While Wendy Waszut-Barrett is traveling for research and art acquisitions (October 14-29, 2017) she is reposting the first fifteen installments from “Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar Acquiring: The Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.” Here is her fifth post from February 19, 2017.
Part 5: Delays
Time was running out to secure a rigging crew and order the necessary supplies to transport the Fort Scott scenery collection to Minnesota. The search for a licensed and insured company to participate in this endeavor started two months earlier in August, when I initially estimated all of expenses associated with the project. Unfortunately, my preferred ETCP rigger and owner of 20/20 Theatrical, Paul Sannerud, was not available for the project. The next best option was Ty Prewitt, founder and owner of BellaTEX in Jackson, Tennessee (http://bellatex.com/).
Regardless of how well I knew and respected Prewitt, my worries stemmed from working with an unfamiliar crew. These men might not understand historical scenery and the careful handling of each drop as it was removed from a line.
It was not until October 2 that the CEO accepted Prewitt’s initial estimation for the removal and transportation of this collection, starting November 1. This was not a signed contract and meant that there would be another delay. The final contract was not submitted until October 15, 2015, and not signed until October 26 – a mere six days before my departure. Since September, there had been continued negotiations concerning insurance and liability, specifically addressing concerns of “who” would insure the drops during removal, transportation, and their unloading into storage bays? We were losing time and the project was in jeopardy.
My largest concern continued to remain the weather in Kansas. In Fort Scott, we would be working in an unheated building for three weeks without water. Due to the size of the theatre and height of the fly loft, it would be extremely difficult to heat the space. I knew that it would be a cool working environment, but desperately hoped that it would not become too frigid.
On October 26, I received confirmation that the contract was finally signed. I immediately emailed both BellaTEX and our Fort Scott representative to nail down all of the logistics surrounding my arrival and the commencement of the project. I booked rooms and ordered all of the supplies with my own credit card, as I was never provided a company one. This should have been a red flag for me as all of the other employees had company credit cards, offices in the main complex, and a desktop computer. I had none of these. I was offered a workspace in the basement and used my own laptop. In terms of expenses, I was to submit receipts for reimbursement at the end of the project. Regardless of the circumstances, I put my nose to the grindstone and hoped to meet all of the impending deadlines.
To put this scenery acquisition in perspective necessitates looking at my contributions during 2015 as both a Historical Consultant and the MMHC Curatorial Director. My plate was full with numerous MMHC projects during the planning and initial construction of the complex. All of my duties as an independent historical consultant simply carried over into my new role as Curatorial Director. Many of the responsibilities outlined in my job description as Curatorial Director would not begin until after the center opened on June 24, 2016. This was still eight months away.
For fifteen months, I had already worked nonstop with architects, interior designers, theatre consultants, and others to provide insight and examples of historic ornamentation, color palettes, painted décor, or other decorative details standard for Masonic edifices constructed between 1910 and 1930. I had also directed the theatrical consulting firm of Schuler Shook to create a Scottish Rite stage for an anticipated historical collection. This meant replicating an historical counterweight rigging system that could accommodate dozens of drops on lines spaced 4” apart, on center. A custom system was designed for the drops while motorized lines were used for the electrics.
Besides directing these visual elements, I had also functioned as a Masonic scholar, designing the thematic layout and selecting artifacts for the six-gallery museum exhibit planned for the opening, working with other Masonic scholars from Washington, D.C. to finalize the majority of graphics and text panels prior to my departure. In addition to both artistic and scholarly endeavors, I worked with the Director of Communications for Minnesota Masonic Charities as she continued to develop the MMHC website and marketing of this new corporate identity. I had been pulled into this aspect as I would be the first “employee of interest,” a marketing strategy to constantly keep MMHC in the news both before and after the opening. Part of this role meant participating in local radio interviews to raise awareness of the MMHC mission.
The scenery collection was simply another acquisition for the center and not the main focus of my job. Earlier acquisitions had included the St. Paul Scottish Rite Library composed of approximately 10,000 items that would form the basis for the MMHC library. I loved historic scenery, but the Fort Scott Scottish Rite collection was just one more task to complete on a pile of directives that was overflowing.
To be continued…
