AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

Conservation work in larger architectural projects must be nimble. The time and care required to do good work are often threatened when they are perceived as stifling project momentum, never more so than when surprises occur.

To protect historic fabric including significant art, architectural conservators have become an indispensable part of the construction industry. Incorporating a conservator’s precise work into such projects requires careful planning. Nevertheless, they often find themselves encountering surprises – both good and bad. This presentation discusses the means to include conservation work into larger projects, despite those surprises.

A masonry restoration project at a Manhattan public school required the temporary removal of a significant painted-steel sculpture. This was necessary to protect the sculpture from any damage while the surrounding brickwork was replaced. During this process, however, the team discovered that several project parameters were different from expectations. The sculpture was larger and less robust than expected, and the installation site was constrained by hidden structures. Moreover, further research revealed a previous conservation campaign, which challenged assumptions about the treatments required. Frustrating as the circumstance may be, the Architect, Engineer, Contractor, Conservator, and the Owner had to come together to devise a workable and safe solution, fast. A rigid frame of easily accessible parts was developed by the Engineer in close consultation with the Contractor’s and Conservator’s needs. The design ensured that the sculpture could move without affecting the surrounding structure, that the piece could be safely stored during the larger project’s work, and that conservation treatment of the sculpture could be done during the storage period. Teamwork saved the day.

of course, not all surprises are stressful, some work in favor of the conservators.

A restoration project at another Manhattan public school included removal of multiple terra cotta tile art pieces from the brick exterior. A program of work was developed for their removal based on documentation, survey, design drawings and probes done adjacent to one of the medallions. When the work began, several inconsistencies were discovered. The medallions were not anchored into the surrounding masonry with threaded rods on all four sides (or even two) as anticipated; and adhesive was used to secure the tiles to the brick inset on one side. However, to the relief of the Conservator and Contractor, carefully removing the bricks from only one side of the art pieces allowed them to be removed with little to no difficulty and without any damage. In this project, non-compliance with original shop-drawings and poor workmanship, surprisingly, benefited all parties involved.

Not all challenges are the same, and there is no “one solution fits all” answer for even similar challenges. Responsive problem-solving and communication skills are the most important tools that conservators need in order to face, embrace, manage, and resolve unexpected challenges.

The disciplines of cultural resource preservation and conservation now have additional complexities due to the rise of political and social movements that highlight injustice and bias. Cultural resources are being moved, taken out of public view, reinterpreted and in some cases, destroyed. Ownership legitimacy of cultural resources is being questioned, many times from indigenous peoples, and in some cases change in title of property is being sought. Management of cultural sites may not be commensurate with the importance of the site to the underserved community of which it is representative. Further, some institutions are seeking to monetize artwork or other cultural resources to pay for the survival of the organization. Clients may be cultural institutions, municipal arts commissions, state historic preservation offices or profit-making entities that are responding to external pressures as well as tensions from within.





Professionals are being asked to participate in the moving, concealing or reinterpreting of artwork that may not reflect the artist’s intent. Also, architects, engineers and conservators may be asked to consult, design, or execute treatments for the stewardship of cultural resources that put them legally at risk. Compounding this hazard is that, in many cases, decisions are being made within a short horizon due to political pressures. In some cases, the professional may find that a client’s wishes put them at odds with industry standards such as the AIC Code of Ethics or The Secretary of Interior’s Standards.



How should professionals proceed when engaged in these situations? Distancing themselves from the controversy is not a solution and may lead to improper treatments of loss of the resource.



This presentation will review several examples of moving, reinterpretation and transfer of ownership of cultural resources and the role of the preservation professional in the process. In one case legal action was taken against the consultant resulting in a multi-year lawsuit. The presentation will conclude with reflections on how the professional may maneuver through the repurposing of artwork or cultural resources and offer some practical suggestions.



Learning Objectives:



* Awareness of challenges for stewards of cultural resources that are the focus of political movements.
* Legal implications for the professional in dealing with repurposed artwork and historic sites.
* Methods of minimizing risk for the professional.
* Technical considerations in moving artwork.
* Considerations in the transfer of title of cultural resources




Keywords:

Relocation

Repurposing

Risk

Ownership

The Chicago Cultural Center building was completed in 1897 as the first permanent home of the Chicago Public Library. The designers, Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, worked in collaboration with the decorative arts studio of Louis Comfort Tiffany to create the elaborately decorated Neo-Classical building, which occupies an entire city block. The north wing of the building includes a series of rooms dedicated to the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR).

