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Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 6.

Scenery Storage
There was another growing concern and one that had started prior to my Fort Scott departure; locating a climate-controlled rental facility to store the new acquisition. All of my initial estimates suggested that finding a space to store the scenery would be difficult at best. Not because these units were non-existent, but because of the logistics of navigating 25’ long rolls into a storage bay. I also had come to the conclusion that we would need a minimum of two storage units – each holding a 6’-0” x 8’-0” custom constructed system with 12” x 12” slots to accommodate each tube. This design was similar to the one that I had used for the Winona Scottish Rite scenery project in 2014.
 
In September, I provided technical drawings to the CEO for the construction of the storage units. He contracted Outhouse Exhibit Services, the same company that was hired to build all MMHC museum displays, and would eventually be hired to restore the Fort Scott scenery collection. The owner’s husband would go on to build and install the two storage racks units prior to my arrival with the drops.
 
One of my greatest challenges was to delegating certain responsibilities without any supportive staff. Since starting my part-time position as Curatorial Director on June 1, 2015, I was consistently working 50 hours or more each week on the project, not 30.
 
I needed to find someone to assume the responsibilities concerning locating storage units for the incoming scenery collection since I was going to be in Fort Scott. This aspect of the Fort Scott acquisition would become the only part of the entire endeavor that I did not directly oversee – and I would regret having delegated it to anyone else. During August of 2015, I handed off the responsibility to locate a storage facility for the drops to the general director at MMHC.
 
On October 8, he confirmed locating a climate-controlled storage unit in Bloomington, MN. It was a secure space, measuring 10’ x 30’, that had drive up access for the cost of $445 per month. I immediately reminded him that we would need at least two of these units as the entire collection could not fit in a single space. As mentioned, I was concerned with navigating the 25’ tubes into the storage rack. I specified the need to back a 30’ vehicle adjacent to the door of the storage unit and directly unload the drops into each storage system.
 
After arriving in Fort Scott, I engaged in a daily ritual of asking the MMHC general director for pictures of the storage unit to pass along to BellaTex, LLC. His standard response was “Don’t worry about it.” Out of growing concern to be able to provide the necessary information to the transportation crew, I ended up reaching out to the Outhouse Exhibit carpenter who would inspect the storage units prior to constructing the storage units. Clearly, in order to effectively proceed, he would need to take measurements of the space and would subsequently verify whether the storage units would work or not.
 
On November 12, I received the following email from the Outhouse Exhibit Services’ carpenter:
 
“Hello all,
The length of the drops while rolled up is 25 feet. It will be difficult to turn them into the space as things are configured at that location because you would need to turn them in a 22 foot wide space…”
 
(The 22′ wide space, adjacent to the storage unit)
(The narrow door on the storage unit)
This news was a harbinger of catastrophe as we now had no space to store the scenery. The project was nearing completion. We had removed the majority of the scenes and were preparing to roll the drops for transportation. The scenery would arrive in Minnesota on Monday, November 24, or earlier. It was a terrible situation for all involved and there was no solution in sight.
 
To be continued…
Below are images depicting our progress in Fort Scott on November 11, 2015. They show drops that have been removed from the lines and are waiting to be rolled onto cardboard tubes and wooden battens. 

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 5.

Delays

Time was running out to contract our rigging crew and order the necessary supplies. The search for a licensed and insured company to participate in this endeavor started when I initially estimated all of expenses associated with the project in August. Unfortunately, my preferred ETCP rigger and owner of 20/20 Theatrical was not available for the project. The next best option was Ty Prewitt , founder and owner of BellaTex, LLC out of Jackson, Tennessee (http://bellatex.com/). Regardless of how well I knew and respected Prewitt, my worries stemmed from working with an unfamiliar crew. These might be men who did not understand historical scenery and the need for careful handling.

It was not until October 2 that the CEO finally accepted Prewitt’s initial estimate to remove and transport this scenery. This ultimately meant a delay in the submission of the final contract. The finalized proposal for the removal and transportation of scenery was submitted on October 15, 2015 – approximately two weeks before the start of the project. 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 all skating on thin ice in terms of timeline and the project was now in jeopardy.

