Random Data Organization

[olivermoss]

Doing some project/data organization and I pulled together my red window pictures:



I will do something with these at a point. These are all older pictures and my camera at the time could not handle bright light through a dark red window, so the color blorted out to magenta. It's not fiaxble I don't think, the color information is not good enough. I need a picture of the new, boring, clear window, but my next window of opportunity is 9 months out.

Not sure what I will do with it. Currently ownership of the mausoleum is denying that there used to be a red window, and a lot of other things. It's not a grand conspiracy, it's just them trying to clean up their image and/or loss of institutional knowledge. They don't know which graves certain statues and art are supposed to go to. Ten bucks said they wanted a tinted window and red was either the cheap option or they misjudged how it would look. It's just one of those things I'm stuck on. It used to be such a striking and bizarre thing to come across, 4 levels below ground level in a sprawling mausoleum.

Also, wow I was trying so hard to document that window and take cool shots of it and just... didn't.

I also deleted a lot of duplicate info on my drives, which should make it easier to find stuff in the future. I also dealt with Apple yelling at me about my cloud storage being nearly full when I should have 0 things in cloud storage.

I can't go out and do things, my editing brain isn't back online yet, time to spend a lot of hours organizing data and hope something productive comes of it.

Comments

[teigh_corvus]

Wow, that is an interesting choice for a mausoleum. I really dig it, though. Vivid red is so difficult to photograph - I think the oddness of the window translates well.

[olivermoss]

If only time worked differently and I could have shot it with my current camera! But yeah, bright dark red was always going to be hard to capture.

[mistressofmuses]

I'm glad you're getting a chance to organize things!

Those are cool shots, though I'm sorry they aren't quite what you'd wanted, and don't show the correct color as well as desired. That seems like it would be a very strange and striking thing to come across by surprise.

How weird to have them denying that the window even existed. Loss of institutional knowledge is a real thing (or, like you said, trying to put forward a different image.) But still - just denying a thing existed, when you KNOW it did... weird feeling.

[olivermoss]

The current ownership is just like that. The reason why there are pyramids everywhere? It's because the builders wanted the building to stand as long as the pyramids and for no other reason. Lower levels? Nothing down there. etc. They wanna talk your ear off one one dead person there having a tangential connection to a Hollywood star like that's the only interesting lore about the place. They really don't like people going down to the lower floors, which is why I can only nab it next memorial day... probably

[mistressofmuses]

That feels like such a weird attitude to have when you wind up with a place like that! To not lean into any of the interesting history (especially to focus on a pretty meh factoid, it sounds like.) I mean, I know different people feel differently about places like mausoleums, and what is appropriately respectful and such, but allowing for some weirdness (in Portland!), and a connection to so much interesting history seems like so clearly what should have happened, instead of... whatever it is they're doing.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, it's weird. I think there is more locally made art in the mausoleum than in our art museum. So much art and history, but their money motivation is to sell the remaining slots for as much money as possible. So, they try to de-weird-ify the place.

[mistressofmuses]

They could do so much with that local history and art! It's awful that they don't! Bleh, seems like such a mismanagement in so many ways.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, it's a real shame and I wish more people knew about the situation and that some of the grave goods sort of float to where they will look best. But, they don't seem to think art or history focused tours are worthwhile.

[mistressofmuses]

It's very unfortunate that they don't see any value in an art or history tour option. That seems like such a no-brainer for the space and for the city. Depressing that they don't agree, and have done so much to prevent people who are interested in such things from having access to it.

[olivermoss]

Ideally, I'd love to do some blog posts about the art and other stuff, but I feel like I'd be in an antagonistic relationship with them if I tried. Especially since some of the blog posts would be asking if anyone knows which grave this statue goes to or trying to find out if anyone knows enough about stained glass to spot what wasn't made locally. A striking window is in a very different art style so I am suspicious it's not local.

This one specifically, from the style to the linework to the texture of the panels its strikingly different from the other windows. It's famous local landmark Multnomah Falls, but I don't think the glass is Portland made.

[mistressofmuses]

Unfortunately it does sound like they wouldn't be receptive or friendly to an attempt to chronicle the art or history of the place. That's such a shame!

That's a beautiful piece! But very interesting that it's likely not locally made, despite the local subject. I wonder where it did come from? I can't say I know enough about stained glass (much as I like it) to recognize likely sources or differences in regional styles.

I know we have a cemetery here that has a fairly extensive stained glass collection in their mausoleum... but every time I've gone there I've had a dog with me, or it's been closed, so I've never gotten to see it, despite them actually welcoming people interested in viewing it.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, I've poked at gathering information about the place and it's art, but there isn't much I've found.

