Statue gets body waxing - Sentinel-Tribune | Sentinel-Tribune | Sentinel-Tribune | Statue, Perry, Perrysburg, Conservation, Had

Statue gets body waxing

Written by PETER KUEBECK Sentinel Staff Writer

Tuesday, 03 July 2012 09:36

Kristin Evans, a student at the University of Toledo, applies wax to the face of the Commodore Perry Statue at Hood Park in Perrysburg. Evans and other students from a 'Outdoor Sculpture' class taught by profesor Tom Lingeman, waxed the statue Monday evening, getting hands-on experience with the conservation of public sculptures.(Photos: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune)

PERRYSBURG - The Commodore is getting a facelift.
The monumental bronze of famous American naval commander Oliver Hazard Perry, who trounced the British in the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, received a conservatory cleaning Monday at the hands of students from the University of Toledo.
The statue is installed at the junction of Front Street and Louisiana Avenue, overlooking the Maumee River, and also includes two smaller bronzes of a cabin boy and midshipman.
Bob Lingeman, professor of art at UT, indicated that this was the first time in approximately four years that the statue had been the subject of any conservation efforts.
The bronze is not the first monumental depiction of Perry to be on display in the city. The original marble statue of Perry and the two smaller statues were created in 1860 for the City of Cleveland by sculptor William Walcutt. They came to Perrysburg in 1937 after Cleveland had its own bronzes cast.
The three statues were displayed outdoors in the city for approximately 60 years, in various configurations, and became decidedly the worse for wear. The marble Perry statue is currently on loan from the city to the Perry Victory Monument at Put-In-Bay.

Jerry Rehard, a Perrysburg city employee, adjusts a strap on a harness attacted to Tom Lingeman, a professor of art at the University of Toledo, as art student Kristin Evans looks on before waxing a statue of Commodore Perry in the background.

The cabin boy and midshipman statues are on display in the atrium of the Perrysburg Municipal Building.
The bronzes, exact copies of the three marbles, were commissioned in 1997 and paid for by popular subscription.
Students from Lingeman's Outdoor Sculpture course performed the conservation, which included waxing the statue. A washing was performed previously. Lingeman indicated that the statue had no major issues necessitating conservation, save that in the intervening years since its last cleaning it had become dirty and its previous coating of wax had evaporated.
There are now plans to perform a conservation of the statue each year.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 03 July 2012 10:14

Add comment

JComments

Front Page Stories

Park position is natural fit
05/25/2013 | PETER KUEBECK | Sentinel Staff Writer

Jim Witter, WC Park District Naturlist. (Photo: J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)
PER [ ... ]

+ Full Story

Honor Flight treats former Army cook
05/25/2013 | PETER KUEBECK | Sentinel Staff Writer

Honor Flight recipient Leroy Chamberlain is seen in his home in Bowling Green, Ohio on M [ ... ]

+ Full Story