Seuss in Springfield

Lowell R. Bayles and the “Spirit of Springfield”

Lowell R. Bayles was a nationally celebrated pilot who flew Springfield’s famous Gee Bee racing planes to victory during that period in the 1920s and 1930s hailed as the Golden Age of Aviation. Born in 1900 in Mason, Illinois, he began his career as a mining engineer, while taking flying lessons from a former WWI military pilot. He learned to fly a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, a biplane used by the U. S. Military during WWI. After the War, these planes could be purchased at a fraction of their original cost as the U.S. Government sold off its post-war inventory of surplus biplanes. A Curtiss Jenny could be purchased for a few hundred dollars, and Bayles, like many others smitten with the dream of flying, bought his first plane this way.

GB binder 1-16 Lowell R. Bayles Portrait Photo 1931

Bayles’s enthusiasm for flying soon overshadowed his interest in a mining career and he began barn-storming across the country in the 1920s. Barnstorming was a phenomenon of that era that involved stunt flying demonstrations by daredevil pilots. Barnstormers customarily flew into a small town, negotiated with a local farmer for a field to use as a runway, and performed aerial stunts to thrill the crowds that gathered. Pilots also augmented their incomes by selling short airplane rides to the public for a few dollars a trip.

In 1928 Lowell Bayles partnered with Hartford native Roscoe Brinton and started a flying service in Springfield, Massachusetts. A year later, in July 1929, airplane designer and mechanic Zantford Granville negotiated a deal with the Tait family of Springfield to manufacture his Gee Bee airplanes at a hangar at the Springfield Airport, which was owned by the Taits. Granville moved his operation from Boston, along with his four brothers, leaving the city where he had designed and built his Gee Bee (Gee Bee for G.B. -the initials of the Granville Brothers) Model A, recognized as the first aircraft built in Boston. It was a biplane with innovative features. During that time Lowell Bayles became acquainted with the Granville brothers.

The crash of the stock market in October 1929 was inauspicious timing for the fledgling aviation firm known as Granville Brothers Aircraft Inc. and only eight Gee Bee Model A planes were sold. The Granville brothers decided to try their hands at designing an aircraft to compete for the prestige and prize money available on the aviation racing circuit. They hired gifted engineer Bob Hall. In 1930, their Model X monoplane, piloted by Lowell Bayles, won second place in the Cirrus Engine Company’s All American Flying Derby. The derby, which was the world’s longest air race at the time, was a trip of approximately 5,500 miles. Its route took pilots in a circuit from Michigan to Texas, and then to California, before returning to Michigan.

The next aircraft the Granvilles built was the Model Y Senior Sportster. Although they originally designed the Model Y for use as a private plane, it competed well on the racing circuit. Given that the Depression had decimated the commercial aviation market, the Granvilles now turned all their attention to producing racing planes.

Their next project was to build a racing plane to compete in the prestigious National Air Races held in Cleveland in 1931. This popular event attracted the world’s best aviators who flew the most innovative aircraft. It was also the location of the premier closed-course air race in the world. The Granvilles didn’t have the finances to manufacture their design, but they did have the enthusiastic support of the people of Springfield. Their lack of capital was soon addressed by the formation of The Springfield Air Racing Association (S.A.R.A.), a group of local investors who sold shares of $100 to raise the $5,550 needed to construct the plane and cover its entry fees and expenses. Stock certificates, personally delivered to their purchasers by Zantford Granville or engineer Bob Hall, raised $5,200, an amazing amount of money during the Depression. Pilot Lowell Bayles personally bought $500 of shares in exchange for the opportunity to pilot the plane in Cleveland!

On June 23, 1931, the Granvilles began work on their yellow and black Model Z Super Sportster “City of Springfield” designed specifically to compete in that fall’s Thompson Trophy race. Named for Cleveland manufacturer Charles Thompson, head of the Thompson Aeronautical Corporation, the race was added to the roster of events held at the National Air Races in 1929.

It was a closed course event flown over an area about 10 miles long with 50-foot-high pylons marking the turns. Pilots flew at high speeds in close proximity to each other. Because the race was flown at low altitudes and around a closed course, the crowds in the grandstands could easily see much of the spectacle. The Thompson Trophy Race was the climactic final event of each year’s National Air Races meeting.

The “Spirit of Springfield” was constructed at the Springfield Airport in less than five weeks at a cost of just under $5,000. With a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. engine incorporated into the smallest possible airframe, the plane was fast but tricky to fly. Engineer Bob Hall tested it at the Bowles Airport in Agawam and was pleased with its results. The “City of Springfield” was christened with a bottle of ginger ale, this being the height of Prohibition, and cheered by a crowd of 5,000 fans. The trip to Cleveland was on!

At the 1931 National Air Races in Cleveland, the Model Z plane exceeded everyone’s expectations when both Bayles and Hall piloted Model Z’s to win five first place trophies. Maude Tait, the daughter of one of the brothers who had originally loaned money to the Granvilles, also flew a Gee Bee to victory at the same meet, winning the Cleveland Pneumatic Aero Trophy Race for Women in a Model Y.

