Installation at the American Academy of Arts and Letters

by 2 Comments

'Ritual Series 2018' by Michael SingerExhibition

My son William and I installed a new sculpture by Michael Singer entitled Ritual Series 2018 at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City for their 2019 Invitational Exhibition.

This annual one-month event features contemporary artists from around the United States. This year's exhibit - March 7 to April 7, 2019 - featured 35 artists. Following the exhibit, nine received top awards. Award winners continued to exhibit for two more months and add one or two more artworks. This is considered the most prestigious award for visual art in the United States.

Installation

This sculpture by Mr. Singer is made of granite, copper foiled pine wood, cast aluminum, field stone, dirt-coated plywood, and copper leaf.

Michael Singer

A major element of all his sculpture is that horizontal pieces are level and verticals are plumb. The effect is a sense of calm and for me personally (and also from the comments of others) a sense that the entire piece is weightless, floating, and even otherworldly. Thus, great care is taken to place each and every piece of his sculpture precisely.

The gallery space is located at the Academy's Manhattan headquarters. It is the most beautiful exhibition space I have ever seen with antique tile floor and a ceiling made entirely of a glass skylight!

The installation took us 3 days.

Installation of 'Ritual Series 2018' by Michael SingerAwards

I'm pleased and honored to report that Michael was one of the top award recipients. His work of over 50 years - sculpture, drawings, architecture, and environmental design - so deserves it. See his wonderful artwork here. And for more details of the award click here.

seal of the American Academy of arts and LettersAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters

The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country's leading architects, artists, composers, and writers. Charter members include William Merritt Chase, Kenyon Cox, Daniel Chester French, Childe Hassam, Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Vedder, and Woodrow Wilson. The Academy's 250 members are elected for life and pay no dues.

In addition to electing new members as vacancies occur, the Academy seeks to foster and sustain an interest in literature, music, and the fine arts by administering over 70 awards and prizes, exhibiting art and manuscripts, funding performances of new works of musical theater, and purchasing artwork for donation to museums across the country.

Below are more works by Mr. Singer.

Art Installation at Williams College

by

Acquisition

Art Installation by Arts Management Services

Arts Management Services LLC assisted in the fabrication of this sculpture by Michael Singer and in the subsequent art installation for the first exhibition of this work of art at the Williams College Museum of Art.

Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts added this sculpture to their permanent collection as a gift from one of Michael’s closest friends and Williamss alumnus, Dr. William Fishkind.

About the Sculpture

Art Installation by Arts Management Services

The sculpture is titled Ritual Series, 1990. It consists of wood, granite, fieldstone, copper, iron, and bronze. It measures 230″ wide x 230″ long x 75″ tall.

The wood has a gorgeous texture created by sand-blasting 2″ thick rough-cut pine, harvested from the woods nearby Michael’s Vermont studio. After sand-blasting, the large and heavy planks were carefully singed to create an ancient look. The wood is not coated and easily bruised so handling needed to be careful and with gloves at all times. Likewise, packing and storage was always done with special care so that no surfaces touch each other or any hard surface.

Field stone was collected from around the artists 100-acre property in the mountains of southern Vermont. Mr. Singer would assemble a group of us from his studio and line us up behind him in a single row. We would then follow him all over his fields like ducklings. He would point to a rock and one of us would pick it up and carry it. Most were too heavy to carry more than one. When we all had one we would load them on his pickup truck and transport them to be cut flat on one end. One or two would be cut in an odd way with slices up the middle.

Art Installation Details

Williams College art installation

One of the secrets of this artist’s work is the precise degree of vertical plumb and horizontal level. Most good carpenters notice when something is off-level by anywhere from an 1/8″ to 1/4.” Incredibly, Mr. Singer notices pieces that are off-level by 1/32″! This precision creates a subliminal effect of calm and quiet, making the heaviness of stone, metal, and thick wood somehow feel light, floating, contemplative, and even otherworldly. This stunning effect can be felt in many of his works.

The granite and bronze plates were heavy and the long and thick pine planks bulky, needing two to handle and place precisely according to the instructions.

Our team devised an instructional system with carefully marked photographs whereby all of his intricate sculpture such as this can be assembled and disassembled by museum and gallery preparators.

This art installation required two people five days.

These pictures show details of the piece after completing the art installation for it’s first exhibition at the Williams College Museum of Art in 1990, from April 7 through October 21.


Installation of a Major Exhibition in Denmark

by

Art Exhibit Installation by Arts Management Services LLCWe installed four sculptures, five framed artworks, and numerous story board photos of architecture and infrastructure projects. Sculptures included Ritual Series Retellings 1999-2010. It’s made of pine, cast concrete, bronze, copper, and stone.  Its dimensions are 158″ wide x 209″ long x 65” tall.

We also installed Ritual Series Map of Memory 2001-2010. This is made of pine, cast concrete, bronze, copper, aluminum, marble, lead, and field stone. It measures 140″ wide x 180″ long x 56” tall.

Both exhibits were well received and included symposia on the role of art in saving the environment, saving the world!

Art exhibition in Copenhagen