My largest concern continued to focus on 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 – a mere six days before my departure- I received confirmation of a signed contract and immediately emailed both the rigger and Fort Scott contact to nail down logistics of my arrival and the commencement of the project.

To put this scenery acquisition in perspective necessitates looking at my contributions during 2015 as both a Historical Consultant and the MMHC Curatorial. 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 Curatorial Director responsibilities as the contracted duties for this position would not completely begin until the center opened in June 2016.

Since the fall of 2014, I had 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 recreate a Scottish Rite space for the CEO’s anticipation of the folding of the Valleys. This meant that we recreated a Scottish Rite space that could accommodate drops on lines spaced 4” apart, with the exception of motorized 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 these 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 Fort Scott 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.

In the big picture, Fort Scott was just one MMHC project that I took the lead on and nothing more.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 4.

The Art of the Deal – A Final Offer

The Valley of Fort Scott rejected our $2500 donation for the scenery, countering with a request of $25,000 for the entire collection. They believed that selling drops for approximately $300 a piece was a very reasonable price.   Although, if we did not want to pay that sum, they were willing to take their chances and auction off the backdrops individually, thus splitting up the collection.

The CEO was furious with this counter-offer and rationalized that their demand for more money was greedy and un-Masonic. He was ready to walk away from the entire offer and go with anything else that morning. It took over an hour to calmly explain why this was a sound investment and would ultimately preserve an important artifact of Scottish Rite history. Midway through our conversation, I decided to take another approach; the price was still a “bargain” as even the fabric would cost more than $300 for each drop. That worked!

He agreed to the sum of $25,000 but with the condition that this transaction would be a “purchase” and not a “donation.” I was then directed to email a response to the Valley of Fort Scott, making sure that they knew we were the ones preserving fraternal history and not selling it for profit. Inside my head, I could only think, “One gain for preserving theatre history, one loss for the fraternity.”

However, this was just one more incident that added to my growing uneasiness with this overall endeavor. Every interaction seemed to be based on “winning a battle” and not “preserving fraternal history.” I started to believe that none of my colleagues really understood the significance of this acquisition or any other artifacts that would be on display the heritage center.

The next morning, on September 3, 2015, at 9:40 I emailed our acceptance, writing:

“Dear John,

It would be a disservice to both Freemasonry and Bro. Thomas G. Moses to auction off individual backdrops. To honor both the fraternity and Bro. Moses’ contributions we agree to pay the requested sum of $25,000, thus preserving our combined cultural heritage. In addition to purchasing your collection, we will invest the necessary $250,000 to remove the scenery from your theatre, transport it to Minnesota, and restore the collection for many future generations to enjoy. We will need to schedule a lengthy time frame to remove the scenes, clean them, roll them onto tubes, and transport them to our storage facility.  This process takes approximately three weeks with four people working full-time.  This lengthy timeframe onsite is due to the fragility of the pieces and the safety of our workers.

Please draw up the necessary paperwork for the transfer of all 80 painted drops and all ancillary painted set pieces to the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.

Sincerely, Wendy Waszut-Barrett, Ph.D.Curatorial Director, Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center”

The revised contract would not become finalized until October 16, 2015. It would be a sale of contract for personal property between the Joabert Lodge of Perfection of the Valley of Fort Scott, Orient of Kansas, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and Minnesota Masonic Historical Society and Museum. This was not the first nor the last delayed contract for the project. Time was running out to secure a rigging crew and order the necessary supplies before I left town on November 1. Something wasn’t right and I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it.

Throughout the fall, I had continued to reflect on our Fort Scott road trip. Why drive such a long distance to only spend a few hours in the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Theatre? I had been very up front that I needed an entire day to evaluate the collection, eight hours at a minimum. Why had I had not been sent alone to evaluate the scenery? It would have taken the same amount of time – three days to travel, evaluate, and travel back? I was on salary for 30 hours a week, so it wasn’t an additional expense – only my travel expenses. Plus, the additional “side trip” to Guthrie, Oklahoma for dinner and a brief tour was nice, but completely unnecessary. It also meant that we had to leave Fort Scott by noon. Bob Davis knew of our coming, but didn’t go out of his way to do anything other than a generic tour. It made no sense at all.