On September 7, 1931, Lowell Bayles piloted the “City of Springfield” to victory, winning the coveted Thompson Trophy in the 100-mile race, and beating out his closest contender, Jimmy Doolittle, whose plane succumbed to engine trouble. Bayles posted a landplane speed record of 236.2 miles per hour. As he was getting ready to make an attempt at a new world’s speed record for land planes at the National Air Races, word came that two of his young mechanics, Nelson Lundgren and Harry Jones Jr., who had helped to build the “City of Springfield,” had been badly injured in a motorcycle accident on their way home to Springfield. Bayles gave no thought to forgoing the speed trial and left immediately to fly back to Springfield. He returned with a Ford Tri-Motor passenger plane, converted into an air ambulance, to personally fly them home for surgery at the Shriners Hospital. Both young men survived their injuries, given the expert care they received in Springfield. On September 10^th, Bayles and his fellow flyers Bob Hall, Maude Tait and Zantford Granville were feted by a large crowd of 5,000 at the Springfield Airport, followed by a parade in the city. The festive evening was capped off with fireworks. All who invested in the cost of building the Gee Bee #4 by buying stock certificates received their money back from the $7,500 prize money won by Bayles.

Despite all their racing successes, the prize money couldn’t sustain the Granville Aircraft Corporation through the Depression. By the end of 1933 the company was bankrupt. In a last sad chapter of the company’s history, Zantford Granville, its president, was killed in an air crash in February 1934, piloting a remaining Gee Bee Sportster he was delivering to a customer.

The Granville Brothers Aircraft Corporation was in business from 1929-1934. The company designed some of the most innovative racing planes in aviation history and experimented with some of the most advanced aerodynamic theories of the day. Unlike most airplanes of the period, the Gee Bees’ wingspans were noticeably wider than the length of their fuselages, giving them their unique stubby appearance. Only the most skilled pilots could fly them, but racing was a thrill-seeking and dangerous sport. The death of Lowell Bayles in 1931, followed by the loss of pilot Russell Boardman in 1933 when his Gee Bee R-1 crashed on takeoff in Indianapolis, began to give the Gee Bees a tainted reputation and they are still considered controversial today. Were they “killer planes” or just ahead of their time?

Unfortunately, the fame and luck Bayles enjoyed at the National Air Races in Cleveland was short-lived. Several months later, on December 5, 1931, Bayles was killed in a fiery crash at the Wayne County Airport in Detroit as he attempted to establish a new world speed record in the Gee Bee #4 Model Z which had been refitted with a bigger Wasp engine, allowing it to fly at speeds of over 280 miles per hour. After completing 4 laps at a speed of 284.72 mph it was discovered that a timing device had failed and the speed record couldn’t be officially credited to Bayles by the Aeronautical Federation. He went up again and the flight proved disastrous. It is believed that the gas cap came off in flight and hit Bayles in the face, probably knocking him unconscious. He lost control of the plane, which pitched upward, causing the right wing to fold. The plane spun uncontrollably, crashed and exploded on impact. Due to the efforts of Springfield friend and fellow flyer Maude Tait, Bayles was awarded the new American Land Plane speed record posthumously in January 1932.

This devastating news left the people of Springfield looking for a way to honor the memory of Lowell Bayles and his contributions to aviation. A grief-stricken Zantford Granville proposed that a trophy be designed and awarded at the National Air Races to subsequent holders of the American speed record for landplanes. This idea met with the approval of James Tait, president of the Springfield Air Racing Association, which sponsored Bayles’ record-setting attempts, and from the Springfield chapter of the National Aeronautic Association. Funds were raised in the city and the silver trophy, designed by local sculptor Philip LaPalme, was commissioned from the Gorham Manufacturing Company in Providence, Rhode Island. The Lowell Bayles Memorial Trophy was awarded at the National Air Races in Cleveland to Jimmy Doolittle in 1932. Doolittle also won the Thompson Trophy race that year in a Gee Bee R-1.

Written by Maggie Humberston, Curator of Library and Archives at the Springfield Museums.

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Interview: The Museum School Welcomes Scholar Kymberly S. Newberry

I came to know Kymberly Newberry while we were both students at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. I was a master’s candidate in art history and Kym was finishing up her coursework for her PhD in African American studies. Both of us, passionate about art, museology, culture, and changing narratives, found ourselves in Dr. Walter Denny’s Museum Studies graduate seminar. Over the course of the semester we were charged with conducting a case study on a local museum of our choice. I knew there was something exceptional about Kym when she immediately disregarded Dr. Denny’s instructions to choose a local museum and commanded ownership over the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC for the semester. “Local”, after all, is a relative term. While I traveled back and forth from Amherst to Hartford to visit the Wadsworth Athenaeum, Kym caught flights to DC to speak directly with curators. In a recent conversation Kym told me that “Walter’s class actually changed my entire academic trajectory and honestly, my future. I had ALWAYS loved and studied art but somehow I got off track and ended up in International Relations and then Afro-Am… When I walked into Walter’s class, I knew that I had to let everything else that I had been sticking my nose into go, and return full tilt to my greatest love, art.”

