Friday, August 28, 2009
Today I met with Peter Zepponi & various San Francisco Rec & Park representatives at the Golden Gate Park Horseshoe Courts regarding the restoration of the Vet Anderson bas-relief sculptures. All I can say is that horse is huge and there’s a whole lot of restoring required. I’m really looking forward to the challenge of restoring these two very unique bas-relief sculptures especially because San Francisco Rec & Park and the City of SF may be backing up my donated efforts with some grant funding, materials and man power.
I took away several broken pieces of crumbling cement coming off the Pitching Man. I wanted to make sure that vandals didn’t run off with these very essential pieces to the rest of the leg restoration where more severe crumbling is taking place. It’s all very friable as this sculpture made of cement, was buried under earth and brush, and has now been recently exposed to the elements. Under the cement bas-relief sculpture is just San Francisco sandstone which needs to be stabilized as well. Furthermore, homeless people have returned to this space, now cleared of debris and continue to build fires, tag graffiti and throw rocks and other things at the sculptures creating more damage.
I took the pieces to my workshop and started cleaning them by washing them with plain water. I set them out to dry. Today was a perfect day for that as it was about 100 F. The next step will be to start on-site cleaning by removing dirt from the inside of the leg of Pitching Man and to start stabilizing the leg and reattaching the pieces that I cleaned today.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
The pieces cleaned up well and I used a 2-part epoxy to glue the 3 fragments of Pitching Man’s leg together. The epoxy requires a 48-hour drying process to properly cure; the fragments are clamped and positioned so as not to apply incorrect pressure, but just enough pressure to repair the fractures with the help of the epoxy. In two days I can continue the crack repair and restoration of the fragments of the leg piece of Pitching Man.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Now that the leg fragments have been curing and settling for 48-hours, the next step of the restoration process will be to transport the now repaired leg to Pitching Man at the Horseshoe Courts in Golden Gate Park. Once there, I will continue to attach the leg piece that I’ve glued to the rest of the body of Pitching Man. I’ll fill in the cracks and repair fissures where needed as well as stabilize any areas that need it. I’ll work to match the existing colors and textures of the weathered Pitching Man bas-relief sculpture to make him look like he’s been there since 1937 and admired by the on-lookers rather than damaged and ravaged by man and Mother Nature…yes, in that order.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Still working on the Pitching Man and talking to a lot of great people as they walk by. Everyone who walks by is really appreciative of all the work that has taken place to restore the Horseshoe Courts and in particular, the Vet Anderson bas-relief sculptures. The biggest challenge of repairing the Pitching Man was coordinating my available time with the weather so that it was warm enough for the cement and epoxies to dry thoroughly and set. And that’s nothing compared to the challenge that will ensue with the restoration and repair of the Horse sculpture.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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