14 minute read
Featured
WAM solves the museum merch puzzle
Veer Mudambi
Advertisement
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
When the Worcester Art Museum shop came under Sandra Polanik last summer, the museum itself was closed due to the pandemic. Rather than an obstacle, she saw the closure as an opportunity to prepare new souvenirs at the shop, for when visitors eventually returned.
“We took this time of pause to ensure we had merchandise that had a tangible connection to the museum,” she explained. Souvenirs such as puzzles, calendars and even masks, are now featuring artwork from the museum’s own collection.
But as Polanik, manager of events and hospitality, soon found out, reproducing artwork in any form can be a puzzle all its own. “The public would be surprised to learn what goes into reproducing a piece of artwork,” she said.
There’s more to creating a puzzle than choosing a painting and sending a copy to the manufacturer, the first such barrier being a single dreaded word — copyright. “Just because we own the work doesn’t mean we own the rights to the work,” said Sarah Gillis of collection documentation. This means she has the final say on what can and cannot be reproduced and sold.
In the case of living artists, there could be royalties involved. So for now, Polanik and Gillis have stayed with works that are currently in public domain. A good rule of thumb for Gillis — the work of anyone who died before 1951 is assumed to be in the public domain, 70 years after the death of the artist. “Our plan is to broaden the variety of puzzles that we offer to ensure cultural diversity,” Gillis said, “but for now we’re focusing on works that we can definitely use.”
Even before the copyright cull, of which Polanik said they’re lucky to get two works out of a list of 30, art pieces must pass inspection from Danielle Waseleski. As a guest service representative, she has the best idea of what guests request to see the most or what may be a current crowd favorite.
For Waseleski, a big part of her job is simply doing what she loves. “I’m a very big museum goer — my Instagram is all following museums.” Naturally, she has also accumulated a large collection of art reproductions, and has lately begun moving from prints to puzzles. “Having tangible souvenirs that I can do something with is very important to me,” she said. “Because I’m running out of wall space.”
Waseleski also plays another key role in the museum’s souvenir triumvirate. “Danielle is like the person between us for the voice of sanity and reason,” said Polanik. “I have all the crazy ideas and Sarah has all the red pens.”
The final step is arguably the most important but is not up to them. While they want to make sure the popular pieces that people are coming to see are represented in merchandise, said Gillis, it’s also a question of what translates well to puzzles. That last part is up to the puzzle manufacturers.
The group has been stymied at this point before in which a piece has passed all three members’ criteria, only to be blocked at the finish line. One such case was a puzzle based on the popular Higgins armory collection. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection includes more than 1,500 items from multiple eras, but is best known for its armor dating back to medieval and Renaissance Europe.
When Waseleski submitted an image of a suit of armor to the puzzle company, they rejected it out of hand because of the white background. None of them view this as any kind of loss though — rather it’s a learning experience and a source for new ideas, and the Higgins collection is now being featured in a museum calendar series. Polanik had already been looking to bring wall calendars into the mix, having seen their wide customer appeal. The Higgins Collection, with its own base of followers, provided the opening she had been looking for.
Of the puzzle ideas that did make it, four are now on sale in the shop — “Venus at the Forge of Vulcan” by Jan Brueghal the Elder, “Cranes” by Hoitsu Sakai, “The Peaceable Kingdom” by Edward Hicks, and “Flower Still Life” by Gerard van Spaendonck. With the popularity of puzzles during the pandemic, manufacturing them is taking longer,
A team of three women are working on creating merchandise based on art in the Worcester Art Museum’s collection. The team consists of Sandra Polinack, Sarah
Gillis and Danielle Waseleski. PHOTOS BY ASHLEY GREEN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Face masks are among the new merchandise at the Worcester Art Museum.
Kimono clips based on pieces in the WAM collection are on display in the museum's gift shop.
A team of three women are working on creating merchandise based on art in the museum’s collection, including these face masks. The team consists of Danielle Waseleski, Sandra Polinack
and Sarah Gillis. ASHLEY GREEN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Merch
Continued from Page 4D
explained Polanick, so getting these first four products on the shelves was the priority but more are in the works.
“We look at what would translate into a puzzle — depth, color, how detail is spread out over the print,” she said. While the goal is to capture the image in the best possible light, said Gillis, that doesn’t necessarily mean the puzzle will be a oneto-one copy. For “Venus at the Forge of Vulcan,” Waseleski added, the puzzle image is zoomed in so the focus is on the pile of magically crafted items at the center of the forge.
Three of the four puzzles are 1,000 pieces — the group had initially planned that to be the case for all four. However, “Cranes” was scaled down by half on the puzzle maker’s recommendation because of its unusual shape. With a square shape, as opposed to the usual rectangle of most puzzles, “they said it would work better as a 500-piece rather than 1,000,” said Polanick.