Here +54: From the Smithsonian to Soweto, Arts of the African Americas and Africa

September 28, 2021

After I graduated, Kym and I lost touch for a bit as I began my career in museums and Kym dove into her dissertation research. Earlier this year, a call came through to the Museum School from a local scholar looking to teach a class on African and African American art. After a few minutes of talking, a mutual wave of recognition hit us and we shrieked in excitement over our shared academic past and the opportunity to engender a professional partnership, as well as nourish an old friendship. Kym, Jeanne Fontaine, and I set to work to develop her upcoming series Here +54: From the Smithsonian to Soweto, Arts of the African Americas and Africa. Kym and I recently got together to talk about the series, her inspirations, and what she is reading this summer.

Paige Moreau: Can you explain the origins behind the title of your upcoming lecture series Here +54: From the Smithsonian to Soweto, Arts of the African Americas and Africa?

Kymberly Newberry: I love when people ask me this question, The title of the lecture series, Here +54: From the Smithsonian to Soweto, Arts of the African Americas and Africa, very simply is the fusing of expressive culture from “Here,” meaning artworks of African Americans, with those of artists from the African continent, of which there are 54 countries. So we’ll be talking about art from here and the 54!

PM: Why do you think it is important for people to learn about African American and African art now?

KN: Museums represent and are a reflection of the values, historical, political and social positions of the country through what they exhibit. There was a Congolese artist named Cheik Ledy, as a matter of fact, his piece, “Non Comprendre,” is the flier image for the talk I gave for my Museums a la Carte lecture last spring. His paintings, very colorfully and energetically expressed the street topics, the “goings-ons”, the incidents, and realities of his community, which were often referred to as ‘sidewalk radio.’

I think museums are in a sense supposed to be the ‘sidewalk radio,’ communicating the realities of our communities, collectively and individually, the goings-on of the world, and our cultural development.

There are loud, crashing thunderclaps in the air, and if we listen closely, we’ll hear that they are calls for museums to consider counternarratives, this is the time for a fresh coat of paint on museum’s perspectives on African American and African Diasporan visual culture!

In a time when issues of representation are so pressing, a recent survey of major American museums revealed that only 1.2% of artists in collections are African American. In an photograph by Ben Hines published through the New York Times, a young girl, Parker Curry, is seen captivated by the image of Michelle Obama’s portrait (painted by Amy Sherald) in the National Portrait Gallery. This young girl seeing her own beauty smiling back at her, is a moment of staggering significance that should be revisited and referenced often when considering the significance of African American and African Diasporan representation in the museum space. I love the sentiment of the photographer Dawoud Bey, who’s nearly five decades of work is currently on view at The Whitney Museum of American Art, who said “all art carries with it an aura of magic if it is truly doing its job.”

Cheik Ledy, Non! Comprendre, acrylic on canvas, 1995

A young girl looks up at a portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama — Parker Curry, 2, stands in awe of the new National Portrait Gallery painting of Michelle Obama. (NA/Ben Hines)

PM: I love the concept of a ‘sidewalk radio.’ I think many institutions have traditionally considered themselves keepers of cultural heritage which makes it easy to tune out or turn down the noise of the “goings-on of the world” as you phrased it, but some museums are at least attempting to reach directly into communities and listen to their needs. By tapping into this sidewalk radio and championing artists that reflect a diversity of backgrounds and issues, museums have the power to better reflect the reality of now and remain relevant to the people they serve.

In the context of museums taking into consideration their changing roles in society, why do you think it is important for this series to be held at the Springfield Museums?

KN: I refer to my last response here, I think it has to do with museums re-contextualizing historical narratives, advancing cultural competence and most importantly, representing and reflecting their surrounding communities through inviting community co-construction. Museums are having sincere and robust conversations about who they are bringing to work in their institutions, whose work they are accessioning, who will be exhibited, where the work will be exhibited and of greater import, will it be placed in the ‘last frontier’ of the museum, the permanent collection. All of this is happening now, there is a sea change and I think it would be safe to say that the Springfield Museums, like many others, are ready to open their eyes and be more of the ‘sidewalk radio’ and be reflective of these new ways of thinking and inclusion.

PM: I completely agree, and I think that it is so important that this series will be taught by you, a local scholar. Having someone like you, who is so involved with the cultural and academic community in Western Massachusetts, bringing a microphone to these stories will only increase the impact of the series.

PM: Your series includes not only your voice but the perspectives of a number of visiting scholars. How did you come to know some of the people who will be featured in your lecture series?

KN: Two years ago, I was privileged by the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro American Studies, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I am currently a PhD candidate, to be named Instructor of Record, in an interdisciplinary introductory African American literature and culture course.

I am extraordinarily proud to have benefited from the trust of my department Chair and was granted full permission to develop a syllabus which allowed me to introduce a new perspective on the course. I wanted the course to guide students to a tangible understanding of the astonishing, challenging life experiences of African descended people and how creativity and the arts have been instrumental agents of triumph and change. In thinking of how to shift the energies of the course, when creating the syllabus, I consulted scholars who are experts in the fields of African and African American art and culture. When the Springfield project came about, I called on them again and asked if they would be willing to visit and they were delighted to do so!