A pair of brothers made most of the stained glass in Portland, for churches, state buildings, historic houses, etc. Povey Brothers work is everywhere, but they didn't keep records and the mausoleum didn't keep records so they just assume most was them? The art deco and realistic landscape pieces looks like them at least, the waterfall is very modern and the coloring and texturing is super loose. I don't know a ton about it either, but it's a big thing here as Portland is known for arts & crafts style houses and decor. To me it jumps out, but I've spent a lot of time looking at the windows in that mausoleum!

Ooh, I hope you get a chance to go. Mausoleums are cool. Hopefully that one's less musty.

[mistressofmuses]

Man, it sounds like having some sort of... database of the art to be found there would be such a nice thing to have. Or like you would be interested in doing, a blog that features some information about the history and where certain pieces came from. That seems like the sort of thing a lot of people would be interested in, so having the owners be so disinterested in it feels very unfair! Bleh, it sucks when boring people control cool places and things.

Ah, that's interesting! I don't know if there's anything similar in Denver/Colorado as a whole. There is certainly some nice stained glass in churches and things, but I can't say I know anything in particular about the artists behind it, or whether there were just a few artists or many. There's a lot that's stylistically similar, but was that due to taste and regional influence, or the style of a specific artist? I just don't know! It's unfortunate how rarely those artists (or their commissioners) kept records of what pieces they did or when. There MAY be like... tedious financial records where payment was recorded, but then again there might not be.

Some of the family crypts at the same cemetery have some lovely stained glass, but a lot of it has also been vandalized, so it's pretty glass with huge shattered holes, which just feels sad. It's a historic cemetery, but also still has some active use. I like that they do seem appreciative of the history - having the hopefully more-protected stained glass collection, which they actively encourage people to come look at (but good luck determining when it's open!). They also have a garden that apparently is the only place where some specific historical hybrid rose is still found? Something like that.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, a database or an online virtual museum type thing so the art is more accessible. Maybe even ask for help in IDing things.

That's too bad about the glass being smashed. We've had a bit problem with people stealing from the mausoleums, prying off metal bits to keep so they can edgy teens or whatever. I really need to learn more about some local graveyards and stuff.

[mistressofmuses]

Something like that would be such an excellent thing for the mausoleum! I would think it would be a definite point of interest... and it sucks to see such an open niche when they have no interest in filling it!

Yeah, it's sucky how many places wind up falling victim to vandalism. I think that's likely been an issue here, too: people taking pieces of metal, chunks of marble or granite from stones, trying to chip off interesting older carved pieces, etc.
And like... I'm goth-adjacent, and I get the whole romanticism of a cemetery and all, but fuck off with vandalizing things so that you have a ~souvenir~ or whatever.

I really would like to learn more about our local graveyards as well. We've got a few interesting burials and things (Alfred Packer! He was maybe a cannibal!). Weirdly, one of the older cemeteries that has a lot of elaborate headstones and statuary and is the resting place for a lot of the early well-to-do of Denver... is now on the outskirts of a weird shitty warehouse district, so it's a bit weird to go to now.

Denver's biggest famous cemetery thing is Cheesman Park, which was a huge cemetery that was supposed to be moved to make a city park... and then the people who were supposed to move the burials just... didn't, Poltergeist-style. So periodically they still find remains whenever they like... do some landscaping or something. The botanic gardens had to put their parking garage construction on hold for a few months a few years ago because they kept turning up bodies and such. Creepy, yet has wound up being almost blase because of how long it's been happening.

[olivermoss]

A part still having remains like that is super creepy! Considering all the controversies over being trying to procure human bones I wonder if people go poking there for stuff to sell?

[mistressofmuses]

Oh yes, Cheesman Park is definitely pretty popular for ghost tours and the like, because it is so creepy! And of course, the real horror was... greed. The company paid to remove the remains was paid by the coffin, so they figured out it was more lucrative to split skeletons up into several coffins. They got caught, and fired, and... then the city just didn't hire anyone else to do it.

You know, I haven't heard anything like that happening, but it would surprise me very much if it *hadn't.* There have been so many cases where randos find bones while they're just... out on a jog, because some rain shifted things around, or a new irrigation ditch went in or the like. As far as I'm aware, there's never been any serious attempt (or interest in making an attempt) to locate and remove the remains that are still there, and at this point none of them could be identified, so they're just relocated as they're discovered.
So... it seems very plausible that there've been people who either deliberately went looking for bones, or who found some and just... didn't report them.

[delphi]

Those are really neat shots, even with the colour issue - and that must have been such a cool/intriguing thing to encounter where it was.

[olivermoss]

Thanks! If only I could shoot it with my current camera. It takes a bit to get to this part of the mausoleum because the ground floor is floor five, and this is floor 1. You can't directly get down this far, it's a bit of a maze. It's built into the side of a cliff which is why there is daylight that far down.