The library began outgrowing its space in the mid-1960s, which spurred conversations about demolition. Support for keeping and restoring the building led to its placement on the National Register for Historic Places in 1972 and efforts were made throughout the late 1970s to restore and revitalize the space for its future job as a center for arts and culture. By this time, the colorful decorative finishes were viewed as outdated and many of the original decorative schemes were covered with flat beige paint.

While the original marble-clad walls and much of the antiqued metallic plaster ornament remained in the GAR Rooms, the original paint schemes were a mystery until the 2020-2021 restoration, when paint analysis found the dynamic and colorful schemes that complemented each room’s stone, wood, and metalwork. The plaster finishes utilized pigmented oil glazes over both paint and metallic leaf to create a range of decorative effects such as faux antiqued metal that were meant to reflect the individual character of each space. Analysis confirmed that some of these original finishes were left exposed, but others were hidden under multiple layers of beige paint. The existence of the “buried” original finishes and their lasting integrity launched the campaign to restore over 8,400 square feet of original decorative schemes in the rooms.

An appropriate conservation treatment approach was determined after extensive feasibility testing. This included overpaint removal, consolidation, and restoration techniques. The original concealed finishes were exposed by meticulously removing layers of post-historic paint to reveal the nuanced, hand-painted surfaces of 1897 design. The re-exposed finishes were then conserved, and areas of loss were carefully reintegrated. The result was the original artisan’s work, where present, rather than a recreation.

As a result of the GAR Room restoration, a seminal work in the history of decorative architectural finishes was re-exposed. The GAR Room finishes give unique insight into the aesthetics at the turn of the twentieth century. The palette consists of rich metallic colors such as oxidized reds, greens, yellows, and bronze. Aluminum leaf ornament is layered with many different colored glazes to capture the appearance of aging bronze. These colors mimic the palette of many Tiffany lamps: the finishes are not bright and shiny but rather aged and grand.

Thus, the “un-restoration” of the GAR Rooms at the Chicago Cultural Center are an example of conservation work applied on a huge scale that re-exposed the entirety of an original work by 1897 artisans.

Thousands of skyscrapers decorate the landscape of the United States. As they continue to pop up in cities from coast to coast many of the existing ones are ageing. In New York City alone there are over 1 million buildings, with an average age of 53 years. of this million 15,695 of them are over six stories and of those, 7000 are skyscrapers (over 115 ft. tall). The probability of encountering unknowns during restorations on buildings of this size is one hundred percent.

In New York City there is a local law—FISP (Façade Inspection & Safety Program) formally known as Local Law 11, which requires the inspection of all buildings over six stories high every five years. This inspection law had roots in a 1979 incident when a piece of terracotta fell and killed a college student. The law was expanded and made mandatory in 1998 after a large portion of a 39-story brick façade collapsed onto Madison Avenue. Currently, most urban centers have adopted similar inspection requirements.

With these cyclical inspections comes cyclical maintenance programs. However, maintenance on a large-scale historic structure is very different from just setting up a scaffold here and there. Mobilization of a forty-story building can cost more than the maintenance repairs themselves and can easily range from 2 to 4 million dollars. Surprises will be discovered during construction work, and assumptions must be made and repairs budgeted for what isn’t known prior to mobilization.

Expectations are managed by using historic construction documents from the building itself or from similar aged and sized structures. Managing large scale unknowns is a skill that not all conservators are familiar with, and how these uncertainties are planned for can make or break a restoration project. This presentation will provide examples of challenges that have arisen on buildings of this size and general guidelines for best practices when approaching large scale uncertainties in conservation.

A mural on a Modernist icon, a landmarked Beaux Arts interior atrium, a Broadway theater: these sites seem to have little in common beyond their historical and architectural significance, but for a conservator developing a work program and monitoring them through construction they represent the same cautionary tale of the need for planning and coordination between disciplines. But even with extensive preparation, there are always surprises or mishaps along the way that must be addressed.

Documentation, materials testing, and probes are the foundation upon which architectural conservation is built, but when the information this testing provides doesn't tell the whole story the entire project can suffer. Architects, contractors, and owners rely on the results of conservation testing to plan their projects and entire design concepts are guided by the early findings from small-scale analysis. Limited by access, schedule, or budget, this testing may not be comprehensive enough and may not represent all conditions in the field. Conservators need to anticipate that additional access later in the construction process will uncover new challenges, illuminate discrepancies between record drawings and as-built conditions, or reveal previously unknown materials.