Later, I would come to realize that not taking the time to complete a proper evaluation would mean that we missed fourteen drops. There were not 80 painted pieces, but 94. Furthermore, many scenes did not contain a leg drop, cut drop and backdrop. For many, a painted cyclorama formed the final layer in a stage picture. This would become problematic in both rolling and transporting the collection due to the dirt that accumulates on the netting.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 3.

The Art of the Deal – An Initial Offer
 
By noon, I assure the CEO that the Scottish Rite scenery is in beautiful shape, historically significant, and that it should withstand any rigors of removal and transportation. This is when negotiations begin between Minnesota Masonic Charities and the Valley of Fort Scott.
The CEO offers the local representative $2,500 for the entire collection. He jokingly notes that the amount is more than twice the Valley of New Orleans received for their collection in June, further explaining that money will be offered as an in-kind donation. I see the disappointment on our host’s face and can’t help but feel sorry for both him and the Valley. He grudgingly promises to take the offer to the Valley and will respond soon.
 
I want to take a moment to explain my push for an “in-kind donation” and not an outright purchase of the scenery from the Valley of Fort Scott. I had also recommended this to the CEO for the New Orleans scenery too. A donation would not establish a “market value” for the collection or any other historical scenery collection nationwide. My greatest fear at the time, and now, is that all future damage that occurs to painted scenery collections across the United States and their subsequent insurance claims will take “market value” into account. Of significant import is the fact that the same insurance company covers ALL Scottish Rite theatres. Until June 2015, insurance claims were primarily based on their “replacement value.”
 
The majority of my replacement appraisals have the replacement value of entire Scottish Rite collections at between 1 million and 1.5 million dollars. Prior to the New Orleans scenery collection purchase for $1000, there had been no available information concerning the “sale” of Masonic scenery to reference.
 
Over the years, I had battled with this same insurance company on behalf of many other Valleys for years after collections were damaged, often resulting from leaking roofs and burst pipes. Two small examples are Danville, Virginia and Yankton, South Dakota where their scenery suffered pretty horrific water damage, and the insurance company had offered very little to even repair the damage.
 
A further practical consideration is ensuing damage. This affects neighboring drops that are not water damaged – or, “ensuing damage to the remainder of the collection.” This means that the dusting pigment resulting from water damage will coat the remainder of the drops after becoming airborne – not to mention the performer’s lungs below on the stage.
 
My work has been driven by a desire to preserve a heritage that goes beyond any one individual or community. I have always tried to educate unsuspecting stewards of these large –scale art collections. My belief is that if Scottish Rite Valleys understand the cultural significance of their material heritage, they will take care of fraternal artifacts. They only need the information to make an informed decision – or so I thought at the time.
 
To be continued tomorrow…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 2.

A Road Trip to Fort Scottish, Kansas
 
By mid-August of 2015, I climb into the CEO’s company vehicle and we leave for Kansas and Oklahoma. Our travel companions include the General Director of MMHC and a local Scottish Rite mason for this three-day trip. We arrive in Fort Scott that evening and examine the down town area surrounding the abandoned Scottish Rite Temple. Businesses have closed and many buildings are boarded up. The most interesting aspect of the town’s layout is the National Park that terminates the end of main street. This would be the “fort” of Fort Scott. Flowers hanging along brick sidewalks suggest that some residents are desperately trying to keep this town alive.
 
The Scottish Rite has been vacant for over a year and the windows on the west side of the building are open. I start to fear that the state of the scenery may be compromised if birds or bats have entered the space, let alone other insects or animals. I know that most of the artifacts were auctioned off well over a year ago and are now sitting in private homes across the country. The scenery is the last thing in the building that could remind visitors of Fort Scott’s booming past, when once it competed with Kansas City in size and industry. I have a small sense of dread as I contemplate our removal of the scenery, realizing that we may be the ones to remove the final “spark” from this community. For me, removing scenery from line sets and putting it into storage is similar to when the soul leaves a body and only an empty shell remains. The first time that I encountered this feeling was the previous year when Paul Sannerud and I put the entire Winona Masonic scenery collection into storage.
 
