Jack Dowd's 'Last Call' gets another round at Ringling College

Besides home and work, humans need what urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg dubbed a “third place,” where people of different backgrounds can mingle and get to know each other. Historically that place has been a church, a coffee shop or a bar. However, thanks to the internet, social media platforms have become a popular watering hole. 

Still, pandemic lockdowns —government or self-imposed —were a sometimes lonely reminder that there’s no substitute for communing in real life. That’s why Ringling College of Art & Design’s encore of Sarasota artist Jack Dowd’s installation, “Last Call,” comes at the right time.

Some people will remember “Last Call,” a mythical New York City tavern, from its 2001 exhibition at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, where it attracted 40,000 visitors in 10 weeks.

Like the art itself, the June 7 opening reception for “Last Call” at Ringling College’s Lois and David Stulberg Gallery brought together people of varying ages from different walks of life. Some visitors, no doubt, were enticed by the offer of free food for the first 250 guests. 

But most were there to hobnob with the artist and to get up close and personal with the installation, which was protected by a barrier but was surrounded by bistro tables with snacks. Just outside the gallery entrance, a bar sold drinks. 

As one patron exclaimed, “Everybody’s here!” Where else could you see Sarasota philanthropist and socialite Graci McGillicuddy ordering a bottled water from the Dawg Pound’s food truck?

Perfect for a summer exhibition

In an interview, Ringling College Chief Curator and Director of Galleries Tim Jaeger says he considered holding the show during season but decided against it. 

“A lot of people would have enjoyed this just as much or more in season, but it makes great sense to have this during the summer months because of how local Jack is,” Jaeger says. 

“Furthermore, we’re not competing with other venues and other exhibitions for coverage. Also we could commit to a longer period of time,” he adds. The show runs through Aug. 16. 

Jaeger, who hires Dowd’s son, Jon, to install artworks at The Ringling’s seven on-campus galleries, first met Jack Dowd around 2007-8. At the time, Jaeger had a studio on 10th Way near where Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe is located today.

“I was working on a series of chickens,” Jaeger recalls. “Jack cold-called me and asked if I wanted to do a trade. I picked out one of his Andy Warhol statues, which is in my office today.”

Over the years, Jaeger and his wife Cassia began to socialize with Dowd and his wife Jill. Jaeger also worked with Dowd on the artist’s “27 Club” exhibition at Ringling College in 2012. The show consisted of pastel drawings of performing and visual artists such as Amy Winehouse, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jim Morrison and others who died at age 27.

“The ‘27 Club’ was one of the last exhibitions I did with Kevin Dean, who was my mentor and the director of Selby Gallery,” Jaeger says. Dean died in 2014 after curating more than 250 shows for Ringling College’s Selby Gallery.

Jaeger says he wanted to give “Last Call” another exhibition so newcomers to Sarasota’s arts scene would have the opportunity to view Dowd’s work and meet the artist in person. Dowd is going strong in his mid-80s. 

A culmination of a lifetime of experience

In many ways, “Last Call” is the culmination of its creator’s artistic and life experience. A former Marine, Dowd is an artist and musician who taught high school on Long Island and ran bars there and in Vermont before moving to Sarasota in 1984.

“We found Sarasota by accident. I did an art show and and we thought we would like it here,” recalls Dowd. “We found a nice house on the beach on Siesta Key. It was $100,000 for the house with two bedrooms and two baths. That’s when I really started working on my sculpture.”

Courtesy image

The Dowds lived on Siesta Key for seven years before moving to Gator Creek, a community east of I-75 between Bee Ridge Road and Lorraine Road. “It’s not pretentious,” Dowd says. “Everybody has five acres or more. There are about 70 homes and we don’t have a lot of rules.”

Before moving to Sarasota, Dowd reckons he owned 11 bars and nightclubs over a 15-year stretch. They ran the gamut from Jack’s Backyard and The Canterbury Pub, both on Long Island, to a joint called Texas in Burlington, Vermont. 

The assortment of 13 characters who inhabit “Last Call” is inspired by people whom Dowd met along the way in bars and on the streets of New York and Florida.

For those who want to get to know all of them, the wall of the Stulberg Gallery contains portraits of each character, with a painting by Dowd, a photograph and a brief biography that includes their favorite drink, fashion style and motto.

A character called Murphy wearing roller blades was inspired by the late John F. Kennedy Jr. during his bachelor years in New York City. 

His personality traits: “Looking for the right girl. Hangs out on the Cape, loves to surf. Mode of transportation is bicycle or roller blades,” says Murphy’s bio.

Dowd discovered the inspiration for a waitress he dubbed “Courtney” after singer Courtney Love, when he saw a woman walking across Tompkins Square in New York City while he was installing one of his artworks there. 

According to her bio, Courtney “spends time in the East Village, where she looks normal surrounded by hard people.” Dowd paid the model $25 to pose for him. 

Working at the car wash

Some of the characters in “Last Call” may look familiar because they are based on local personalities. The bartender is modeled on Jack Fehily, the co-founder of Patrick’s 1481 restaurant on Main Street. 

Another local in “Last Call” is Reggie, whom Dowd discovered working at Johnny’s Car Wash on Tamiami Trail.

It took Dowd two years and $200,000 to build “Last Call,” where an old-fashioned clock behind the 22-foot mahogany bar reads 3:55, just five minutes before the mandated 4 a.m. closing time in New York. 

To make each figure, Dowd first photographed and measured his model. Jon Dowd would create a “skeleton” out of metal that would be covered with wire lath that can be bended. 

Dowd put meat on the bones of his character with oil-based clay that wouldn’t dry out if it was left for a time. Jill Dowd helped paint the resin sculptures that were made with the help of a foundry. “She has the patience of a saint,” her husband notes.

If you like “Last Call” so much that you want to take it home, you can: It’s for sale for $2.5 million, Dowd says. Look at it this way — it’s cheaper than owning a real bar and you won’t have to throw rowdy patrons out.