ism of the week - week 3

Each week during our current exhibition, ...isms: Unlocking Art's Mysteries, we will post deeper insight into one of the paintings on view. Past the credit line, past the exhibition label, Assistant Curator Amanda Burdan shares her thoughts:

Instrumental in many ways to the establishment of abstract art in the United States, Harry Holtzman is best remembered today for his close friendship with and writing about Piet Mondrian. Holtzman’s colleague, the abstract artist Burgoyne Diller, proved pivotal to his future as an artist. Diller introduced Holtzman to the Gallatin Collection at New York University where Holtzman first encountered Mondrian’s work. Though he had not seen Mondrian’s paintings before, Holtzman had been working in a similar geometric style. Intrigued to the point of obsession, Holtzman traveled to Paris in 1934, intent on meeting Mondrian.

By 1934 Mondrian had firmly established his Neo-Plasticism, an entirely abstract style made up—in its ultimate form—strictly of horizontal and vertical lines and primary colors. Mondrian was beginning to experiment with three-dimensional interpretations of his iconic style. The two men shared theories of art and parted as friends when Holtzman returned to the United States the following spring.

Holtzman continued to be active in the New York art world, teaching classes at European modernist Hans Hoffman’s school. He, along with other advanced artists of the period founded the American Abstract Artists group in 1937, to further the cause of abstraction in this country. During the Depression Holtzman also worked as an administrator for the mural painting division of the Federal Art Program, a branch of the Works Progress Administration. In 1940, Holtzman sponsored Mondrian’s immigration to the United States, supporting the artist through the last four years of his life. Mondrian passed away, naming Holtzman as the sole heir to his estate, the administration of which consumed much of his time. The lifelong project of publishing Mondrian’s complete writings only came to fruition months before Holtzman’s death in 1987.

A recent acquisition to the Museum's collection---
Harry Holtzman (1912–1987)
Red, Orange, Green and Yellow
Oil on canvas
Florence Griswold Museum
Museum purchase, Alice Talcott Enders Purchase Fund

Faerie Illustrator

We thought you might like to hear from the creator of our faeries...the "faces" of our Village...Jeffrey Himmelman...

A few months ago my dad told me he was building a miniature fairy dwelling in his basement.

To most people this might sound a bit odd, but growing up with my dad, it wasn’t all that out of the ordinary. My dad writes and illustrates children’s books in addition to being a nature photographer and author. He’s just a really creative guy.

He told me all about the Wee Faerie Village exhibition in October, and I was very interested. He mentioned that David Rau, who was putting all this craziness together, found my portfolio linked on my dad’s website. David had worked with my dad in the past but didn’t know that his son was also an artist. He asked if I’d be interested in doing something for the exhibition. I was definitely on board.

I’m primarily a fantasy artist. I went through high school playing dungeons and dragons with my friends and doing other similarly geeky stuff, and now that I’m grown up I’m doing art for games. It’s a really fun field to work in and I consider myself pretty blessed to have been able to turn my hobby into my profession, even if I don’t have time to play games anymore.

David got in touch with me a short time later and told me he was interested in having me create a map and some promotional images. He invited me over to the museum (at the time I was living in New York), and so I took the trip. I spent the day learning about the history of the art colony, and taking tons of reference shots.

Over the next few months I did quite a few illustrations for the museum. I broke out some of my fairy art books for inspiration. Brian Froud and Tony Diterlizzi are some of my favorites. I was trying to convey a different personality into each of the faeries. The boy faerie (nicknamed Griswold) is kind of brash and adventurous, whereas the girl (as you may have guessed, her nickname is Florence) is more demure and playful.

The actual map was a bit outside of my comfort zone. It took much more collaboration and fine-tuning with David to get exactly what they were looking for. In the end however I think the map turned out well!

So there you have it: my experience helping to create the Wee Faerie Village. Thanks for reading, and I hope you’re looking forward to visiting the village as much as I am!

~Jeff Himmelman
Illustrator & Podcaster
Art: jeffreyhimmelman.com
Podcast: wippodcast.com

Barn Restoration Project, Part V

On 13 May 09 John the KSR carpenter and Dave the electrician are on site. John is building the barn doors, and Dave and his helper are running conduit throughout the barn to support the overhead lighting and various outlets.