The next morning, we leave the hotel to meet our local Scottish Rite host; a local jeweler and one time Personal Representative to the Scottish Rite Valley. He opens the building and explains that there are no working toilets, only the electricity has been left. This means that removing the drops would be a nightmare. I recall the grime coating the Winona drops and how our brief lavatory breaks to wash up were crucial.
 
I carry my camera up the winding staircase to the second floor theatre. Even as an abandoned building, it is still stunning and holds a beauty that you seldom encounter in most contemporary spaces. Our host turns on the stage lights and lowers the first scene – it is stunning. Over the next few hours, I work tirelessly to photographically document as many important aspects of the scenery and space for reference in evaluation.
 
There is no water damage and I am absolutely shocked. I would later understand that the reason for this was the placement of the fire doors above the stage. I have noticed that many fire doors are placed directly above the central stage area. In case of a fire, the fire curtain drops and the doors open, thus preventing the fire from spreading to the auditorium. In Fort Scott, the fire doors were positioned over the stage left area so any leaking onto the stage are did not harm the painted scenes – brilliant.
 
Excitement grows as I realize that Fort Scott is one of a handful of collections that remain untouched by water and is almost in pristine condition. Only a very heavy layer of contamination is detectable on the front and back of each drop. This contamination includes soot from heating systems, bat guano, flash powder, Masonry dust, and many other unknown contaminants – all common for historical scenery. I start to suspect that this is probably one of the most important Scottish Rite collections in the United States, produced by one artist, and it is in remarkable shape. It is also an adaptable size for the MMHC too! The excitement in me rises as I complete the evaluation that morning.
 
For me, scenery evaluations are time-consuming endeavors, typically taking one or two weeks to complete from start to finish. I photograph the front and back with detail images of not only damage, but also written information on the backs of each scene that might note if stagehands have shifted it other line sets over time. I start every project with extensive research concerning that particular Scottish Rite and the origin of the Valley; maybe even delving into the arrival of Freemasonry in that State.
 
It typically takes me between ten to thirty minutes to record the information and condition of each drop. Then I pair up the scenes to create appropriate settings for the degree productions, many that the members are unfamiliar with and have not been lowered for decades. After an onsite evaluation taking two to three days, I spend another week to examine the information and complete my write evaluation.
 
For Fort Scott, I was allotted the time between breakfast at the hotel and lunch to complete an onsite examination and documentation. The downloading of images, pairing of drops, and everything else would happen on the road. Unlike other evaluations, this one needed to determine whether the scenery would work for the Valleys of Minneapolis and St. Paul once they moved into the MMHC facility. Furthermore, I needed to include a complete estimation for any anticipated expenses associated with the removal, transportation, storage, and restoration of the collection after an initial purchase. This would all be done during the remaining sixteen-hour drive and working in my hotel room at night.
 
To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 1.

THE BEGINNING OF MY TALE….
Early Contacts with the Valley of Fort Scott
 
My initial contact with the Fort Scott Scottish Rite began long before any involvement with the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center (MMHC). I received a call from the Sovereign Grand Inspector General (SGIG) of Kansas during the fall of 2011, asking about the market value of historic scenery. He was hoping that I could provide a complete evaluation of their scenery collection as they were preparing to sell the building and wanted an estimate on what the drops were worth. Due to a lack of funding, the evaluation and appraisal never took place.
In the fall of 2011, I was actively running a scenery restoration company, Bella Scena, LLC. Since  founding the company, I had restored over 500 historical backdrops nationwide. From a Masonic standpoint, I was an active Scottish Rite Research Society Member, guest speaker at the 2003 SRRS meeting during the Biennial Supreme Council Session in Washington, D.C., and a published author in “Heredom,” “Scottish Rite Journal,” “Theatre Design and Technology,” and other publications. Additionally, I had completed my Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, my doctoral thesis being “Scenic Shifts Upon the Scottish Rite Stage: Designing for Masonic Theatre, 1859-1929.” All the while, I continued to freelance as a scenic artist and set designer.
 
