“When I started to make this videograph, I had intended to do a serious study of a beloved and famous artist who I believed was a consummate gentleman. The only thing, of which I was sure, was that it would be serious and not funny. Well, it did not work out. If you leave out the hilarious, fun-loving, gregarious R.C. Gorman, you miss the point of this wonderful human being. You miss the essence of Navajo. I decided to structure the story toward those persons closest to Gorman: his household manager, Rose Royball, his agent and gallery manager, Virginia Dooley, his personal secretary, Rosalie Talbott and his Aunt Mary who was with him during his formative years on the Navajo Reservation. Aunt Mary was his first sculpture teacher. Every time it rained, they would make sculpture from the mud. You will hear thoughts from his Aunt Marietta, who helped and lent him support while he was getting an education in Flagstaff and from his sister, Donna Scott who lives in Many Farms, Arizona. There are sensitive stories from his father, Carl Gorman, retired professor of the University of California at Davis and a statesman of the Navajo Nation.
This videograph is about work. You see Gorma working with his models in his studio just north of Taos, New Mexico. You see him working with his lithographer, Peter Holmes at Origins Press in Tucson, Arizona. You discover the complexity of lithography. You get glimpses of Gorman in his ceramic studio. You see him signing the molded paper pieces, the ceramics, the lithographs, and the prodigious out-pouring of work that it takes to satisfy the demands of his audience. It is narrated by Virginia Dooley. After experiencing the plethora of activity, I found it necessary to end this videograph with the serenity that no one can get close to except by viewing his work, the artistry of R.C. Gorman.”