The sculpture is newly painted and the pond is filled with water. The fountain hasn’t been turned back on as of yet, but that’s scheduled for tomorrow (Friday).

The timing couldn’t be better! Visitors to July’s First Free Saturday in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden will have the chance to view the newly renovated Spoonbridge and Cherry. July’s Free First Saturday marks the 15th anniversary of the popular family program. It’s just two days away — pack up the sunscreen, hats, blankets, and picnic lunches — we hope to see you there!

Spoonbridge and Cherry is as good as new again! The above is one of the last photos I took of the repainting stage. But not all of the conservation projects are large in scale — sometimes, all an artwork needs is a quick wash ‘n’ dry.

Taking some sudsy water and a mop to David Nash’s Standing Frame:

Or just hosing down the fingerprints on Dan Graham’s Two-Way Mirror Punched Steel Hedge Labyrinth:

This is the current state of the cherry. Gray. Very Charles Ray’s Unpainted Sculpture.

Last week, the men in overalls buffed down the sculpture’s surface.

Doesn’t the guy on the spoon look like he’s dead? Or maybe like he’s spooning the spoon? Ha ha. Really, he’s on his side smoothing away the convex surface of the spoon.

How many men does it take to remove bondo from Spoonbridge and Cherry?

The above photos are from last Friday – they were actually working when I went out to the garden for my daily photo shoot! Usually, no one’s there and I’m documenting their finished work.

Since then, new bondo has been added to the sculpture. Honestly, I’m not loving the pepto-pink color. The effect reminds me of uncreative bad graffiti.

It also makes me think of overripe fruit. The cherry juices slowly start seeping out to make a sticky mess.

A follow-up on Scott’s post — I thinkthe Walker’smost visible conservation effort this year is definitely Spoonbridge and Cherry.I’mcompletelyfascinated by the process so I’ve beendocumenting itfor the past week or so.

Orange construction fencing was put up and the pond was drained. Where did the pond water go?

Then the surface of the sculpture was prepped for repainting.

Look at those gouges! The sculpture is made of aluminum and bondo, which is an epoxy. The artist used the bondo to create the contours of the spoon. After years of flowing water and environmental factors, some of the bondo had cracked and needed to be replaced. Hence the gouges!

More Spoonbridge and Cherry updates are on the way.

While it’s not quite the same as cherry blossom time in our nation’s capital, it is a special season for Minnesota’s most beloved cherry… and spoon. Every few years it is necessary for the Walker to conduct routine maintenance on the monumental Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen sculpture, Spoonbridge and Cherry.

This entails nearly two weeks of activity, including fencing off the area, draining the pond beneath the work, and installing special lift and painting equipment.* Once the site is ready, work begins.

First the surfaces of both the stainless-steel cherry and aluminum spoon are sand-blasted down to their undercoating (imagine a strong gust of wind leaving you standing outside in nothing but your skivvies!). It takes about three days to study the structure and identify the imperfections that have cropped up due to the elements and age of the work. As each dimple, crack, and fissure are discovered, they are filled and contoured back to perfection.

With the work back in “ship shape” (you knew each piece was first constructed in a shipyard before being trucked to Minnesota, right?), a day is spent applying a fresh coat of primer. Once the primer is dry, the cherry needs to become red again. But what color “red”? Fire engine red? Jungle red? Perhaps cherry red?

Well you might be surprised to learn that the true color of this cherry is no less than 73-R0176 (doesn’t it make your mouth water?!). Like the spoon, the cherry is tarted up in a custom color created and approved by the artists. When the cherry is ripe and the spoon gleaming, another day is spent applying a “clear coating” to make the cherry shine as well as to protect it again from the ever-changing elements.

Once all is well with the sculpture (…with the cherry on top), the pond is refilled and the equipment removed and you can once again have your photo snapped in front of this unique untensil. Visit frequently to see the work in progress as my colleague Masami blogs on with images.

* Who pays for all this hardwork? People who love the garden, that’s who! Visit “Support” at garden.walkerart.org to make a contribution.

“There are only two seasons in Minnesota. Winter and construction.”

I always cringe when I hear that, but there’s some truth to it, even in the sculpture garden. Granted, the garden isn’t under road construction, butwe’re in the middle of restoring and protecting a number of sculptures.

A recently finished project is the repainting of Tony Smith’s Amaryllis. A before and after:

See? It really IS shinier and blacker.

A few weeks ago, I took a second-grade tour group to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. I had them look for animal sculptures, like Deborah Butterfield’s Woodrow. At Arikidea, we found a bird’s nest. Aww, baby birdies!

Sorry about the blurry picture. The photography ended up being much harder than I orignally thought — balancing on a swinging platform, stabilizing myself against the ropes with one hand, and taking the photo with the other. Yes, I fell off the swing. Yes, people saw me. And yes, they laughed when I fell.