July 31, 2006

Camilla J. Van Vooren is a good friend who is in my Toastmasters club. After she leaves us on Wednesday mornings, she goes to her job as Senior Conservator of Paintings, Western Center for the Conservation of Fine Arts in Denver. I asked her recently what kind of information conservators need from artists. If you are concerned, as you should be, about the enduring nature of your art, take heed:

"What we desperately need to know from artists, I think, is a 'structure and instruction' report which makes specific references to their intent., i.e., 'If that caviar falls off your work, should I restore it or just go buy fresh caviar?' [Did I mention Camilla has a sense of humor to be envied? She continues. . . ]

"Seriously, what I think would be of immense value would be a form that covers every aspect of the structure of the work. For example, on an oil painting, start with the 'auxiliary support,' the stretcher, strainer, panel or board that the art is executed on. Then we would talk about the gesso or ground layer, then the paint film, the varnish, etc. It would be helpful to the artist to keep records of these things for their own future reference.

"For each of these categories, the artist would list the brands or types of materials used including technical references, especially if it is an unusual material. If they would include procedural notes such as layering schemes it would be invaluable to future conservators.

"Then, they could include notes on the degree to which they would have any part conserved or restored. For example, if the stretcher fails, do you approve of a conservator removing the canvas from the stretcher and replacing it? Now, on all of the different areas, they could include condition notes and their thoughts about it with some general comments about their intent at the end. This might be anything from 'Do anything necessary to preserve the 2-dimensional image' to 'Do NOT VARNISH' to 'Let the thing rot. I specifically do not want it to be preserved!'

"If we had these types of guidelines from the artist, it would be heaven!"