May is here – and that means it’s conservation time! Each spring, the Association for Public Art (aPA) provides annual maintenance for over 30 outdoor sculptures in Philadelphia through our landmark Outdoor Sculpture Conservation Program (initiated in 1982). Our team inspects the artworks, removes any surface grime and graffiti, washes the sculptures, and applies a special wax coating for artworks made of bronze. The sculptures are cleaned, protected, and stabilized to arrest further deterioration and improve aesthetic appearance. The aPA also takes on special conservation projects as needed.
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY!
Dramatic Steam Treatment for Grant
On Monday, May 9th from 10:30-11:30AM, the many layers of protective wax coating on the bronze General Ulysses S. Grant sculpture along Kelly Drive will be completely removed with dramatic hot pressure water/steam. A new thin protective wax coating will then be applied to the surface and buffed to help highlight the sculpture’s details.
*This work will be conducted weather permitting. For conservation updates and photos, follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
Artworks receiving treatment this month include:
- James A. Garfield Monument, Stone Age in America, Abraham Lincoln, Cowboy, General Ulysses S. Grant, Thorfinn Karlsefni, The Wedges, and works in the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial (Kelly Drive)
- Duck Girl and Lion Crushing a Serpent (Rittenhouse Square)
- Mary Dyer, Three Way Piece Number One: Points, Rock Form (Porthcurno) (Benjamin Franklin Parkway)
- The Lion Fighter and Mounted Amazon Attacked by a Panther (Philadelphia Museum of Art)
- Night and Sundial (Fairmount Park Horticulture Center)
- Major General George Gordon Meade and Law Prosperity and Power (West Fairmount Park)
- Dickens and Little Nell (Clark Park)
- Fingerspan (Wissahickon)
- Walt Whitman (South Philadelphia)
- The Labor Monument (Southwest Philadelphia)