The Great WMODA Pack-Up and Move began in earnest in October and now we are excited to be in our new Hollywood home. We have captured some video footage of different stages of the monumental move which can be viewed on our YouTube channel. Dave Rosenthal helped us to record the Dania Beach displays and, at the end of his visit, he sat at our Chickering Square Grand piano and serenaded us with Journey’s emotional anthem Don’t Stop Believin’… and we never did!
There are many people to thank for our journey so far. Our founder, Arthur Wiener, continues to support WMODA financially and his long-term ambitions include a purpose-built museum in Tamarac, Florida which is now on the drawing board. Realtor Helen Weissman found us not just one but two locations and we are all busy at work planning for the museum’s future.
Over the last six months, the WMODA team has packed and cataloged more than 12,000 fragile ceramic and glass objects from the collection. They were trained and assisted by expert packers from the Lion & Unicorn auction house spearheaded by Arron Rimpley. Venetian glass dealer, Sergio Gnesin taught the team how to safely pack European glass while Gary Portillo from the Pascoe Gallery packed all the Ardmore Ceramic Art and demonstrated the process.
During the month of March, we moved from Dania Beach to Hollywood, a journey of just 2 ½ miles but Carl Bongiavanni from Power Atlantic Transport has made the journey more than 50 times in his 18-wheeler truck. On each trip, he carried 25 display cabinets, or 30 pallets of boxes filled with ceramics and glass art. Gregg Whittecar, our brilliant relocation Project Manager, reckons he has moved at least 500 pallets during the last month. Rodrigo Incera and Rommel Rodriguez used their carpentry skills to build special pallets and ramps to expedite the process.
The main challenge of the move was transferring everything to and from the second floors of each building as the elevators are so small. At Dania Beach, Carl drove a triple stack fork-lift twenty feet in the air to the sky door and loaded the laden pallets onto his truck. Pallet jack drivers awaited each delivery in Hollywood. As well as the massive WMODA collection of fired arts, there were many pieces of antique furniture, crystal chandeliers, Persian rugs and two grand pianos to move. It won’t be long until beautiful music enlivens our new space.
David and Elio from Medco Electric dismantled our crystal chandeliers for long-term storage and they will rehang the Lladró porcelain chandelier so that all the fairies can cast a spell on our new Hollywood home. Guests will soon be guessing how many are dancing in the Falls of Fairy Glen. Kids will also have fun again on our carousel horse which has been corralled until our reopening.
A specialty team of art handlers led by Richard Moreno packed the Chihuly glass collection as well as monumental exhibition pieces, including the Doulton Maharaja Vase and the terracotta lion. Each component takes at least five men to lift and place and extra manpower for specific moving tasks was organized by Agile Resources.
We couldn’t have done this without the dedication of our WMODA staff and volunteers including Kimberly Sheridan, Carolina Bermudez, Luis Montanez, Jesus Reyna, Lori Brown, Linda Saft, Alisa Melchanova, Maria DeLucca, Omar Ferrer, Matias Brandt, Jason Perreira, George Hawthorn, Alain Montour, and Julio “Flipper” Difilippo.
Now, the focus is unpacking the collection and setting up new exhibitions which will take some time. We will keep you posted with our progress and look forward to welcoming you to the new WMODA.
Read more about our massive moving task and plans for our new exhibitions
The Great WMODA Pack Up!
Bye for Now
Wedgwood Library at WMODA
Hollywood by the Sea