PM: Aside from this series, what other projects are you currently working on?

KN: Every year, usually between March 17-25, the French language is celebrated during International Francophonie Week. French speakers and lovers of the French language around the globe, celebrate the French language in all its diversity. During this week, more than 1,500 events take place involving 70 countries. Around 2007, I started studying French, and fell in love. I did the thing everybody does…watch French films, listen to French music, buy tons of French language books…you know the drill…. So, when I attended celebrations during the International Francophonie Week in Los Angeles, there was hardly any representation of the 32 French speaking African countries that are bounteous with music, literature and cinema. Seeing a need for representation of African countries, in 2008 I created “Siggi Dimanche,” (which means “lift up your head on Sunday”) an annual event which celebrates the 32 French speaking African countries and the French speaking African Diaspora. By 2010, it had become one of the most highly anticipated social events of the year for the city of Los Angeles. That same year the city presented me with a Certificate of Appreciation for the contribution of “Siggi Dimanche” to the cultural fabric of the city. In 2019, we held “Siggi Dimanche,” on the campus of UMass Amherst. It was a huge success. We certainly intend to fold the event into the yearly itinerary of the university and the Pioneer Valley at large; however, last year, for obvious reasons, we were unable to move forward. I don’t know what the variants have in store for us but, I am starting to make some “just in case” plans to hold it again this year in the spring!

I’m also really excited about Chopping Okra, a new podcast I’m hosting, that will debut in the fall and is a new digital platform for The Massachusetts Review. The podcast is called Chopping Okra, because… I love okra, and my love for it starts way before it hits my plate. Chopping okra is an art, and it usually provides a much-needed moment of what I call soul quiet and contemplation. While I’m chopping, I’m thinking about my life, the world that I am creating, and how I’m showing up… or not! I’m an eternal student of the French language and love the diacritical mark called the Accent Grave ( ` ). With one quick swoop of a pen, the pronunciation and meaning of a word is changed. Chopping Okra, an hour-long program, with two segments, will feature two guests representing contrasting artistic and cultural disciplines who are inspiring, boldly ‘pronouncing’ themselves and putting their ‘accents’ on the world. See what I did there!!!

ANNNND…..I am writing my dissertation!!!

PM: And writing a dissertation is no small feat! What are your plans for the future after completing your Doctoral studies?

KN: To redefine the global perspective surrounding contemporary art of the African continent and to be a badass…whichever comes first!!!

PM: As you think about how you will redefine perspectives on contemporary African art… and becoming a badass, which I think you can already check off your list… is there a curator or scholar whose practice you look up to or model your own work on?

KN: The Nigerian curator Bisi Silva lives forever in my heart. I am greatly influenced by her work, my dissertation is greatly influenced by her work, my perspective is influenced by her work, and she will be my companion throughout my career.

"On the Future of Artistic and Curatorial Pedagigies in Africa" Book Cover

PM: Where can one find you spending your spare time?

KN: In my gloriously beautiful magical garden that I create for myself every summer. I love it!! I spend as much time out there as I can, reading, blasting my music, and dancing. Sometimes I put in my AirPods and sometimes I don’t…sorry neighbors!!

PM: What books are you reading in your garden this summer?

KN: Aside from every book under the sun about art and curating, for pleasure, after all, it is the summer and who doesn’t have a summer read, right? I’m reading The Personal Librarian, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, a gorgeous historical novel based on the real-life story of the extraordinarily brilliant Belle da Costa Greene. One of the most powerful women in New York of her time, da Costa Green was the personal librarian to financier J.P. Morgan. She pursued and curated a peerless collection of manuscripts and art that became world-renowned, all the while maintaining a little secret…she was black. Though she lived a life of great privilege and moved through worlds of bedazzling wealth, passing as a white person as it is called, inflicted deep cuts, namely the fact that she could never marry…. for fear that her child would be born with dark skin and the jig would be up! An interesting note, da Costa Greene had many lovers, one of which was the art historian, Bernard Berenson, one of the most famous and influential connoisseurs of Italian Renaissance paintings and drawings.

PM: I will absolutely be adding The Personal Librarian to my reading list. And finally, while we’re thinking about consuming culture for pleasure, what has been your song of the summer?

KN: Leave The Door Open, by my man Bruno Mars. Thanks for this Paige, it’s always lovely to spend time with you. I think I’ll head out to my magical garden and blast Bruno!!!!

Paige Moreau is the Courses and Lecture Coordinator at the Springfield Museums where she organizes the Museums a la Carte lecture series and helps to run the Museum School. Paige has a BA in Art History from the University of Connecticut and a MA in Art History from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a concentration in modern and contemporary art and modern architecture. Paige also works on independent curatorial projects throughout the region.

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Have you heard about Rain Gardens?

Did you know that the Springfield Museums have a rain garden on our campus? We do, and you can find it -on the right-hand side of the Kilroy House, across the campus green behind the Blake House Café. The rain garden is a selection of native plants growing around a shallow depression in the ground that’s designed to collect and filter storm water runoff before it might otherwise run into the street.

