Chesterwood | Digital Heritage Preservation Proposal
OVERVIEW
Chesterwood is the home, studio and gardens of one of America's foremost public sculptors, Daniel Chester French, best known for the monumental statue of President Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in DC. During his career, French created more than 100 public sculptures, many of which were modeled in his impressive studio at Chesterwood, designed in 1897 by Henry Bacon, the architect of the Lincoln Memorial. Chesterwood is owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is also a home of the Historic Artists' Home and Studio (HAHS) program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
A CASE FOR DIGITAL HERITAGE PRESERVATION There are few online pictures representing the Chesterwood estate & collection, and no virtual tours of the building interiors or garden grounds. Chesterwood spaces are accessible to guests only 6 months of the year (May-November). There is an opportunity to significantly expand the awareness and engagement of the spaces and collection for research and exploration as a by-product of digital cultural heritage preservation techniques. Considering the greatest subject of Daniel Chester French's work is President Lincoln, freedom of accessibility to learn about the artist through spatial storytelling and interaction with virtual objects seems an appropriate path as the country approaches its 250th Anniversary.
About MASK Consortium
MASK Consortium is a coalition of artists and institutions sharing knowledge. Its mission is to develop and promote a more complete understanding of human history and culture through the digital preservation of art and other cultural artifacts. MASK Consortium creates strategic partnerships with museums, universities, state and local governments, corporations, and individuals who share MASK’s goal of fostering connection through cultural preservation and access.
Benefits of Digital Heritage Preservation
Three-Dimensional (3D) Space Scanning
Rooms, exhibitions, buildings & outdoor spaces can all be captured digitally for archival documentation or to power immersive virtual tours. Our expertise is in capturing and representing art, museum and historical spaces.
Space Scan Data, Aadigital-twin of a space: enablessharing more accurate data with subject matter experts without the expense of multiple site visits. Scanned spaces provide reliable data for conservation decisions and assessing property status.
Redundancy for conservation or replica fabrication: Should a location undergo damage, scan data provides unprecedented documentary reference for the recreation and restoration of historically important places.
Virtual Tour Development Virtual Tours transform your Space Scan Data into an Interactive asset for exploration. Once your spaces have been scanned, they need to be authored into an immersive touring experience that combines virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), video, pictures, text and sound to tell a story.
The Efficacy of Spatial Storytelling
Spatial Storytelling with guided tour provides a passive way for a guest to quickly get an overview of the space, artworks and the artist’s creative process.
The interactive, immersive environment enables a guest to navigate through the exhibition space at their own pace, and in whatever sequence feels right to them.
Statistically, users engage with immersive environments significantly longer than 2D presentations of visual information.
A virtual tour does not replace a true art lover’s desire to experience works in-person, however, it is more likely to stimulate someone who does not otherwise have access to visit the gallery.
Enhanced Promotional Capabilities: Your Marketing Department can leverage assets produced from the virtual tour to promote the exhibition in innovative, interactive ways.
Embedding the Virtual Tour directly on your website enables anyone to engage an immersive experience
Use Tour, and Tour Feature links in Social Media Campaigns on Instagram & Facebook
Guests can easily share views from the exhibition with friends via their social media
Three-Dimensional (3D) Object Scanning
Most objects of all sizes and textures can be captured digitally and experienced interactively in 3D. Our team navigates the complexities of equipment choice, object surfaces, file formats, and 3D file publishing methods to help you reach your intended audience.
Preservation and restoration: In fields like archaeology, art, and heritage preservation, 3D scanning is invaluable. It allows experts to digitally preserve delicate artifacts, historical monuments, and works of art for research, documentation, and restoration purposes.
Precise measurements: 3D scanners can capture highly accurate measurements of objects, making it valuable for engineering, architecture, product design, and quality control. It eliminates the need for manual measurements, reducing human error and improving efficiency.
Interactivity: 3D models can provide interaction and close-looking at an artwork or artifact which cannot be handled by the public. Augmented Reality & 3D printing enable unprecedented interactivity with rare objects.
Chesterwood | The Site
THE STUDIO Is approximately 1300 sq feet and comprised of 3 main areas. Due to the amount of objects, and the level of detail to be appreciated, a High Density Space Scan is recommended, with no greater than 5 feet between each scan. Freestanding sculptures should be scanned at 4 cardinal points for each piece. There are an estimated 70 points of interest in the Gallery. RECEPTION ROOM - 25' X 18' MAIN ROOM - 28' X 28' X 26' CASTING ROOM - 12' X 16’
Artist Studio Works
The gallery features approximately 150 rarely exhibited objects from Chesterwood’s collection, including paintings; completed works in plaster, marble, and bronze; and models created as preliminary studies for larger public commissions. This installation is designed to illuminate the development of Daniel Chester French’s work over time and to provide a window into the artist’s working methods, techniques, and creative processes.
