WATCH: Pillow Talk: John and Yoko’s BED-IN FOR PEACE, with Joan Athey and Minnie York
Wednesday, November 25
5pm MST / 7pm EST / Nov 26 10am AEST
It was a circus. It was a song. It was bigger than both of them. Find out the lesser-known inside stories at Contemporary Calgary's online conversation with Joan Athey and Minnie Yorke, custodians of the Gerry Deiter and Ritchie Yorke archives that form an integral part of the exhibition GROWING FREEDOM. Through photographs of the fanfare and spectacle, to more tender moments of love and shared idealism at the 1969 Montreal BED-IN-FOR-PEACE, their research and investigations of what went on behind the scenes have informed our understanding of the art and social activism of John and Yoko.
This conversation is hosted as a Public Program around the ongoing exhibition, GROWING FREEDOM: The Instructions of Yoko Ono and the art of John and Yoko, September 17, 2020- January 31, 2021.
Joan Athey and Minnie Yorke at the opening of Yoko Ono: GROWING FREEDOM, Fondation PHI, Montreal, 2019.
About the Speakers
Joan Athey & The Gerry Deiter Archives
Gerry Deiter Archive custodian and publicist, Joan Athey.
Joan E. Athey has worked with creative people all her life. A marketing and promotions strategist for over 20 years, she spent the bulk of her career as a communications specialist with the CBC in Vancouver. Born in Toronto, Joan’s father ran a camera shop on Danforth Avenue where she was exposed to the magic of photography. She learned about journalism working for the Toronto Star as an entertainment writer. Eventually making her way to the West Coast via Edmonton, Joan learned about music production in the studios at the CBC. For the last 11 years, she has been the curator of this precious archive of images that Gerry Deiter took in 1969, exhibiting them to over 200,000 people in Liverpool, Coventry, Bogotá, San Diego, Tokyo, and elsewhere.
Photographer, Gerry Deiter.
Gerry Deiter was a native of Brooklyn, New York. He apprenticed with Frances Scavullo, a famous New Yorker known for his controversial portraits of celebrities. As a photographer, his career varied from the gruesome (crime and medical photographer) to the sublime as a fashion photographer for Women's Wear Daily. He was a friend of Timothy Leary's, a photo-journalist for the Village Voice, Time and Life magazines, as well as teaching at the Pratt Institute. Through his involvement with the Manhattan avant-garde art scene, Dieter was introduced to Yoko Ono. He moved to Montreal in 1968. In 1969, on assignment for Life Magazine, he attended John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. Intending to stay a few hours, he stayed the entire 8 days, the only still photographer to do so. Life never ran the photos, and he hid them away for nearly 40 years. He died December 9, 2005. His friend Joan E. Athey purchased the archive of over 400 slides and negatives in 2007 to carry on Deiter's desire to rekindle the spirit of Give Peace A Chance.
Minnie Yorke & The Ritchie Yorke Archives
Minnie Yorke, Ricthie Yorke’s spouse and custodian of the Ritchie Yorke Archives.
Minnie Yorke has worked in Creative industries all her life. She started out in the fashion industry then moved on to Film, TV props and Wardrobe. Working for many years on music videos brought her closely in touch with the entertainment business.
Minnie became Ritchie 'Yorke’s photographer and recording tech after they got together in 2005. Working closely with Ritchie she became aware of his vast knowledge and connections with all levels of the Music business around the world.
Ritchie has been an active part of Rock 'N' Roll history, touching upon the lives and works of many of the musical greats, including John and Yoko.
Minnie is now the custodian of the Ritchie Yorke Archive of the history Music Journalism circa 1962 -2017. The Ritchie Yorke Project has been working on digitizing many hours of interviews and cataloguing his life’s work and his collection of treasures. She is very grateful to Yoko for being invited to be a part of GROWING FREEDOM putting some of Ritchie''s collection on the world stage to share with the public.
Ritchie Yorke was a Brisbane born music author and journalist. He was the first full-time rock writer for The Globe and Mail, and served as Billboard’s Canadian editor for a decade in the 70s, and for the Rolling Stone. He’s penned books on Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, and more recently his journey with John and Yoko.
He aided the staging of John and Yoko’s famed Montreal bed-in and including meetings with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Marshall Mcluhan as well as their appearance at the famed Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert.
Yorke was instrumental as Lennon’s International Peace Envoy for The War is Over Campaign in 1969.
Minnie and Ritchie Yorke with Yoko Ono.