Steamy...

 

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend! We had a great day in the Sculpture Gym on Saturday. The above photo is a Before shot of the existing window wall that divides our gallery and our mold making/casting area. We knew we wanted to scrape the paint off the windows but as I was reading the backs of all the paint strippers, I was not feeling good about it...even the "safer" (note that it said "safer" and not "safe") paint stripper had warnings on the back about causing harm to reproductive systems...no thanks! So I looked up how to safely remove paint and found a great forum on finehomebuilding.com that mentioned someone using a clothing steamer to get paint off of wood and windows. We have one that rarely gets used so I figured it was worth a shot. It definitely still took some elbow grease but worked great! I used the steamer to heat up the paint first and continued to apply the steam while scraping it with a paint scraper.

 

Once Keira and Molly got there, two of our fabulous interns, Keira took over the windows and Molly started working on the plaster wall below.

Here are the windows During...makes me so excited to see all of the paint gone! (Sidenote...the far left window and the whole bottom row of all 4 windows are textured glass...the steaming doesn't work quite so well with this...my Dad said vinegar will take paint off glass so I'm going to try that with a wire brush...will report back soon!)

Coming soon...

...a way to get bigger items in and out of our building! I think I'd mentioned before that the front and back doors on our side were stuccoed over so we had no large entry door. After shopping around, we're getting a roll up door for the back installed next week! So exciting...! Justin went to the door manufacturer this morning to check out the space and got to see them in action.

We'll post photos of the after next week...!

Well, what do we have here...

The top photo was probably the most amazing find of all in our building...its a series of 3 photos of Peterbuilt trucks...and ladies in evening gowns standing next to them...??? Amazing. I'll get better photo of them at some point but we're saving them, so they may turn up somewhere in the space... We also found a bunch of old trucker hats, some old telephones, and a framed photo of The Boss (not pictured). So good...now what to do with it all... (Sidebar, there is a huge bunch of old car windows...Justin thinks we will use them all...I don't. If anyone is in need of them we may have some to spare. AND we also have a large bunch of art crates coming our way...We may have more than we can use. does anyone need/want any crates? Some are international quality shipping crates...would just need to be retrofitted...I'm just sayin'....)

Little things...adding up!

This weekend was productive, even though it was mostly little things getting done...pulling nails, painting the front door (even though it will be replaced eventually...all the neighbors were wondering what was up with the 'national socialism' stencil on the door (which was there before we got there!) so we figured we'd just give it a coat of paint in the meantime...), clean up, meeting with the plumber, removing more sheathing from the soon to be member lounge (and finding the old skylight windows on top of it!), etc, etc, etc... Little things add up though and after looking back through the photos, I am pretty amazed that all has been accomplished in just under a month. Big thanks to Jenifer and Lauren for your help this weekend! More progress photos coming soon!

The Freezer

Why, you might ask, does a building that used to be an auto mechanic shop and radiator supply place have a giant freezer in the back? Good question. We have no idea. One of the many things on our to do list is to find out the history of the building. So far we've gotten back to Franklin Auto and that's it (Though Pete, who works next door, told us that that guy used to fix radiators faster than anyone.) So for now the freezer is a mystery, but we love it.

Another Before and After (During...)

Another Before and After (During). We are lucky enough that we are able to work with everything that is preexisting in the building... We knew the above office was going to be turned into the member lounge, but need to make a few improvements. Justin took off the paneling on the inside and the plywood sheathing on the outside and it's going to be recovered inside and out, in something a lot less...gross. (And I don't say gross because of the dirt or years of auto repair shop grime...oh no, but because of the fact that the dogs that were kept here before we moved in were peeing all over the inside of this thing...yup gross.) More soon!

Letting the light in...

It's so exciting to be opening doors and windows that were covered up or locked up with no key! The upper right photo shows a window that was previously covered with old doors and what not...(You can see in the upper left photo how much light is coming in from the right now!) The lower left photo is a roll down door that was locked until Pete cut the locks on Saturday (Thanks Pete!) and the lower right photo shows 4 (!!!) windows in the store front that were covered up (they still are covered from the outside). We'll be bringing these back to life. We also met with a guy about  a garage door for the back (right now both the back and front doors are cemented up...who the hell does these things?!) which is exciting...progress!

Textures...

There are many interesting textures at the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym right now...

 

Sculpture Gym, Sweet, Sculpture Gym

So it's officially official! As of last night our lease is signed and we are so excited! It's taken a while because we were initially given a typical (very scary sounding) commercial lease that we didn't feel comfortable signing. Our landlord is pretty amazing and just said to change what we wanted and get back to him. We found a lawyer to help us thanks to Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and couldn't be happier! (What? You've never heard of them and have an art related legal issue? We highly suggest you check them out!) After a few tweaks and a big check, we are good to go! We'll be putting out calls for volunteers soon and a big thanks to those of you who have already signed up on our volunteer list! Stay tuned for progress photos!!

Before and Before Before...