On 14 May 09, the roofers arrive to begin putting on the metal roof. Although it is made of Copper, it is coated with a Zinc-Tin Alloy that makes it appear grey. John of KSR and the electricians continue work begun on 13 May.

On 15 May 09 the white oak cabinetry arrives to be installed in the Garden Work Space. Roofers continue their work.

On 18 May 09, Three Leaf Landscaping returns to install the handicap access bluestone ramps to the north and south entrances, as well as clean up and reseed the disrupted areas, lay the chip stone perimeter around the barn, spread new stone dust on the garden path, and remove the smaller cedar tree and foundations plantings. Dave the electrician completes his work.

On 19 May 09, Igor, Kronenberger's resident cabinetmaker, continues work on installing the cabinetry, while John is building a new closet. Carmello is re-installing the repaired upper west side window. Three Leaf Landscaping completes thier work.

Barn Restoration Project, Part IV

On 22 April, 2009, John, David and Carmello are seen hard at work finishing up installing the siding on the barn's west side. A ship-lap joint was used to repair a defective upper cross member on the barn's western most bent. This work was anticipated from the start. Fortunately, when we removed the remainder of the west side siding, no further deterioating girts or post became evident. By the 29th, the west side siding was complete.

On 05 May, excavators arrive to dig the two trenches required to connect the water, electric and fire/security lines from the Hartman Education Center to the Historic Barn, as well as the drain line from the new stone barn sink to the septic system . Electrical systems will be snaked in the laid PVC conduit. the water line is blue flexible plastic.

On 06 - 07 May, work continues on connecting all subterranean systems. this involves boring into the foundation of the Education Center to connect systems located in the Ed Center's basement with those of the barn. Concrete patch is used to waterseal around the PVC conduit that pierces the Ed Center's foundation. In addition, the Roofers arrive to install the 1 x 6 pine board underlayer. That evening Jason Zeleck arrives to lay the conduit for the Fire and Security System.

On 08 May, all systems are entrenched and Al, the excavator, proceeds back fill the ditches.

Barn Restoration Project, Part III

On 06 April 2009, we started putting up siding on the north side facing the historic garden. this work continued on 07 April as well.

On 08 April, David Colita, the site supervisor discovered, upon removing the south side siding, that we have three more defective girts - that is, the horizontal members that extend between upright posts that are used for structural support and as nailers for the barn siding. One girt actually collapsed as Carmello Santos was leaning against it!

On 10 April, we had a meeting with the Director, the Project Manager and David Colite the on- site supervisor to discuss the conditions of these girts. David also took this opportunity to point out the deteriorating condition of the two posts that flank the south side waggon doors. All parties agreed that we do not want to replace any further historic fabric than absolutely necessary. the Director authorized the replacement of three girts that were beyond repair, as well as another 2 X 6 board that had been a patch repair back in the 1970's. Regarding the flanking south door posts, the new posts being installed for the waggon doors will be "sistered" to the original posts and will, in turn, lend a degree of support to those members. We will further add a reinforcement piece onto the western post above the lintel for greater strength.
During the week of the 13th, the crew installed gussets on the roof line, hurricane tie-downs where the rafters meet the roof plate, and installed four new girts on the south side. They also finished attaching the rest of the south side siding.

On the 20th, the crew removed the old west side barn siding.

On the 22nd they began work on installing the new west side siding.




















Regarding an inquiry from one of our blog readers; The Rafal Landscape Center will be completed and opened to the public in early June. I expect Kronenberger & Sons Restoration to have their work complete by the first week of May. At that time the plumbing and electrical will be brought into the barn, and Keith Ragone will begin installing the exhibitry.
One of the goals of the Center is to educate the public on historic gardens and the local grange traditions. We will be conducting hands-on demonstrations and lectures that will focus on this subject matter.

Barn Restoration Project, Part II

In early March the crew (Dave and Carmello of Kronenberger & Sons Restoration) poured a new concrete floor. This involved the removing of the older dirt floor, digging down a few feet to lay a gravel bed, installing reinforcements, and pouring the concrete. Sometime in the past forty years the original foundation was replaced by a concrete one. However, they kept the dirt floor intact. Interestingly, the 2 X 12 boards used as the forms for the poured foundation were then re-used to replace two deteriorating upper central cross members. At the time of the pouring of the new concrete foundation, the barn’s sill plate (that part of the structure that sits on the foundation) was also replaced with red oak. No doubt this was due to extensive dry rot and insect damage. There is also evidence at this time of some diagonal braces being replaced as well as “dutchman”(selective cutting and patching of framing) and modified scarf joint repairs of upright posts.

Selective post and beam replacement. The barn needed to be "racked", using a “come – along” racheting device, to make the barn plumb to facilitate post repair. This involved the wrapping of a chain around the walnut tree outside the barn and racking the barn to achieve a properly upright perpendicular. All post replacement and repair was accomplished by the first week of April. A considerable number of the barn’s original posts and beams required either complete or partial replacement using shiplap joinery or “dutchman” repairs. This involved the cutting out of the damaged wood and affixing a matching wood patch. One post, for example, required a full seven feet of repair, without, however, replacing the whole post of twenty-four feet. In addition, two central posts that had been sheared off sometime in the past have been restored.
On 20 March the roof was removed, to be replaced by a standing seam metal roof at a later date.
The re-siding of three sides of the barn commenced second week of April. Most of the exterior siding is too far gone to reuse. Only the eastern side facing the Hartman Education Center will retain its original siding. Selective repairs of the eastern side may be made with boards salvaged from the other three sides. The eastern side features a dove cote, a window and two doors. Replacement siding will be a red cedar stained to a hue compatible with the existing eastern side.

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Barn Restoration Project

The goal of the Barn Restoration Project is three-fold:

- Renovate and repair the structure, using, where practical, traditional timber frame joinery. At the same time remaining sensitive to preserving the historic fabric where possible.

- Tell the story of the agrarian and gardening/landscaping traditions of Southern Connecticut.






- The eastern third of the barn will be reserved for the volunteer “Garden Gang”.












This traditional barn, on the campus of the Florence Griswold Museum, is the sole remaining outbuilding that is extant from the Art Colony period.



The Barn was built around 1851 in that style easily identified with the utilitarian barns of the Connecticut River Valley. Assembled from local chestnut, oak and fir, the traditional mortise and tenion joinery of post and beam construction is much in evidence in the structure.
Later repairs in the mid–twentieth century were indifferent to the traditional joinery methods. These repairs utilized modern fasteners, such as steel nails, carriage and lag bolts, to hold the post and boards together. Central timber beam members were replaced by conventional 2 X 12 fir boards. Central timber posts, essential to the stability of the frame, were sheared in half, presumably to maximize greater storage capacity on the ground floor.

So, the scope of the work on this project is to renovate, selectively restore and completely repair the Historic Barn to such an extent that it can be used for the purposes of the Rafal Landscape Center, while remaining sensitive to the historic fabric of the building.

Subsequent blogs will discuss in detail each repair.

Being Part of a Bigger Community

So why would a museum blog? Be on Facebook? Share photos on Flickr? Or do any of the other things we are trying? The answer is, it’s all about being a part of a community and forming relationships. We’re in Old Lyme, so we love our Old Lyme friends, many of who have supported the museum for years and years. We live on the shoreline, so that’s our community too. We’re part of organizations that serve all of eastern Connecticut, so we have many followers from further north and, thanks to the Museum’s status as a destination, we entertain visitors from all over the world! And don’t get me started about our “niches”…art lovers, garden enthusiasts…kids that go to camp…Hot Air Clubbers…people who love historic barns (you know who you are)…really, the list can go on and on. The Florence Griswold Museum has a lot to offer and thankfully the internet is making it so much easier to interact with people, build relationships and bring our communities together. Just think, there could be a lady in Wales who loves historic gardens and has somehow found us online. Maybe she bookmarks our page in hopes of planning a trip to New England someday, or maybe she knows she will never visit, but becomes a fan on our Facebook page because she wants to keep up on what we are doing. Even better, let’s say her cousin has a friend in Rhode Island so she e-mails her about the Museum and one Sunday, that friend brings her family here for a visit. The world just got smaller and our community bigger! So to all you adorers of art, roamers of riverscapes, lovers of lilacs, fans of Florence, and people who patronize puppet performances, spread the word from Avon to Altoona…setup a group, add your comments, post your pictures and lets be a part of the not-so big world!

Here's the Museum's Facebook page
If you have a Facebook account, please sign up as a Museum "fan." You can also upload video and photos of your visit to the the Museum here.

Here's the Museum's Flickr page
If you have a Flickr account, please join the Museum's group and upload photos of your visit to the Museum here.