A conservator likes to work under controlled circumstances, but an active construction site is usually anything but orderly, even with the best construction manager. Whether the scope consists of a single element or an entire complex, the people working on a jobsite will have an impact on the work – sometimes literally as with an unsecured tool falling through a gap in protection netting. Even with years spent developing a comprehensive plan, something will inevitably go wrong and a solution will be needed to fix it… fast.

Using three case studies: a Louis Kahn Bath House mural, an ornate courthouse lobby, and a New York theater, this presentation focuses on how the conservator can and should be involved in the planning, monitoring, and execution of work not only at the beginning, but also throughout the construction process. It investigates how a limited conservation scope at the beginning of a project can have an outsize impact when new information is discovered later. and it discusses how to develop and reinforce relationships with trades, owners, and other partners who may not have a background in conservation or preservation to ensure buy-in, especially when that has an impact on budget and schedule.

In the spring of 2023, a team of local conservators and outside technicians performed conservation and stabilization work in the main cupola of San Xavier del Bac for the first time in 29 years.

San Xavier’s spectacular baroque interior and ambitious dome and vault construction make it a premier example of Spanish Colonial art and architecture. Its interior walls are adorned with polychromatic murals dating to 1797, executed in fine detail and applied a secco atop a gesso preparation layer, layers of lime-sand plaster of varying granulometry and thickness, and a brick support. Paints were made with imported pigments including vermillion, prussian blue, and orpiment–a significant expenditure for a church at the frontier of the Pimeria Alta in the late 18th century; Rutherford Gettens looked at some of these paints. San Xavier del Bac exists within a unique contemporary cultural context: it is an active church, owned by the parish and staffed by the Franciscan Friars, located within the tribal community of Wa:k in the San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Church management handles day-to-day operations, while conservation and preservation activities are funded and coordinated by the nonsectarian nonprofit Patronato San Xavier. Within the tribal community, there is a strong sense of cultural ownership; tribal members are appointed as church bell ringers, comprise Feast Committees, and take on other roles related to the church.

The first major conservation campaign took place between 1990 and 1997 by European and East Coast-based conservators, who cleaned and stabilized the wall paintings and statuary using modern methods and materials of the time. Four apprentices from the local tribal community were trained to assist. Since then, a local team, two of whom were part of the 1990s crew, have directed conservation work. Informed by decades of observation of the building’s unique conditions, they refocused conservation protocols on the use of traditional materials and methods. Given the complex nature of the building along with its role as an active church, performing routine, sustainable care is an ongoing challenge, but one now directed with input from the local community.

This session will recount the collaborative process along with the means and methods used while revisiting the main cupola, which sits 53 feet above the church floor. The cupola was identified as a priority given the presence of large cracks and crack systems, history of water infiltration, soiling, biodeterioration, aged original paint and coating, and aged restoration fills, all in a harsh desert with minimal preventive maintenance. The large scope of work–both surface and structural– accessibility challenges, and a desire to limit disruption of church functions led us to seek additional skilled hands to expedite the project. This time, our local team trained and oversaw a group of outside technicians, students, and skilled volunteers to complete the work, all of whom were unfamiliar with the specifics of the site. Progress was shared with more than 100 members from the tribal and religious community through a series of tours and discussions.

In the last fifty years, awareness of preventive conservation as a holistic approach to heritage buildings has heightened. However, its actual implementation has remained slow to catch on, due in part to deferred maintenance and lack of funding facing many organizations and property owners. Additionally, thinking preventively runs counter to the reactivity of the building industry. We are usually called to respond to deterioration that has progressed to the point where it is visible. We typically perform a condition assessment, which leads to testing and treatment recommendations, and implementation of an intervention. But what do we do if there is no evidence of damage on the surface? Could we consider potential deterioration hidden within a wall assembly? Instead of reacting to what we see on the surface, could we shift our thinking to prevent deterioration before it becomes apparent?

One deterioration factor inherent in many heritage buildings is the differential durability of materials within wall assemblies. Differential durability is how the useful service life of building materials differs between components within an assembly. By considering the different durabilities and vulnerabilities of materials, we can act preemptively to anticipate potential deterioration between interior and exterior surfaces. Methods to predict the service life and durability of modern buildings are well established and have been increasingly applied to heritage buildings in the last decade. However, the results have been extremely variable and highly subjective. It is worth changing the approach to durability and service life from quantification to a comparison of relative durabilities, to understand which material is the weakest link in an assembly.

I demonstrate a methodology for qualitatively evaluating comparative durability and vulnerability in heritage buildings using two buildings as case studies. I present a decision diagram that identifies each material and its position in an assembly, assesses comparative durability of materials, identifies causal factors of deterioration and vulnerability of protective layers, and proposes interventions. While I have developed the methodology for relatively simple building envelopes, it can be applied to modern buildings or be used when designing interventions.

