Author: Abigail Meloy
Fine Foundation Fellowship at Contemporary Craft - Summer 2016
During my Saturday shifts at Contemporary Craft I would routinely stop, stroll around, and admire the individuals works in Edward Eberle Retrospective, including the one presented here. The ceramic artist’s fame arose from the deconstructed forms of his works and his streams of consciousness approach to painting the surfaces of his pieces. The exhibition had recently closed and we needed to prepare the objects for their travel to The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. We had our supplies: foam boards, leftover bubble wrap, cardboard boxes, and tape, lots of it.
One of my intern supervisors diligently worked on condition reports, documents that evaluate and note the state of the object’s appearance and quality. They are used for insurance purposes and serve as accounts to the individuals receiving the objects. Unlike packaging a painting, a fairly simple process, we were challenged to work around the unusual shapes that made these works distinctive. Like a sculptor, we carved each work’s negative from layers of foam after tracing an outline of the object.
It took us four days to pack all that was moving onto Philadelphia. I became more acquainted with each object: not only the way in which it could fit in a box but also its weight, quirks, blemishes, and stress points. Rather than reading the dimensions of the objects on their label or admiring them from a distance, I handled them, looked at their underside, and traced the mesmerizingly intricate scenes with my fingertips. Ultimately, I gained a greater appreciation for the works themselves.
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