Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art symposium to explore conservation of contemporary and public art

EUGENE, Ore. -- (October 10, 2008) – As artists explore new art forms, create with technologies that soon become obsolete or make use of perishable materials, what is the role and responsibility of conservators and museums to preserve the pieces?

The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (JSMA) will host Conservation Symposium Northwest 2008 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1, to explore these challenges and offer solutions in archiving contemporary art. Keynote speaker, Brian Considine, senior conservator of decorative arts and sculptures at The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, will present “The Conservation of Modern Outdoor Sculpture: A Case Study of the Stark Collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum.”

The symposium, entitled “Preserve or Let Perish: Some Challenges in the Conservation of Contemporary Art,” focuses on the issues of conservation with contemporary works of art and public art. The free symposium is targeted to conservators, museum and public art professionals, collectors and others interested in conservation issues.

The symposium will provide a full day of topics and presentations. The symposium is moderated by Robert Z. Melnick, former JSMA interim executive director and professor of landscape architecture, and David Hilton, collector.

Considine has been active in the decorative arts for more than 30 years and joined the department of decorative arts conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1983. He was involved in the planning of the Getty Museum at the Getty Center and has also led the technical study of the Getty’s Decorative Arts and Sculpture Collections, including the Stark Collection of Modern Outdoor Sculpture.

The donation of a collection of modern outdoor sculpture to the J. Paul Getty Museum launched a conservation program for the museum to study the objects, treatment, engineered mountmaking, installation and preventive conservation planning.

Other topics and speakers include:

"3-D: Books from the Black Lagoon," by Susan Lunas, a Eugene-based book and paper conservator. She will explain why books fall apart and the ethics of if and how they should be repaired or allowed to fall apart.

"Ephemeral Art: The Nemesis of Conservation," by Jan Cavanaugh, a painting conservator in Portland. She explores what she sees as the primary mission of professional art conservation as the preservation of “cultural property” and the disconnect between the trend in contemporary art that favors the use of unconventional perishable matter, ephemera and rapidly-evolving but soon to be obsolete technologies.

"Materials Matter: Challenges in the Fabrication and Conservation of Public Art," by Marie Laibinis-Craft, an objects conservator in Portland. She will review some of the challenges conservators face in preserving public artwork in an outdoor environment and how public agencies can include conservators in the design and construction phase of commissioning new pieces to anticipate maintenance cost and avoid potential problems.

The schedule of events can be found at: http://jsma.uoregon.edu/conservationsymposiumnw.html

Advanced registration for the symposium is requested. To register, contact Sharon Kaplan at kaplan@uoregon.edu or 541-346-0968. There is no cost to attend the symposium and museum admission is included.

About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, located in the heart of campus at 1430 Johnson Lane, is a premier Pacific Northwest visual arts center for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art based in a major university setting. The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, America and elsewhere as well as changing exhibition galleries. The JSMA is one of six museums in Oregon accredited by the American Association of Museums.

Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens and high school students. Free admission is given to ages 13 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.

Exhibitions on view include "Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from The Farber Collection" and "Designed by Architects: Metalwork from the Margo Grant Walsh Collection." Current installations include "A Gaze of Her Own: Women in Japanese Art," "John Piper: Through the Lens," and "Iconicity," plus collection galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, America and elsewhere.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Debbie Williamson-Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu; Erick Hoffman, 541-346-3162, erickh@uoregon.edu

Link: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu

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