I focus on buildings constructed in the first half of the twentieth century when building technology and materials proliferated and designers and builders experimented with new assemblies. With the Industrial Revolution and the advent of new building materials in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, exterior wall assemblies became more complicated. Architects and builders experimented with new materials, including reinforced concrete, Portland cement, and architectural terra cotta, to build multi-component walls. These walls introduced the issue of differential durability to building envelopes. Each material that comprised them had a different service life, increasing potential aging and failure points. The construction industry experimented with fabrication and installation, responding to failures by introducing new materials, changing their composition, or assembling them in different sequences. We see this same experimentation today as new materials come onto the market and buildings are designed to be increasingly weathertight. As more modern buildings become historic, the issue of differential durability will become an urgent conservation issue.

The preservation of art objects and valuable collections within historical buildings poses a unique challenge, primarily because these structures were not originally designed to protect such items sustainably. One notable example is the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort Museum in Jodhpur, India, which houses an irreplaceable collection. This fort, stretching over 500 yards in length, ranks among India's largest forts. The museum houses an extensive and invaluable collection of silver artifacts, ranging from pure silver to electroplated variations, each representing various forms and types of silver objects. Recognizing the significance of preserving this remarkable collection, an educative program on conservation and preservation of silver artifacts was designed incorporating air quality risk assessment. The collaborative endeavour was part of the in-house training program hosted by the Mehrangarh Art Conservation Centre, Mehrangarh fort, Jodhpur in October 2022 under the Tata Trusts- Art Conservation Initiative Project. This assessment sought to quantify the concentrations of pollutants employing non-invasive, on-site pollutant sampling devices. The collected samples underwent laboratory analysis, utilizing Gas Chromatography for gaseous pollutants and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry to detect elements. The air monitoring survey had a specific emphasis on safeguarding the historic silver collection while assessing indoor microclimate, air pollution, and suspended particulate matter deposition.

Measurements were made in following locations inside the museum complex:

• Open courtyard
• Open Howdahkhana gallery displays finest example silver elephant seats from 17th-19th century in well-defined spaces with proper natural light and ventilation.
• Two closed showcases from the Daulat Khana Gallery. One of the cases displays Solid Silver Idol of Goddess Gauri (Case I) that is being worshipped by her Highness and another case displays seven decorative silver objects (Case II).
• Storage room for reserved silver collection

The analysis of air quality revealed unexpected and critical findings. Firstly, the outdoor environment displayed a minimal concentration of H2S, nearly at the detection limit, posing no immediate concerns. Secondly, monitoring in the open Howdah gallery indicated lower H2S levels due to natural ventilation. Thirdly, and the most striking findings was the alarmingly high levels of H2S in the closed showcases in Daulat Kahana Gallery. Surprisingly, despite the high H2S concentration in Case I, corrosion of silver was at its lowest. This was attributed to factors such as low humidity and pH levels due to its location, as well as textile barriers. Additionally, the formation of Cu2S suggested the presence of copper, possibly in jewellery or the idol itself, indicating a possible Ag-Cu alloy. In contrast, Case II showed higher corrosion levels, including sulfide and oxides of silver, indicating elevated humidity, alkalinity or the presence of strong oxidizing agents. Objects of both the cases underwent further analysis for their elemental composition using handheld XRF. Finally, in stark contrast, the storage room exhibited the worst conditions, marked by high concentrations of H2S, ozone, ammonia, and particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10). The survey showed that adverse conditions arose from the incorporation of modern materials into the traditional structure, high RH, elevated alkalinity, pollutant accumulation etc.

In conclusion, the assessment of air quality within the Mehrangarh Fort Museum has revealed unexpected findings, particularly concerning the alarmingly high indoor levels of H2S and other pollutants, posing a significant risk to the precious silver artifacts. Furthermore, this study underscores the significance of collaborative projects and emphasizes the necessity of capacity-building training programs, highlighting the delicate balance required between scientific conservation efforts and the constantly evolving external environment.

Conservators often wear many hats: advocate, scientist, artist, curator, designer, mount maker; project manager but what about engineer or rigger? on projects where objects are imbedded within historic buildings or public spaces, removals and relocation are a frequent requirement. With increasing adaptive reuse of spaces and code upgrades to infrastructure, a conservator is needed to consult or advocate in the safe handling, removal, relocation, and treatment of large-scale integrated artworks.

