And even though it’s a snowy Saturday afternoon, Henrique and I are sitting in the gallery. His flight arrived with no problem Friday morning and after a minor hiccup with the hotel, he was able to recuperate a bit before coming to the museum.
It was a productive afternoon. Henrique met with staff, primarily the installation and production guys. He got a first look at the paints and stains we have on hand, visited our impressively outfitted carpentry shop, and mostly surveyed the gallery. Steve Mellor (NMAfA’s Chief Conservator and Assistant Director of Facilities and Production), Kevin Etherton (Installation Coordinator), Don Llewellyn (who along with Melvin Vega builds all the platforms, cases and phenomenal display structures you see in our galleries), and stood around with Henrique and talked about what the walls were made of, where the sprinklers were located, and tried to trouble shoot to help Henrique think through the possibilities of what he could make. We reviewed his schedule, confirmed how many helping hands he’d need and when, and talked through what supplies he might need. Henrique snapped some photos of the space and with help from Jeremy Jelenfy of the Design department, we got them printed out and Henrique started sketching out ideas of what he might like to do in the gallery. I am pretty impressed by what he came up just hours after a crowded overnight flight!
Henrique says he likes to sketch a few hour each day rather than in a continuous stretch. That way, each day he can review his ideas with fresh eyes. We’ll be here for the afternoon and then decide about tomorrow. Fortunately, we were able to get a camera installed in the gallery, so if he starts sketching on the walls, etc., I’ll be able to flip on a switch and start the time-compressed video of Henrique making the art work that we’ll post to the exhibition website. Stay tuned…
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