Fort Scott popped up again on my radar during January of 2014 when I assessed water damage at the Yankton Scottish Rite in South Dakota. The Masons told me about an auction being planned to liquidate all of the Fort Scott Scottish Rite assets that coming summer. We spoke of my attending the auction with some of the men as the Yankton Scottish Rite was interested in purchasing the collection and retrofitting it for their space. Unfortunately, the date of the auction coincided with a family wedding on the east coast and Fort Scott once again faded from my radar.
 
During the spring of 2015, Rick Boychuk, author of “Nobody Looks Up, the History of Counterweight Rigging Systems, 1500-1925,” contacted me after examining the Fort Scott Scottish Rite theatre rigging system. We discussed the installation as a whole and its historic significance in both the evolution of counterweight rigging systems and the design of Masonic scenery. Boychuk mentioned that the Valley of Fort Scott was contemplating another auction – one to sell their remaining asset – the scenery collection.
 
At this same time, I was directed by the CEO of Minnesota Masonic Charities to locate a Scottish Rite scenery collection for purchase to display at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. I was looking out of the state as the Valleys in both St. Paul and Minneapolis will not have folded in time for the opening of MMHC– making those collections unavailable for the space. MMHC is being set up to accommodate both Valleys when they merge and sell their buildings, as I explained by the CEO of Minnesota Masonic Charities.
 
The Fort Scott collection was one of only two Scottish Rite scenery collections available at that time nationwide that could be restored in time, possibly for the opening of the building in 2016. The other Scottish Rite scenery collection was located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
During the spring of 2015, I contacted a fellow Scottish Rite Research Society member and the SGIG of Louisiana to help me attain images of the New Orleans Scottish Rite scenery collection. The New Orleans collection was posted online as “free” (League of Historic American Theatres page). I received this information as an allied service provider to LHAT. My contact with the New Orleans Valley Secretary then stalled, and I never received any information concerning their actual scenic inventory. That was why I turned to the Louisiana SGIG for help. Unfortunately, the entire scenery collection had been already sold for $1000 without the knowledge of the SGIG. It was sold to a group from Austin during June 2015 who cherry-picked what they wanted and left the rest.
 
My search for a Scottish Rite scenery collection to display at MMHC resumed in full force by the end of June 2015. We were now only one year away from opening of the MMHC. the designs had been altered to accommodate a fraternal scenery collection. Fort Scott was our target. I focused on the artistic provenance of the Fort Scott scenery collection, using my previous contact information from the initial call made by the Kansas SGIG in 2011. Luckily, the local representative remembered me and we scheduled an onsite visit to evaluate the collections for removal, transport and restoration. By the way, by June 2015, I transitioned from the position of historical consultant on retainer to  Curatorial Director for the MMHC.
 
I was asked by the CEO of Minnesota Masonic Charities to schedule a trip to evaluate the scenery collection in Fort Scott, Kansas. The General Director of MMHC and a local Scottish Rite mason would accompany us not only to Fort Scott, but also to Guthrie, Oklahoma for “a little research” concerning interior decoration for the architectural ornamentation at MMHC.
 
Previous travels for research had brought us to Detroit, Michigan for MMHC architectural ornamentation research and to Washington D.C. Our trip to D.C. was for MMHC museum work where I pitched the MMHC museum project to various masonic scholars. There, the CEO Minnesota Masonic Charities was interested in hiring nationally-recognized masonic scholars to work on the MMHC Museum – lending name recognition and credibility to the endeavor.
 
To be continued tomorrow…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring The Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, Preface

This is the preface to “Tales of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: Acquiring the Fort Scott Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.”
As it is Valentine’s Day, I needed to address a topic that I feel passionate about:
“Old Backdrops or Large-Scale Art?”
 
Are Scottish Rite scenery collections just “old backdrops” or “large-scale works of art produced by nationally recognized artists?”
 
