May 9: Murals, Reading Terminal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

2023-05-09 327 The True Story of a Stone (2023), Lenka Clayton; PAFA, Philadelphia

24. On August 20th 1937, Demeter was cut into fragments by two workmen. Her stone parts - a foot, a belt, a drape of her gown over her knee - were passwd backwards, one at a time, through the narrow central window in this room.
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25. The fragments were carried down the sweeping staircase, past the non-crying, intact, statues in the collection, all safely indoors.
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26. The chiseled lumps that were her remains were given to PAFA's sculpture teachers and their students to practice their carving skills. 2,300 years out of the earth the marble would have been dry and difficult to work, chipping easily.
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27. One artist carved one of her pieces into a duck.
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28. The duck [next image] was accessioned into the permanent collection. It has been on public display for many years but its label doesn't acknowledge its origins.
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29. I asked PAFA if I could put out one of the last rermaining fragments of Demeter (in her current form of a duck) back onto the plinth designed for her in order to continue the story of this stone. The museum said no. They had learned their lesson.
So I made a copy of the duck using today's technology. A dobot scanned it and a robot and a sculptor carved it from the closest marble available to us 2,300 years after Demeter was carved.
This new duck will also be accessioned into the museum colleciton, but with the stipulation that it must be displayed outside on Demeter's plinth for the duration of this exhibition.
Only then can it come indoors and perch amongst its better protected colleagues. Its wounds, pock-holes, patina and crust from weather, pollution, and fellow birdlife will also now be carefully preserved by the museum.
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30. The new duck [image after next] is outside now exposed to the elements. You can see it through the window in this room. You can also see it from outside on Broad Street, if you look up.