AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting – Page 8 – AIC Blog Archives: Conservators Converse

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Book and Paper Session, May 11: “Preservation of Cultural Heritage: The Restoration of the Globe in Relief” by Maria Gabriela Mayoni

In the last BPG session of this year’s AIC meeting, “global conservation” took on a whole new meaning. Maria Gabriela Mayoni, a conservator of cultural heritage from the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, Argentina, delivered a lavishly illustrated lecture concerning the conservation of a papier-mache globe and its support. This globe, manufactured in Germany in 1850 and bearing site labels in French, belongs to the Department of Geography of the Colegio Nacional and illustrates the European influence on Argentina during the nineteenth century–a period of nation-building and economic development. At some point in the past, the rare globe was seriously damaged in an accident: a large section was crushed, a portion of the papier-mache sphere was lost, and the support rings were deformed. The varnish coating the globe had also darkened and discolored, making the labels and land masses hard to read. The area representing Argentina had been overpainted, perhaps to keep up with changing geopolitical boundaries.

Mayoni described the complex structure of the globe, which included a papier-mache sphere with outer layers of cast composite, paper labels, paint, and varnish. This globe was mounted on a wooden axis, fitted with metallic rings, and placed on a stand made of iron and wood. All of these elements were addressed during the comprehensive conservation treatment of the globe.

Prior to beginning treatment, Mayoni and her colleagues analyzed the materials present on the globe with FTIR, and the results were consistent with an oil and natural resin varnish. This was cleaned with a mixture of water and ethanol, which was applied carefully to avoid disturbing the water-sensitive inks on the printed labels. After the varnish had been reduced, the conservators split the globe into its two original halves. Inside, they discovered labels containing information about the globe’s manufacture, including a date decades earlier than they had anticipated. The crushed portions of the globe were humidified and reshaped, and the losses were filled with a vinyl acetate adhesive and long-fibered paper. After the sphere had been mended from the inside, the two halves were reassembled, and the join was reinforced with cotton fibers. A combination of animal glue and calcium carbonate was used to fill the losses in the topographical relief. The deformed metal rings were reshaped, polished, and given a protective coating. The wooden elements of the stand were also reshaped as necessary to return the globe to usefulness.

Mayoni noted that the varnish selected during treatment will have to be replaced in a second conservation campaign. The reassembled sphere was varnished with a soft synthetic resin soluble in white spirits. Harder, solvent-soluble resins were rejected because the solvents used to reverse them would have affected the inks on the labels. However, the soft resin has become yellow and grimy since it was applied. After further testing, it will be replaced with something more durable and colorfast.

The globe is once more in use in the Geography Department of the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, where the students and faculty learn the importance of preserving their cultural heritage as well as their place on the map.

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Book and Paper Session, May 11: “Case Study: Examination and Analysis of a Mesoamerican Deerskin Map” by Ted Stanley

Ted Stanley wrapped up the Book and Paper Group sessions on Friday, May 11, with his presentation about the authentication and analysis of a 16th-century Mesoamerican map belonging to Princeton University Library. The map was believed to have a c. 1550 creation date, and depicts a portion of the central valley of Mexico at the time of the European conquest. Stanley attempted to determine the authenticity of the deerskin map through noninvasive analysis techniques, including light microscopy, UV-induced visible fluorescence, UV-VIS spectroscopy, and FTIR.

The map, which features black, blue, green, red, and yellow colorants on a leather support, depicts the upheaval in Mexico at the time of European conquest. Hernan Cortes famously invaded Mexico in 1519. The priests who followed in his train destroyed Maya and Aztec maps and codices, and Spanish conquistadors killed many indigenous people, especially those who resisted conversion to Christianity. In one of the map’s illustrations, priests preach to native noblemen, perhaps with limited success: one priest is shaking an Aztec listener so violently that blood flies from his nose. The map also illustrates roads, waterways, villages, agave plantations, and irrigation systems, accompanied by Aztec glyphs or pictograms and their Spanish translations, or glosses. It captures the meeting of the Old and New Worlds, with depictions of Aztec warriors, Spanish priests, Aztec shrine altars, and colonial Spanish villages. But is it authentic?

According to Stanley, the hide support was roughly scraped as part of the tanning process; he is still investigating how the Aztecs may have treated the skin to preserve it. Large, circular voids in the leather appear to be the natural result of abscesses in the animal’s skin rather than later damage. The map was previously folded and has prominent creases as a result. Its pigments are stable, with minor abrasion, and the map displays some liquid staining and minor losses along the edges.