I have noticed over the years that one can often identify the individual artist who created a painted scene– even in a studio setting. You just need a little time, or a lot of time, to do some extensive research. This is what makes Christine Hadsel’s book “Suspended Worlds – Historic Scenery in Northern New England” so fascinating. It’s the stories of the artists and their place in the world of art, whether they are significant or not. She specializes in small roll drops, especially those created for Grange Halls. Hadsel and I have known each other for years, occasionally reaching out to with unusual questions or requests, always respecting one another’s contributions to theatre history. Her work with communities to preserve their heritage parallels my passion to preserve fraternal history. We are from two different worlds, but we share the same endgame.
 
This topic resulted from my attendance at my husband’s conducting debut for Singers in Accord – “From Highlights to Shadows: A Choral Scenographic Journey. The scenic art of Thomas Gibbs Moses set to Music by Whitacre, Gjello, Paulus, Parry and More!” This was the scenery collection that had consumed my life from August 2015 until June 2016. It was, and is, one of my passions as I piece together the history of Scottish Rite theatres in North America. Seldom does a single artist produce an entire Scottish Rite collection, such was the case when Thomas Gibbs Moses (1856-1934) painted the collection for the Valley of Fort Scott in Kansas during 1924.
 
Last Saturday, I sat in the fourth row at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center and watched the grand drape open to reveal Jerusalem in chaos. My heart stopped when I saw damaged versions of the painted drops- the same drops that I had placed into storage during November 2015. In an instant, I knew that this scene, and most likely all of the others, had been irreparably damaged. Did the audience realize that the cut drops were destroyed, or were the wrinkles and sagging perceived as simply “old backdrops,” showing a natural wear because of their age?
 
I began pondering a much larger issue and one that went beyond any disastrous restoration attempt; specifically, why is scenery frequently viewed as mere backings for performances and not as an art form with cultural value?
 
Maybe it is because the owners fail to realize that they are stewards of large-scale art collections, maybe not. But I am reminded of Victor Higgins (1884-1949), the scenic artist and fine artist who painted with Moses. Higgins painted his “Little Gems” out of the back of his car and sold them for $250 (see February 4, 2017 post). Some are now valued at $750,000. What would a backdrop painted by Higgins be worth? To examine the studio records, locate the Scottish Rite collection, and identify one of his scenes – wow. It might be the only one left in the world produced by this fine artist.
 
After all, painting for the theatre is ephemeral and Scottish Rite collections are anomalies, right? What could we gain by examining Higgins’ painting techniques in a large scale format and comparing them with his fine art techniques? Were they the same? Did he explore new color combinations or paint application techniques? Did scenic art inform his fine art, or vice versa?
 
Moses worked with Higgins in both scenic studios and fine art studios. We have Moses’ memoirs, scrapbook, business records, communications with other fine artists, fine art, and much more. This information provides an incredible amount of context for both Moses’ own painting and the artistic endeavors of others. The Fort Scott scenery collection was painted during the same time that Moses contemplated becoming a Mason (Pasadena, California, 1925). Is that why the designs for Fort Scott depart from the standard Sosman & Landis stock designs for Scottish Rite theatres?
 
Unless people understand the national and international significance of this collection, it will forever remain known as the old backdrops that were purchased from Fort Scott.
 
It is time for me to fully explain the significance of this scenery, its conception, creation, and transportation to Minnesota in 2015. To really look at the personal artifacts that Moses’ left behind on site; artifacts that we discovered twenty-feet above the stage.
 
As a good friend often says, “They don’t know what they don’t know.” So this and my daily postings for the next few days, or week, will attempt to inform others about the significance of the Fort Scott scenery collection and its placement within both Masonic and theatrical history. I will document the evaluation, acquisition, removal and transportation of the collection from the theatre in Fort Scott to the storage facility in Bloomington, Minnesota from August 2015-June 2016.
 
It has nothing to do with the current restoration of these drops under the direction of Kim Lawler and Outhouse Productions (owned by Mia Schillace-Nelson). I strongly encourage you to seek out their Facebook pages and contact them directly if you have any questions regarding their involvement and the preservation of these artworks.
 
This post also is a result of the constant inquiries that I receive regarding the Fort Scott collection at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. Many people ask the same questions over and over again.
 
Why did I suggest this particular scenery collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center?
 
