Warps and Weft: A Summer at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine

 

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine towers over Morningside Heights, its gothic granduer and castellated grounds create a magical sanctuary in Manhattan's Upper West Side. The Cathedral Complex houses a biblical garden, ivory peacocks, a "unique" sculpture of Michael defeating Lucifer and in a neo-classical buidling the textile conservation laboratory.  In 1954 the church was given a generous gift of a 17th century Italian tapestry series. St. John's  has a long history, the land was bought from a orphanage in 1887 and after years of postponements from economic depression, World Wars and fire, it is still unfinished. On the right transcept arm still stands the orphanage, the oldest building in the neighborhood now historic, will not likely be torn down. It now houses the Tapestry and Textile Conservation Laboratory. 

As a resident of the neighborhood I was familiar with the Cathedral and after writing an email to the Director, Marlene Edelheit, I was thrilled to be offered my first internship in conservation. Looking back this was a very important step for me. After many rejections and dead ends I quickly discovered that internship positions for pre-program students, those students who are applying for graduate programs, tends to be a Catch-22. Most graduate schools require at least a year of hands on experience, but most internships want graduate students and there are so few opportunities for a beginner to let anywhere near actual artwork.

During the summer I worked alongside another intern from FIT's textile conservation program on two 15th century tapestries.  The major conservation step is the wet cleaning that is an all day affair even requiring us to arrive an hour early. After removing the gallon and lining and an initial dry clean the large, heavy and unweldly tapestry is rolled onto a washing table. After about 45 minutes for the wash table to fill with enough de-ionized water, the textile is gently dabbed with soap, soaked, water drained, rinsed and repeated several times. Tapestries are not always cleaned as often as they should and after centuries of hanging that are essentially filters to the debris from fireplaces and any other pollutants. And as a special treat while washing the smells of tobacco and soot are released mixed alongside the aroma of the wet wool used in the weaving. During the warmer weather my fellow intern and I wore rags on wet cleaning days and could often be seen from the opened portico doors of the neoclassical steps that looked out to the garden and roaming peacocks with the littering of tourist and camp children apronned, barefoot and carrying giant over-sized cauldron pots. Sometimes I felt like a medieval servant, that later would inspire this blog.

One evening an investment banker friend of mine said to me over drinks, 

"Sooo.... you are spending your summer in a hot non-air conditioned former orphanage, wearing rags, cleaning dirt off of a rug that smells of wet smokey dog... And for free?" 

"Yep, and I love every bit of it!"

 

A seed planted in Queens: The World's Fairs and The Queens Museum of Art

What I love most about interning is the opportunity to infiltrate various institutions, their secrets revealed and the daily office happenings behind the pristine image of the galleries are somehow heightened.

In the Summer of 2008 I was accepted as a curatorial intern for the Queens Museum of Art. Housed in the New York City building, a remnant of the 1939 World's Fair, two permanent installations showcase the buildings early history. The first exhibit displays the history including memorabilia from both the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs the second is a remarkable scaled model panorama preserving the architecture and landscape of 1960's New York City.

One of the few remaining pieces of the earlier Fair, the NYC Building would later serve as the initial General Assembly building for the United Nations and again as the center of the World's Fair in 1964 before being transferred to the QMA. The NYC Building itself is mounted at the summit of the park's design, and faced with the large globe that expands further with a stream of rectangular pools culminating in a large crescent pond with three  fountains shooting towers of water. Of course the fountains are off and the pools are only filled with skateboarders, except of course there is one week of the year when gardeners suddenly appear to plant flora or trim the bushes, that is for the US Open when the wealthy flutter in. Throughout the rest of the year the park is generally dilapidated, (the city can seem to only afford 3 oil drums for trash cans.) 

Through Robert Moses, Flushing Meadows Park sprang forth from the drab dump described as Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby to an utopia of progress with tree lined boulevards and walkways. One can still stumble upon treasures like the sculpture The Rocket Thrower by Donald De Lue, yet there are also some very strange structures like the two observatory towers featured in the film Men in Black as undercover UFO's and the heliport which is now a banquet hall. 

With the themes "The World of Tomorrow" and  “Peace through Understanding” it is no surprise that Walt Disney World originated from the '64 Fair. When an offer to permanently  transform the park to an East Coast Disneyland was declined Disney would eventually transport the Fair's animatronic exhibits like the still famous, "It's a Small World" and also ultimately replicate the Fair's concept to form Disney World and Epcot Center.

With such a rich and eclectic history it should have been no surprise that during my internship I randomly discovered in a normal cubicle office a simple door revealed a full sized abandoned ice skating rink, the observatory balcony littered with display cases and Museum ephemera that also housed a raccoon family. 

 In response to frequent inquiries regarding the value of Fair items, one of my projects was to create a pamphlet of resources on the history of the Fairs, reference material for appraisals and networks of Fair experts. I would later go on to document the exact installation of the many objects and wall design for the Fairs exhibit that would be stored during the buildings renovation.  I was also given the opportunity to install a piece by Mark Dion, whose work can be described as contemporary excavations displayed as if artifacts. I soon realized that I had a stronger interest in the objects and their proper handling and storage than curatorial pursuits. At the same time I was arranging Mark Dion shards of bottles quarried from the Museum's own parking lot, the Mets Stadium was slowly being demolished while its neighboring replacement was erected, the QMA closed the World's Fair exhibit and planned on expanding to the ice rink space and a 65 million dollar aquatic and ice center was being constructed on the east end of the park. I felt a desire to preserve the rink space that was inevitably to be converted to galleries and insure that the buildings and statues in the parks would be maintained while the fountains restored to their original splendor could be enjoyed by everyone all year long. 

Though the panorama may at times be problematic for the museum, there is something magical about the place. I remember when I was offered the position, which would be my first internship, I left the interview and entered the panorama. There I was on top of the miniature Metropolis and ecstatic.

With many applications, resumes and C.V.s and many more to come, I always think back on that moment when I first stepped through the staff door to the museum world.