ART in Embassies
Our experience with the ART in Embassies program began in June 2003. We were contacted by one of the curators of the program who requested that we lend paintings to be installed in the US Embassy in Bishkek, capital city of the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan. The newly appointed ambassador to Bishkek, Stephen Young, was a New Hampshire native. Ambassador Young had made a request of ART in Embassies to decorate the embassy with paintings from his native state. The curator, Virginia Shore, became aware of our website devoted to the art and artists who painted in the White Mountains of New Hampshire during the 19th century. Her contact with us was initially by e-mail, but we eventually spoke on the phone. She provided us with literature about the program, but we were reluctant to send our paintings over 6,000 miles away to a place unknown to us, especially during these uncertain times. When I told her we were not willing to loan the paintings, she acted as if we had lost our minds. She appealed to our sense of civic responsibility, but ultimately she played the appreciation card, stating that having the paintings on display would improve their value should they be sold some day. She also promised to have produced a color catalog of the paintings provided that I give her digital images of the paintings and biographical information on the artists represented. After some further negotiation, we agreed to lend a number of paintings. We provided images of the paintings we were willing to lend. Virginia and Ambassador Young selected eight paintings to borrow for a period of the ambassador’s term, usually three years. The paintings can be viewed on the here.
In mid November, 2003, two guys arrived from Artex, a firm that specializes in packaging and crating art for shipment around the world. They packaged the paintings in cardboard boxes as temporary containers to be returned to the DC area for final crating. The paintings traveled to Kyrgyzstan by escort. Chon Drennan, from ART in Embassies, traveled with the paintings and supervised their installation. Below is a day-by-day description of his trip (all dates are in 2003).
December 8
Met the Artex truck at Dulles International with Masterpiece cargo expeditor. Supervised palletization of the crates containing the paintings. Left the cargo expeditor with the crates to escort to planeside while I went to the terminal for check in and security. Met the expeditor at the gate and confirmed that the crates were loaded onto the aircraft before boarding. Departed Dulles for Frankfurt.
December 9Arrived Frankfurt and met by Hasenkamp cargo expeditor and airport security. Went to the tarmac planeside and supervised unloading of the crates from the plane. (Tarmac access is only granted for the highest security requirements.) Escorted the crates back to Lufthansa cargo. Unpalletized the crates and placed in Lufthansa’s VIC (Very Important Cargo) storage facility. We were not able to make the connection to Almaty, Kazakhstan so had to overnight in Frankfurt.
December 10 at 5 AMMet Hasenkamp cargo expeditor and airport security. Retrieved crates from VIC and palletized. Security and the expeditor escorted the cargo planeside while I checked in. Met security and expeditor at the gate, went to the tarmac and supervised loading onto the plane. Confirmed with the pilot that the cargo and courier were on board. Departed for Almaty.
Arrived Almaty. Met embassy contact. Retrived cargo with embassy shipping and customs officials. Delivered cargo to embassy secure warehouse. Informed Marine guards.
December 11Worked with embassy shipping and customs on export documentation for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Embassy Bishkek sends their truck and driver to Almaty.
December 12Meet customs officials and driver at Embassy Almaty. Retrieve cargo from secure warehouse. Drive from Almaty to Bishkek. Arrive Embassy Bishkek and meet embassy officials at ambassador’s residence. Unload crates and leave for acclimatization process.
December 13Meet embassy officials and installation crew at ambassador’s residence. Brief crew on unpacking and installation procedures. Unpack works of art and set aside for condition reporting. Complete reports. Continue with installation. Everything went very well. Since there was a language barrier, we worked slowly to avoid any misunderstandings. All the crew were assigned specific tasks and instructions how to perform those tasks. The works of art were all in good condition and acclimated well into their new environment.
All was well. I loved “[the paintings] acclimated well into their new environment.” It’s like we had just sent our cats to Kyrgyzstan!
Cohn sent us pictures of the embassy and the paintings in their new home. We especially liked the picture of the guard on duty at the embassy.
In early April 2004, we received an invitation to the Department of State.
In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the ART in Embassies Program, The Secretary of State and Mrs. Powell request the pleasure of your company at a reception and book dedication on Monday, the seventeenth of May Two thousand and four from five until seven o’clock
I thought, “That’s pretty neat, but we’re not going to Washington just for a two-hour reception.” Then, two weeks later, we received a second invitation.
Mrs. Laura Bush requests the pleasure of your company at a reception to be held at The White House on Monday morning, May 17, 2004 at nine-thirty o’clock
Now the Administration had our attention. This was our opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime thirty seconds of fame!