Main Room Studio Floor - 9 med - large sculptures (plaster, marble, bronze)
East Wall Left High Shelf - 9 plaster models/maquette
East Wall Right High Shelf - 20 plaster models/maquette/busts
Right, Wall Mounted, Below High Shelf - 22 plaster
THE RESIDENCE
Completed in 1901, the three-floor, stucco-clad Residence was designed by Henry Bacon, later renowned as the architect of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D. C. With nine bedrooms in the Residence, French was able to host many seasonal guests, and house a small staff of servants year-round. As stated earlier, few online pictures representing the estate, and there are no virtual tours of the building interiors. The spaces are accessible to guests only 6 months of the year (May-November) via tour-reservation. Property rentals exclude the use of the interior spaces, further limiting accessibility to viewing the residence.
THE SCULPTURE GARDEN French would exhibit his own sculpture as well as works by his artist-friends outdoors on the grounds of Chesterwood. Since 1978, over 600 emerging and established sculptors from the region and beyond have exhibited their work at Chesterwood in the annual sculpture show.The 46TH Annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibitions Open June 29th, 2024. “Birth of a Shadow” is the 2024 site-specific contemporary outdoor sculpture exhibition, guest curated by gallerist Lauren Clark of Lauren Clark Fine Art and Childs + Clark Gallery, and presents an opportunity for the documentation of this exhibition series for immersive, remote viewing.
WEDDING & EVENTS RENTAL ENHANCEMENT Chesterwood is a historic site that makes for a unique, beautiful, and memorable backdrop for a Berkshires wedding. Daniel Chester French, masterfully combined the elegance of his European-inspired gardens with the natural rural landscape. Chesterwood can accommodate wedding ceremonies, receptions, and dinner parties from small, intimate gatherings to large events of up to 275 guests. Chesterwood is an entirely outdoor venue featuring the Residence Lawn, Studio Field, Fish Pond, and Arch as features to consider for rental. Elements such as the Studio Garden Straight Walk, Studio Garden Pergola, Residence Terrace and South Lawn, Studio Fountain and Exedra are opportunities to exploit the immersive capabilities of virtual tours and spatial storytelling to emotionally engage potential property renters.
Recommendation
MASK recommends a one-day site visit conducting the following activities:
A Space Scan of the Daniel Chester French Artist Studio & Gallery [3 hrs]
Inspection of Art Objects in-situ with curator [30 min]
Demonstration object scan - Abraham Lincoln [30 min]
Tour the grounds, sculpture garden and residence to determine if the NTHP wants to digitally preserve them as well
National Trust Collection Manager, Marian Carpenter, presents her idea for ‘collection intervention’ and community engagement to the full collective (curators, preparators) [1hr]
Meeting with curators & preparators to discuss logistics for space scanning and object handling
Identify an optimal date window for object scanning
EXAMPLES OF WORK
BOSTON EMANCIPATION GROUP In 2022, The City of Boston selected MASK Consortium to perform digital heritage preservation of the 10 ft, Bronze Emancipation Group which had been removed from view months earlier. These captures of the empty pedestal at Lincoln Square, along with the augmented reality (AR) publication of the sculpture remain the only way to view the memorial.
MACLEAN HOUSE, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Throughout its history, Maclean House was home to ten university presidents as well as seven deans of faculty, before it took on its present function as the home of the Alumni Association of Princeton University. Due to its occupation by American’s of note throughout the establishment of the country, Maclean House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971. MASK’s Spatial Storytelling paradigm will enable the Provost Office’s History & Sense of Place initiative to provide all campus communities and external visitors the opportunity to develop a more nuanced understanding of the institution. Maintaining this multidisciplinary perspective during site-scanning & subsequent post-production, MASK leverages text, audio, video, images, 3D interactive objects & spaces to dynamically activate storytelling, learning & future research.
Click the Play Button on the lower left corner to initiate the Guided Tour
Move around independently, discovering more details through contextual prompts in the space
APPENDIX
Quote: https://the.maskconsortium.com/DoPJDrPUvS
Itemized Budget
SITE VISIT & SPACE SCAN:
1300sq feet, High Density Scan, est 70 points of interest [$15K]
COLLECTION: Object Scans
Main Room Studio Floor - 9 med - large sculptures (plaster, marble, bronze) [$30K]
East Wall Left High Shelf - 9 plaster models/maquette [$15K]
East Wall Right High Shelf - 20 plaster models/maquette/busts [$20K]
Right, Wall Mounted, Below High Shelf - 22 plaster [$20K]