Since no follicle pattern could be determined using light microscopy, Stanley compared the collagen fibers present in the map’s support with those of a known deerskin, and found they had comparable length and width. He also examined the map’s colorants and found evidence for both yellow and orange dyes, which were absorbed into the collagen fibers, and for blue, green, and black pigments, which were deposited on the leather surface.

Stanley then used UV fluorescence for general pigment identification, comparing the fluorescence of the map’s colorants to the fluorescence of Kremer pigment samples. Based on his observations, he tentatively identified the red colorant as cochineal, the yellow-orange as gamboge, and the blue as Maya blue, a combination of indigo and palygorskite clay. While cochineal and Maya blue are both associated with traditional Aztec culture, the gamboge was a surprise, since it is normally associated with Southeast Asia. In addition, the fluorescence of the green pigment did not match that of any Kremer samples. UV-VIS spectroscopy of the map’s colorants reinforced Stanley’s original pigment identifications, but the green remained a mystery.

Finally, Stanley turned to Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy using Attenuated Total Reflectance (FTIR-ATR) for more definitive pigment identification. Once the bands for the hide support had been subtracted, the spectrum for the red dye displayed the characteristic absorption band for carminic acid, confirming the presence of cochineal. The yellow-orange dye produced an absorption band for gambogic acid. Stanley theorizes that the gamboge present in the map is actually American gamboge, a resin that is chemically identical to Asian gamboge but originates in a Mexican plant. Both the blue and green pigments produced spectra containing absorption bands for indigo and palygorskite clays, suggesting that they are Maya blue and Maya green: the same pigment/dye complex at lower and higher pH levels, respectively. The black pigment produced absorption bands for calcium and phosphate, indicating the use of bone black.

Because all of this evidence points to the use of pigments and dyes known to have been used during the early colonial period, Stanley has determined that the map is likely to be contemporary with the European conquest of Mexico. However, the colorants, the skin, and the tanning process all provide tantalizing opportunities for further research. Could the green colorant be Maya blue in combination with a yellow dye? Is the leather in fact deerskin? How was it tanned? Finding the answers to these questions could shed more light on the map’s authenticity, and illuminate a period of dramatic historical change with even more accuracy.

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Objects Luncheon: “Holy Mammoth, Batman! Conservation Education and Outreach for the Preservation of a Columbian Mammoth” by Vanessa Muros and Allison Lewis

This year’s OSG luncheon featured 2 archaeological-focused talks, each sprinkled with pop-culture references.

Vanessa Muros spoke first-a presentation titled “Holy Mammoth Batman! Conservation Education and Outreach for the Preservation of a Columbian Mammoth,” which was co-authored by Allison Lewis.

This presentation addressed the issues and challenges of training archaeologists in conservation techniques, and covered some of the outcomes-both good and bad-of such a collaboration. In the fall of 2010, Vanessa and Allison were contacted by archaeologists from Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA to advise them on the excavation of the fragile remains of a Columbian Mammoth. This was an unanticipated find and the archaeologists had no money to hire conservators and Allison and Vanessa had very limited time (or perhaps desire since they would be working for free) to spend in the field.

The solution that Vanessa and Allison devised was to act as consultants and to go out into the field to assess the condition of the remains and the possible treatment options, to devise protocols for safely lifting the mammoth remains and to train students working on the project to carry out this work themselves. After speaking to the archaeologists about possible analysis of the remains and ensuring that all sampling had been carried out, they devised protocols that involved consolidation of the bone and ivory remains in situ with Acrysol WS24, facing with cyclododecane, and block-lifting.

Vanessa took several block-lifted items back to the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program training labs at the Getty Villa, and, along with the graduate students, devised protocols for further stabilization of the excavated pieces using Acryloid B-72 for the dry bone and Acrysol WS24 for the bone that was still damp. Packing and storage solutions were also devised in consultation with Foothill College so that they could be replicated by archaeology students for the rest of the excavated material back at Foothill.

In the end, Vanessa and Allison deemed the collaboration a success-they felt that the archaeology students learned about conservation techniques, materials and proper storage, and the mammoth remains were safely lifted and stored. They also felt that they had promoted conservation and demonstrated the skills and knowledge required to be a conservator. Despite these great outcomes, they also saw several potential issues, including the fact that the project director, in the project’s Flickr photo album, labeled photos of archaeology students as “conservators.” Did the project director understand that his students aren’t conservators? Had they undermined our profession by demonstrating that non-conservators can do this work, and by teaching non-conservators irreversible and challenging treatments? Had they devalued conservation by volunteering to do all of this?

