Running Fence

To understand the extraordinary determination required by Jeanne-Claude and Christo to bring the Running Fence installation to fruition, you'd really have to understand the nature of ranchers here in the farthest west reaches of California.

Say Sonoma County and visions of gentile hills covered with vines come to mind. And that's not an altogether incorrect vision.

But the West County, as we call it out here, is full of rugged individualists. They are not now and never were all hippies here, much as it sometimes appears that the hippies have taken over.

As the clip above shows, ranchers don't necessarily have an appreciation for installation art and are not shy about their opinions.

The fence was 18 feet high and ran for over 24 miles across the remote hills and on to the Pacific. It took 3 years to build and remained intact for only 2 short weeks. The cost of the project was $3 million dollars.

But that cost pales in comparison to the investment of sheer will made in convincing folks to let this happen and getting all of the signatures necessary to make it so.

Today, there's a tiny plaque at the Watson School commemorating Running Fence. Another small plaque can be found in the tiny village of Valley Ford which found itself 30 some odd years ago at ground zero for the momentous project.

Here and there, folks in Marin and Sonoma still find uses for the pieces of the fabric. Recreated into clothes, art, or window dressing, each fiber continues the thread of art left on these hills by two of the finest artists of our time.

Too little, though, for newcomers to fully understand. So the current exhibit at the Smithsonian is a welcome one.

As is "The 'Running Fence' Revisited," a new film directed by Wolfram Hissen. Catch it if you can.

Or pick up a copy of "Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence" by Brian O'Doherty. Never having seen the fence himself, O'Doherty asks, "If you did not see the original Running Fence what is lost?"

A question to ponder while you're exploring the rolling hills of this western frontier.

And when you do, send a thank you through the universe to Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The fence itself may have stopped running over 30 years ago but its spirit remains.

That very memory of Running Fence serves as a constant reminder that, yes, even out here everyone can all agree to work together. For art's sake.