Christopher Dillon Micha

CHRISTOPHER DILLON MICHA loved his middle name. Dillon came from his maternal great grandmother, Helen Dillon Wolfe. Chris never met “Mama,” as the whole family knew her, but they would have gotten on famously. He had her unique sense of humor and love of family. The name he inherited from her would richly compliment his admiration for Bob Dylan.

My decision to commemorate Christopher and what I’ve come to think of as a symbol of his creative spirit, the incredible wall of art that he presided over and contributed to during the most productive years of his life, came slowly, over a period of the years, since his passing in 2018.  

A year after that loss, his brother David decided to clear out the cluttered space of the attic where the wall stands. A big job that took him almost a year to accomplish.  He had the space renovated and transformed into a workout room, complete with several major pieces of exercise equipment.

During my months of walking on the treadmill, and gazing at the view that it faced, I gradually came to appreciate the epic quality and scope of that Wall. It began to sink in –– what a treasure we had in that room. Now I wanted to share it with my friends. Maybe a Christmas card to follow the one from last year featuring Chris’ painting. But the more I thought about it, a more detailed treatment seemed to emerge in my mind. Eventually I decided to attempt a catalog of the wall and its details. 

To chronicle the development of the wall as an artwork proved as difficult as describing and attributing each of its individual artistic elements – most of which are undated, and unsigned. Yet, part of the appeal I find, is indeed the enigmatic aspect of so many of the writings and graphic pieces. Like cave paintings, or the graffito of ancient cultures, the work nevertheless, speaks to us in vivid and compelling terms.

On these pages, I have endeavored to let the work emerge on its own, in its sometimes cryptic way. I’ve kept my annotations spare and only to give voice to my own thoughts as they occurred. Again, my intention is to share this treasure, and to celebrate the generous and creative spirit of Christopher Dillon Micha.  

Christopher loved performing since he was a little Community Theatre kid playing Winthrop in The Music Man. His love of music grew as he got older but he also loved producing sound and worked hard at it. Chris then used his  audio skills by working with community theatre companies to design and run sound for their shows. He also worked with Sundog Theatre Company, designing several student produced school newspapers.

 
He particularly  loved doing this because he enjoyed the student’s efforts so much. He would often comment on how creative the children’s work was. In 2019 his parents created a scholarship program in his name which they offered to Sundog Theatre. The Christopher Dillon Micha Memorial Scholarship Program provides  opportunities for deserving students from age 12 to 18 to attend musical theatre classes at Sundog at no cost. 

THE ATTIC IN THE HOUSE AT 189 WINDERMERE ROAD has always been a wonderful space. On the day in 1971, when we moved in with the help of my pals John Hawkins, Paul Hutt and Joe Schultz – Hawkins remarked, as we climbed the stairs to inspect the attic, “...like a French
farmhouse!” Indeed, the sturdy, whitewashed walls of the staircase gave that impression.

Built in 1925, the house was then nearly a half century old. Its walls were horsehair plaster and the 12 ft. peak of the oak-beamed ceiling over the spacious garret, promised a future studio where freelance work could be done, undisturbed by the activity below.

A few years later, that studio became a reality when the brilliant and colorful carpenter, John Burgund (AKA Captain Beyond) walled off a third of the space for an insulated and electronically wired studio. He added book shelves, storage space cabinets, hanging light fixtures and a large, louvered window that looked out at the pond. We installed a big desk, some filing cabinets, and a custom made light box, courtesy of the Captain.

During the next several years, much of my time was spent in the studio, designing countless freelance projects: political campaigns, book jackets, magazine layouts and one notable curtain backdrop for a local production of The Fantasticks. The bleed-through impression of the lettering is evident on the left side of the wall.

All three boys enjoyed playing in the studio. Christopher particularly. At the tender age of four, he discovered the appeal of the light box. With drawing skills that were already apparent, he would do tracing work, just like he watched me do on that wonderful device. My pencil sketch of four-year-old Chris making a drawing of a clown on the light box appears at left. As the boys grew older,
the remote aspect of the Studio in the attic seemed like a liability rather than a benefit. I no longer felt a need for escape to do freelance work. Conversely, I now preferred a more connected space in which to design the current projects I had for Angel Records, and The Palisades Interstate Parks Commission. To create a new ground floor studio, I had the open-patio at the southwest side of the house enclosed with a sky lighted roof, sliding windows and a red tiled floor. The space worked beautifully. Now the attic space lay dormant. For a long while, “The Fantasticks” was the only graphic adornment on the exterior attic studio wall. Then around 1999, when Chris formed his band, Das Phrogge, the larger, unfinished portion of the attic became their practice space. Initially, the regular attendees were the band members: Jonpaul Pantozzi, Brian Smith, Fernando Estrella and Rob Norris, but as time went on and the personnel of the band changed, other friends, neighbors, musicians, artists and drop-ins spent time in the garret. Musicians, David Dragos and Chrissi Sepe became frequent visitors and collaborators – forming a musical trio, “The Drunken Artist Tribune.” Music played, recordings were made, parties happened. Soon the largely blank wall was inviting artistic contributions from the visitors, and Chris himself.

Sketches, poems, aphorisms, stickers, stampings, stencils, graffiti tags, and small paintings began appearing. The free spirited nature of the room’s activities and atmosphere was being translated to the graphic content of the wall. The remarkable variety and exuberance of the imagery took on  a comparison to ancient Roman wall inscriptions, or a Jean-Michael Basquiat canvas.

Contributors are largely unknown. Few signatures accompany the pieces. “Dillon” is the most prominent, spray painted signature, flying over a spray painted “Thank You.” The complexity and beauty of the wall as a work of art can be experienced as a complete, expansive composition, as if planned by a single artist – or, each segment considered individually for their unique qualities. Such is the symphonic nature of the wall. It’s a single idea, made up of dozens of ideas.  – ETM