For being a potentially controversial topic, there were surprisingly no questions or objections about any of this by anyone in the audience. Personally, I think that this project is good for conservation- instead of trying to do the work themselves, the archaeologists contacted Vanessa and Allison, which I believe is an acknowledgement of the expertise and skills of conservators. And I think that while Vanessa and Allison trained students to carry out conservation methods, they did it in a way so that those students do NOT feel like they are conservators (even if the dig director may not fully understand). I also believe that these archaeology students will probably be even more likely to contact a conservator in the future, since this appeared to be a very positive collaboration. What I’d like to see, however, is archaeologists involving conservators like Allison and Vanessa from the beginning of projects. I know that there are always unexpected finds, but if conservators are involved from the beginning, there will hopefully be funding and time to carry out such work in the case that conservation is needed. Projects like this demonstrate the important relationship-building necessary for this collaborative work to take place.

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Architecture Session: “Biofilms and Weather Resistance of the Rhyolitic Tuff: Preservation of the Cavates and Petroglyphs at Bandelier National Monument”, May 11, 2012

Doug Porter, of the University of Vermont, teamed with Angelyn Bass, of the University of New Mexico, to present their recent work at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. Their project began as a structural monitoring program, in collaboration with MIT, and Angelyn first walked the audience through the computer modeling investigation of a particular section of rock. The modeling was meant to investigate structural stability, collapse scenarios and potential failure points. Doug then discussed the geological formations at the park and the presence of a clay & calcite deposition in combination with biofilm colonization which the team thought could be providing structural stability and weathering resistance to the tuff rock. Their site investigation included absorption tests for those areas covered with biogrowth in comparison to recently exposed surfaces. They also looked at permeability and erosion resistance. The presentation acknowledges that biogrowth is identified as a deterioration process in most cases, but may also be contributing to the preservation of the substrate.

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Architecture Session: “Gelatin as an Adhesive for the Reattachment of Decorative Earthen Surface Finishes”, May 11, 2012

Emily Aloiz presented a recent treatment investigation to address blistering and delamination of earthen finishes at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Her study continues the work begun in 1994 at this site by Professor Frank Matero and the graduate students of the University of Pennsylvania program in Historic Preservation. (http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/178/ ) The need to identify an adhesive which would re-adhere delaminating earthen finishes within the alcove sites of the park was guided by a desire to be respectful of the site’s Native American culture by choosing a natural product. Other parameters which were identified included: practical, inexpensive, non-toxic; durability in an outdoor environment and compatible with sandstone and earthen materials; re-establishes adhesion; retreatable; and versatile. Laboratory tests were conducted on a group of proxy samples using a food-grade gelatin as well as the gelatin with the addition of glycerine. Emily carefully laid out the methodology followed during these tests to analyze bond strength, changes due to freeze/thaw and wet/dry cycles and humidity fluctuations. Because the gelatin is organic, biodeterioration was also a concern and was addressed by placing petri dishes of the gelatin solutions at the site as a monitoring system. Once laboratory tests confirmed the feasibility of the use of these gelatin solutions, treatment was carried out in situ by syringe injection between the earthen finish and the substrate. Where there was carbon soot present on the surface, it was first treated by applying cyclododecane as a spray.

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Joint Sessions: Objects + Reseach and Technical Studies, May 9, Some Unusual, Hidden, Surprising or Forgotten Sources of (Possible) Sulfur Contamination in Museums and Historic Buildings

Presenter: Paul Benson

Sulfur is well known as an agent of deterioration associated with atmospheric pollution, but sulfur was, and still is, intentionally introduced into buildings as part of the construction process, and is a part of some objects in museum collections. This presentation by Paul Benson was tremendously informative about how sulfur may be hiding in plain sight and damaging collections. The talk provided examples of the use of sulfur past and present, and provided an example of effective control of sulfur used in the construction of an exhibition space.

Molten sulfur is an excellent electrical insulator. It has very good adhesive, handling, and casting properties that make it a good fill material. It goes through a flexible stage when cooling and it expands slightly (3%) on setting. In the US plaster ceilings were repaired with molten sulfur until the 1920s and buildings built before 1940 may have sulfur behind the surface of the walls as an insulator or fill material. Conservators carrying out CAP surveys should be mindful of these possibilities.

