Skip to main content

Crystal Bridges Receives Award for Conservat

A few weeks ago the Arkansas Museums Association hosted it’s annual meeting in North Little Rock. The meeting is a wonderful two and half days of sessions and events that allow museum professionals from all over the state to get together to exchange ideas and offer each other support for challenges that they might be facing. I attended the conference as a board member and I presented a session on new technologies in museums.  Our Director of Security Geoff Goodrich also presented on everyday security for museums.

The annual meeting concludes with the awards banquet, which is always a special occasion as we take time to recognize each other’s accomplishments.  My position on the board is as the representative from the third congressional district and I’m proud to say that out of the eight categories of awards five awards went to museums in our area. (You can see award winners on the AMA’s facebook page) Crystal Bridges received recognition for Outstanding Achievement in Conservation for work done on Luis Alfonso Jimenez’s sculpture Vaquero.

Below are excerpts from the nomination to help explain how important this project was:

Vaquero is a fiberglass sculpture with an internal steel frame and a decorative surface consisting of layers of color paint covered by a protective clear coat.  Lengthy periods of outdoor display, as well as the nature of the acrylic urethane paint used by Jimenez, resulted in areas of damage and deterioration that threatened the sculpture’s original decorative surface. 

In 2011, Crystal Bridges began working with Robert Pringle Art Restoration to carry out a comprehensive treatment of Vaquero.  In March of that year, Pringle made a site visit to El Paso, Texas, where the sculpture was located at the time, to assess its condition and develop a treatment plan. The damage noted included crackling, paint loss, and delamination of the clear coat on several surface areas.  Pringle proposed a treatment plan and the sculpture was relocated in October to Houston, TX.  Upon examination at the facility, more extensive damage was discovered.  Areas of significant damage included the figure’s hat, pistol, and saddlebag; and the horse’s tail, mane, and legs.

Once begun, work on Vaquero had to progress quickly in order to ensure proper bonding of the paint and clear-coat layers.  Areas of delaminated clear-coat were removed and oxidized, and exposed paint surfaces were wet-sanded.  Areas of open cracking and air bubbles were filled, consolidated, and wet-sanded as well.  Prior to repainting, the surface of the sculpture was scuffed and cleaned, and areas of paint loss were repainted with original colors.  After repainting, the restored surface was given two layers of protective clear coat. The steel base plate, which suffered extensive rust and peeling paint, was also cleaned and primed.

The sculpture base also received attention.  A single layer of peeling paint covered the stucco surface of the base.  Pringle removed the old paint and filled the cracks in the base.  The base was repainted, using a sample area of unexposed old paint to indicate the original color.  Substantial treatment of the sculpture and its base was completed by July, 2012.  Just prior to the sculpture’s installation on the grounds of Crystal Bridges in March 2013, the base’s rusted steel frame was cleaned, primed, and given a protective coating. 

Because Vaquero is installed outside, its condition will be monitored regularly.  The maintenance schedule recommended by Robert Pringle is an application of clear coat to the sculpture every seven years and treatment of the base every five years.

As you can understand, the conservation of this work was a great accomplishment, and I was honored to accept the recognition on the Museum’s behalf!

Also Published on the Crystal Bridges Museum Blog. 
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

A New Way to See the Beauty of Morning in Northwest Arkansas

Last Friday my day started out unlike any other: I was up at 5:00 am. For those who know me well, they understand that this is nothing short of a miracle. I'm more a night person than a morning person, but that day I had somewhere special to be. I had been invited to a sneak peak of a new James Turrell skyspace at Crystal Bridges. I wasn't sure what to expect. I hadn't really understood any of the literature I read about what a skyspace is. When I asked around, no one could adequately explain to me what it was. They would try a few words and then just get lost in their thoughts. At this point the responses all became the same: “Just go, it will be like no other experience you've ever had.” I'll try to explain the experience, but like so many before me, I'm sure my words will clumsily convey the event. First let me describe the structure. From the walking trail you can see the native Winslow/Fayetteville stones that cover the outside. The circular structure s...
Read more

JIMI

This week I'm attending an 8 day museum management institute on Jekyll Island. Today was just the first day and although it was mainly welcome speeches and getting to know each other there was one session that was presented and I think it was a very interesting one. The session was on management and leadership. I think the thing the presenter hit on the most for me was the difference in what it means to be a manager and what it means to be a leader. It was very interesting to quickly learn the differences in the two types of work that both positions fill. He'll be continuing the discussion in a second session tomorrow, so I'll speak more on it later. Jekyll Island is beautiful and we were able to tour the historic district today. I highly encourage anyone to come out here if you ever get the chance. Georgia has laws that the island must remain 65% un-developed making it such a beautiful natural setting. Also every dollar spent on the island stays on the island and ...
Read more

Passing on a Keepsake

In previous posts I’ve talked about how I actually use some of my heirlooms or in other cases I wasn’t sure what to do with my heirloom .   Today I want to talk about another way to use an heirloom or a keepsake. I recently found a favorite childhood necklace of mine. You can tell it’s been well loved from the stains and fraying of the ribbon.  Again this is not something that has monetary value, it just has sentimental value to me. I loved ballet as I child. I read every ballet book in my elementary school library. I watched ballet as often as it was on the local PBS station, mostly The Nutcracker at Christmas. I dreamed of being a prima ballerina, but sadly lessons were never available in my small community. But somehow this necklace always made me feel special. I don’t remember where the necklace came from - the store, who gave it to me, or if it was given to me on a special occasion. But I remember the feeling it gave me every time I wore it - like my dreams were sti...
Read more