Day 2

The pile of sticks is growing at the Florence Griswold Museum. But the ambitious plan that Patrick Dougherty has for our site calls for many more. Once we get all the sticks to the grounds we'll need plenty of help stripping them of their leaves. We've added a new work day on Sunday, July 5, so our weekend visitors can help with the project. Click here to sign up to volunteer for Sunday or just stop in and watch the sculpture grow.

Day 1

The Stickwork has begun and volunteers are, at the moment, harvesting birch saplings for use in Patrick Dougherty's sculpture. The Waterford Target volunteer team has even gotten involved. Target team coordinator Edyse Smith said of her first day on the job: "It was a lot of work... but fun to be part of this project. I plan on volunteering each week to see it progress. It was nice to work right with Mr. Dougherty."

The sticks are beginning to pile up on the grounds of the museum and Patrick's plans for the sculpture will be revealed in a few days. It's not too late for you to join in the project, in fact, we're adding new shifts to the schedule. Click here to sign up or contact Nicole.

Come see what's going on...

Beginning on Monday, June 29, sculptor Patrick Dougherty and a crew of volunteers will begin building a Stickwork sculpture here on the grounds of the Florence Griswold Museum. We're taking care to document the whole process as it unfolds and will post regular updates to our blog. For now, here's a peek at a part of the video that will be running in our orientation gallery to help explain what's going on.

Online Volunteer Scheduling for Stickwork

Please sign up to help construct Patrick Dougherty's Stickwork here at the Florence Griswold Museum. We have created an online sign-up sheet located here.

To claim your place in a time slot once you have accessed the document, scroll to the bottom, enter your name, and select your time slots. Please bear in mind that if there are already 5 volunteers for a shift(check the counter at the bottom of the column) you should select another time slot.

If you attended the informational meeting at the museum on Thursday, June 18 and signed up then, you have already been registered on the sign-up sheet. Feel free to check the document against your own records.

In the event that you can not make it to your shift, please, contact Nicole as soon as possible. We will be happy to sign you up for a different time slot.

Getting ready for Stickwork

This Thursday, June 18, come to an informational meeting about our upcoming Patrick Dougherty Stickwork project. Curator Amy Kurtz Lansing will give an overview of Patrick's work with many photographs of his fantastic pieces. We'll also screen a short video showing just what the process is like. If you know you want to volunteer to work on this exciting contemporary art event or even if you're just thinking about, we'll answer your questions and hopefully sign you up for the crew. One of Patrick's assistant will be on hand to give us an insider's perspective on the Stickwork experience.

Meeting Info: Thursday, June 18, 6:30 pm at the Florence Griswold Museum. If you can't attend but would like to learn more contact Nicole.

Rafal Landscape Center Opened June 5

Despite the weather, the opening of the Rafal Landscape Center was a lovely event!

Located in a traditional 19th century barn, the Rafal Landscape Center forms an integral part of how visitors experience the Museum. This outbuilding, which dates to the mid-19th century, is worthy of preservation as an example of a surviving Connecticut barn and as part of the cultural landscape of the Lyme Art Colony. The barn underwent a comprehensive restoration (described in earlier blog posts) to make it structurally sound, ADA compliant, and accessible to the public. Every effort was made to maintain the barn’s rustic character. The architectural plans and design decisions have been guided by how the barn looked in the early 20th century as documented by paintings and photographs in Museum’s collection. The barn’s appearance is consistent with the presentation of the Florence Griswold House as a boardinghouse for artists, c. 1910, and the interpretation of Miss Florence’s perennial and vegetable gardens, which are adjacent to the barn.

The barn features an exhibition that highlights the history and significance of the region’s landscape. In addition, the building includes program space for workshops and a work area for the Museum’s garden volunteers. This new center is one of the many special events planned for the Museum’s Year of the American Landscape. Funding for the project came from a variety of sources, including a generous gift from the Rafal Family and a Historic Restoration Fund grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. The exhibit was made possible thanks to a grant from the Connecticut Humanities Council, which also funded the programming and promotion of the Year of the American Landscape.