There are unsuspected modern uses of sulfur as well. Used as an inexpensive filler in Chinese-manufactured dry wall imported to the US between 2001 and 2009, it caused extensive damage and reconstruction. Sulfur with additives is used instead of Portland cement in Canada because it has considerable shorter set time.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum discovered that the cause of severe mottling of bronze sculptures was sulfur applied behind the numerous travertine sides of display cases integrated into the structure of the walls. This situation was successful remediated by removing each piece of travertine, and applying Marvelseal® with Beva®.

Sulfur has been used as a fill material in bombs. Police forensics use sulfur to take very accurate casts of footprints in snow. These objects may be stored for long periods of time and contaminating other evidence.

Molten sulfur has been used since antiquity as an adhesive. Pliny may have described its use as an adhesive for glass (depending on the translation). Sulfur was used as an adhesive in Rome, Greece, and Byzantium. All stones in the Thetford treasure at the British Museum were set with sulfur. Sulfur was used to secure iron rods holding together elements of stone sculpture.

Sulfur can be found as an inlay material in furniture marquetry particularly in the sixty years from 1760 forward. Sulfur will take on the appearance of mother of pearl with repeated heat treatments and can be found as “pearl” inlay on guns and guitars.

Objects may be made of sulfur. “Spences Metal” is an iron-sulfur alloy used in the years around 1880. It can take a high polish and imitate a variety of metals. At the time hoped to be in inexpensive replace for bronze. “Ebonite” was made of rubber with 30-40% sulfur and was used to manufacture buttons and casters for furniture among other utilitarian objects that may be in museums of attached to objects in a collection.

Sulfur has been found in an historic clock cast around the weight to hold it in place. The “lead” of German pencils made before 1770 is a combination of graphite mixed with sulfur. Coins may have been cast in sulfur lined plaster casts. And among the seemingly innocent items that might be in a conservation lab sulfur is present in Plasticine® and pencil erasers.

This presentation provided a useful warning about possible contamination from sulfur present in unpredictable places and provided a wide range of examples to guide in hunting for an unseen source of corrosion.

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Objects Session, May 11, 2012, Always Becoming, Nora Naranjo-Morse, Gail Joice, Kelly McHugh.

“Always Becoming”, an outdoor sculpture installation at the National Museum of American Indian (NMAI), was the focus of the presentation by Artist Nora Naranjo-Morse, NMAI Collections Manager Gail Joice and NMAI Conservator Kelly McHugh. Like the work of art “Always Becoming”, this presentation was engaging, thoughtful and inspiring.

Nora Naranjo-Morse, a member of the Tewa tribe, Santa Clara Pueblo, won the NMAI outdoor sculpture competition in 2007. Nora Naranjo-Morse lives only a few hours from Albuquerque and was a welcome artist addition to the objects conservation talks of the day. Her creative and welcoming personality was apparent through out the presentation, as it is her artwork. The outdoor installation “Always Becoming” consists of five ephemeral sculptures made of straw, mud, stone and wood built on a landscaped area near NMAI. The creation of the sculptures started a ten year project that will continue to grow and transform for years to come. The design of artwork is based on indigenous architecture and has the ideas of environment, family and culture at its core.

A one hour long documentary movie on this project will be coming out in the summer 2012, and we were lucky enough to see a few clips from it during the presentation. The movie clips clearly showed how the creation of this artwork was a truly inclusive project with NMAI staff members and interns working along side Nora Naranjo-Morse during the construction and subsequent yearly repairs. Interviews with passersby, workers and volunteers made it touchingly clear that the whole process was a moving one. The movie clip stated that the project was “not just a pueblo idea, it was an intertribal idea, it was a people idea” and this feeling of inclusiveness was apparent in the movie interviews as well as in the presentation. Many NMAI podcasts are available, if you want to see clips of the creative process.

“Always Becoming” is an ever-changing artwork that is intended to melt back into the earth. The artwork is always deteriorating naturally as it weathers the DC snow and thunderstorms, summer heat and the passage of time. This is an idea that does not immediately correlate with conservation standards, but it was extremely clear that NMAI has worked through this initial change in conservation practice. Through continual communication and yearly visits by the artist, the conservation department at NMAI has been able to work past the automatic reaction to preserve and protect. By allowing the sculptures to change over time they are in fact protecting the original and continual intent of the artist.

