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from the issue of June 14, 2007
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'Torn Notebook' rehab complete
BY TROY FEDDERSON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Spiraling through a final coat of silver urethane paint, Michael van Enter felt good about a pending trip home to Dallas.
| | FINAL TOUCHES - Michael van Enter scrubs a smudge from "Torn Notebook." Because of weathering, the sculpture underwent a five-week, $70,000 rehabilitation. Crews from Studio van Enter in Dallas repainted the sculpture, repaired two cracks and installed a new drainage system. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Communications.
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After guiding two conservation crews through five weeks of 12-hour work days, van Enter and his employees finished the rehabilitation of "Torn Notebook" on June 5. The work restored the Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen sculpture - located at 12th and Q streets - to the artists' exacting standards, eliminating 11 years of damage fueled by Nebraska weather.
After scraping away nearly all of the old paint - some areas were not accessible without a cost-prohibitive disassemble - and exposing aluminum and steel, van Enter welded a pair of cracks in the sculpture's spiral. The first was near the base; the second a few feet up into the spiral.
"We also drilled weep holes on the underside of each spiral," said Liz Becker, one of van Enter's employees. "Water was getting into the spiral, and freezing and thawing caused the cracks. We recovered about two quarts of water from one of the weep holes alone."
The conservationists also applied new paint - using original colors approved by van Bruggen and Oldenburg, purchased from Lincoln vendors. And van Enter said French drains were also installed to draw moisture away from the base of the sculpture.
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| | | SHADY WORK - Liz Becker (left) watches as Michael van Enter applies a final coat of silver urethane paint to "Torn Notebook." The conservation project was funded b a grant and is part of the continuing effort by the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery to ensure the safekeeping of artwork in its permanent collection. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Communications.
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"This has been a wonderful opportunity to do conservation work in a very public setting," van Enter said. "We've tried to answer people's questions whenever possible.
"You always feel good when you walk away from a project like this, knowing you've restored an important sculpture to the way the artist intended."
GO TO: ISSUE OF JUNE 14
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