What makes being an art preparator, museum technician, art handler so much fun is solving problems and puzzles in not enough time. This was a fun and weird one that I solved, but not with 100% satisfaction. PREPARATION So why would we need faux brick in the first place? We were being offered a set of furniture, commissioned by the Flood family, from someone selling his home. Time was short, we kne...[Read More]
It’s been a long while since I, or anyone has added anything to the site. I thought I’d have all this extra time to dig into content creation. I did organize and centralize all my content, like everything that I’ve shot over the past 10+ years, but it’s been hard to write about it. Here’s a piece I did for the Crocker Art Museum (With COVID-19 museums are now professi...[Read More]
Hi Gang, This may be something that you encounter everyday or maybe it’s brand new to you. Either way it’s a fun little read and listen. It’s nice that NPR has taken the time to let folks know about all of us, those behind closed (and often VERY secure) doors. Thanks NPR. Does anyone want to hazard a guess on the value of 120 Monet’s from 70 lenders around the world? How ab...[Read More]
Hi Gang, Here’s a fascinating project from the British Museum, they conserved Dürer’s Triumphal Arch. What time and care it took to clean this up. It goes to show that housing something right the first time can pay dividends in the future. Seeing as how most of us don’t have the time, money, and facilities to take on something like this, it’s nice to get a glimpse of the pr...[Read More]
Locked eyes on this sign as it was hanging in the second floor galleries of the Last Bookstore in Los Angeles. The placement might not fit at a museum, but let’s think with this approach to communication. I feel this much more than the “touchy subject” genre of wall texts that attempt to dissuade our more tactile friends through the use of complete sentences, piling up into lengt...[Read More]
Hello MuseumTrade community. I thought this was an insightful interview. Many of us don’t get to touch on the design aspect, but it’s fun to hear where it came from and why. And who knows, after years of seeing how all of the pieces come together maybe someday you’ll move over to the design side. MuseumTrade is absolutely a place for Design, it’s a a place of cross-roads; b...[Read More]
Ruth Asawa’s works are popular for a reason, they are ethereal and beautiful. They are also fragile due to the nature of being woven metal. She has provided and excellent HOW TO guide for her most difficult works, the hanging basket forms. I care to preserve all cultural significant objects, they could be in-hand OR in your hands. Either way, I want to preserve Ruth’s works. Per...[Read More]
Lighting has a long history in museums and in the past 10 years it feels like its been on hyperdrive. When I started at the Crocker Art Musuem in 2008 I was already looking to find lams that would bring out the best in our art. There were a few promising candidates, but none of them were “it.” I let it go for a couple years and in 2011 the local power company told me that there were in...[Read More]
A few tips can be found in this story, a few things you can do to prevent a similar occurrence at your museum. Aside from a couple solid tips (spoiler using cameras is one) it’s a weird and fun story that ends with the return of the work (sorry was that a spoiler as well?) This was originally covered by The Washington Post. A small-town couple left behind a stolen painting worth over $100 mi...[Read More]
Hi All, this one speaks loudest from it’s images. It’s fairly simple to make, does anyone out there already have a template for this style of box? We should start a section dedicated templates for folded goods. The wee thing was only about 12″ tall by 6″ square. Notice how the lid folds over on itself, that’s key for holding some of this together. Once the lid comes o...[Read More]
Hi All, Have you ever scraped the wall while taking a secured painting on or off the wall? Then you have to clean or touch up the wall to make it look good again, right? No more, this is a quick little solution to improve your security tool. Simply wrap the tool with 2″ blue tape, the metal will no longer scuff the wall and the tape is just a bit slick so it will glide smoothly. We use 2R...[Read More]
This guys is true craftsman. There must be 100 videos about this kind of work, but this one is simple and to the point and inspired me to think outside the, box. Think curves and this is a way to get it down. Go forth and create! Have you used a similar technique, we’d love to read about your tips and tricks to achieving similar results. Go to the Trade Yours page and share it with all of us...[Read More]