Gail Joice is the Collections Manager at the NMAI Museum. It is her job to monitor the adobe sculptures onsite. Gail made the enlightening comment about how her work with these artifacts has pushed the bounds of her thoughts on objects care. Before this project the ideal for a condition report was to be able to state “no change”, a statement that all of the conservators in the audience clearly understand, but to Nora Naranjo-Morse this would be a disappointment. Change is built into the life of these artifacts. If a piece falls off of the sculptures, it will be left where it falls without any picking it up, labeling it and placing it in a fragment bag (Obviously a collections managers first impulse!). The question session after the presentation clarified that these fallen pieces are often reincorporated into the sculpture during the yearly conservation workshop when the artist returns to work on the pieces.

The sculptures have been a welcoming addition to the grounds of NMAI. Not only do the visitors and passersby appreciate the installation, but red tail hawks, mason bees, spiders, and a mother robin have all made their homes in the sculptures. One story they told occurred right before President Obama’s inauguration. The nighttime security at the museum noticed flames coming out from under one of the sculptures and it became quickly apparent that a homeless man had crawled underneath the sculpture and had lit a fire to warm up. The museum officers responded quickly and the fire was extinguished, but the artist’s and NMAI staffs’ reactions to this are not what the conservation audience would have predicted. This was not seen as an act of vandalism, but instead it was seen as a man needing to find shelter in the cold and he had found the artwork welcoming and inviting as it was intended. It was a thoughtful and reflective moment in the audience when this was described.

Kelly McHugh is the NMAI conservator that is involved in Nora Naranjo-Morse’s annual visits and sculpture care workshops with the NMAI conservation interns and fellows. Kelly was able to sum up all of the main points of the presentation and clearly put them into a conservation context. As Kelly stated, “Always Becoming” is a contemporary sculpture, a traditional sculpture, a community sculpture and an ephemeral sculpture. Nora Naranjo-Morse’s intention of inclusiveness, community importance and sculptural interaction with the environment fits perfectly into the framework and mission of NMAI. Kelly made a comparison between a spider on an outdoor bronze sculpture versus one living on “Always Becoming” that struck home with the conservators in the room. She said that a spider on a museum bronze sculpture would be seen as an invader and need to be removed, where as a spider coming to live on “Always Becoming” would be welcomed and would have found his home.

The question session after the presentation ran late, but this only served to make it clear how engaged the audience was in the presentation. The questions clarified further the process that takes place when the artist comes on her annual visits. Essentially the NMAI staff follows her lead and assists her in ways that she sees fit, whether that is cutting back weakened bamboo to be sent to the horticultural department’s compost or reworking a delaminating section of the sculpture. Scott Carrlee asked about whether the artwork is accessioned into the NMAI collection and Gail answered that yes each of the sculptures has a number and is accessioned into the collection. She thought that once the sculpture has returned entirely to the earth that there may be a ceremonial deaccessioning of the piece. This seems like a very fitting course of action.

I could write pages on this presentation, because it was interesting, informative and thought provoking. The audience was engaged in each of the speaker’s presentations which all worked together to give a full and clear picture of this project. As Kelly pointed out, “Always Becoming” continues to inspire them into always becoming something better. We, the world, and conservation is always changing and the NMAI staff and Artist Nora Naranjo-Morse clearly shared a project that had us all thinking about the ways that our profession has changed and needs to change in order to fit the future. This was a truly enjoyable and valuable talk.

40th Annual Meeting, Textiles Session, May 10, A Cautionary Tale: Mounting Flat Textiles – An Historical Overview, Christine Giuntini

Christine Giuntini gave a wonderful paper on the mounting of flat textiles in the mid 20th Century. The paper was in a way a tribute to the Textile Museum in Washington, DC and the quality work that they did to set the standards for textile conservation in the United States. The paper is based on the historic mounting methods presented in two articles that were published by the Textile Museum in the 1940s and 1950s. These two methods are the stitched mount and the pressure mount.

Conservation publications and focus today have moved away from the intense focus on complicated individual treatments in favor of overall storage and preventative conservation. When we do research and comment on early conservation treatments today, it is often due to the troubles that older materials and techniques have caused in retreatment. We have to remember that there is still a lot that we can learn from older treatments and conservation theory.

The Textile Museum in Washington, DC was the real center for beginnings of textile conservation in the United States. The museum opened in 1925 and was open by appointment only until the 1950s. The museum was founded by George Hewitt Myers was created for the preservation, study and display of historic textiles.

