ARTEOLOGY: A James Hubbell Art Restoration Workshop

“Aha!” Fred Fabre exclaimed when he found the right piece.

By Bobbi Zane

Ever wonder how the archaeologists figure out what pottery shards belong together to form a plate or bowl?

You can see the process at the Julian Branch Library at a series of workshops dedicated to restoring a collection of whimsical sculptures fashioned by Albert Hubbell, brother of Julian’s world-famous sculptor James Hubbell.

The first of the workshop series was held the week before Christmas; two more are scheduled for the end of January and February.

About a thousand of these figures, damaged by the Cedar fire in 2003, had been in storage in a shed at the Hubbell compound in Wynola for more than 30 years while the artist who created them lived in Japan. Most were damaged but not destroyed when the shed melted down around them.

The project started at the Hubbell compound after the embers cooled. It was headed up by Shari Winicki and Laurel Granquist, working with a team of volunteers. They extracted the little figures out of burned and tangled clay and separated them by color: red, yellow and orange. The team moved the red figures to the library for the first of the workshops.

Left, Shari Winicki tries to locate the right piece of sculpture. Right, Laurel Granquist looks for the perfect match.

The first job was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle without a picture. The workers separated intact figures from those with missing parts. The puzzle was to figure out which part (arm, leg, head) went with what figure. In cases where the fit was perfect, a bit of glue united the two pieces.

Winicki dubbed the process of putting the figures back together “arteology, combining art and archaeology.” Eventually, the pieces will be photographed and catalogued.

James Hubbell put the restoration project into perspective for a group of 16 volunteers at the workshop on Dec. 21. He explained that his brother had traveled extensively in Africa and Asia 30 years ago and was influenced by the native artwork. The whimsical figures he fashioned emerged from that experience.

Albert Hubbell had traveled to Africa and Asia before creating his art. As a result, the realm of fantasy is reflected in his clay models. For the past 30 years, he has lived within view of Mt Fuji in Japan. He has devoted his life to the ecology of the area.

James Hubbell said the nature of the creative self is to identify areas of the psyche that are often out of reach. Thus, the importance of the articles transformed by the Cedar fire tempt the eye of the beholder to look for meaning beyond the figurine at hand.

The arteology project will continue in the library’s community room from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 24-27, and from Feb. 21-24, when Granquist and Winicki will be restoring the yellow items and the orange pieces. The public is invited to help them in this adventure.

Photos By Bobbi Zane