In Springfield, pollution and debris from storm water runoff eventually enters the Connecticut River and other bodies of water in the city, which is part of the Connecticut River Watershed. A rain garden not only helps prevent pollution from entering our ground water supply, it also prevents water from flooding basements by redirecting water flow away from buildings and homes and into the rain garden depression. Rain gardens can also provide habitat for ecologically important pollinator insects such as bees and butterflies.

Our own rain garden collects water as it drains off the roof of the Kilroy House, into downspouts, and into the garden itself. The entire garden is graded so that the water follows a gradual downward sloping path to a depression in the ground. The garden’s plants, all native to this region, were carefully selected for their ability to hold the soil together while being able to tolerate the wet conditions caused by heavy rains. They are also hardy enough to withstand dry periods and the ups and downs of weather in New England. Although the rain garden plants are very hardy the garden does require some routine maintenance which includes watering and trimming of the plants, weeding the garden, and maintaining the path the water follows to the depression. Our garden’s soil and plants trap and filter the storm water runoff from the roof of the Kilroy House and help prevent it from flowing into Chestnut Street, where it could pick up debris and carry pollution into the storm drain – and eventually into the Connecticut River.

The Springfield Museums’ rain garden is open to the public for viewing. Visitors can see how our rain garden is landscaped and planted while observing pollinators at work collecting pollen and nectar from the flowering native plants thriving in our rain garden.

Daniel Augustino is the Aquarist at the Springfield Science Museum. He can be reached at daugustino@springfieldmuseums.org.

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ISS Interactive Virtual Tour

The Springfield Science Museum was recently granted the long-term loan of a large, touch-screen interactive, virtual tour of the International Space Station (ISS). The loan was made by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the auspices of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS, the manager of the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory). The virtual tour is now on display in Astronomy Hall on the second floor of the Science Museum.

The exhibit provides a fun and interactive experience for our visitors. It consists of a large touch-screen monitor on top of a rolling platform and features a high-resolution, photographic-quality, CGI model of the ISS. The model can be turned and viewed from any direction with a swipe, and a tap on a highlighted module brings up photos along with other detailed information. Background music and didactic graphic panels (not shown here) complete the presentation. It’s a great way to introduce our audiences to the excitement and challenges of space exploration!

It’s also a natural complement to the immersive ISS exhibit that we are developing nearby on the same floor. It will help promote the upcoming reopening of our recently-renovated planetarium, our plans for a digitally connected observatory, and an Earth-systems approach to an evolving Science Museum. It supports our goal to increase awareness of the STEM disciplines in general, and when used in conjunction with our new Science Workshop classroom (also on the second floor) will help encourage STEM identity and STEM literacy among the young people who use our spaces. Being mobile, it can at times be displayed in other places around campus; by making full use of the multi-disciplinary nature of our museum complex, the ISS virtual tour will help promote cross-fertilization between the arts and sciences and foster the development of a variety of STEAM activities and programming.

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LGBTQ+ Month

In honor of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, the Springfield Museums highlight three remarkable works that exemplify the ideal of strength and beauty in diversity.

Marie Laurencin shared time and thoughts with Pablo Picasso and many Cubists and Fauvist artists in early 20^th century Paris. Throughout her decades of painting, drawing, and printmaking, Laurencin developed her own unique brand of abstraction. She simplified forms; narrowed her palette to grey, pink, and pastel tones; embraced curvilinear, undulating forms; and primarily chose women as subject matter. Her biographer Jose Pierre wrote that Laurencin reflected her personal life in her art and presented a style he called “queer femme with a Gallic twist.”

Although this print is not currently on view, it represents the ingenuity, beauty, and excellence that defines the art collections found at the Museums.

Marie Laurencin

French, 1885-1956

Head of a Young Woman, undated

Lithograph

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Kamberg

42.D8

Carlos Collazo (Puerto Rican, 1956 – 1990) was one of Puerto Rico’s leading contemporary artists. Working across a wide range of media, he expressed himself as a painter, draftsman, ceramicist, assemblage artist, graphic artist, and designer. During his brief career, he mastered a range of styles including photorealism and abstract art with a figurative emphasis. Paintings made in the last years of his life are highly personal images of self-exploration.

In a statement made a year before his death, Collazo said: “Art is important because it is freedom, expression, and vision. It’s everything . . . my work nurtures from my life experiences.”

Self-Portrait XI is from a series of twenty-nine self-portraits Collazo painted between 1988 and 1989. This larger-than-life-size portrait is startling, due to the artist’s penetrating direct gaze and the intense unnatural colors he used. Palm trees in a tropical landscape reminiscent of Puerto Rico, a reference to the artist’s cultural identity, are featured in the background against a starry evening sky. The nighttime setting and unrealistic colors give the scene a dreamlike or subconscious contest and add to the psychological intensity of the paintings.

This portrait is currently on view in the Contemporary Gallery at the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts.

