robert Creeley, and art critic Max Kozloff. Along with his teaching and writing, Blaisdell was proprietor for many years of the Living Batch bookstore, founded by Pancho Elliston, where Allen Ginsberg and other poets read and discussed their work amid the Batch's legendary cornucopia of new and used books. Blaisdell also ran Living Batch Press, publisher of handsome, spacious books of poetry and prose by Clark Coolidge, Ronald Johnson, Geoffrey Young and others. As much as anything, Blaisdell relished warm and witty conversation, often conducted in the public sphere.
He would meet friends, colleagues, and students in popular Central Avenue restaurants near UNM and Nob Hill to take up sundry topics of the day such as movies and politics. He seemed to value the raw, theatrical space of the boulevard as much as he did the classroom, though privacy and quiet were also essential to him. Born in San Diego, he became an unusually visible, vital presence in Albuquerque, the city he adopted in 1964 and came to love and serve. He died of a sudden heart attack on Central Avenue. Gus Blaisdell is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Blaisdell; his children, Shawn, Luc and Casey Blaisdell of Albuquerque; Nicole Blaisdell-Ivey of Bozeman, Montana; their mother, Sally Blaisdell; and his stepdaughter, Alexandra Freedman-Smith. A memorial service will be held at the UNM Alumni Chapel on Tuesday, September 23, at 5:30 p.m. Donations in Blaisdell's memory can be made to the UNM Department of Media Arts to establish the Gus Blaisdell Scholarship in Critical Writing.
UNM Professor Helped Authors
By Paul Logan, Staff Writer
Gus Blaisdell, a popular college lecturer and bookstore owner, was known for "smoothing the pathway" to help dozens of authors get published, a friend said. Blaisdell died Wednesday after a heart attack on Central Avenue, four days before his 68th birthday. He operated the Living Batch Bookstore, located next to the Frontier Restaurant, for many years before closing in 1999.
People on campus were stunned by his death, said Ira Jaffe, retired chairman of the Department of Media Arts. Jaffe said there was a lot of shock and grief because Blaisdell was "quite popular." He said Blaisdell typically attracted large classes, sometimes more than 100 students.
Tall and lean with a full beard and disheveled hair, Blaisdell was teaching Images of Women in Film and International Horror Film this semester, Jaffe said.
"He loved to perform," Jaffe said. "He had a great theatrical flair, a great presence. People just found him interesting to look at and to be with ..." Blaisdell was considered an intellectual in a broad sense because he had formally studied and worked in a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, literature and visual arts such as painting and photography, Jaffe said. "He had a passion for a variety of subject matter," Jaffe said. "He could bring them all to bear on a particular film or body of films."
Jaffe said Blaisdell was extremely articulate and had a remarkable memory, including the ability to remember shot-by-shot sequences of films. Blaisdell also was a philosopher, writer and poet who cared about people, said Beth Hadas, former director of UNM Press. "He had a huge influence on publishing in a lot of different ways," Hadas said. In addition to being an editor at UNM Press, Blaisdell was "a scout" for several publishers and authors and was instrumental in the development of American Indian literature, she said.
Blaisdell was the editor who helped Scott Momaday's book, "The Way to Rainy Mountain," get published. "It was probably the most important book UNM has ever published," said Hadas, noting that UNM Press has been around for 74 years. Hadas said Blaisdell used to ask her to read authors' manuscripts, "smoothing the pathway for people's writing to get published."
Born Charles Augustus Blaisdell II in San Diego, he was the only child of a Navy officer, said Elizabeth Blaisdell, his wife of 12 years. He was a liberal who called the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. one of his heroes.
Blaisdell, a graduate of Stanford University, taught at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology before coming to UNM Press. His wife said he taught at UNM for nearly 25 years and knew "a zillion people." Blaisdell also was known for his wit, his jokes and a mastery of accents and personas. "He had friends in every walk of life," she said. "He was interested in what they were saying and thinking. He was a very good listener. He took people seriously ... He respected women's abilities and felt they had just as much to offer (as men)."
In a 1984 Journal story, Blaisdell said education is the biggest investment the state has, but New Mexico has yet to recognize that fact. "Education is radical because it keeps democracy alive," he said. "As soon as you reach a certain level of ignorance, democracy has had it. The system is pretty flabby now." Other survivors include his children, Shawn, Luc and Casey Blaisdell, all of Albuquerque, and Nicole Blaisdell-Ivey of Bozeman, Mont.; their mother, Sally Blaisdell, of Albuquerque; and a stepdaughter, Alexandra Freedman-Smith of Albuquerque.