Mr. Myers was very interested in cleaning of the textiles and went so far as to say that patina on textiles is a synonym for dirt. He also felt that the dirt should be removed because it did not logically improve the art. One of the publications that Christine Giuntini highlighted in her presentation was “Cleaning and Mounting Procedures For Wool Textiles” written by Francina S. Greene, Preparator and Curator at the Textile Museum. (This article is available as a pdf at http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/tm_work.pdf). Like Myers, Francina Greene was very conscience of the dirt on the artifacts and begins this article with “When ancient textiles are acquired they are often dirty, distorted, dry, dull in color and ragged. In addition to being dirty, many are stiff with grease, and stained. We find that some reveal crude attempts at cleaning, patching and mounting.” This publication emphasizes a number of textile conservation methodologies that are still used today. The textiles in the Textile museum were handled as little as possible due to their fragile condition. The flipping technique of sandwiching the textile between two rigid supports in order to turn it over is described. This technique is still used today. When stitching a textile to a support as few stitches as possible were taken due to the damage that they cause to the artifact. Lastly, Greene also described the pressure mount technique of mounting a textile by sandwiching it between two pieces of plexiglass. The Textile Museum used a number of cellulose acetate products (Protectoid and then Lumarith) as they were developed. Today cellulose acetate is not used in conservation or exhibition, but the practice of using a clear rigid support is still used despite the fact that the specific materials have changed.

The second publication by Mrs. Francina Greene was published in Studies in Conservation volume 2 and is titled, “The Cleaning and Mounting of a Large Wool Tapestry.” This article was the first detailed conservation treatment to appear in Studies in Conservation. There is a great picture in this article that speaks a thousand words. The image shows one conservator on top of a large tapestry stand and one conservator below the stand passing a needle back and forth through the tapestry. This treatment was a reconstruction of a very fragile and friable textile. Photographs were taken to scale of all of the textile fragments and the photographs were rearranged in order to determine the proper arrangement so the textile would be spared the extra handling. Greene also notes that curved needles were not used for this treatment, because of the stress they caused on the fragile fabric. This is why two conservators had to pass the needle back and forth to each other.

The death of Mr. Myers and the retirement of Mrs. Greene in the 1950s brought about a time of transition at the Textile Museum. In 1964 the Textile Museum started the first textile conservation training and internship program in the United States. They worked with a Chemist consultant in order to collaborate on cleaning methods. They created solid composite backings with perforations for better air exchange and the reversed mount was developed. One of the important students in this program was Nobuko Kajitani, who went on to work at the newly established textile conservation program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1973. Nobuko developed the use of a window in the back of the peg board mounts and worked to develop the pressure mount for fragile textiles. Her focus was on the overall care of the collection and not on publishing individual conservation treatments. Nobuko was the first to emphasize that a conservation plan was of great importance. In a 1974 article she wrote, “Preservation of collections is a primary function of a museum… sound planning and preservation fitted to the requirements of the collection in exhibition, storage and study areas should be discussed and understood.” This is obviously a primary focus of the conservation world today. It is clear that the Textile Museum staff and the textile conservators trained in their educational program laid the foundation for the textile conservation program in the United States today.

During the question portion of the presentation a suggestion arose that Christine Giuntini should work with the conservators at the Textile Museum to further research the role that the Textile Museum played in creating the groundwork for the profession today. I think that this would be an excellent paper and hope that they decide to collaborate in this project.

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Wooden Artifacts Sesssion-The Edge in Focus: the Many Stories of an 18th c. French Frame Treatment by MaryJo Lelyveld

I’ve been following MaryJo Lelyveld’s work with interest for while now. In addition to working a conservator of frames and furniture at the National Gallery of Victoria, she is pursuing a Masters of Management (Strategic Foresight) at Swinbourne University. Based on one of her articles, I’ve added Plextol B500 in my arsenal of options for adhesives I use for replacement gilding, and I’ve told more than a few people about her work looking at possible scenarios for the future of the conservation profession.

In this talk, MaryJo applied a framework called Integral Theory to help navigate the various ways help articulate object values and understand our audience’s perspective on our work, using her work on a carved and gilded French frame made in 1710 for The Crossing of the Red Sea by Nicolas Poussin, c. 1634. [A ~~short tirade~~ digression: Note that in this ArtDaily.org article celebrating the restoration of the painting and frame which even quotes MaryJo about her work, the frame was not included in the image. There is an image of the framed painting on the National Gallery of Victoria’s homepage.]

