Art Installation at Singer Studio Gallery

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Gallery Installation

Arts Management Services LLC (AMS) provides art installation, restoration, and conservation for artists, museums, and corporate collectors.

One of my clients is the environmental artist and architect, Michael Singer. He commissioned AMS to install one of his earliest sculptures created in the 70’s.

This is a sculpture he decided to keep rather than sell. We removed it from his storage facility and installed it in his Sculpture Gallery, one of the many studio buildings at his summer residence in southern Vermont. He often refers to earlier work as part of his process for creating a new one. It’s always fascinating to see what results. Sometimes he even changes the earlier piece. Not this time – so far!

New Project

The installation is also part of a new project by Singer Studios to simplify instructions so that the many museums that own his artworks can exhibit them without the added expense of our help. This has become an important issue. Several years ago Michael asked AMS to study the question of why his work was not exhibited more often. As a result, we discovered that museums would be more likely to show his work if it was not so complicated or expensive to install.

Related Projects:

We tried many instructional methods including video, 3-D instructions, and transparent overlays. AMS and Singer Studio staff used this piece to develop, test, and refine a new way to create installation instructions. This time we tried photographing each element as we placed it on the sculpture, then adding measurements and helpful comments on each photograph.

Success

We found that our new instructional method was a complete success. It simplified the installation process so much that any museum preparator could do it themselves.

AMS then composed a draft letter to the museums which own Singer sculpture. Michael customized each letter and sent it, followed by phone contact. The response was very positive. As a result, our first customer for new and improved instructions is the Williams College Museum of Art, followed hopefully by MOMA, Guggenheim, Wellesley College, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.

The process for creating new instructions takes one week. It involves installing and de-installing a sculpture in a vacant room in the museum. AMS creates the new instructions. Singer studio pays all the expenses and the museum provides space and one person to assist.

This particular installation required one person for four full days. No restoration was required. The piece is made of rough pine and field stone, and it’s in excellent condition.

Art Installation at Williams College

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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.


Sculpture Restoration at Wellesley College

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'Woodland Garden' by Michael Singer

The Artist

Wellesley college restorationMichael Singer is an environmental artist and architect with studios in Vermont and Florida. His sculpture and drawings are part of the permanent collections of many of the world's major contemporary museums such as the Guggenheim, the Walker Art Center, the Hirschorn Museum, and the Louisiana Museum in Denmark to name a few.

The Sculpture

Wellesley College commissioned Singer to create this site specific sculpture, Woodland Garden, on it grounds. Mr. Singer's describes this work of art on his website as follows:

The two acre site on the extensive, beautifully landscaped Wellesley College campus is located along a pathway that winds through a wooded area on one side of Lake Waban. The journey through the landscape is part of the experience of this permanently-sited work, offering an alternative approach to traditional notions of public art which is usually placed in an urban context.

Woodland Garden is meant to be discovered, stumbled upon, as one travels along the forest trail. The site is defined with low stone walls that serve as both threshold and boundary, referring to the abandoned stone walls and foundations found throughout New England’s reforested landscapes. The sculptural element is sited in a hollow between two small hills in the landscape. Low split-stone slabs and a cut capstone rise two feet above the ground plane and define the upper edge of a chamber that extends four feet below the ground. The sunken chamber contains sculptural layers of cut granite and cast bronze. Over one hundred planted indigenous silver beech and red maple trees, along with wild blueberry and ferns, were planted as a part of the project to blend into the existing woodland flora.

The project was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, LEF Foundation, Davis Museum and Cultural Center, and the Massachusetts Council on the Arts.

The Restoration

Wellesley college restoration 2Wellesley College's Davis Museum commissioned Arts Management Services LLC on several occasions to remove graffiti and repair other damage. The remote location of the sculpture lends itself to being abused by students - both college and high school - as a favorite hangout and party area. Damage often resulted especially when the parties included drinking and a camp fire.

After what looked like regular annual repair bills, I suggested signage and a program that encouraged students to learn about the sculpture and respect it. This has resulted in excellent results with no damage since.