More than puzzles and calendars, which have been staples at museum stores for ages, masks were new territory for WAM. The first batch had 12 styles of masks, three of which had variations of the WAM logo with the others displaying images of museum artwork. Their source is a book of public domain wallpaper designs, which Waseleski found “absolutely perfect for masks,” and just what she would want to see as a visitor. “Obscure, pretty and in the collection, good for triggering a conversation,” she said.
Even more so than puzzles, masks are in demand, so production is taking much longer than normal. The initial process is a matter of sending images back and forth among the group, said Polanik, which takes a few weeks to come to an agreement before the design is sent to the manufacturer. After about a week they receive a sample. “Depending on where it’s coming from,” she said, “it’s two weeks from when we approve the proof to when the products are sent to our door.”
Despite the long and winding road from conception to product for museum merchandise, Polanik is clear on one thing. “The floodgates are open and yes, we are looking at every avenue now.” It appears that the merchandising effort is now in full flight with masks, puzzles and calendars. For a long cherished Worcester institution, it has been a long time coming but it has now come into its own … its own merchandise.
Meetournew
PRESIDENT&CEO CHRISHENDRY
ICCreditUnion.org
Watchformoreexciting changescomingsoon!
FederallyInsuredbyNCUA
A record of the times and youth, ‘HopeVid-2020’
Nydia Colon, director of creative leadership, Samuel N. Martin executive director and Dante Kibicki, member of the Worcester Youth Center holding Martin’s dog Esther, March 31.
CHRISTINE PETERSON/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
I TRIEDMAKING MYFAMOUSCHICKEN RECIPE,BUT CONFUSED THESTEPS.
KNOW WHERE ALZHEIMER’S ANDALL DEMENTIA HIDE.
Difficultyplanningandcompletingfamiliar tasksarewarningsignsofAlzheimer’s.
Learnmoreatalz.org/10signs 24/7HELPLINE800.272.3900
Richard Duckett
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
One of the first images in the Worcester Youth Center’s recently released “HopeVid-2020” multimedia project video is a shot of a deserted looking Worcester Youth Center. No one is there. The phone announcement says, “Hello, please leave a message after the tone.” The COVID-19 pandemic has struck. Maybe feeling stuck in their respective homes or frustrated by restrictions, a drawing by Joshua P., 16, has a square with the words “Stuck Inside” while at the same time a poem by Frene O., 16, begins with the word “Restricted.” A short video/song reverberates with “We want our summer back.” Devon “Dee Dee” M.’s poem reads “Different things like this are crazy/I hate being in the house lazy/ Somebody please save me.” In “HopeVid-2020,” an array of thoughts and feelings are expressed in words, rap, poetry (including Haiku), dance, music and song by participants such as Donate M., Luna K., and Lady M. One voice exhorts, “Believe in those that believe in you, because this is bigger than me and you.” “It really is a record of how they felt. It was a really, really good emotional record of their reactions to the pandemic,” said Nydia Colon, director of creative leadership at the Worcester Youth Center, about the “HopeVid-2020” video. The center physically closed over a year ago in March 2020, as the pandemic hit locally, but it stayed open online for various activities including wellness check-ins and the “HopeVid-2020” project. The idea was to let youth center members creatively express and record for posterity how they were feeling during the pandemic in word, song, music and art as a time/capsule historical record. The video is 17 minutes, 49 seconds, and a distillation of many hours that the 25 participants worked together via Zoom in various groups and workshops. The youths involved were not just Youth Center members. “I didn’t think it belonged to the Worcester Youth Center,” Colon said. “It belongs to the community as a whole.” You can see the video at worcesteryouthcenter.org. “It turned out I think even better than I expected,” Colon said. “Because of the positive reaction of the kids, they took something they loved and applied it to the concepts we gave them.” Staff and volunteers helped with mixing and editing, including producer and filmmaker Cyrus Alexander. “What we did we kind of edited it together as a story, almost as a narrative. One piece
GraftonFlea Market,Inc.
REOPENING
Sunday,April5th• Sunday,April11th • 6am-4pm 6am-4pm
Rte.140 Grafton/Upton TownLine
OpenHouseforVendors Sat.,April4th Saturday,April10th
(10am-4pm) 508-839-2217
GreatBusiness Opportunity
Exposeyourbusinessto thousandsofcustomersweekly.
WM-0000465409-02
Record
Continued from Page 6D
led to the next to create this emotional narrative,” Colon said.
“I think it’s a mixture of all that frustration, hope, and at the end of the day, as the piece is constructed, the mood is ‘We’re in this together.’ As as long as we stay connected to the importance of the community, we can overcome the challenges presented to us,” Colon said.
“A lot of this is about not being able to do the things we were accustomed to. A lot of kids were in the middle of milestones, graduations and such. But the visuals show a lot of the good that came from the pandemic — helping each other, staying in touch with each other. So I think the piece rides this roller coaster and touches down on ‘Together we can see this through.’”
