Curator And Five Men in a Basement (Cue Swooning)

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • March 7, 2016

All kidding aside, we did have a meeting of the minds recently in the MMA Library – soon to be the MMA Research Center – basement. My aim was to get everyone to meet – though they really all know one another (small island) – and talk about what they needed from one another and how we are going to orchestrate this dance of masonry, carpentry, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical work once it gets underway.


We have a great team. Wayne Morris of Wayne Morris-Mason, Inc., Matt Anderson of Matthew Anderson Carpentry, Bob Butler of Marden Plumbing – the MMA’s plumbers since we had running water, Kevin Wiggin the HVAC fabricator and installer, and Jon Vollans of Vollans Electric all the way from ʼSconset. Additionally, other locals such as Jim Tyler of James Tyler Painting will be working on the interior – he painted the exterior of the building that looks so fabulous – Pen Austin has worked her magic with the lime plaster repairs in the Wing, and Greg Maskell of Maskell Landscaping will clean up the mess that is left behind. We will also be working with Toscana for the drainage and new sewer connection (the old one is broken). Mickey Rowland of Rowland Architects and Jim Badera of Badera Engineering are assisting us with further designs and code issues. And Structures-North has worked with us from the beginning on the structural repair designs. Throw in the work of Emack Surveying and Blackwell Associates who helped design the drainage and the list grows even longer.

This is not a small undertaking. We are keeping our costs as low as possible – I, in fact, have tried to take on as much as I can from permitting and code and HDC applications and physically moving things – with the help of my now muscle-bound colleagues – in order to save the MMA as much money as possible on this project. MMA does what it does – does ALL that it does – in as thrifty a manner as possible. Very Maria Mitchell, I might add. She would be proud.


We are still raising funds for this project – every penny counts. I myself am buying the eyewash for the sink which we should have just in case. While we don’t work with major chemicals, it’s a good thing to have around even if it’s for exploding glue containers or paint! So, if you are interested in making a donation, please contact us.


JNLF

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