When buildings and public spaces undergo large-scale rehabilitation, embedded historic elements or public art add layers of complexity to the planning and practical needs for the spaces, but also the artworks themselves. Examples include the rebuilding of a public plaza where site specific public art must be temporarily relocated; or when historic interiors must be selectively removed and reinstalled for HVAC and sprinkler upgrades. This is also the case when museums upgrade and artworks that are built into the base building are deconstructed.

Artwork relocation projects are complex, necessitating different trades and skill sets working together to define a solution. Sequencing the removals and reinstallation is a key component for schedules and budgets to stay on track. Involving a conservator early in the design process can help to facilitate a more streamlined process with minimal interruptions and surprises. This presentation will discuss how the combination of technical input provided by a conservator supports or conflict with design and structural engineering requirements as well as, how the role of the conservator often expands into different fields to navigate and direct the required interventions for a successful large-scale move.

In 2022, the Arizona State University (ASU) Art Museum acquired Insignia III, an artifact created during a performance by Afro-Latinx artist Carlos Martiel (b. 1989 in Havana, Cuba). The piece consists of a hand-made flag of Mexico, in which the traditionally green area is black, and the traditionally red area is painted with human blood.

Martiel’s artistic practice uses body and earthly substances, such as water, soil, blood, and stone to explore issues of race, isolation, and injustice. Over the years, he has presented scores of performances that have tested his body’s ability to endure pain, deprivation, and physical strength, and during the course of the performance reduced his existence to his biological need to survive. More recently, Martiel has focused his work on the pain and experiences that black bodies have experienced in the U.S. and Mexico, in a body of work that he calls ‘cuerpo’ or ‘body’. Each performance in the Insignia series utilizes the blood of a different persecuted group and produces the U.S. or Mexico flag stained red, black, and white. Insignia III utilizes the blood of Afro-Mexicans who self-identify as queer and refers to the suffering of black people in Mexico who are made to feel invisible.

Upon acquisition, it was apparent that the blood on Insignia III was actively flaking, and due to the young age of the piece (2021) and absence of any detail about the blood or donor, it was considered a biohazard by ASU Health & Safety. In anticipation of loan and display, it was deemed necessary to consolidate the friable blood, and the Museum hired Balboa Art Conservation Center to undertake the treatment. Following tests on mock-ups made with pig’s blood, textile conservator Annabelle Camp consolidated the blood using an ultrasonic adhesive mist and mounted the textile for display.

This presentation will address the ethics of owning and displaying a living human’s blood (with or without their input/approval), the health and safety considerations of working with contemporary pieces that include fresh blood, and the questions that have been raised regarding the acquisition and display of objects used or produced during performance art. The authors will outline the conservation treatment of unbound blood used as paint and the process of developing protocols for handling and storing artifacts with fresh blood in conjunction with the ASU Health & Safety specialists.

The incorporation of unconventional, biological-related media in contemporary works of art introduces unique challenges for analysis and degradation studies, often requiring interdisciplinary approaches. The diverse collection of the M+ Museum includes objects composed of corporal materials such as human fat, ash, hair, and blood. One such object, Civilization Pillar, is a 3.5-meter-tall sculpture created with human biomaterials collected and processed by the artists Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. It is composed of human fat gathered from 500 liposuction patients, which was mixed with waxes to produce two different textures. The sculpture consists of a hard wax mixture core surrounding a metal armature, with an outer layer of a soft wax mixture. The artists have also provided surplus materials of the hard wax and soft wax mixture reserved for conservation treatment.

Over time, the Pillar has exhibited of the production of a viscous and sticky exudate, which accumulated at the base surrounding the object. To understand the material profile of the sculpture and identify the underlying cause of the exudate, we are undertaking a multi-modal material investigation, involving a combination of analytical techniques including ATR-FTIR, GC-MS, and melting point analysis. By examining the material composition and studying the processing techniques employed by the artists, we aim to gain insights into the factors contributing to the observed condition issue.

In our ongoing investigation, ATR-FTIR analysis was conducted on the collected exudate samples as well as the two types of reserved materials: hard and soft wax-human fat mixtures. The obtained results revealed that the exudate exhibits a closer resemblance to the reserved hard wax mixture compared to the soft wax mixture. The insights gained from the ATR-FTIR analysis have guided our selection of appropriate mass spectrophotometric techniques, specifically THM-Py-GC/MS. This technique will be employed to achieve a more precise characterization of the fat and wax components present in the collected samples. It will also enable us to identify any degradation products and potential additives that may be present.