 For anyone who is coming out to Coldhearted on Saturday, you should know that the space is still VERY raw. We've done no work on it yet, other than cleaning the front gallery space. The landlord needs to build a dividing wall between our space and the tire place next door. There are cars and piles of rubble in the back of the space. And more...but even from the first moment I saw it, I knew this would be an amazing space for the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym.
You may wonder why I thought it was a good idea to have Coldhearted in the space, since its not finished...or even started... ...  ... I think its because I wanted everyone to see the 'Before'. I want everyone to get excited about everything that the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym will be. I want all of you to be here with us from the very beginning, so that later on, you will know just how far we've come. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday! Hope you can join us!

Here's the before:

 

 And here's the before before:

SCORE!

OK! OK!! Helloooo Philadelphia Sculpture Gym Blog Followers and General Awesome People Who Support and Follow Our Journey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After much procrastination it's me Justin, until now the voice of PSG on the inter-webs has been Darla. I have had some approach avoidance to the whole blognation... I don't even have a Facebook account! I will pause for the shock to settle in...
...
Ok, so I'm over my shy violet stage.... I am going to be a regular from here on out!

Now today's post:)

#1 Big shout out and thanks to our Homie Eric McDade for the Craigslist spotting of "some chalkboards" in the Free section posted this morning!
#2 to the guy Matt who actually called me back on the job site that the chalk boards in question were...
#3 Last but certainly not least to Daniel Burns who humped out to the 'burbs with me and helped me carry and load the HEAVY 12' long! by 4' high chalk boards to the truck; just as I spotted the pile of SLATE COUNTER TOPS AND SINKS!!! laying in the grass. As the sparkle in my eye began to fade into the reality of actually picking things up and moving them again, things began to whirl around us and before you knew it we had a full truck of Grade A+ reclaimed laboratory and classroom equipment salvaged from a building at Gwynedd-Mercy College, destined for the landfill.
I don't know if the chalkboards spoke singularly to the G.C. on the demo, or whether he was planning to post some of the jewels that I found later on Craigslist or not; but I am glad that I took the time to go, and potentially saved some great stuff worth a bunch for resale alone but worth $1,000's new from certain doom...

THE SCORE:

• (2) 4'H x 12'L (heavy enough to be slate but not sure..) chalk boards both with a tiny strip of cork-board across the top. In case we want to put the cursive alphabet across the top...!
• (2) Under mount slate sink basins (currently not under-mounted)!!
• (2) Double drain boards for the above sinks w/ hot drainage grooves cut in. One of them has a wicked cool laboratory faucet w/ integral hose barb!!
• (1) 5' long section of the counter that matched/ connected to the sink drain boards!
• (1) 7' long section of counter... "                 "                "               "                    !
• (4) Solid core doors w/ a narrow wire reinforced glass window running vertically from waist to eye height, and brass hinges. One of them is over-sized like 40" wide or so!!!!
• (2) 3'H x 4' L and 3'H x 3'L Wall mounted sliding glass door maple veneer cabinets w/ shelves!!

 

 

 

LOCATION!

READY? The Philadelphia Sculpture Gym is coming to...

1834 E. FRANKFORD AVENUE!!!
FISHTOWN!!!
19125!!!

YAY!!!

Come see it in its very raw BEFORE state at our Coldhearted event on Saturday, February 11th from 11am-5pm!!

LOCATION!!!!!

So for anyone who isn't on our Facebook page or a backer of our Kickstarter, you may not have seen the exciting bit of news we had to share last night...WE FOUND A LOCATION!!!!! Now, before you get too excited, we aren't telling anyone the address until we have the papers signed and the keys in hand but let me tell you, we couldn't be happier! The location of the building is AMAZING! The space is large with high ceilings. There's room for large shops, a classroom, a few studios (holler if you're interested!) a gallery and more. It's convenient to multiple forms of public transportation, easily accessible by bike or car (or foot!), it's near a great coffee shop, it's in our neighborhood...Woo! We cannot wait to tell you where it is...and we'll be telling our Kickstarter backers the location before the ink is dry on the lease, so if you want to be among the first to know, make a pledge at any level and we'll let you know as soon as its officially official!

Location...!?

