Christo’s Umbrellas Charitably Shelter Yet Another Artist

Until the opening of the umbrellas--Christo’s antidote to White Line Fever--artist Jill Thayer Barton was best known for designing the cover of the local Yellow Pages. That and a “Save the Fox Theatre” poster she created for a Bakersfield movie house were her biggest claims to art world fame.

But now, her signature, not Christo’s, is appearing on 1.2 million Pepsi cans, right next to her rendering of the environmental artist’s celebrated umbrellas. Thayer Barton’s logo is also printed on thousands of T-shirts, pins, mugs, note cards and other commemorative items that are being sold while the umbrellas gently dress up 18 miles the San Joaquin Valley through Oct. 30.

“I don’t want to come out and say I’m making a killing, because so far that’s not the case. When I designed the logo, I donated the design,” says Thayer Barton, 35. She created the logo for souvenirs sold by the Umbrella Coalition, a group of 15 Bakersfield charities, including the Boy Scouts and the American Red Cross.

The coalition was organized by Fran Poe, a volunteer at the Kern (County) Adult Literacy Center, who has several of the yellow umbrellas on her property. Poe recognized that there was money to be made as millions arrived to view the California half of Christo’s celebration of beauty. (Blue umbrellas are simultaneously appearing in Ibaraki, Japan.)

The word nonprofit explains in a nutshell how souvenir-shy Christo came to give his blessing--of sorts--to everything from umbrella-bearing refrigerator magnets to similarly appointed sport bottles.

The Bulgarian-born artist is known for divorcing himself from commercial efforts connected with his work, steering clear of mass-market tie-ins as assiduously as Mike Tyson avoids Robin Givens.

He finances his projects entirely himself by selling his drawings of them, which fetch as much as $360,000 apiece. He has defended spending his own money on the umbrellas as an exercise in non-materialism, saying, “This $26 million is being spent for a work of art that cannot be bought, cannot be purchased, cannot be controlled. No one can sell tickets. Because I believe possession is the enemy of freedom. The very idea at the bottom of this project is freedom.”

But in the case of the Umbrella Coalition, Christo not only selected one of Thayer Barton’s designs to be used on the keepsakes, he also helped her improve it--because most of the profits are to go to 15 charities that will equally split 50% of the net wholesale price. Thayer Barton will receive 10%, and the rest will cover operating expenses.

Officials estimate that each charity will make from $10,000 to $25,000 profit on the items. (There are no proceeds from the logo’s appearance on Pepsi cans. The coalition agreed to let Pepsi use the logo at no charge, reaping publicity benefits instead.)

To Thayer Barton’s surprise, Christo chose the most restrained and business-like design among the 20 she presented, rejecting the more art-like variations.

“He zeroed right in on that one,” she says, referring to her spare yellow-black-and-white drawing of five umbrellas next to the words The Umbrellas. Thayer Barton had initially created the logo with scalloped umbrella edges, so it wouldn’t look like a total rip-off of Christo’s design. But she says he suggested that she makes the edges ruler-straight, just like the ones on his 1,760 marigold parasols.

Christo also worked with Thayer Barton on the wording of the disclaimer that he asks appear on all merchandise connected with the umbrellas. It says, “None of the proceeds from the sale of commemorative items benefit Christo or The Umbrellas, Joint Project for Japan and USA Corp. Donations directly benefit participating Kern County not-for-profit agencies.”

A 20-year fan of Christo’s work, Thayer Barton had traveled to see his “Running Fences” project in Northern California in 1976, when she was an art student at Cal State Bakersfield. But she didn’t apply for a job creating the umbrellas logo.

She was chosen by the coalition, which specifically wanted a local artist. Thayer Barton suspects it helped that she was well-acquainted with Bakersfield’s business community, having produced the designs for some of its firms’ annual reports and brochures.

At the moment, sales of the Christo-endorsed souvenirs are selling briskly at the Umbrella Coalition office in Bakersfield as well as at stands near Interstate 5 off-ramps.

Along with the coalition’s wares, the 18-mile umbrella corridor is awash in mementos created by individual entrepreneurs. There are nutty umbrella hats. There are trinkets from mugs to key chains bearing “I Saw It On The Grapevine.” And at least two dozen umbrella T-shirt designs have been spotted, only a few of which include the disclaimer that Christo asks be applied to them.

For those searching for more upscale treasures, the coalition is also offering Thayer Barton’s designs of 14-karat gold and sterling silver umbrella pins, pendants and tie tacks, priced from $20 to $225. And Christo signed a number of his lithographs of his sketches of the umbrellas for the Umbrella Coalition, which is selling them for $150 signed or $30 unsigned.

The most authentic souvenir of this extravaganza, however, is also the cheapest: free swatches of shiny yellow polyamide fabric (used in the California umbrellas) and blue fabric (used in the umbrellas in Japan) are being handed out at the information offices in Gorman and Lebec.

“They just make you smile. You can’t be help but be happy when you see them,” says Thayer Barton, describing the two-story-high canopies that have turned the San Joaquin Valley into a giant patio party.

She expects to resume teaching televised commercial art classes throughout the nation for the University Television Network and teaching interior design at Bakersfield College, in addition to her work in fine art and graphic design.

“Business is really picking up,” she reports. “I’m gearing up for the annual reports.”