Based on our findings, it is believed that the production of exudate is a result of phase separation within the core (hard wax) mixture of the Pillar, potentially caused by incompatible components. This understanding of the underlying cause will inform our conservation approach to mitigate further exudate production and for collection care of this object. Furthermore, our research delves into the considerations required when approaching artworks composed of corporal materials.

For the last several years, the Fowler Museum at UCLA has pivoted attention and resources towards active engagement with members of the international communities represented in the museum’s collections. This has led to some repatriations, but also invaluable information about items that weren’t claimed. The Conservation Department of the Fowler Museum is at the forefront of several of these collaborations, generating conservation and other department processes for the deliberated items. Along with discussing developed protocols, this presentation focuses on three case studies: Maori, Australian Aboriginal and West Mexican communities and their items. Each one of these studies involved (and continues to undergo) distinct and surprising developments, with reasonable outcomes for all parties involved. NAGPRA related collections and regulations are briefly considered as a guide to developing international partnerships and agreements.

Conservation theory has embraced sociological approaches to understand the complex care of modern and contemporary art. In these contributions (and in case-study based conservation literature) decision-making processes essentially assume museum-like conditions. Often implicitly, the artwork is naturally seen as a permanent part of a collection with indisputable cultural value and symbolic meaning. The predominant task for conservation practice is to preserve contemporary artworks for posterity, and to enable its exhibition for visitors willing to ‘experience’ art as a means of their personal, cultural enrichment.

Contemporary art for sale, however, is often viewed by a very different public: while galleries or auction houses are open to visitors, it is those individuals who seek to own art that matter most to dealers. Within the hierarchically structured art market, it seems the standing of such trade-partners (buyers and sellers) can be just as relevant during a transaction as the artwork itself. An artwork is not only considered for its cultural or symbolic meaning, but for its ideological value (to underscore a collector’s prestige or a dealer’s success), and its financial investment-potential.

Both sides of the trade scrutinize the work to reduce the uncertainty of such hard-to-define values. During this moment of ownership-transition, an artwork appears precariously vulnerable. This is where conservators' expertise is usually called upon to evaluate a more tangible (though no less fragile) aspect, the artwork’s physical condition. They may suggest and execute treatment; their written (condition or treatment) report becomes crucial for the sale.

The art market relies on the beneficial effects of conservation. Yet conservation activity is hardly made explicit as traces of conservation appear to signal instability and an increased investment risk. This can have detrimental effects on the potential sale and even on the conservator’s reputation.

Private practice conservators work in a field full of tensions: balancing their ethical standards with market expectations; providing a discrete service while fostering their reputation of expertise; treating often unusual materials under tight deadlines; preparing the artwork for an unknown trajectory of belonging. They are business managers, too.

After more than a decade of working in New York City’s art market environment, I aim to investigate how conservation in private practice is done and what its role is in the context of the art trade. This topic has become my PhD research at Maastricht University (NL), and it will highlight three central issues: stakeholder networks, authority negotiation, and knowledge organization.

As more and more contemporary art never enters a museum collection, its care falls on conservators in private practice. I am focusing my research on their daily professional challenges to expand the theoretical contexts of conservation. To do this, I am taking a critical sociological perspective using qualitative methods combined with literature reviews of conservation, sociology of art, and economic sociology.

This presentation will start with an introduction of the research scope and will focus on common stakeholders in the art market environment, their (various) ideologies, and on observations on how conservators navigate this hierarchically structured network.

Beginning in 2008, American museums collaborated to preserve traditional Chinese painting conservation. Despite being a tradition over a thousand years old from China, it has only been a vital part of conservation in the U.S. for 35 years. The field was founded in U.S. museums by four apprentice trained conservators from China, but lacked a sustainable program in the U.S. to train the next generation. Supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) developed a program with objectives to strengthen the global network of Chinese painting conservators, addressing the need for conservators and establish a permanent structure to support a pipeline for training and care of collections.

This talk will give an overview of this program, focusing on the hands-on workshops and production of a documentary. These educational projects illustrate how our initial plans faced unexpected challenges, and our responses helped advance the field.

The workshops were initially designed to empower the next generation of conservators, with their diversity of training from China, Taiwan, Europe, and the U.S., to build relationships. However, it became clear the workshops would be enriched by senior conservators teaching the methods that the next generation was sharing but had not fully mastered. One year later, the workshop included six senior and eight younger conservators. This was the first time all senior conservators in the U.S. gathered to demonstrate and discuss their treatment practices. Both generations tested adhesives and colorants and practiced techniques, such as lining and dying silk fabric. We discovered the senior conservators were integrating non-traditional and traditional methods, such as using methyl cellulose and flour paste. The workshop also included discussions on treatment options for Chinese paintings. The constructive exchanges and inconclusive test results revealed the need for more dialogue, and the value of inviting the broader community of conservation advocates to help advance the field.