The problem with being us is that we can see the potential in totally run down spaces, but I think thats part of the fun for us too. Or atleast we are bound to a life of it... Either way, when I first met Justin, he was busy building out a space in a giant warehouse. The space would be a giant studio with a lofted apartment above. The ceilings were 20 feet high and the space was amazing. There was tons of room for modeling, mold making and casting AND there was a foundry in the building...it was perfect! (Except that it was freezing cold in the winter and he had to run 100 feet of plumbing so we could have a bathroom in our space, among other things of that nature...) Anyway, between the two of us and a Home Depot credit card, we whipped that space into shape and made the cutest little apartment floating above the most amazing studio...we hadn't even quite finished everything yet when we were told our landlord sold the building for 2 million dollars (I can't say I blame him). We were heart broken. All our work was going to be torn down and turned into "townhomes" (I still curse them every time I drive by). So we were forced to find a new space and ended up buying a house that looked fine and just seemed to need cosmetic work (the previous owners had awful awful taste...texture paint everywhere, among (many) other things) Ha ha ha. Turns out the house needed an INSANE amount of work and we are still up to our eyeballs in renovations...and will be for a while (though this is nothing exceptionally new to me...My dad spent my entire life working on our house himself, doing it a little bit at a time, forever. As any homeowner knows when you get "done" you just have to start over again anyway because everything you fixed first is either outdated or needs some love...but I digress.) So it was only natural that we should be looking at places that were in need of some serious love...and we expected that whatever we decided on would need some work, but not sure how much. Now before you get all excited, we have still not decided on a space, but the most recent space we looked at is insanely promising despite the fact that there was dog shit, random vehicles and piles of rubble everywhere...tall ceilings, new roof, cement floor, cool space, convenient location, good light, potential space for a few studios...hmmmmm...we'll keep ya posted...

More locations...

We've checked out 2 new spaces in the past 2 weeks and both had their own appeal...

The Old Weapon Factory

Photos to come...They are stuck in Justin's iPhone and we can't find the cord...technology be damned! 

This space was simultaneously overwhelming and amazing. The potential here is huge...hell the space is huge! It has 20 ft high ceilings and a giant bridge crane that runs the length of the space. There's an indoor loading dock and large shared space/common area. There is also a bar/lounge area (?) with a stage (??!) which was random and unexpected, yet kind of amazing. The light was nonexistent because the windows were bricked up, but nothing that couldn't be fixed if we choose this space.

Globe Dye Works
 

 

This space is beautiful and light filled, even on a gray day like today. And the wood floor was amazing. One issue, however, is that this space is on the 3rd floor of the building and although it has freight elevators and a large entryway, we're concerned that this would limit the size of things that people can make.

Location search continues...

One of the most exciting and stressful parts of the planning for the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym has been the location. We feel like so much is riding on the space...the size, the cost, the location of the building, the access, the light (we're sculptors...we like good light!)...that its almost paralyzing. However, it is our goal to begin to nail down some big things and this is one of them. We've looked at 3 more spaces and each had its own appeal...

The Warehouse
Though it may not look it in this photo, this space has alot of potential...high ceilings, two floors, easily accessible, big roll down garage door. The upstairs had skylights and lots of room (we forgot to snap a photo of the 2nd floor). And the owner was super nice (We've run into a bunch of really nice landlords in our searches so far, which surprised us both...if it were based on just the people themselves, we'd have almost a harder time choosing than we do already!)


The Old Ice Cream Factory

The location of this place is awesome. And again, super nice owners. It's also two floors and has a cool yard attached to it. The only issue is that we think it might be a bit too small for the amount of equipment we are going to need... We are working on figuring out if we can make it work or not.

[No photos...Justin didn't send me what he took...Will add them if he does.]

The Old Power Sub-station

Forgive me if I seem biased on this. I would've moved into this space in a heartbeat the first moment I saw it. The space is huge. The light...AMAZING! Even the basement was awesome! Another awesome owner. And there was glitter on the floor for Olivia to play with so she was a huge fan. At first though it was definitely too big and they weren't sure they wanted to divide the space. Now, however, they are willing to divide it (yes!). The only hesitation we have is the location. Its easily accessible by bus and car, and the El is only like 3 blocks away but its a bit hood between the El station and the building. I spoke to a friend, who lives like a block away from here, about this and he said the area is not as bad as I think it is...(I'm from NJ, people...I scare easily. I still haven't figured out how Justin got me to move to Kensington in the first place.) 1/2 of the building may still be a bit much for us so that and the lack of a giant roll down garage door (It has big dock height doors so this isn't that much of an issue) remain our only hesitations, so we are crunching numbers and seeing if it makes sense.

This is a shot of the 2nd floor:


The first floor (skylights! big beautiful skylights!):


Hell, even the basement is big and bright:

These guys are very much in the running...We had to cross the Bank and Old Hardware Co. off our first list (No big entrances in the Bank and no running water in the Old Hardware Co., both deal breakers) but these are all good additions. Here's hoping we can make up our minds...soon!

Location, location, location...

So we've been looking at buildings for a little while now and have seen some really amazing ones (some of which are shown below) and a couple of really bad ones (which we didn't bother to photograph). Here's a quick peek inside some of the spaces we've seen...Some are already ruled out (no heat, no running water, not enough electricity, among other deal breakers) while some are still in the running. We also have some more spaces to look at and will keep everyone posted on the progress!

#1 - The Old Bank...



#2 - The Old Hardware Co.




#3 The Giant Warehouse...



#4 The Old Tobacco Factory...



#1 and #2 both had AMAZING natural light on the 2nd floors, but both needed a TON of work that we have neither the time, nor money to do (especially for a rental property). #3 and #4 are great possibilities and are still very much in the running...Stay tuned.