Can Art Withstand the Test of Time?

by Amanda Gutierrez
Fall 2016 Intern

This past summer, I spent a week cleaning my bedroom in preparation for graduation (and therefore, moving out), and I was dismayed to find that many of my old graphite sketches had faded and smudged over the years. In retrospect, I should have used a fixative spray or stored them in a safer place. Luckily, there are art conservationists dedicated to protecting the world’s more well-known art, or we wouldn’t have treasures like the Mona Lisa and the Sistine Chapel.

Contemporary art and its contemporary materials are posing challenges for today’s artists and art conservationists. While some modern artists embrace the idea of non-enduring art and create masterpieces out of ephemeral materials like chocolate or vegetables, others are using new synthetic materials, like acrylic paint and polyester resins, which have yet to be tested for long-term survival. Because these materials haven’t been in the art world for very long, it’s hard to tell if they will be able to last for centuries with proper conservation, like oil and tempera paintings of the past have been able to.

Even modern art pieces that seem like they should endure are posing conservation problems. Take, for instance, GRP sculptures. GRP, or glass-reinforced plastic, is a composite of alternating fiberglass and polyester resin layers. GRP artworks, especially those displayed outdoors, need careful conservation handling. Conservation techniques include regular cleanings (with the appropriate materials, of course), applying protective coatings, physical repairs and paint touch-ups.

The wave of modern art materials has also created new challenges for art collecting. Modern art enthusiasts may soon have to be as innovative as the artists when it comes to storing their prized purchases. Art collecting comes with the responsibility of protecting art from natural elements, such as humidity and human errors—like accidentally dropping a piece of art or spilling something on it. Add in the unique considerations that have to be taken for modern art materials, and it looks like collectors could have a real conundrum on their hands.

Some of modern art’s more avant-garde materials include straw and shards of broken dinner plates. How would someone go about fixing a broken dinner plate that has been broken already? That’s what modern art conservationists still need to figure out. It’ll be up to the most creative and resourceful art conservationists to see that modern materials survive for future generations.

Did You Know?

For a thousand years, Great Britain has printed its legislative records on vellum, a writing surface made from the skin of a goat or a calf. Vellum can last for 5,000 years—talk about enduring materials! In early 2016, Britain announced that it would no longer be using vellum and would use archival paper (which lasts a measly 200 years) instead . . . the decision was reversed a week later.

Lessons and Toddlers and Forests . . . Oh My!

by Abbrianna MacGregor
Fall 2016 Intern

When I reflect on my preschool and kindergarten days, nature and exploration don’t come to mind. In fact, the mental image provoked is quite the opposite. Most of my formative days were spent inside a small classroom, only venturing outside for recess during the times of the year when the weather permitted such adventures. Even then, we could only enjoy the outdoor expanses for about thirty minutes or so. The opportunity to indulge in any innate fascination with the natural world was scarce, to say the least.

Many preschools and kindergartens conform to my own experiences. However, this soon may no longer be the norm. Waldkindergartens, translated as “forest nurseries,” have been popular in Europe for many years, and are beginning to gain traction in the United States as well. They offer an alternative to the traditional learning setup that many preschoolers and kindergarteners experience.

Waldkindergartens got their start in nineteenth-century Germany. After being founded, their prevalence lagged for many decades due to the introduction of other, more widely accepted learning models. Now, however, they are gaining momentum in Germany and beyond. In Waldkindergartens, children are granted time to immerse themselves wherever unstructured nature play may lead them. In modern Waldkindergartens, students benefit from a typically low teacher-to-student ratio. Many meet outside year-round regardless of rain or snow, making for a truly immersive experience.

These preschools and kindergartens have become popular in Germany, in part due to their state system of education. As early as the age of 10, a combination of exam results and school performance designates students to either a basic Hauptschule or a Gymnasium to complete their education. Many parents believe that the Waldkindergarten method of learning provides an alternative to an education system that decides a child’s future at such a young age.

