Conservation principles

In response to Richard Fuller <frichard [at]
region__waterloo__on__ca, Conservation DistList Instance: 20:11
Monday, August 28, 2006:

In 1982, Almost 20 years after its installation in an 80-foot
diameter reflecting pool of Wilshire Boulevard, I won a contract to
help make the Alexander Calder mobile, "Hello Girls" fly again for
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).  The downfall  (sic)
was the velocity of westerly winds from the ocean, being accelerated
while moving east through the tall Wilshire Boulevard corridor of
buildings. That wind pressure and gusts placed crippling static and
dynamic loads on Alexander Calder's "Hello Girls" large colorful
paddles, resulting in structural damage and de-mobile-izing the
exciting work.  Calder's 1960 large, wind and water-driven 3-part
mobile crashed and fell, bending its main steel horizontal support
and causing the large colorful paddle edges to gash the pylon
exactly where artist Calder had put his initials on the pylon.

LACMA heads and their brilliant curator chose to lift it back up and
make it fly again rather than leaving it lying there on the ground.
I won a competitive contract from them to get it to fly again--I am
an aeronautical art conservation engineer after all. We made it fly
by lightening the loads--aluminum for steel--and hollow tubes rather
than bars -typical fixes in aerospace after all. Who of you that has
seen it fly now is for leaving it lie on the ground? Make it fly
again? Yes!

Bud Goldstone
Aero Engr
AIC Professional Associate, retired


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:12
                 Distributed: Friday, September 1, 2006
                       Message Id: cdl-20-12-004
                                  ***