Conserving the Collection: Stabilizing Fragile Materials
What happens to artworks when dust settles in the wrong places or when an old screw comes loose?
This second video in our "Conserving the Collection" series focuses on the practice of stabilization: ensuring that a work of art is structurally sound and chemically stable for future display and study. This conservation process is particularly relevant to the High’s collection of work by folk and self-taught artists like Thornton Dial, Sr. (1928-2016) and Lonnie Holley (born 1950) who often used discarded materials—like rusted metal or old truck tires—that degrade at a faster rate than more traditional media. Stabilizing these objects without compromising aesthetic value or artist’s intent is at the center of this challenge for curators and conservators when they prepare the collection for the public.
Watch Katherine Jentleson, Senior Curator of American Art and Merrie and Dan Boone Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art, and Lindsay Ryder, Associate Conservator of Objects at the Atlanta Art Conservation Center, as they discuss this important aspect of conservation work.
Conservation work like this is made possible by a generous, six-year grant from The Sara Giles Moore Foundation.
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