Sound like something you might want for your children? Waldkindergartens are becoming increasingly present in the United States, so it may be possible for your child to attend one. Those who are familiar with this system claim that it is an opportunity for children to grow as self-confident and independent individuals. In addition to emotional strength, children also learn about the natural world in a truly experiential context at a very early age—some say positioning them for future success.

Implementing Waldkindergartens in the United States would take some getting used to. Despite its unfamiliarity, it seems promising as an additional education method. The next time you ask a child what he or she is learning in school, perhaps you won’t be caught off guard by an animated reply about time in the forest!

Did You Know?

Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel was a German educator who believed play was both constructive and crucial to a child’s development. He coined the term kindergarten, which literally means “children’s garden.”

Satellite Sounds by the Space Shore

by Eileen Neary
Junior Project Manager

I grew up dreaming about stars and spacesuits. One of my favorite astronomical memories (yes, I have several) is of my mother awakening me in the middle of the night so I could see the comet Hale–Bopp streak across the sky at its peak. Given that this extraterrestrial extracurricular activity was one of many, it probably comes as no surprise to learn then that I have a dog named Nova (as in supernova), that I have a tattoo of my favorite nebula (Thor's Helmet) or that I frequent space-related events and exhibits.

One exhibit in particular has recently caught my attention. In May of 2015, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory debuted a new exhibit at the World Science Festival in New York. After a successful showing there, the exhibit was moved across the country. It opened at The Huntington in San Marino, California, on October 29, 2016. The name of this exhibit? Orbit Pavilion.

Orbit Pavilion is a 30-foot wide outdoor installation resembling a metal conch shell. Visitors enter by walking through the outermost whorl of the shell structure, and are greeted by the sounds of satellites as they pass overhead.

While there are thousands of satellites currently in space, the installation focuses on the International Space Station (ISS) and 19 Earth satellites. Each satellite completes an orbit around Earth in about 90 minutes. Orbit Pavilion has assigned each of these satellites a unique sound, like crashing waves, desert wind blowing, a human choir and thunder. Each sound is a sonic interpretation of the mission of that particular satellite.

When a satellite is orbiting nearby The Huntington, its sound goes live in Orbit Pavilion. Visitors listen to the "voices" of the satellites in real time. There is also a one-minute song compacted from 24 hours’ worth of satellite sounds.

David Delgado, one of the collaborators on the exhibit, has said that the overall goal is to humanize satellites. "We wanted to give the satellites a voice," he said, "so that when they pass overhead, basically, they could reach out and say hi to us."

Orbit Pavilion is on display through February 27, 2017. Here’s hoping it comes to Boston next!

Did You Know?

About 68 percent of the universe consists of dark energy and about 27 percent consists of dark matter. That means everything on Earth and everything we have been able to see and observe in space is only about 5 percent of the universe. Is the theory of gravity wrong? Is there some undiscovered dynamic fluid out there? Are exotic particles responsible? All I know is that there is so much more to discover and I hope I'm around to witness the answer to these questions.

The Phantom World of Ghostwriters

by Eileen Neary
Junior Project Manager

Legions of nameless writers, churning out manuscripts behind closed doors. Books in bookstores emblazoned in bold letters with the names of literary goliaths receiving credit for works they did not pen. It sounds like a conspiracy theory. But it’s not. Ghostwriters were once invisible forces in the publishing world, but in recent years, the practice of ghostwriting is more forthright than ever.

Literary agent Madeleine Morel represents several ghostwriters through her agency 2M Communications Ltd. In her estimation, “at least 60 percent of the books [were] ghostwritten” on the nonfiction bestseller list at the time she was interviewed for NPR. She goes on to say that “10 years ago . . . you’d maybe tell your best friend on pain of death never to tell anyone else cause there was a slightly ignominious feature to it.”

These days, ghostwriters are often able to reveal whom they have written for. Ghostwriter Daniel Paisner, for example, is behind the works of Daymond John from ABC’s Shark Tank, athletes Ray Lewis and Serena Williams, actor Denzel Washington, and many other politicians and prominent figures.