The restoration work involved removing burnt remains of campfires, graffiti on the walls, replacing moss, straightening bronze elements, cleaning and re-pinning rocks, repairing a cracked slab of schist, and replacing a bronze element that had been removed and lost, presumably as a souvenir. I also taught students to carry out annual maintenance on this outdoor sculpture garden.

Restoration of Works on Paper

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300 Drawings Restored and Re-Framed

About the Artist

Ritual Series Retellings

Ritual Series Retellings 6/30/94. Cast paper,
charcoal, and chalk on paper. 96 x 34”

The environmental artist and architect Michael Singer, commissioned Arts Management Services LLC to inspect and restore all of his works on paper - collages, etchings, and prints.

This multi-year project involved nearly 300 works of art ranging in age from his first pieces of the early '70's to his newest work. Some were in poor condition without acid free materials. Some had never been matted or framed before.

The Restoration

Each was carefully taken apart. Frames - iron, steel, and aluminum - were cleaned, reconditioned, lacquer-coated, or replaced. All frames were custom-made. Special aged-iron frames were carefully cleaned of rust spots and coated with two layers of satin-finish lacquer. Frame screws were replaced to match the frame color and finish.

All backing that was not acid-free, foam core, or blemish-free was replaced. All mats were carefully inspected and replaced when needed by 8-ply cotton rag archival museum board. This 8-ply mat was hand-cut with no over-cuts at the corners. I used a special bone implement to finish the cut edges as per standard art framing practices. All hinges were replaced.

 

Ritual Series 1/2/79

Ritual Series 1/2/79. Paper collage, charcoal, and chalk on paper. 59 x 43”

I used archival acid-free glue with hand-made Japanese rice paper hinges. In addition to hinging at the top as is usual, sometimes the sides were also hinged when the weight of the artwork was an issue. Acid-free paper was folded into triangles and applied to the bottom corners of all artwork to protect it from damage during handling and transport, should it ever come unhinged.

 

 

Some drawings needed to be carefully cleaned of bugs, dust, and mold. The artist was consulted before the removal of any blemishes to be certain that such marks were not part of the artwork. Fixative was re-applied to surfaces without disturbing delicate elements such as copper foil, oil stick, chalk, pencil, and charcoal.

Many collage works required hand-made spacers between the mat and the Plexiglas to create space and separation so that the artwork does not touch the Plexiglas surface - a particular issue for this artist whose works often involve layers of paper as much as 5/8" thick.

Ritual Series Guardian Journey

Ritual Series Guardian Journey 8/06. Ink and collage on paper. 40.5 x 32.5”

Some works were large with dimensions as much as 3' x 8' and weighing nearly 100 pounds. All original museum and gallery labels on the back of each piece were carefully removed and re-affixed to the reconditioned works. Scratched and smudged Plexiglas surfaces were cleaned and repaired or custom cut and replaced.

Finally, all artworks were recorded in detail as part of a larger project to register all of the artist's lifetime of artwork, installations, exhibitions, and sales including hundreds of drawings and sculpture.

Sculpture Restoration at Middlebury College

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Site-Specific Sculpture 'Garden of the Seasons'

Garden of the Seasons 2The Artwork

Garden of the Seasons is located on a main pathway of the Middlebury College campus. A granite bench sits in front of an aluminum structure with water trickling over it. This transforms into an ice sculpture in the winter months. Behind this structure is a garden and stream also designed by the artist.

The site-specific environmental sculpture engages visitors with sound, light, color, texture, and fragrance. The artist's website further describes it as follows:

The garden is a semi-sheltered contemplative place to enjoy the air and light of Vermont, socialize, meet a friend, read and view the landscape and the quad in all seasons.

At the threshold of the garden a warm season Water Wall transforms to a winter Ice Wall. Depending on the temperature. The surface of the Ice Wall slowly grows vertical ice sheets or the ice melts away revealing a pattern of steel and aluminum lattice. In the spring and summer the water wall has the ambient sound of slowly flowing water punctuated by the sound of insects and birds within the garden.