Carlos Collazo

Puerto Rican, 1956-1990

Self-Portrait XI, 1989

Acrylic and oil on canvas

Museum Purchase from Contemporary Art Fund

91.01

Innovation—thinking outside the box, experimenting with techniques, and trying something never tried before—is an important and recurring factor in the creation of masterpieces. These can be scientific masterpieces (like a new medical machine) or artistic masterpieces like this lithograph by Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925-2008). Rauschenberg and his friend Bill Goldston, who was a master printer, decided to try their hands at using a photomechanical camera to create prints. In the 1970s, photography involved developing film and printing onto photosensitive paper in a darkened room. The two disregarded standard darkroom practices such as refreshing the chemicals needed to develop the film. “Instead, they wholeheartedly embraced chance and experimentation in their proofing sessions,” said art reviewer Josh Pazda. The result was a larger-scale print than ever before.

Many of Rauschenberg’s works include references to various modes of transportation. This print is no exception and depicts a bright red bicycle, poised at an unusual angle as if about to lift off the ground or ascend a steep hill. In fact, the title of this work echoes the name of a hill in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina where the Wright Brother’s took their initial flight.

This print is not currently on view due to the light sensitivity of paper, but exemplifies the innovative excellence embraced by Rauschenberg and other imaginative artists whose work pointed forward to new directions in art.

Robert Rauschenberg

American, 1925-2008

Kill Devil Hill, 1975

Lithograph

Museum Purchase with the aid of the National Endowment for the Arts

76.D55

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George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum Gets A Facelift!

In celebration of this year’s 125^th anniversary of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, the building is undergoing a facelift! The culmination of a 10-year preservation project supported by generous local, regional, state and national grant-funders, the final phase will preserve the beautiful architectural elements of the historic entrance and include the full restoration of the decorated oak doors, sidelights, lighting sconces and steps. The door project has been awarded to Herrick & White, highly specialized architectural woodworkers located in Cumberland, Rhode Island and the restoration of the lighting sconces to GrandLight in Connecticut.

The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum opened in 1896 as Springfield’s first art museum. It was built by the New York City architects, Renwick, Aspinwall & Renwick, and facilitated during construction by Springfield architect Walter T. Owen. The Museum is a rare example in which an important collection and the building which houses it survive together – a unified whole representing a distinctive moment in history. The building itself is a work of art in its own right, conceived as a custom jewel box for the priceless works of art inside. At the cutting edge of late 19^th-century civic architecture, the design, materials and craftsmanship of the purpose-built Museum remain extraordinary.

Many of the architectural details were modelled after Venetian Renaissance palaces, buildings that had inspired George Walter Vincent Smith and his wife Belle Townsley during five enjoyable years in Venice in the 1880s. Owen described the entryway in an article celebrating the public opening of the art museum as, “The main entrance to the Museum….has been most highly ornamented. On the side of the building the windows and doors have terracotta architraves and each side of the front door is a terracotta figure representing Art and Architecture. The front doors are oak, with carved moldings, and have, in place of knobs, lion’s heads holding rings connected to the latch. At each side of the main door is a wrought iron grille of elaborate design; and next to these are two lamps, which are quite a feature of the front, as they have been made by skillful workmen as could be secured, and are of a design that necessitates the most difficult and intricate work.”

Image of doors at George Walter Vincent Smith Museum

The large, robust, ornate cast iron lanterns on either side of the entrance were designed by Owen and modeled after those in the Strozzi Palace in Florence, Italy. A complete restoration of these exceptional lights is currently underway. The sconces have been taken apart and the corroded elements repaired or replaced. Once reassembled, a protective finish will prevent future damage and ensure that the fixtures look stunning as they beckon a new century of visitors to the Museum.

Image of lantern at George Walter Vincent Smith Museum

Throughout the Museum’s history, the beauty and decorative elements of the front entrance have been celebrated. The original doors, though similar in design to those seen today on the building, were solid. In the 1920s, several of the wooden panels were removed and replaced with glass to allow light into the foyer. After opening and closing for over a million visitors, the doors are now in need of replacement. Beginning in July, the 1920s oak double wooden doors will be removed, the decorative iron work and hardware on the doors restored, the threshold rebuilt and new doors, painstakingly modeled on the historic examples, will be installed. Completion of the entrance is scheduled for early fall. The “new” and improved doors will be fully sealed in order to protect the interior and the collections against the elements and air pollution. As the final step in the entryway’s restoration, the brownstone stairs will be repointed.

During his lifetime, George Walter Vincent Smith constantly emphasized the function of the building as a showplace of art and architecture even going so far as to include putti on each side of the entrance – one representing Art and the other Architecture. I invite you to visit the GWVS Art Museum often this summer to watch this highly visible and impactful restoration that will maintain and preserve the front entrance of this historic and significant Museum for the next million visitors.

Image of front doors at George Walter Vincent Smith Museum

*In 2021, Preservation Massachusetts awarded the George Walter Vincent Smith the Paul & Niki Tsongas Award in recognition of the Museum’s exemplary efforts to preserve the Commonwealth’s past for the benefit of the future.

Exterior preservation of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum received funding from the people of Springfield through the Community Preservation Act.

