Our congratulations go out to development associate Dan and his wife Laura, who are expecting their first child soon. The development and membership department celebrated with a baby shower last Friday, where we played games, opened gifts, and ate cake. We take our cake and savory treats seriously in our department. We wanted a knockout cake to celebrate the proud parents-to-be and during a baby shower brainstorming session, someone came up with the “Spoonbridge and baby” cake idea.
Wuollet made a beautiful and delicious cake for the occasion. Dad-to-be Dan ate the cake slice with the baby on it.
The two Alexander Calder works in the Sculpture Garden are being repainted to protect the works from the elements. As with Spoonbridge and Cherry, this process happens every five years.
The gray primer coats on The Spinner and Octopus:
Calder “signed” his sculptures — something I just discovered earlier this week. I’d never noticed it before.
Garden conservation isn’t just about painting efforts — there’s fire involved, too. Noah was hard at work hot-waxing a couple of bronze works. This process seals bronze in order to protect the patina from the elements. First, a blowtorch is used in a localized area. After it’s hot, a formulated mixture of waxes are applied with a brush. After the wax cools, it’s buffed to a glow.
I really enjoyed taking photos for my “Sculpture or garden?” post. Late last week, I found some late summer flowers. It’s not too often that we see new sculptures in the garden, but the plants evolve with each passing season.
Mark Di Suvero’s Arikidea is a popular work in the garden. After all, it invites viewer participation — how could you not want to swing on it for a while?
Unfortunately, it broke last weekend. Reckless swingers? Intentional damage? Who knows?
One of the brackets that supports the swing broke. The bracket is being fixed in Burnsville as we speak, and it should be back and functional by Monday.
Many modern and contemporary artists use found objects (AKA, pre-existing objects/materials) in their work. Yesterday, while crossing the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge, I stumbled upon such a piece.
Hanging down from the Loring Park northbound side of the bridge was a sunflower and twig mobile, just swinging in the breeze.
From above:
I believe the artist used the sunflowers growing in the median of Hennepin Avenue.
I liked the resourcefulness of the artist, and the fact that it was installed in close proximity to the found materials. Plus, it was located in between the Walker and the Loring Park Art Festival — great timing!
My first Walker blog post contained a blurry photo of the bird family in Arikidea.
Fellow blogger Paul was kind enough to send me a much clearer photo of the bird family, taken by Walker photographer Gene Pittman. I bet Gene didn’t fall off the swing platform while taking the photograph.
… and we’re gonna get ma-a-arried. Gee, I really love you and we’re gonna get ma-a-arried…
In my nearly six years as a Walker employee, I’d never seen a wedding take place in the garden, though I’ve seen countless prom kids come by during the late springtime dusk to have their photo taken. That all changed last Friday when my longtime friend E.L. decided to get married in front of Spoonbridge and Cherry. What a gorgeous day for a wedding — bright, sunny, and warm with a cool breeze. Afterwards, we headed inside to have a post-ceremony late lunch at 20.21 Restaurant and Bar by Wolfgang Puck. General Manager Mark Latz was fantastic about accommodating our last-minute lunch reservation (for a party of 14, no less!) and our entire party agreed that the food and service were superb.
Last month, Eric blogged about Weblog Usability, specifically, how Walker blogs do not contain author bios nor photos. I’m taking the plunge now — that’s me in the white and red dress, second from the left. Hi, I’m Masami and I’m from Japan. My educational background is in modern European history, musicology, and French language and literature. I drank the Walker Kool-Aid in July 2000 and I’ve worn a number of hats here: Sales Associate, Assistant Manager, Membership Associate. I currently work in Development and am also a volunteer Tour Guide.
Do you think of it as the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, or the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden?
I’d venture to guess that many feel it’s the former and not the latter, but perhaps you’ll reconsider? Take a look at the varied and colorful flora in the Sculpture Garden.
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 think the Walker’s most visible conservation effort this year is definitely Spoonbridge and Cherry. I’m completely fascinated by the process so I’ve been documenting it for 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.
“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, but we’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.
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