Integral Theory, as developed by Ken Wilber, uses a 4 block grid system, similar to the one Barbara Appelbaum uses for her Characterization Grid which maps various values as they apply to artifacts to assist in developing proposals for conservation treatment, and likewise provides a systematic overview of a complex practice. In MaryJo’s rendering of Wilber’s grid for conservation practice, each quadrant relates to a particular viewpoint, the personal, the physical, the cultural, and social as they relate to the conservator, the artifact, and the audience. The graphic nature of the grid, I think, is really important in explaining this as applied to conservation, and without one of her examples I’m afraid I won’t be able to explain it well here. I look forward to seeing her work on this topic published.

She pointed out that each single quadrant only provides a single perspective, a partial truth. By navigating the viewpoints, the grid enhances a conservator’s ability to combine these partial truths to gain a fuller understanding of the object and its place in society and explain its importance and why it might merit conservation treatment.

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting – Public Art Outreach Session, May 10, 2012

This group of sessions presented various projects of outdoor murals, public sculpture, and architectural elements and how the general public was involved and/or contributed to the efforts of preservation and cataloging of the collection.

Leslie Ranier, of the Getty Conservation Institute, began the session with a discussion of the 1932 Siqueiros mural, America Tropical, located in Los Angeles across from City Hall. Although the artist had been commissioned to portray a particular subject matter, he instead used the opportunity to comment on American imperialism. Authorities were not amused and it was almost immediately painted over. As years went by and the overpainting faded, the mural began to peek through. The wall onto which the mural had been painted was partially hidden by surrounding buildings so the lack of visibility contributed to it being ‘lost’ to the public. By the 1960s, however, there was a public call to restore the mural and the GCI became involved in the 1980s. A temporary protective shelter was erected to provide protection. By the 1990s, an agreement was signed with the city to provide treatment which is currently underway. A more permanent shelter is being designed by Brooks + Scarpa Architects, along with an interpretive center (with the help of IQ Magic) and an observation platform which will bring the public up to eye level with the restored mural. (http://www.pugh-scarpa.com/projects/siqueiros) Outreach activities for this project include: site visits for the public and officials to view conservation activities, screening of a 1971 documentary on the artist, staging of an opera which tells the story of the mural, production of a video of the project and its evolution, and a symposium on the legacy of Siqueiros. These activities, along with the actual conservation work on the mural, all contribute to preserve the story of the mural and the evidence of the artist’s hand.

The next presentation was by Kristen Laise, of Heritage Preservation in Washington DC. She discussed the evolution of their Save Outdoor Sculpture program which was able to bring together 7,000 volunteers across the country to catalog 30,000 public sculptures between 1989 and 2006. This effort introduced the local communities to conservation and directed attention to long neglected statues. This catalog was then made available to the public through the Smithsonian’s Inventory of American Sculpture database. The program was carried out through a combination of federal, foundation, and corporate funds and had a presence in every state in the country. (Sidebar: During the course of my own work restoring public sculptures, I can’t tell you how many times I was asked if a statue was newly installed, when in fact it had been there for a hundred years. Sometimes you just don’t see what’s in your own backyard until a project like SOS calls your attention to it.) Children’s education was one of the targets of their outreach activities and included a traveling exhibition entitled “Preserving Memory”, an education kit called “Inside Outdoor Sculpture”, and even the introduction of a Girl Scout patch program. I believe she mentioned that efforts to publish information on the program on YouTube are currently underway. With an emphasis on good visual images and extensive press coverage, Kristen stated that her office had binder after binder after binder of press clippings covering the program. Perhaps because of the huge success of the program, the National Cemetery Administration used it as a model for their own Historic Monuments Assessments program where 960 objects in 125 cemeteries were assessed, with a subsequent 76 historic monuments conserved. (Full disclosure: I was a recipient of several of those contracts.) Kristen then reviewed their follow-up program of Rescue Public Murals which was launched in 2006. The goal of the project was/is advocacy and documentation for public murals. She gave an example of a mural in Atlanta which lacked these items and was unfortunately repeatedly covered with graffiti to the point that it was no longer recoverable. Heritage Preservation has collaborated with ARTstor to publicize images of public murals (http://www.artstor.org/what-is-artstor/w-html/col-murals-heritage.shtml) in an effort to garner community support for their protection. Again, Kristen emphasized the importance of good press coverage in protecting murals, the need to have community groups take ownership, and the necessity of educating the public (in particular, any neighborhood associations within the area) as to the importance of the mural. Another aspect of the RPM program is to review existing guidelines for mural protection, to conduct artist interviews, and to do materials research to support preservation efforts.