Why restore the scenery at all?
 
Why not just hang the scenes immediately and fix them later?
 
Is it really a unique collection?
 
Why go out of our State to preserve fraternal heritage when there are so many Scottish Rite collections here?
 
How were these drops created and is the dusting pigment dangerous?
 
The list of questions goes on and on.
 
But let’s simply start with something simple:
Scottish Rite scenery collections are large-scale artworks, many produced by nationally recognized artists. They are not merely old backings for degree work.
 
Attached are pictures from August of 2015 when I evaluated the collection in Fort Scott to assess their condition.

Historical Excerpt – “Vitalizing the Silhouette,” interview with Vyvyan Donner, part 3

This is the final excerpt in a 1922 article in Arts and Decoration, “Vitalizing the Silhouette, a new note in American Poster Work” (Vol. XVIII, No. 1) by Lida McCabe records Donner’s contributions in costume design. Page 69:

“Sure that I had struck a new note, I took my Chauve-Souris silhouettes to a foremost art publication. The editors enthused, recounts Miss Donner, “Too bad the color debars them from our use. They will not photograph.” “Yes, they will photograph,” I persisted, but they turned them down.

Did the new generation scout abide by the decision of the old guard and hide her under the light under the proverbial bushel? She did not. With a Brownie camera I photographed the Chauve-Souris and on the following day brought a composition, clean cut as an etching, to the cock-sure editors. In the next number of the periodical, they reproduced it under the caption “Something New.”

“Experience,” says Miss Donner (she is all of twenty!), “has taught be not to accept adverse opinion of my work as final until I have proved it wrong.” Too often, she declares, she has had original ideas rejected as impossible, impractical, and a month or a year later seen them exploited.

To thrash out an idea with astute men of affairs is her especial joy.

I love to work over an idea, to see from how many angles it can be developed, how many times it can be profitably turned over; for ideas I have found are like Wall Street properties, dry goods, jewelry, and marketable staple; they can be turned over and over with varied artistic and monetary results. How to do it is the big thing!” Encouraged by her first victory, the Chauve-Souris silhouettes were brought to a famous producer of spectacular drama.

“Great! Just what I’m looking for. Come with me tonight to the theatre,” he said. I went and we selected the subjects.

“What will you pay me?” I asked.”

“Pay?” he cried. “Nothing!“

“You would have my labor and my art for nothing?”

“Big advertisement for you young lady.”

“And for you, Mr. Produce!”

“For both of us,” he finally conceded, but not a penny would he pay.

“Original! New! Practical!” The great producer had said it.

“If it’s all that, it’s worth money,” reasoned the artist-flapper, and to a metropolitan newspaper she lied. It reproduced four silhouettes in color and paid for them – her first real money? The subjects were from current costume plays. After newspaper publication, each silhouette was framed and personally conducted to the producer of the respective dramas.

“Fine! Ripping! But we’re not buying picture.”

“They’re not for sale. Hang them in the lobby of your theatre. That is all I ask.” And they did.

“Something for nothing!” gurgled the merry young artist.

Doris Keane shortly after tripped through one of the lobbies and ran amuck one of the silhouettes. It took her breath. A new face! Forever the perennial cry of the playhouse and the public!

Here was no face, in the accepted form; but color flaming, action in incandescence! Miss Keane’s manager sent for Miss Donner, with the result that the actress takes on her road production of “The Czarina” a stand of silhouettes for lobby display and a sixteen-foot silhouette poster in colors of crescendo choral joy. With flesh of solid orange and in scarlet coat with pink cuffs and pink jabot, the lover holds in his arms the Czarina of bright yellow skin in flowing gown of vivid green and blue, the whole seemingly detached yet harmoniously in tune with a background of rich maroon – a masterpiece in elimination. Without a supçon of the ageworn trappings of royalty – jewels, ermine, scepter – “The Czarina’s” sovereignty dominates. With an uplifted hand in the embrace, it pulsates with pent up passion!

