Embodied Memory

Tony DeVarco
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Embodied Memory
Embodied Memory

Date: January 2025
Medium: Digital Photomontage
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Dimensions: 15" x 20"
© 2025 Tony DeVarco

Written on September 26, 2015-

What happened to me today is what I can only describe as bizarre but also affirming to my choice to become an artist 33 years ago.

I was browsing the art book section of a local used book store in Santa Cruz looking for something on Robert Rauschenberg. As I was skimming the titles, I saw a thin book with the title “William Ranney- Painter of the Early West” which I thought was odd. My mother’s family name is Ranney so I decided to take a look.

The book was actually a catalogue published in 1962, in conjunction with an exhibition of his artwork, at The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. I read in the catalogue that William Ranney was born in Middletown, Connecticut in 1813. I remembered a genealogy book on the Ranney family my mother had shown me years ago which listed Thomas Ranney of Scotland, arriving in Middletown, Connecticut in 1658. So I thought there might be a family connection.

Upon looking further at the biographical information in the catalogue I see that one of William Ranney’s ancestors was Thomas Ranney of Middletown, Connecticut from 1658! Thomas Ranney married Mary Hubbard in 1659 and they had four sons and six daughters. I have a list of the names of my mother’s family direct line dating back to Thomas Ranney and William Ranney isn’t a direct relative but it looks like he and I must be descendants of two of the four original male children of Thomas Ranney and Mary Hubbard.

So of course I then went online and found out that there was a recent exhibition (2006-2007) of his work called “Forging an American Identity: The Art of William Ranney” that was organized by the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming, traveled to The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas and the show ended at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

A whole new vista has just opened up for me. My son Nicolas DeVarco who is studying film at UCSC turned 21 today. A true milestone for Bonnie DeVarco and I. My father Don DeVarco who is 85 is an artist and his Uncle (who is one of my early mentors who taught me how to carve stone) became a sculptor after retiring from being a dentist. So I always thought that my artistic drive came from the paternal side of my family but now I must re-evaluate and adjust the narrative that I have constructed about my life as an artist to include William Ranney who is undeniably part of my maternal heritage.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ranney

"William Ranney Rediscovered" by Linda Bantel: www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=815

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Taken on: January 11, 2025
Sets appears in:   • Continuum    • Looking @ William Ranney    more » • Life's longing for itself    • Family     « less
Groups appears in:   • The hidden face of the fire ( El rostro oculto del fuego )   
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