Next up was Richard McCoy of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. After an initial blog post to challenge the public to come document IMA’s outdoor art was less successful than he had hoped, Richard took another approach and went to his museum studies students at Indiana University Purdue University (IUPUI). His assignment to them was to survey the public art within their campus and to create Wiki articles and Flickr posts to document the collection. They used SOS materials to guide them in conducting their surveys and became familiar with the importance of primary source material in creating their Wikipedia postings. The resulting blog attention to this project was so extensive that Wiki gave it an entry on their main page. And because of the use of geolocators within the Wiki posts, links to other websites and pages (e.g., a fan page within Facebook) resulted in an even greater dissemination of the information. Richard’s next effort was to bring students to the Indiana Statehouse to document the art found within the building. During this effort, students were able to bring attention to an overlooked statue that had been shown in the 1893 World’s Fair and had since been mistakenly identified (http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2011/02/08/resolving-to-care-and-document ). To further publicize and utilize the documentation efforts of the students, the ‘book creator’ tool within Wikipedia was enabled and guidebooks to the public art of the Statehouse were produced and sold. At the beginning of his presentation, Richard stated that the premise of using Wikipedia is that rather than claiming ownership of the information, the author is giving the gift of knowledge.

The next speaker was Fabio Carrera from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Fabio has spent 25 years collecting information on public art and architectural elements created before 1797 in Venice, Italy. His WPI engineering and science students began documenting these in the late 1980s in partnership with Earthwatch Institute volunteers, creating a wiki-based website to give access to the information to the public (http://venipedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page ). Each object is given a single page within this website, leading to the creation of 3,068 pages of information; sematic tags within the pages allow you to search for like items. Their documentation efforts have enabled the discovery that 33 pieces within the catalog are now found to be missing. The project has continued to evolve, with efforts currently underway to create a mobile app which will serve as a guide to each of the public art wiki entries. It is to have interactive ‘intelligence’ which will allow the viewer to view condition photos of the object while standing in front of it, to provide an updated photograph, to contribute money to its restoration, to sign up for alerts when others update the catalog entry, and other ways to stay informed. This app is expected to be ready in the summer of 2012. In addition to this wiki project, Fabio has started a non-profit organization called PreserVenice.org which will collaborate with UNESCO in the preservation of the public art of Venice.

This was followed by a presentation by Andrew Smith of Sculpture Conservation Studio in Los Angeles where Andrew told the story of a glass tile and mosaic mural that had been covertly installed on a train trestle in Encinitas. The religious image (a surfing Virgin of Guadalupe) combined with the fact that the art was unsanctioned by the city, sparked controversy and the city tasked his firm with investigating how/if the mural could be removed. Because nobody had yet claimed responsibility for its creation, Andrew and his fellow conservators were at the site attempting to understand its fabrication and how it might be removed – while the public and press watched. A few remarks made by Andrew to an inquiring reporter regarding the artwork, spoken from the heart but perhaps made without thinking of the ramifications, went viral online and called even more attention to the project, resulting in international coverage and scrutiny of how the artwork should be seen. This sort of attention then placed both the client and the conservator in a difficult position. Andrew ended the presentation by prompting the audience to consider where the line is when conservators are asked to protect controversial or provocative works of art, particularly when they are not sanctioned by authorities. And we must be careful to remain aware of the public’s perception of our efforts in this age of instantaneous media coverage.

This session was brought to a close by a short video presented by Scott Haskins which was created to publicize the efforts to save a series of freeway murals created in Los Angeles as part of the 1984 Olympics. The murals were supposed to have been maintained and preserved in perpetuity but, instead, were being painted over by Cal Trans because of their legal obligation to address graffiti. Part of his efforts have included the edification of highway crews to show that the graffiti tag can be removed without completely painting over the whole mural and that the mural can then be saved (http://www.fineartconservationlab.com/save-los-angeles-freeway-murals/ ). A second closing note was given by Viviana Dominguez, who discussed the removal of three mural paintings from the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Haiti after the recent earthquake. Their efforts successfully saved these 3, while 11 others were destroyed during the quake.

The presentations of the Public Art Outreach Session were all very successful in showing how important it is to involve the community in preservation efforts. It is our responsibility to articulate the significance of public art, not only in terms of the importance of the artist or the placement of the object, but also its beauty, the artist’s vision, and how the object speaks to the soul. The methods through which that is accomplished have grown exponentially over the past couple decades and we need to be familiar and comfortable with the ways in which we can publicize our message.