After the manner of the black and white silhouette artist, Miss Donner cuts her designs with scissors out of paper, preferably the rich, decorative colored papers of China, Japan or France. Mental vision of the character or scene to be delineated is her sole guide in the scissoring. No pencil drawings, no preliminary composition. On a pasteboard background of carefully studied color, the bits of cut-out paper are assembled. Each figure is built up, as in low relief sculpture, until substantial form, vital outline, a pulsating entity is achieved. Cold type is as inadequate to convey the singing color, the uncanny action of the pictorial innovation as is the photograph to portray the fine, spiritual quality of the young artist’s personality. The vitalized silhouette is for the physical eye, through which the appeal is to the imaginative soul.”

Attached are a few more images her art that were with the article. I have been unsuccessful at finding any color versions of her work from this period.

Her 1922 images seem so be so far ahead of her time!

 

Historical Excerpt – “Vitalizing the Silhouette,” interview with Vyvyan Donner, part 2

A 1922 article in Arts and Decoration, “Vitalizing the Silhouette, a new note in American Poster Work” (Vol. XVIII, No. 1) by Lida McCabe records Donner’s contributions in costume design. Here is the second installment on page 66 and 69:

“But, mark you, Young Aspirant, it is from an ancestry of Danish painters, sculptors, architects that she inherits what schools and masters are powerless to give – the creative brain! You have it or you haven’t, and there is an end of it. No dexterity of pencil, brush or palette, the fatality of modern art, notably French art; no scientifically deduced laboratory color formula can supplant the God given gift to create. Its possessor does not know its mystery or how it puts over to mortal ken intangible spirit, vision, dream.

The creator of the vitalized silhouette cannot recall when pencil, paper and scissors were not her medium of expression, and the theatre her inspiration. An Offenbach’s Grande Duchess doted on the military, this dynamic young artist dotes on the playhouse. It was original theatrical costumes designed while a schoolgirl that gave her first contact with producers and her earliest glimpse of the “back stage.” She introduced bare legs into the first Winter Garden show where heretofore silk tights held center.

Emboldened by the success of the “call back” to the childhood she had scarcely passed, she startled Impresario Ziegfeld with a costume that disclosed the entire back as Mother Eve sported it. Ziegfeld, wonderful to relate, had not the courage to use it and it remained for this day of flapper supremacy to legitimatize the bare back costume on and off stage!

More than half of the costumes that gave “Experience” its line color distinction sprung from Miss Donner’s fertile brain. This was the work of her first flush of creative impulse when she toiled through the night, dawn finding her at her studio with enthusiasm unspent. “Now I know better, and I work all day,” she laughs.

It is uncommon knowledge of historic costume that she brings to her dramatic interpretations. Every nations and period she maintains, and demonstrates, has its dominant color charged with character and feeling of the race. Pink and yellow, for instance, reflect the Eighteenth Century. In the theatres, cabarets and dance hall of Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Czecho-Slovakia, to which two years ago she gave nightly study, she found her costume and color deductions verified.

It was Chauve-Souris that brought her color sense to the vitalization of the old time static black and white silhouette. With bright yellow for flesh, a daring rarely attempted, and a like discard of rule and rote in her drawing, she interpreted the vivid color and elemental spirit of the Russian vaudeville.”

Last installment tomorrow!

 

Wendy Waszut-Barrett was not involved with Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center Scenery Restoration

My husband’s concert last night at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center was a success! He set songs to the scenery I located, suggested for purchase, and supervised the subsequent removal and transportation from Fort Scott, Kansas, to Bloomington, Minnesota. My involvement stopped there!
 
Everyone I encountered last night who was familiar with my history of restoring Scottish Rite scenery, believed that I was responsible for the restoration. Much of this belief, no doubt, was based on the video shown during Grand Lodge (March 2016) at the Minnesota Masonic Charities breakfast; using my profile and reporting that a nationally recognized expert would restore the entire collection.
 
For professional reasons, I must distance myself from this project as the scenery has been destroyed with hot melt glue.
 
It it is a shameful destruction of historical paintings created by the nationally recognized fine artist, Thomas Gibbs Moses (1856-1934). Attached are pictures of the scenery from last night showing the work of someone who has never restored scenery before this project.
 
For past examples of my own restoration work, visit my website at www.bellascena.com