Week Nine

Spring Break! I hope the statues are doing well without me...

Week Eight

Due to some transportation issues (i.e. my car breaking down)  I was unable to work on the statues during the week, however, I managed to fix the issue by the time of our Maslenitsa celebration here at the museum! It went very well, everyone had a great time learning about the holiday and certainly they all enjoyed the bliny Rachel made. Overall the celebration was a hit, we had somewhere around 200 unique visitors who were very receptive to the presentations (troika dancers and Russian holy art lecture) and activity stations (bliny, lady maslenitsa doll assembly, etc.). I think our visitors leaned a lot about Russian culture on that day, and the Russians present were great about discussing their cultures which allowed me to learn even more about the holiday and its significance.

Week Seven

This week I continued working with the sculptures. First was the Pilgrim at the Gates, one of my favorite sculptures we have at the Gardens. It depicts an ascetic pilgrim knocking at the gates of what would presumably be heaven. The size of the sculpture alone is impressive but after detailing it and waxing the piece, I really came to appreciate the attention to detail Polasek paid to his work. The garment the pilgrim wears around his waist moves in an almost lifelike fashion and his solemn expression conveys a distinct feeling of resolution. Up next was the bronze casting of Pan, the mythological Greek god. The statue is in fair condition but the weather has certainly degraded the quality of the bronze over time and a new wax coat in addition to scrubbing off dirt and scum was needed.

Week Six

I finished working on the stations of the cross, all the pieces now look nice and shiny. Only four of them were made of bronze, the rest of fiberglass, so in terms of waxing and buffing there wasn't that much to do. I used the time to make sure that they all looked great since its one of the major pieces of the collection and the initial installation guests encounter when exiting the gallery. On Friday I'll continue working with the sculptures as the weather has been generally fair and good for working outside. I've also almost finished with the condition report updates on the collection and will have that completed within the next couple of weeks.

Week Five

The weather has gotten better and conditions are now perfect for working again with the sculptures. The clear weather has also allowed me to do conservation assessments in between treatment of the sculptures. This means that the excel file containing the information about the sculptures I'm working with is getting filled out. I never thought I would be so proud of a spreadsheet. Aside from updating the catalog, I've been working with the 12 stations of the cross which are bronze and fiberglass castings of the crucifixion of Jesus. Polasek was a devoutly religious man and this is apparent throughout the collection stored in the museum. I've only partially completed the restoration process on the 12 castings, but by the middle of next week I should be finished and will start working on the other bronze sculptures. The goal is to have all of the bronze castings done by the middle of March and then try to get all of the concrete sculptures within a time span of two to three weeks after that.

Week Four

Due to the poor weather and consistent rain throughout the week, I was limited in my conservation work for the week. Instead of working directly with the sculptures present on site, I worked with their entries in the PastPerfect system, ensuring that condition details were updated and added further information where possible.

In addition to this, I finished the informational poster for the Maslenitsa celebrations in early March. Rachel and I discussed the various events we could do and decided on what ways I could help with the set up and operation for the day. I'll be helping with the Bliny (pancake) decorations which promises to be a good time. I'm also excited for the Russian dancers who will be attending and performing during the celebration.

Week Three

During the third week of the internship I continued my curatorial work and maintenance of the PastPerfect database. I restored the Maiden of the Roman Campagna which simply needed a refinishing as it had no significant damage or calcium deposits like the previous statues I worked on. In addition to the statue I also started working on text panels for the upcoming Maslenitsa celebration we'll be having at the museum. Maslenitsa is an Eastern Slavic tradition which is celebrated before the Great Lent and I'll be responsible for producing panels that inform the public about the holiday as well as hosting the Bliny (pancake) decorating station. The celebration seems promising and I'm sure everyone here will work hard to make sure our guests have a great time.