A Fool is Wise in His Eyes
Change orders are common in new construction. It is work that is added to or deleted from the original scope of work in a contract, or both. Depending on the magnitude of the Change, it may or may not alter the original contract amount and/or completion date.
Other Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center changes occurred outside of the scope of construction and appeared as if made on a whim. This pattern of ongoing changes meant delays and I started to wonder if they would impact our ability to hang ANY restored scenery by the June 24, 2016.
The first snag regarding the King Solomon’s Temple mural for the lodge room occurred during mid January 2016. It would have a lasting effect on the mural timeline and also the scenery restoration timeline.
The CEO had discovered a donor to pay for the lodge room mural. They both swung by my office to chat after a lunch in mid-January. During their visit, the CEO informed me that I would just paint whatever the donor wanted and it would probably be a replica of an existing artwork. I explained to both of them that copying a fine artist’s work in its entirety without their permission was unethical and infringed on copyright laws, he might want to reconsider.
If they were going to make an identical copy, why not pay for permission to use it and print a digital copy for the east? No, he wanted a hand-painted mural as they were of a better quality. This topic had come up before when all of the hand-panted murals had been cut and the general director proposed digital prints instead, explaining that no one would know the difference anyway.
After speaking at length with the donor about what type of composition he wanted me to painted, he explained that he wanted one feature to have prominence. I was to highlight the brazen laver as it had special significance to him. Understanding the underlying Mormon significance, I immediately said, “Absolutely no problem!” Then I explained to both of them, “This is a wonderful opportunity to create something new and unique! The Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center would hold the copyright, as I was a staff member when creating it, and could use it for a variety of applications. “
At this point I had already conducted extensive research on the construction of King Solomon’s Temple, and the various theories concerning the design, coloration, and regional building techniques. It was a wonderful chance to re-interpret this popular subject and I was excited to start the final design.
And then I received a new directive from the CEO that made the entire mural design process convoluted; I was to give the CEO and general director my design, they would present it to the donor, and then report back to me with the donor’s critique. How odd. This would add time and delays to the design process; kind of like playing telephone in elementary school. But I knew the donor, got along with him well, and we visited almost once every week when either I volunteered at a Masonic library or he stopped by my office to chat about genealogy. The communication between us continued regardless of this directive.
Eventually, my line drawing was approved, followed by a value study, and a color sketch. Each submittal was approved with, “Proceed!” On February 22, when I was midway through the 2”: 1’-0” full-scale color painting, the CEO called me into his office.
He explained that he had changed his mind about the architectural ornamentation behind the Master’s chair. Instead of a full wall mural with vertical composition, it would become a horizontal composition, as he would extend the wainscoting throughout the alcove.
Oh no. This changed everything and we were already ridiculously behind schedule, as I should have started the actual painting over a month ago! I carefully explained that this meant starting much of the design from scratch, further delaying the restoration. Then I started thinking about the potential problems; the decreased size meant that the draperies would conceal much more of the composition, it was now at a scale where I could not use the floor frame and “paint it down,” and it would look odd when compared to the remainder of the proposed and framed sidewall artworks. If we were going to make it smaller and horizontal, we might want to treat the east wall like the panels on the sidewalls and frame it. Historically, a large ornately framed painting could work there, centered in the wall above the wainscoting. Unfortunately this would necessitate a framed canvas and new fine art paints (to replace the theatrical paints).
In the following weeks, two designs were turned down in the final stages – after approvals on initial line drawing, value studies, color renderings. The explanation was always, “I thought I liked it, but it’s not quite what I want.” I finally scheduled a meeting with the CEO and general director to discuss the “ideal composition.” I brought in all of my previous designs, spread them out on a table, and asked the CEO to point out ANYTHING that he liked about the compositions.
I took notes and quickly sketched out a new composition, received another approval to proceed, and got up to leave for my office.
“It’s too bad that you have to do another design,” said the CEO “but we have to get it right!” I stopped, turned around, and broadly smiled at him. “Oh no,” I exclaimed. “I really love painting and every time you tell me to design something else it’s like spending another day on the beach!”
My next design was approved. However, the restoration was going to be extremely delayed and we would be lucky to hang only a few drops for the opening. This entire process designing the Temple mural really made me think of the King Solomon quote, “A fool is wise in his eyes.”
To be continued…