Another unanticipated change was transitioning the final educational symposium for fall 2020 to the production of a documentary. The pandemic made an in-person symposium impossible, so grant funds were repurposed to create an evergreen resource to document and raise public awareness. In 2021, the NMAA produced the film with director Eros Zhao and contributions from key institutions. This bilingual documentary honors the voices of trailblazing senior Chinese conservators, highlights the next generation carrying these traditions forward, and preserves the tangible and intangible heritage of Chinese culture. Through the barriers of developing and filming a documentary during the pandemic, we interviewed the conservators and created a living document that captures a moment of change between two generations as the field transitions into the future.

The NMAA Mellon Program anticipated a pipeline from one generation to the next, but no one anticipated that both generations would be empowered to shape the global network. Despite a tradition that is centuries old, Chinese painting conservation is a field that is evolving rapidly. After a decade, the Mellon program enabled Chinese painting conservators to lead this progress in the face of conservation’s changing landscape.

Construction is currently underway on a new building for the Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM), which has been closed to the public since 2020 and is anticipated to reopen in 2025. This new building, located in the heart of Princeton’s historic campus, will feature reimagined gallery spaces for PUAM’s encyclopedic collections, updated classrooms for object-based teaching, designated areas for visible storage, and a brand new two-story conservation studio.

Prior to the demolition of the old building in 2021, thousands of objects needed to be removed from the galleries and the Museum’s surroundings. Among these were over a hundred large-scale and embedded works, including archaeological mosaics, architectural stone, and contemporary outdoor sculpture. Since many objects had been on long-term, continuous view since the 1960s, the Museum’s closure provided PUAM with a unique opportunity to address as many conservation needs as possible during the brief window before reinstallation.

PUAM’s small conservation team has been collaborating across Museum and University departments and with a wide network of skilled external conservators and specialists to safely remove these objects, complete multiple large-scale and complex treatments, and plan for their upcoming reinstall in the new building.

This presentation will discuss instances when projects did not go as planned, and how PUAM’s team worked together to resolve these issues. Topics will include unanticipated object discoveries that instigated major changes to display, unforeseen challenges stemming from missing or long-lost documentation, surprise construction variables that required complete reworking of install planning, and reflections on decision-making, teamworking, and project management.

The aim of this panel discussion is to review the history and efficacy of plaster treatment methods utilized over the past 40 years. Each panel member will present on an aspect of historic plaster, describing the different materials and systems that exist in historic American structures. This will be followed by an overview of treatment types available today. After the panelists present, the Q and A session will commence. Audience participation is highly encouraged! We hope to hear people’s experiences over the years, and to address any burning questions.

Lighthouses are a readily recognizable and dependable landmark for marine navigation but have undergone many changes over the last 150 years and continue to face new challenges from a changing climate and from economic constraints. A comparison of four lighthouses on the Pacific coast of Oregon and Washington: Cape Blanco, Heceta Head, Yaquina Head, and North Head, show the impact that changing materials, operations and maintenance procedures, and weather conditions have had on the condition of these iconic structures. Almost 90 lighthouses were built along the west coast of the United States to aid marine commerce, most during the second half of the 19th century. Their initial construction and operation by the United States Lighthouse Service was highly standardized but adapted to local conditions and available materials. The operation of oil or kerosene lamps required constant supervision by a team of residential lightkeepers who also regulated ventilation and provided regular maintenance of the painted cast iron and lime washed stucco and brick towers. After the US Coast Guard assumed ownership and operation of most lighthouses in the 1930s, residential keepers were gradually eliminated as the lighthouses were converted to electric lights and were fully automated by the 1960s. During this same period, in an effort to exclude the harsh marine weather while reducing maintenance, the USCG infilled windows, closed vents, and replaced lime stucco and whitewash with modern cement stucco and elastomeric coatings. However, wind driven rain penetrated the tiniest crevasses, and eventually saturated both cast iron and masonry, where the moisture was trapped by impervious coatings and lack of ventilation. The preservation movement of the late 20th century focused attention on the deteriorated condition of the lighthouses, and led to increased advocacy, and transfer of most lighthouses to federal or state agencies, although the Coast Guard retained ownership or responsibility for maintaining most of the navigation lights. Cape Blanco was partially renovated in the 1990s but today has multiple layers of impermeable paint and is suffering from internal moisture damage. Yaquina, Haceta Head and North Head were extensively restored in the early 21st century with traditional materials that are more sympathetic to the original construction, but continue to fight internal humidity, metal corrosion and algae, lichen and abrasion of the exterior finishes. Partnerships between state and federal agencies and other advocacy groups have increased advocacy and stewardship of the lighthouses but the harsh weather has proven to be a formidable foe.

