AIC's 53rd Annual Meeting

This presentation shares the story of two large-scale outdoor sculpture installations at the Toledo Museum of Art’s Georgia Welles Sculpture Garden—Josiah McElheny’s Moon Mirror (2019) and Roxy Paine’s Interim (2002) —and highlights how collaboration and lessons learned from one project informed the success of the other. Both installations involved unique conservation challenges and relied heavily on cross-disciplinary teamwork, demonstrating the impact of connections and shared problem-solving.

Moon Mirror, a mixed media work incorporating glass blocks within a stainless steel frame, was acquired by the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) in 2022. Its installation, however, faced significant delays due to unforeseen revisions needed for the sculpture’s substructure. These changes required close collaboration between conservators, engineers, and the artist to adapt the design for outdoor conditions and ensure the long-term stability of the piece. The challenges presented by Moon Mirror offered valuable insights into how to manage mixed media artworks in outdoor environments, influencing future decision-making and preventive strategies.

Building on the lessons learned from Moon Mirror, the installation of Roxy Paine’s Interim benefited from a more streamlined approach. This sculpture, an early work in Paine’s Dendroid series which stands at over 35 feet tall, came with its own set of technical challenges, particularly related to its size, assembly, and structural requirements. Installed on a tight timeline as part of a major bequest, the project required collaboration with engineers, riggers, and welders. By applying strategies developed during the Moon Mirror installation, the team was able to address complex issues more efficiently, ensuring that Interim was installed on schedule and with a preservation strategy that also kept the artist’s vision in mind.

Both installations involved close collaboration with the artists, who played key roles in site selection and decision-making, further emphasizing the importance of building strong connections between conservators, allied professionals, and living artists. The lessons from Moon Mirror not only informed the technical execution of Interim but also reinforced the value of shared knowledge and adaptive problem-solving across projects.

This presentation explores the pivotal role that collaboration played in both installations, highlighting how the challenges faced and lessons learned from one project can directly inform the success of another. Attendees will gain insights into the power of interdisciplinary partnerships and the ways in which past experiences can drive innovation and more effective conservation outcomes in future projects.

Since the mid-1980s, American artist Robert Gober (b. 1954) has been at the forefront of revitalizing representational sculpture. Gober’s works explore themes of childhood, domesticity, sexuality, religion, and politics through familiar objects such as doors and sinks, questioning how they contribute to our psyche. His unusual lexicon of meticulously hand-crafted common household objects are marked with surrealist twists or mutations such as X-shaped cribs, doors turning in on themselves, and legs protruding from walls. This phantasmagorical theme is also found in his wax sculptures of human body parts merged with domestic items in bizarre variations.

Throughout his career, Gober combined these elements to create complex installations, as seen in the untitled work at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) —fondly called “the suitcase”. An imposing black, open suitcase with a grate inserted in its base that sits on the gallery floor. Peering into the suitcase reveals a subterranean world through a brick shaft in the floor. Below is the “Gober Room”, housing a large pool of water with a set of wax adult male legs and baby - an allusion to baptism. A motor and fan create gentle lapping of the water, which swirls around the legs, and causes the seaweed to sway. Like much of Gober's work, this installation explores the dynamic between the immediately apparent conscious world and the subconscious lurking beneath.

Since its 1999 acquisition the various sculptural and mechanical elements of Untitled have shown wear, and biological growth bloomed in the pool—drastically changing Gober’s intended experience of the artwork. Tackling this herculean endeavor and addressing the various, complex elements of this installation required many hands. For more than two years, the conservation team at MAM collaborated with other museum experts and allied professions to perform the most comprehensive treatment of this work to date in order to accomplish the ultimate goal of recapturing the artist’s original intent—to immerse viewers in an animated, watery scene.

This project started with conservator Christian Scheidemann, an expert in Gober installations, treating the pool and legs and fabricating new seaweed. The next step was to address the hot and humid environment in the “Gober room” to slow biological growth. A lighting technician replaced the hot lights with theater-style LEDs that mimic daylight, as specified by the artist’s studio. MAM’s Facilities crew added ventilation to increase airflow and control the temperature of the space. Regaining the subtle sound of the sculpture has been the more dramatic transformation of the treatment. The original motor drowned out the sound produced by the water’s soft lapping. A new, quieter motor was designed and constructed by a local engineer and the ambient noise was reduced. Working with a flooring expert, visually distracting flooring around the suitcase was also corrected.

The final step was to treat the suitcase and drain. This required consultation with the artist’s studio and the Schaulager Museum to determine the scope of treatment and acceptable level of change while maintaining the artist’s original intent and integrity of the artwork as it ages and technologies change.

The British artist Henry Moore is well known for his monumental outdoor sculptures, three of which are installed at the Getty Center in Los Angeles as part of the Stark Sculpture Collection. The fourteen-foot-tall sculpture, Bronze Form, was the artist’s final outdoor work before his death in 1986. A series of six editions, they were cast and finished at Morris Singer Foundry outside of London starting in 1985. Some of the editions were not completed until after his death, as was the case with the fourth edition of Bronze Form, finished and purchased by the collectors Fran and Ray Stark located in Los Angeles, California in 1987. The Getty acquired Bronze Form (1985, 4/6) as a gift from the Fran and Ray Stark Revocable Trust in 2004-2005, and it has since been prominently displayed surrounded by a reflecting pool adjacent to the Tram Arrival Plaza. 

The Museum’s conservators have spent over a decade maintaining Bronze Form and planning for its long-term preservation. In 2010, a major treatment was carried out to remove an aged, clear polyurethane coating that was applied before the Getty’s acquisition, replacing it with an acrylic lacquer. By 2020, the surface developed uneven corrosion that blemished the translucent, golden patina prompting a more extensive treatment. To remove the corrosion, the treatment involved repolishing the surface and repatinating, which prompted another round of research on Moore’s original intent and expectations for the work in an outdoor setting. Even though Moore’s artistic process is well documented, the intent of the artist’s polished finish for these later works is uncertain and a significant departure from his aesthetic norm. The beginning and end of the project was met with unexpected findings resulting in adaptations to the treatment process. Collaboration and consultation with bronze specialists from Bronze et al, Ltd. and the Henry Moore Foundation helped shape the approach. This paper will review the evidence that supported the conservators’ final plan of action to conserve Bronze Form, starting with a description of its original materials and casting method, including comparison with other editions within the series, pre-treatment testing, and will finish with an overview of the final treatment.

Mercury, a common component in 18th, 19th, an 20th century collection items, is a well-known hazardous material with potentially severe short and long-term health consequences. Collection items with mercury include a wide variety of natural science specimens (geological, botanical, and taxidermy), pharmaceutical materials, historic pigments, historic mirrors and gilded wood, historic clothing items (felted items such as hats) and scientific instruments. While our understanding of the breadth of mercury use in cultural heritage items is growing, determining actual exposure risks and potential solutions for collections as well as collection care staff and visitors is a current area of research.

This joint session between the Preventive Care Network and the Object Specialty Group will acquaint participants with the range of collection items containing mercury as an intrinsic component, and will help initiate discussions among conservators about hazards, handling, and access. Panelists will present brief case studies to provide examples of risk management, exposure assessments, and handling protocols to control risks associated with these collection items.

Join us for a 90-minute panel of short presentations followed by discussion with the audience.

Panelists will cover topics including:

* Toxicology
* Industrial Hygiene
* Pharmaceutical collections
* Taxidermy and mineral collections
* Felted garments/textiles
* Mirrors
* Gilding
* Scientific Instruments