Additional support for this project comes from:

The Nancy Foss Heath and Richard B. Heath Educational, Cultural, and Environmental Foundation
The Felicia Fund
The Straetz Foundation, Inc.
The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Historic Preservation Grant

Heather Haskell is the Vice President of the Springfield Museums and Director of the Art Museums.

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April 2021 Treasures at the Springfield Museums

The Museums are honored to be able to share pieces from the collections and images from around the Quadrangle in the weekly column Treasures at the Springfield Museums in the Springfield Republican.

Continue reading to learn what we shared during the month of April, 2021!

Covered Jar by Justin Rothshank — Covered Jar, circa 2016, earthenware by Justin Rothshank (American, born 1979). Gift of Donald Clark, 2018.C01

Spring is upon us! In celebration of the season changing, we are sharing an image of the piece Covered Jar (2016) by Justin Rothshank (American, 20^th century). Covered Jar reminds us, here at the Springfield Museums, of the new growth that Spring brings.

A range of media and techniques were used to achieve this delightful jar. The container is made of earthenware and decorated with glaze and floral decals. The top of the jar makes use of wood and metal. In the final result, organic forms and materials are combined with nearly photographic floral motifs.

Justin Rothshank lives and works in Goshen, Indiana and is known for his decaled ceramics. Covered Jar is not currently on view at the Museums.

MapleSyrupBottle — Maple Syrup Bottle, circa 1885, George D. Powell, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. Gift of Alan Raymond, 90.358

Maple syrup season takes place between the months of February and April, and is marked by lidded tapping buckets hanging from trees. Pictured here is a square, greenish, molded glass maple syrup bottle, circa 1885, with inset panels on each side.

The front panel retains its paper label which, typographically, would appear to date from the mid-1880s. It is remarkable that the paper label has survived so long, and it is worth noting that the bottle would be of little interest without it. The front label of the bottle is lithographed by Boell of New York in yellow, red, green and black and reads: “Pure/Maple/Syrup/Superior Quality/Made in/ Hampshire County, / Mass. /Put Up/For/Family/and/Hotel Use/By/Geo. D. Powell.” Few early bottles survive with their paper labels intact or with color, making this bottle rare!

Color lithography exploded in America in the mid-19^th century, and by 1870 was widely used in commerce to promote everything from household goods, to medicine, to farm equipment.

LauraLudwigsArrangement — Flower arrangement created by Laura Ludwig for Festival of Flowers, 2021.

Art offers us a way to reflect on and interpret how we are feeling.

During Festival of Flowers at the Springfield Museums (April 8-11), Laura Ludwig shared this flower arrangement to express her feelings during the pandemic. She wrote: “We have a collection of small vases on the kitchen windowsill which my husband and I fill with flowers all year round. The most amazing amount of joy has come from the vases and the precious small blooms from our own garden. They are the thoughtful gifts that we gather and leave for ourselves or each other, all spring and summer… it is always a reminder to stop, go outside and enjoy.”

The Museums treasure the opportunity to display art inspired by strong feelings such as those evoked by our collective experience during the pandemic.

Trailblazer (A Dream Deferred) by Genevieve Gaignard, inkjet print, 2017. Collection of the artist, courtesy of Vielmetter Los Angeles © Genevieve Gaignard

The Springfield Museums is excited to share a piece from the special exhibit The Outwin: American Portraiture Today, currently on display at the D’ Amour Museum of Fine Arts. This breathtaking exhibition aims to advance the art of portraiture for future generations while encouraging visitors to empathize and locate meaningful connections.

Genevieve Gaignard (American, born 1981) has used self-portraiture to explore race, cultural identity, and femininity. Referencing regional historical events, she creates and performs characters that are partly symbolic and partly autobiographical.

Featured here is Trailblazer (A Dream Deferred) (2017). In this inkjet print, Gaignard presents a woman in nineteenth-century clothing walking with purpose through a lush tropical landscape. The woman carries a portrait of two men: John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Gaignard imagines Traiblazer as a woman from the past who has found an image of racial solidarity and is bringing it back to her contemporaries as a sign of hope from the future. In her own words, “The trailblazer is setting the path for something new to move forward.” Gaignard borrows the phrase “A Dream Deferred” from Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem” (1951), a meditation on hopes that have not yet been fulfilled.

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View the Entries in Our Virtual Earth Day Contest

This year marked the 31st annual Earth Day Festival celebrated at the Springfield Museums. Due to pandemic restrictions on outdoor gathering capacities, we invited the public to join us virtually to learn about Awesome Earth System Science, the environment, and fun recreational activities that demonstrate ways to enjoy the outdoors while appreciating and learning about the beautiful natural world that surrounds us.

As part of the virtual celebration, we asked local residents to share an original essay, poem, work of art, video, or song about what this Awesome Earth means to them. Two entrants were randomly selected to win a $100 gift certificate to the Museums or a Chosen Critter adoption. View the winners and all the other entries below.

Many thanks to all those who entered!

