Jaff Seijas Archive of Art Related Material

William Lance Van Hettinga (Duke University Yearbook) William Lance Van Hettinga b. 2/8/1938 – Ann Arbor Michigan d. 9/18/1989 – Charleston, South Carolina William graduated from Duke University in 1963, with an M.A. in English Literature. His thesis, The Theme of Nonfulfillment in Three Plays of Clifford Odets" , was his parting offering to official Academia. The following year he took some courses at the Institute of Theater Arts in Vienna and returned to New York City where he immersed himself as a denizen of the prevailing “Beat Generation”, finding a niche among like-minded friends. By 1965, he had begun making avantgarde films and his first work, Motherlove , was premiered at Film-Makers’ Cinematheque in 1967. The film was a colorful spoof, labeled as “Oedipal Dracula” in theme, and featured Van Hettinga himself in the role of Dracula’s mother. This was followed by Happy Birthday Baybee Starr , a satire of an aging film starlet’s descent into...

I met William when I was a student at the Atlanta College of Art. He taught a class in art history and literature. One day as I was leaving my apartment on Lafayette Drive, quite near the College, I noticed him emerging from the building next door, discovering we were neighbors. We became friends and he took me under his wing and shared his world view and much of his enormous bank of knowledge on a variety of subjects, opening up new doors of interest to me. He was a true Renaissance Man and a talented artist, film maker, poet and teacher. One of his greatest gifts was his sense of humor which I also believe saved him in some of his later more darker hours. That gift, sadly, was to crumble in the last year of life when he died in Charleston, South Carolina in 1989. He took me on a journey to Amsterdam once and it was through him I met artist, Nan Hoover. She became another mentor and also a person of lasting influence in my life. My only regret concerning this man i...