Salts found in buildings and monuments are ionic compounds that can dissolve in water. When the water evaporates, they crystallize as hydrated molecules which increases their volume, emerging as efflorescence that generates chemical and physical changes in the porous systems of various types of masonry. Damage to masonry from salts can both greatly disfigure the surface of the masonry visually, but also deteriorate the material to the point where it becomes structurally unstable. The main factor that effects how salts crystallize and form efflorescence in porous systems is the frequency and speed of wetting and drying cycles. While weather cycles are the most common drivers of wetting and drying cycles, routine cleaning and/or wetting from sprinkler systems can also contribute to these cycles. Additionally, there are other factors that must be taken into account to understand/determine the content of salts and how aggressive/disruptive they can be to the porous system.

This paper establishes a synthesized protocol that will help identify soluble salts in monuments and buildings by analyzing multiple factors that are either external or inherent to the object of study (monument/building), as well as identify the agents and mechanisms of degradation. This proposed protocol has been developed using one (1) of several stone columns that supports the colonnade that encircles the market of Sant Andreu in Barcelona as a case of study. This market colonnade was likely built between 1914 and 1923 and is composed of fifty (50) columns. The column chosen as the subject of this study was diferentially affected by salt efflorescence compared to the adjacent columns. The subsequent research protocols discussed in this paper aimed to identify why this was so.

While examining and analyzing soluble salts/efflorescence is not new to the fields of conservation and building science, the author developed a synthesized approach after researching a range of investigation and examination techniques used across a variety of different countries. Many analysis techniques are very complicated and/or focus on one aspect of the salts rather than the site as a whole. While developing this protocol, the initial phase included a study of the structure of the colonnade and the column, the compositive materials of these (with POM), as well as the environment and climate. During the second phase, both dry and wet samples of salts were extracted from the stone for analysis. The wet samples were analyzed with an instrument to determine their ionic concentration as well as analyzed with chemical reagents to qualitatively identify sulphates, chlorides, nitrites and nitrates. The dry samples were encased in polyester resin and observed under POM and SEM. After having reviewed and evaluated the different techniques available and utilized globally by the field, these protocol steps were selected so that the average conservator could use them in their practice, even with relatively limited access to high-tech instruments, and still produce results that guide best practices for mitigation of damage due to soluble salts/efflorescence.

The building in our study is the focal point of a prominent site and was constructed over a period of forty years. Dedication of the site occurred on February 14, 1853, and completion and dedication of the interior of the building occurred on April 6, 1893. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and is a contributing building in a historic district that was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The above-grade walls of the building are constructed of quartz monzonite quarried from a nearby canyon. Quartz monzonite is an igneous rock that is similar in composition and texture to granite but contains lesser volumetric proportions of the common granite-forming mineral quartz.

Unexpected soiling deposition at the building’s exterior masonry facades was evaluated as part of a seismic retrofit and stone masonry repair program. Onsite investigative and laboratory work was performed to identify the likely source of the soiling deposits that were created through the ongoing retrofit and repair program. After onsite assessments and sampling began, additional field and laboratory studies were conducted that resulted in an extensive evaluation to characterize the soiling and examine several potential cleaning approaches.

Over the course of the retrofit and repair program, multiple conditions of soiling were identified at the quartz monzonite stone masonry. Soiling patterns were determined to be based on a range of exposures and correlated to varying moisture conditions. The soiling patterns were consistent with locations where water was likely introduced into the wall system through ongoing seismic retrofit operations. Subsequent field and laboratory studies identified that soiling contained oxidized forms of iron and/or iron compounds bound in common masonry-derived salts. Water introduced into the wall system from retrofit activities most likely resulted in visible migration of soiling components to the exterior surface of the stone masonry. A program of cleaning studies was developed with an aim to isolate and target soiled portions of the stone masonry. Cleaning studies included multiple chemical cleaning systems, such as poultices, proprietary cleaners, and micro-abrasive cleaning systems, to evaluate their effectiveness prior to conducting large-scale cleaning mockups with the project masons.

This presentation considers the procedures of the assessment and the results and findings of the field and laboratory studies used to identify and determine the cause of the soiling. These studies were essential in developing customized cleaning processes to mitigate the targeted soiling and its potential for recurrence.