The Winning Entries

Julia T., Age 12

Ayal Z., Age 8

All Entries

Christine, Age 41

Colton and Chase, Ages 5 and 7

Andrew, Age 13

Chris, 43

Ingrid, 28

Zoe, Age 10

Brian , 24

Ann-Marie, 55

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STEM Experiment: Grow Your Own Crystals

Crystals are solids that form when their atoms are arranged into orderly, repeating structures. Using some kitchen chemistry you can create the right environment to grow your own crystals for a sweet treat or a sparkly decoration. Ask your grown-up for help!

The Materials

Jar or open-mouthed container
Skewer/dowel – long enough to rest on the top of the jar
Twine
Pipe cleaner
Pot or kettle for boiling water
Borax or sugar
Food coloring (optional)

The Method

Take the pipe cleaners and make a shape.
Tie a length of twine to your skewer/dowel and to the top of your pipe cleaner shape.
Boil enough water to nearly fill the container you are using to grow your crystal and carefully pour the water into the jar. To color your crystals, mix in food coloring at this step.
Stir in 1-2 tablespoons of Borax or sugar (the solute) at a time until it dissolves, continuing until no more dissolves and you see some of the solute that remains. Wear gloves if using Borax, mix the solution in a container that won’t be used for food or drink, and do not lean over the container while stirring.
Lower the pipe cleaner shape into the container (making sure nothing touches the sides). Cover the opening and place in a safe location. Let the solution sit: Borax crystals can be ready after a few hours or overnight; sugar crystals might need to remain suspended for a few days.
Once the crystals reach your desired size, gently remove them from the solution and lay out to dry.

The Science Behind

Different materials have different solubility; this means that only so much of different solutes can dissolve in a set amount of liquid, or solvent. When we apply more heat, the solubility of the solute, Borax or sugar, increases and more can be dissolved. When our supersaturated solution cools, it can’t hold as much of the solute and the solute crystalizes. Whatever isn’t dissolved in the solution is a great anchor point for the new crystals to form, so our pipe cleaner shapes are perfect for attracting new crystals.

Credits and Further Reading: STEAMPoweredFamily.com; ScientificAmerican.com; Education.com

SarahRose Adan is the Spark!Lab Coordinator at the Springfield Science Museum

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Film Recommendation: It’s a Wonderful Life

Most of our interns don’t remember a time when old movies were shown on TV all the time, and it was a pleasure to watch your annual favorites. Now that we live in a time when so much entertainment is available whenever and wherever we want it, some of the older classic favorites have been pushed aside in the name of better special effects, the newest glamour, and often crass comedy.

Please allow me to make the case as to why one classic is *the* movie for January 2021. It’s in black and white, it features the Charleston, and even the song, “Buffalo Gals,” which our interns have also never heard. The movie is Frank Capra’s enduring 1946 classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. My family watches it every January without fail.

Have you ever felt frustrated, stuck, and that your life was going no where? Did you dream of bigger things for yourself? Have you started new plans over and over just to be thwarted by real-life circumstances? You might identify with protagonist George Bailey. George wanted to see the world from the time he was a young boy, and had the support of his friends and family. Even so, every attempt he made to get out of his hometown, Bellows Falls failed. From deaths in his family, to failing banks, to an injury that left him deaf in one ear, and the outbreak of war, George’s plans are thwarted over and over. He does not want to get married and have a family, but that plan is more happily thwarted too. Soon George finds himself in a career he never aspired to, giving mortgages, often to struggling families who immigrated to Bellows Falls, that help new developments spring up across town.

Photo still from It's Wonderful Life — James Stewart and Donna Reed in It's a Wonderful Life (1946), directed by Frank Capra.
© 1946 Liberty Films/RKO Radio Pictures Inc.

2020 was a hard year for all of us. Even if we weren’t personally infected during the pandemic, our lives changed drastically. Just like George Bailey, many of us had to cancel cruises, honeymoons, and the chance to see people we loved in person. This was an especially difficult year for those already walking the line between financial stability and instability. Many people felt stuck in houses in disrepair as both money and supplies to do home projects ran in short supply. If we’ve ever all been stuck, this has been the time. Even small frustrations became huge in light of the crises we’ve been through.

Enter a pivotal character in George’s story: Clarence. Clarence is an angel desperately trying to earn his wings, who gets to work with George during the lowest time in his life. Even if you haven’t seen the movie you might get the iconic reference, “Every time a bell rings an angel gets it’s wings.” Clarence can give George something no one else can, the chance to see what life would be like if he had never been born.

While I don’t want to give away too much of the story, this January 2021 I’d like to invite you to sit back and think about how the world would be different if you had never been born. Think about all the lives you’ve touched, and all the changes you’ve made in the lives around you, no matter how small. Every single one of us has changed the lives of others, just by being here. If you’re reading this you’ve changed my life by continuing to support the museum even during these profoundly trying times!

2020 was a bear and I hope I’ll never see another year like it. But this January I’m looking back at the lives we’ve touched, the friends and family we’ve supported, and the fact that so many of us are getting through this. We’ve learned things we never wanted to know, but when we come out on the other side, I hope the number one things we’ll keep from this is knowing that it’s true, our lives are truly wonderful.

Educator standing in front of a mural

Jenny Powers is the Family Engagement Coordinator at the Springfield Museums

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