Most people might not think of
modern art in conservation. Usually
restoring, preserving, and taking care of older, archaeological objects often
comes to mind. This is what I was
thinking when I was assigned Lisa Krigel’s sculpture “Wardrobe” from the
Newport Museum.
This beautiful ceramic sculpture is of
a wardrobe with a female figure and all of her ceramic clothes hanging on the
walls. I admit that I was completely
confused as to why I was repairing a piece that was only about ten years
old. That was when I did some research
and discovered how incredibly awesome modern art conservation really is. You actually get to talk to the artist! Obviously this is not possible with ancient
artefacts that need conserving so I was very excited about being able to have
conservation input from the source of the art.
"Wardrobe" By Lisa Krigel complete in the lab after treatment.
The first thing that I did was test
adhesives to check which one would work best in repairing the earthenware
ceramic which the broken female figure was made out of. I broke a plate and tested different
adhesives as well as researched their characteristics. Out of cellulose nitrate, Paraloid B-72, and
epoxy resin, I decided the consistency and adhesion of the B-72 was ideal for
my little three-legged female figure.
Taking good care of the female figure.
Another conservation skill that I
got to learn with this piece was gap filling.
The back of the wardrobe had a small gap which I decided would be more
aesthetically appealing to have filled for future display. There was also a bit of corroded copper that
was coming through from the inner frame that I wanted to protect. I basically had to make a putty that would
match the colour of the surrounding area and fill the gap. This was easier said than done—I found out
the hard way that a little bit of pigment goes a long way. I used calcium carbonate and B-72 again (it’s
so versatile!) to match the grainy, porous earthenware texture. I then tried to match the pale pinkish colour
of the wardrobe and instead created a giant mess of bright pink bubble gum
coloured goo. Unfortunately, I did not
manage to take a picture of this disaster before I had help from my tutor to
finally get the right colour for the gap fill.
After it dried, I decided that there
were too many bubbles in my gap fill and I wanted to re-do it. Luckily, B-72 is very easily reversed and I
removed it straight away with acetone.
For round 2 I used epoxy as it doesn’t involve a dissolving solvent that
would cause bubbles. This worked out
much better and the finished fill matched the rest of the back of the wardrobe
very well.
Bubbles: Paraloid B-72
is an adhesive that is mixed with a solvent to get the right consistency for
application. So as the acetone in my gap
fill evaporated, it left the B-72 behind as well as some un-appealing bubbles.
Spot the fill!
The
main interesting conservation aspect of modern art is that it is… modern! This means that as a conservator, you may not
have to try and retain all the original material of the object as you can
probably still get it or make it today.
Instead, priority is often given to making sure the modern art piece maintains
the artist’s concept and meaning.
Sometimes, with modern art, display is more important than preservation
for generations to come.