In the fiction universe, best-selling author James Patterson is perhaps the most open about his use of ghostwriters. Without them, he could never have achieved the massive output that has made him one of the most prolific authors of all time. Between 2008 and 2013, Patterson revealed the process: He writes a 30- to 80-page project, a ghostwriter steps in to complete the work, and the pair check in monthly on the progress.

Author K. A. Applegate is best known for her Animorphs series, targeted for young adults. Though she started her career as a ghostwriter, fans were upset to learn during a Reddit Q&A that ghostwriters wrote dozens of the books in her series. Like Patterson, Applegate (and her husband, Michael Grant, who partnered with her on some writing projects) would come up with outlines of varying length that were used as a frame of reference for the ghostwriter’s drafting. Her reason for this practice? “It was either use ghosts or end the series. Our schedule was 14 books a year. Plus other projects.”

It’s certainly no cakewalk working as a ghostwriter. In addition to often losing out on name recognition, there is a lot that goes into trying to sound like a different author. According to NPR, ghostwriter David Fisher “studies speech patterns, sentence structures, what jokes his subjects tell . . . and organize[s] all the bits of information into a coherent story.” And when it comes to the money? The ghostwriter receives about 30 percent of the book’s advance, plus an agreed-upon percentage of the book’s royalties.

It makes you wonder . . . will ghostwriting become further legitimized as time goes on? Or will these writers continue to hide in the shadows? Revealing the truth is fine by me. I ain’t afraid of no ghost.

Did You Know?

Baseball agent Christy Walsh penned the term ghostwriting. Walsh went on to set up the Christy Walsh Syndicate in 1921 to “exploit the literary output of America's sporting heroes.” He and his firm went on to ghostwrite under the names of many famous athletes.

Rock-Paper-Scissors Goes Pro

by Amanda Gutierrez
Fall 2016 Intern

One of my best friends and I are constantly taking part in the time-honored tradition of using rock-paper-scissors to make decisions. All either of us needs to do is hold up a fist—the universal sign to engage in a game of rock-paper-scissors.

Even in the professional world the game is sometimes used to make decisions: In 2005 Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction houses were asked by their potential client to compete in a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would handle the sale of a multi-million-dollar art collection. In the end, Christie’s choice of scissors sliced down the competition.

Of course, not everyone uses this game to make choices. For some, it’s purely recreational—children on a playground often play the game to pass time. For others, it’s a sport—the members of the World RPS Society compete professionally (believe it or not) for the title of champion. The society, originally called the Paper Scissors Stone Club, was formed in 1842. The club existed as a space where members could enjoy the game with only their honor at stake. In 1918, the headquarters for the club were moved to Toronto, Canada, and the name was changed to the World RPS Club, then again in 1925 to deem it a “society” to reflect its growing membership.

To this day, the fans of the game hold championships around the word, and it’s not only honor that’s at stake. Championship purses can total thousands of dollars. At one tournament in Las Vegas in 2006, the prize was $50,000! When there’s that much on the line, the top professionals develop techniques to recognize and counter their components’ playing patterns (and in doing so, win the dough).

Some players enhance the tournaments through the addition of costumes and code names. One player, called the Midnight Rider, plays wearing a mask. Another player calls himself Master Roshambollah—eponymous of roshambo, another name for the game.

In 2007, rock-paper-scissors was so popular that the finals for the USA RPS League Championship in Las Vegas were aired on ESPN2. The finalists, Jamie “Landshark” Langridge and David “The Brain” Borne, held their epic battle within the confines of a miniaturized boxing ring. In the end, the shark beat the brain.

Think you have what it takes? Test your skills of predication here.

Did You Know?

Sitcoms love putting their own twist on the traditional options of rock-paper-scissors. In a Friends episode, Joey insists "fire" beats everything, until Phoebe releases a "water balloon." On The Big Bang Theory, Leonard, Sheldon and gang often leave decisions to "rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock."