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.

"Rural Modernism"

On Sunday March 29, at 2:00 PM, I'll be giving the last gallery talk related to "The Road Less Traveled: Thomas Nason's Rural New England."  In this talk, as in the video below, I'll be discussing prints in the exhibition that suggest Nason's familiarity with the aesthetics of modern art.  It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but I think of Nason as a experimenting with something I'll call "rural modernism."  I'll also compare Nason's prints with work by Grant Wood, Charles Sheeler, and Charles Demuth.  This video takes a closer look at Nason's wood engraving Factory Village, the subject of which is a distinct departure from his  typical scenes of rural New England life.  

  

Something "New" in Miss Florence's Bedroom

For many of us docents who spend time in Miss Florence's house, there has been something missing lately. It is the lovely statuette of "Jessie Wilson" by Bessie Potter Vonnoh which is normally on the fireplace mantel in Miss Florence's bedroom. This bronze and another by Vonnoh entitled "Standing Nude" (usually in the artist's bedroom) are currently part of the exhibition "Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women," organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum.

This show was on view at the Florence Griswold Museum last fall and is now at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Alabama. It will travel on to the Cincinnati Art Museum this summer.

Vonnoh was a popular member of the Lyme Art Colony and a good friend of Florence Griswold's. It is believed that the two bronzes were gifts from Vonnoh to Miss Florence.

The sculpture of "Jessie Wilson" (the daughter of President Woodrow Wilson) is a favorite of mine and I have missed seeing it. But several weeks ago, I walked into Miss Florence's bedroom and--what to my wondering eyes should appear?--there was another work by Bessie Potter Vonnoh.

This "new" bronze is from a private collection and is another cast of Vonnoh's "Standing Nude." It was discovered several years ago in upstate New York. The owners are loaning it to the Florence Griswold while the museum's two Vonnoh sculptures are on the road. And the privately owned "Standing Nude" will remain on the fireplace mantel until next fall when "Jessie Wilson" returns home.

Museum Inspires Young Artist

After visiting the Florence Griswold Museum for the first time during the summer of 2004, five-year-old Stephen Mills sat down on the museum grounds with the materials his mother provided him and painted his first canvas. Two hours later he finished, arriving at a new and more advanced level of painting that surprised those who saw his work. Now 10 years old, Stephen has already received several awards and recognitions.

When Stephen was seven, his Mom took him to Giverny where he painted in Monet's garden. He wants to go back again one day and paint there again. He commented that being at the Florence Griswold Museum reminded him of Giverny.

Jane Mills, Stephen's mom, talks about a more recent visit to the Museum, " The photo of him at the Museum at age 9 last September shows him at a very happy moment. He had toured the museum and sat down to paint. The museum closed and he was yelling to nobody how happy he was and how he loved painting and loved being there. He said, 'I think I can feel Childe Hassam's spirit looking over my shoulder!' and he painted right until dark."

In 2005, at the age of six, Stephen received The Connecticut Renewal Team's National Arts Program Award. Stephen was the youngest person in Connecticut to ever receive this award. In October, 2006, Stephen signed his posters at Borders to help raise money for hurricane relief. His painting, Poinsettias, was chosen to be represented on holiday cards for the 2006 Children's Medical Center's Holiday fundraiser. Also in 2006, Stephen had a one-person art show at the Peterborough Art Academy and Gallery in Peterborough, NH.

Stephen's art was selected in an international contest in 2007 to appear on the cover of the book, It's All in Your Head, Around the World in 80 Lyme Patient Stories by PJ Langhoff. In 2008 he was featured on Viva Hartford during his Strokes of Genius 2 exhibit at Young Studios in Hartford.

A Different Kind of Self-Portrait

In this video, we look at a Thomas Nason print entitled Engraving A Block.  Despite its minimal qualities (and size, at 1 1/2 x 2 1/8" it's the smallest print in our Thomas Nason exhibition), I think it speaks volumes of Nason's sense of self.  In the print Nason represents his own two hands, at work, cutting a block.  All of the images in this video are on view in The Road Less Traveled: Thomas Nason's Rural New England, along with Nason's own tools and blocks.