The project was done in partnership with the Worcester Historical Museum, where the video will be kept as an archive and historical record of the times we have been going through.
“It was nice that they recognized the importance of having the voices on file. For years to come, if a researcher says, ‘How did the youth in Worcester react to the pandemic?’ they can get to go to the Youth Center (archive), so that is something I’m really proud of,” Colon said.
An online Zoom launch party for the “HopeVid-2020” video was attended virtually by Worcester City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr., state Rep. Mary S. Keefe and David Connor, community engagement director of the Worcester Historical Museum.
“They spoke of the importance of having the voices recorded for eternity,” Colon said.
Meanwhile, “Our kids are very excited to see themselves represented in the piece.”
The Worcester Youth Center, located at 326 Chandler St., offers a number of services, activities and programs to youths ages 14 to 24.
“We’ve actually been open virtually the whole time. ‘HopeVid’ was one of the first projects,” said the center’s executive director Samuel N. Martin.
“I thought it was great,” he said of the video. “I thought it combined a lot of the different feelings and really knitted well together.”
Worcester Youth Center member Dante Kubicki, 18, composed and put together an atmospheric and quite haunting instrumental piece titled “Trilogy” with the intent that it would be knitted into the video as a background for some visuals. He mixed different instruments visually on his computer. He can play several instruments, including cello, string bass, electric bass and some guitar. He has been a member of a jazz band and has played rock and R&B.
The time alone during the pandemic has further enhanced his creativity and adaptability, he said.
If “HopeVid” is a time capsule and he could look back one day in the future, how would he feel?
“Honestly, I wouldn’t be too sure. I would feel I’ve learned a lot in terms of isolation, adapting and being adaptable,” he said.
“Just a lot’s happened in general. Not being able to play basketball. Just learning to deal with these obstacles will give me ease in overcoming future obstacles.”
Kubicki joined the Worcester Youth Center as soon as he could at 14 just after he had moved to Worcester with his family (father, step-mother and “baby” sister) from New York.
“It was my spot. It was always like my go-to spot,” said.
He is a senior at Doherty Memorial High School with graduation in sight, and has a job at Walgreen’s Pharmacy. Last year he completed basic training to become a member of the Army Reserves, specializing as an auto mechanic. His current commitment is for one weekend a month at Fort Devens.
“I’m keeping as busy as I can during COVID,” he said.
But also from the start of the pandemic, “I’ve been online ever since,” Kubicki observed.
At the time of this interview, Doherty high school had just offered students a hybrid option where they could combine going there in-person with online, but Kubicki felt that was too late for him to go there and the few days he would be at school wouldn’t be worth it.
“I would have begged for it at the start of the (school) year, but at this point I decided not to. I didn’t see a real reason to engage in that,” he said. “I think it’s a lot harder to be engaged personally. It doesn’t feel much like school a year behind the computer screen.”
At home he’s physically there a lot more than he would have been without the pandemic, he said. “You just connect way more with the people who are closest.”
As for plans after graduating, “It’s up in the air right now,” he said. One possibility is Lincoln Technical Institute in Somerville where he could get more auto mechanic training. “Or a four-year college. I just don’t know what path I’m going to take yet. I would love to do cars the rest of my life, but I’d love to get that educational diploma under my belt. I’m not going to go active duty. Not yet at least.”
Although he’s been busy on a number of levels, the Worcester Youth Center is still Kubicki’s “spot.”
“I checked in the other day. I try and stay in touch with them as possible,” he said.
Of course, the pandemic is far from over and the Worcester Youth Center has been engaging its members with new projects and activities.
“We’re doing a lot more digital media and a campaign — ‘Violence Is Not Normal,’ “ Colon said.
“Violence Is Not Normal” is in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Massachusetts Gun Violence Prevention Program.
With that, the campaign is about eradicating all types of violence, Martin said. People can go on to the Youth Center’s website and “Take The Pledge” that “Yes, I promise not to engage in violence as it does not solve any problems.”
“We want a communitywide effort,” Martin said. He noted that the campaign coincides with the uptick of violence nationwide last summer.
The same creative approach by youths that was employed for “HopeVid-2020” is now being harnessed for “Violence Is Not Normal,” said Colon.
“We’ve noticed the pandemic has brought this (issue) to the surface,” she said. So far,
SeeRECORD,Page23D
Worcester 31CarolineStreet PlantationStreetarea...BrandnewOne-bedroom apartment...includeswasher/dryer,storage,off-street parking,heatandh/w...Nosmoking,nopets. Worcester CenterHillApts 503-505MillSt....TheTatnuckarea’snewestapartment homes.large1&2BR,W/Dineachapt,storage,elevator, heat&hotwaterincluded.Nicewalkingarea.Nopets.
