The Legacy of Gaetano Federici Symposium June 4, 2016
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Seating is limited; call Kelly Ruffel at 973-321-1220 ext. 2263 to reserve your spot. There is a $10 fee; payment must be made in advance. Make checks to City of Paterson Trust Fund, and mail to: City of Paterson Historic Preservation Commission, 125 Ellison St., 4th Floor, Paterson, NJ 07505.
In a career that spanned more than half a century, Gaetano Federici went on
to complete no less than forty commissioned public monuments within a two-mile
radius of Paterson's City Hall; some fifteen of them within two or three blocks of
each other. Whether statues, plaques, or lunette carvings (like that of the Archangel
Overpowering Lucifer atop St. Michael's door on Cianci Street), they all have that
distinctive mark of telling it like it is. Federici wrote "the artists' work[s] that
will survive are true likenesses of people, things, and events."
The Legacy of
Gaetano Federici Symposium is designed to highlight the exact people, things and
events that Federici so impressively preserved.
This event through the efforts of the City of Paterson Historic Preservation
Commission, Passaic County Historical Society, and Passaic County Community
College will take the audience on a journey through Federici’s life and art as well
as a virtual tour of his commissioned public monuments.
The presentations will not
only review aspects of Federici's life, but also reflect on the conservation of his
piece, and their use in modern art projects and research today. Some topics covered
are:
"Gaetano Federici-- 'the Paterson Master,' 36 years onward:
Lost, Found, Endangered - and Wikified"
What has happened to the reputation and sculptural "legacy" of Gaetano Federici since the PCHS
'retrospective' of 1980? Flavia Alaya, co-curator of that exhibition and chief editor of its
accompanying catalogue publication, "The Artist as Historian," revisits the impact of that first
attempt at a comprehensive overview of his genius. What would a new "retrospective" tell us
now, not just about Federici's life and work, but about his true achievement and his place in the
canon of American artistic originals?
Federici Exhibit Sneak Peek
As a part of the Passaic County Historical Society’s (PCHS) mission “to showcase [Passaic
County’s] cultural and artistic diversity” along with the desire to preserve objects of historical
significance to the local area, the PCHS embarked on a new and exciting venture to conserve and
exhibit pieces of their collection of original pieces created by Gaetano Federici. This exhibit will
incorporate a variety of materials related to Federici, including original photographs, documents,
sketches by Federici and several plaster plaques and statuettes, most of which are models created
by the artist to master the scale and detail of his final works.
3D Scanning of Gaetano Federici Collections
This presentation will take you through the process of 3D scanning and how the project has
supported the continued awareness of the Federici Collection by a local graduate of William
Paterson University. Since 2008, Brian Sandilands has curated and organized alternative art and
music events across the state. In 2013 he participated in the Ricardo Galleni Memorial Grant
Workshop, an international residency sponsored by Autodesk, The Digital Stone Project and
Garfagnana Innovazione. His first and second solo exhibitions, The 3D Printed Gun Show and
Monuments to Compromise were held at William Paterson University of NJ where he received
his MFA.
“Aesthetic Decisions by Gaetano Federici: A Conservation Investigation of Working Style,
Methods and Materials Used by Gaetano Federici to Create His Sculptures and Maquettes”
This presentation, narrated by Gary McGown, President and Senior Conservator of Cultural
Preservation & Restoration, Inc. will discuss and visually illustrate the varying surfaces, coatings
and stylistic decisions recovered and identified through the conservation process of stabilizing,
repairing and treating over two dozen sculptures or maquettes. Selected examples of Federici’s
plaster works will be presented at this symposium.
Federici Studio Collection Website Launch
The Federici Studio Collection, housed in the historic Hamilton Club building at Passaic County
Community College (PCCC) includes over 100 sculptures, which are on permanent display
throughout the building. In addition, the sculptor’s studio workshop – filled with plaster
sculptures, molds, plaques, tools, furniture, and other memorabilia – has been recreated in a
room on the third floor. In 2001, the collection was designated an Official Project of Save
America’s Treasures, a partnership between the White House Millennium Council and the
National Trust for Historic Preservation, dedicated to the celebration and preservation of our
nation’s threatened cultural treasures. In addition to the excitement of hosting this symposium,
PCCC received a grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission to create a website that will
bring together Federici’s history and artworks under one umbrella and to achieve an important
goal – to link the historical sites that house Federici’s collections with the City’s outdoor
sculptures. The new website, Gaetano Federici and His Paterson Legacy, will be launched at this
event: federicicollections.com
This event is sponsored by Paterson Historic Preservation Commission in
partnership with the Passaic County Historical Society and Passaic County
Community College. Information on this and upcoming Commission events and
programs can be found at www.patersonnj.gov/hpc.
Download event press release