Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

The Museum’s Education Office has a fantastic view of one of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Shuttlecocks. I’m used to catching glimpses of people doing all sorts of things near the birdie, but the scene I witnessed yesterday was a first -- someone was scrubbing the sculpture!

The seventy-degree spring weather was perfect for such an endeavor (rumor has it that this activity inevitably falls on the hottest day of the year), and the Conservation crew of Paul Benson, Joe Rogers and Robert Krueger graciously indulged my gawking and picture-taking. I’m a confirmed acrophobic, so the nearly twenty-foot tall scaffolding gave new meaning to the phrase “suffering for their art”, and the large scrub brush reminded me of the life-sized toothbrushes used to beat back the Cavity Creeps.

After descending safely from his perch, Robert described the cleaning process via e-mail:

“Once a year our Senior Associate Conservator Paul Benson leads an annual cleaning of Shuttlecocks. We use a solution of Orvus paste in water. Orvus paste is a very mild soap and is also known as Sodium lauryl sulfate, most commonly found in shampoo, shaving foams, toothpaste and other hygiene products.

We use soft brushes and our Orvus paste to clean the entire surface, removing grime, bird guano and insect frass [author’s note: I had to look that one up. Frass = bug poo]. Once we have cleaned the sculpture, the entire surface is rinsed with clean water.

The most difficult part is reaching the sculpture. We use a combination of ladders, scaffolding and a ladder specially designed for Shuttlecocks to reach every part of the sculpture. It takes 3 people almost an entire day to clean one.”

Squarely in its adolescence, Shuttlecocks gets much love these days, which is a departure from the past. According to Tyler Green’s Modern Art Notes, “There is probably no work of public art that’s more fun than Shuttlecocks.” Literally thousands of photographs have been recorded for posterity (some of my faves here, here and here), and with the annual efforts of our Conservation staff, it will continue to spark adoration and consternation for years to come.

For additional insight into the creation and conservation of these iconic Kansas City sculptures, join Curator Jan Schall and Conservator Paul Benson on Friday, May 29 in Atkins Auditorium.