February 26, 2003
Students work on restoration of Opera House
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
"You can only go to the stars if you have a foundation."
With soaring ideas and a burning artistic vision, Dayton Spence is leading the team who are restoring the City Opera House to its former glory.
The 110-year-old building, referred to as the jewel of Traverse City, is in the midst of a multi-phase, $8.5 million restoration. The tentative re-opening date is June 1, noted executive director Gerie Greenspan; after six months or so, the building will close again for additional work.
Meanwhile, Spence reigns on the ceiling-height scaffolding that holds his crew as they restore the ceiling of a building he has come to love.
"The naysayers have to realize that we are giving, not taking away, with this project," said Spence, owner of New Millennium, Inc., in Suttons Bay. "There's a continuity to our history and this building embodies it."
Two additions to his crew are interns from Traverse City Central High School: Meghan Bye and Saira Schutza. Bye initially contacted the City Opera House Heritage Association about helping out and has been volunteering for a few weeks.
The two seniors now spend their Saturdays making stencils, tracing them, painting and doing anything else needed to bring the City Opera House's ceiling to life. Two students from Suttons Bay High School have also assisted as interns.
Bye and Schutza are best friends as well as aspiring artists. The duo will head off to the Art Institute of Chicago in the fall for a formal education in the fine arts. They both say the experience they are getting during their internship outstrips hours of classroom theory.
"We did the rolling and stenciling of the gold," said Schutza, who began her internship a week ago. "Spence is really cool, he'll call us over and ask our opinions about something."
The interns said that Spence prompts them to find their own answers, their own artistic muse. When he asks an opinion, he will not settle for regurgitation of his ideas or guesses at what they hope he wants to hear. Instead, he pushes them to explore and develop their own artistic sensibilities.
"We've got an opportunity here, getting on-the-job skills for things you wouldn't learn in the classroom," said Bye, who is vice president of Central High School's Art Club (Schutza is president.)
Spence has spent 35 years restoring and preserving buildings, giving new life to 205 historic buildings around the globe. He enjoys working with interns and relishes the perspectives that the younger aspiring artists bring.
This approach reflects his company's didactic and educational philosophy, which means he eschews a goal-oriented approach that would get him to the next building as quickly as possible. Giving tours to community members and working with interns are important parts of the restoration process, he believes, part of educating the community and the next generation about the building.
"It is funny, I'm 61 and they are 17 and it's kind of like we have this common language of art," said Spence. "These girls are the 21st Century reaching back to the Renaissance.
Spence said the interns represent the generation that will be the stewards of the restored City Opera House. He is pleased with their work, saying that taking on an intern is often one of blind faith.
"We are proud of them, we didn't know them but they work well and are articulate and have the language," he noted. "But mostly they have the heart and the skill."
"They came here because this is Traverse City's Statue of Liberty and they are guardians of this culture," Spence noted.
For more information on group historical tours, call the City Opera House Heritage Association at 941-8082.