The garden opens to a small semi-circular plaza of sculpted concrete pavers and a curving granite bench with views to distant mountains. A sunken garden chamber set at different elevations functions as a gravitational stormwater runoff treatment system under the plantings. A long naturalized bioswale enfolds the garden with wildflowers and grasses. All the plantings of the garden are indigenous ground covers, wildflowers, shrubs, and vines. Many of the plants have winter berries and summer blooms that provide habitat for birds and butterflies.

The Restoration

The original grey paint whichGardenn of the Seasons 1 coated the aluminum structure failed and was peeling.

My work involved removing the peeled paint and applying a two-part epoxy paint matching the original color.

I researched paint used on metal exposed to water. These two-part epoxy paints have been used successfully on bridges for many decades.

I cleaned the stone, removed old paint, and applied the epoxy. The project took me one day without assistance.

Read more about the artwork here.

Sculpture Restoration in Maryland

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FDA 'Healing Garden'

Michael_Singer_FDA_healing_gardenSite-Specific Environmental Art

Michael Singer commissioned me to restore his sculpture, Healing Garden outside the Food and Drug Administration’s Wiley Building in College Park, Maryland.

Healing Garden was commissioned by the General Services Administration (GSA) of the US Federal Government. Their FDA building is over 400,000 square feet and includes dozens of laboratories for food safety and nutrition research.

Michael designed a site-specific sculpture and landscape within a three-acre area south of the building. The design  engaged an existing stream, established a new wetland and pond habitat, and activated the building’s courtyard green.

His website states:Michael_Singer_FDA_healing_garden 2

The Healing Garden was created as a place where workers can seek respite within a quiet contemplative garden. While envisioned as a refuge the overall concept also attempts to restore and heal a part of the land that was heavily impacted by the building’s construction.

The garden consists of a series of low granite walls, benches, and water elements set within the landscape of the building’s courtyard. The piece is framed by two water elements; the one to the southwest integrates a series of textured granite and bronze runnels that vary the sound of the flowing water. The other water element to the northeast has a hidden water source that pours into a spiral water well set into the earth. The two water elements, low granite walls and benches, planted gabions, and terraces of sculpted pavers define the garden spaces that are overlaid with curving swathes of native and low water shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, and succulents.

Across the stream from the courtyard, the landscape was naturalized with dense vegetation and wetland and embankment plantings along a retention pond. Plants had to be carefully selected to handle the heavily compacted clay soils and minimal maintenance or irrigation. Trails of permeable stone fines connect the parking lots to the building and run along the stream connecting the adjacent metro station to other nearby properties.

The Restoration

My work included inspecting and repairing all aspects of the sculpture including cleaning the pump and stone, re-aligning the stone elements, and restoring the water flow and planted areas. The project took me one day without assistance.

Art Fabrication of a La Jolla Sculpture

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Contemplative Garden and Shelter

The Fabrication

Michael Singer commissioned Arts Management Services to fabricate this swinging bench. He designed it as part of a large outdoor site-specific environmental artwork for a private collector on the beautiful California ocean seaside in La Jolla.

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The piece is made of redwood, and the project took me approximately 40 hours to construct without assistance. Once completed Michael's studio crew installed it.

The Sculpture

Michael Singer was commissioned to design and construct a sculpture, pavilion, pathway, and landscaping. His website describes it as follows:

A stepped and terraced pathway leads to the top of the hill where the shelter provides a place to view the ocean. The shelter walls are custom redwood trellises planted with vines. Layers of wood beams and trellis, transparent glass panels and planters form the roof of the shelter. A swing bench hangs from brass straps attached to the beams. The site for the granite and bronze sculpture Ritual Series/ Map of Memory 1990 is cut into the hillside; the surrounding earth is retained by a redwood wall containing planter pockets. Mesquite trees grow along the pathway and around the pavilion. The overlook landscape is carpeted with low ground covers and mosses with custom concrete steps and stepping stones emerging from the blanketed earth.