Cayce Mell didn’t set out to be a filmmaker. But after discovering a lost part of American Art History, she became one. Here, she tells JustLuxe just how her documentary, Tracing Outlines, an important slice of themid century modern art world came to be and what she plans to do next.

 

Is Tracing Outlines your first film?

 

Tracing Outlines was indeed my first attempt at filmmaking. My mother had been an independent filmmaker and I really had no intention of pursuing that line of work but when this amazing story fell into my hands I picked up a camera out of necessity.

 

 

 

How did the documentary come about?

 

Realizing that so few people were alive and well to tell the story of the Outlines gallery from a first hand account, I wanted to give them a visual platform for doing so. This all but forgotten gallery had such a significant role in the avant garde movement and there were so many layers to the story I felt as though a film was the only way to do it the justice it so rightly deserves.

 

 

How would you describe the film?

 

Tracing Outlines is a journey of discovery, beginning with the moment my late grandmothers hand typed chronology fell from within the pages of a book and directly (literally) into my hands, it became a treasure hunt. The film follows my five year mission to conduct interviews, locate artifacts, and produce evidence to substantiate that this little gallery had played a major role in the mid century modern art world. I learned early on that documentary film making, unlike the narrative feature films I had watched my mother produce, sort of takes on a life of it's own and I felt as though I just needed to keep up. The film really took shape on it's own due to the information film subjects such as Philip Pearlstein, Guggenheim Director Richard Armstrong, and the late and great Saul Leiter provided.

 

 

Why did you feel it was important to make the documentary?

 

At first, I was excited to tell this story primarily for sentimental reasons, and felt tremendously intrigued by the possibility of catching a glimpse of who my grandmother and grandfather had been in their 20's . It took on new meaning for me once I sat down with Robert Manley at Christie's NYC and realized that this story holds major historical significance for the art world.

 

 

You have a very unique personal connection to the film, what did you learn

on this journey that most surprised you?

 

I was very humbled by the stories of the artists , I think I was very moved to learn about what this time in history was like for anyone who was doing something new such as modern art, during a time of turbulent world war anything new was often perceived as suspicious or even communist and these artists were many times condemned for just expressing themselves. Philip Pearlstein taught me the meaning of the term 'avant-garde' I had never given it much thought because I had heard it used so frequently and commonly but I was surprised to learn that it translates to - in front of an army, and it accurately depicts the struggle these artists faced when simply expressing themselves artistically.

 

 

 

What reaction have you received from those in the art world who have seen

the film?

 

People have been truly blown away by the story, the first screening I remember an older gentlemen coming up to me in tears afterwards and thanking me for sharing this story. One woman who has written books on the mid century art world came up to me and said 'I love the film, unfortunately I have to go rewrite several books I have published' and she laughed. One person from Frank Lloyd Wrights Fallingwater said he believes they need to research more of their art collection because after seeing Tracing Outlines he is convinced they have attributed it's origin to the wrong source.

 

 

How did the famed street artist Swoon get involved in the project?

 

I have always admired Swoon and loved her work both artistically and her humanitarian efforts. When it came time to select a narrator for this film we immediately thought of Swoon since I know my grandmother would have thought the world of her. I was so thrilled when we reached out to her and she was excited to lend her voice to the film and we went to her studio in Brooklyn to record the narration the following week.

 

 

 

What would you most like viewers to come away with after viewing your film?

 

I hope that the audience comes away with the same feeling that I have carried with me for the past five years, the excitement of discovering new historical information, the appreciation for the sacrifices artists made during that era, and the elation of knowing that each and every person who sees this film is now part of a secret and growing society- much like the people who congregated at the little Outlines gallery in the early 1940's we are the few who actually know something most people have yet to discover - and when they rewrite the history books and make a little room for Betty Rockwell and Outlines, we will know we all played a part in making that happen 72 years after the fact .

 

 

The film features many  iconic artists such as Philip Pearlstein, Jens

Risom, Saul Leiter, as well as art historians, was it difficult to land

those interviews?

 

Surprisingly no, all of the artists and art historians were excited to participate in telling this story. I was amazed at the details they remembered from their teenage years at Outlines. Saul Leiter remembered having sold his very first painting to John Cage and Merce Cunningham! Philip Pearlstein recalled going with his Carnegie Tech classmate Andy Warhol to watch Maya Deren films, and said that he was very excited to revisit the story of the Outlines gallery since it was such a formative part of his artistic education.

 

 

Has a film premiere been set?

 

We are working with our publicist team at Mora Communications to book a red carpet premiere in NYC most likely before the first of the year. Most of our film subjects are from Manhattan and there is such a strong connection between the Outlines gallery and NYC since during that time it was the only place that Betty Rockwell could source modern art other than through the artists themselves.

 

 

 

Are you currently working on another project?

 

After making the Tracing Outlines documentary, I realized that I truly love filmmaking and adapted a novel I had written to a shooting draft and filmed my first feature. It was great fun and we hope to release 'Monongahela' spring 2015, I loved it so much I am working on adapting the first book in a middle grade book series I have written in the hopes that we can begin production next Fall!

I guess those papers falling from within the pages of that book five years ago were life changing for me!

 

http://www.tracingoutlines.com

Outlines Gal