The Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka
During the Summer of 2024, I served as the pre-program art conservation intern working under a Save’s America Treasures Grant. This was a fantastic learning opportunity under a team of twelve conservators and technicians. As a team, we were tasked with treating the large central portion of the St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church’s ceiling, painted by Maxo Vanka. This large project involved many Pittsburgh-based conservators from various specialties, including easel painting, wall paintings, objects, and paper. These water-sensitive plaster murals, which had undergone extensive water damage from previous leaks in the roof, created a unique and challenging project. This summer, I learned conservation treatment techniques and skills, as well as how to edit treatment photos and perform mural analysis. I gained tremendous knowledge regarding the infiltration of salts into plaster murals. It was a project that required excellent attention to detail and teamwork to ensure the entire section was accurate and treated to the highest standard throughout.
My tasks included:
- dry and aqueous cleaning
- consolidation with funori
- inpainting with gouache and watercolors
- capturing, organizing, and editing treatment photos
- helping to write condition reports
Conservators I worked with on this project:Ana Alba Lead Conservator: Painting Conservation | Alba Art Conservation
Naomi Ruiz Kress Conservation Fellow: Conservation of Decorative Architectural Surfaces
Jessica Keister Photographic and Paper Material Conservation | Steel City Art Conservation
Patricia Buss Painting and Polychrome Sculpture Conservation
Cynthia Fiorini Painting Conservation
Cricket Harbeck Archaeological Object Conservation | Cricket Harbeck LLC.
Patty Huss West Object Conservation
Rhonda Wozniak Object Conservation | Rhonda Wozniak Objects Conservator, LLC
Angelica Marks Conservation Technician
Kate Pirilla Conservation Technician
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON
This summer, I am working as a pre-program objects conservation intern at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I am working under the objects conservation staff to document and treat over twenty outdoor sculptures that surround the museum’s campus. These sculptures are crafted from a variety of materials, including bronze, steel, stone, and fiberglass, and include work from artists such as Anthony Caro, Cyrus Dalin, and Paul Manship. Our preventive work includes cleaning, waxing, and buffing. We are also conducting some large-scale treatments that involve stripping failing coatings with CO2 blasting and applying a new hot wax coating. In addition to photographic documentation for these sculptures, I am helping to create 3D models using structured light and photogrammetry techniques. Beyond my work outdoors, I am assisting with tasks in the objects laboratory, including helping with the Asian sculpture surveying and rehousing projects, as well as participating in gallery cleaning. When I am not working on these larger tasks and projects, I am acquiring new skills, including how to sample and create cross-sections in resin, capturing high-definition studio photography, and constructing proper storage boxes. Lastly, throughout the summer, my fellow intern and I are conducting research on the sculptures “Day and Night” by Antonio Lopez Garcia, which we will present at the end of the summer.
My tasks include:
- aqueous cleaning, waxing, and buffing
- taking samples from stone and bronze sculptures
- stripping bronze coatings with CO2 blasting and paint stripper
- applying protective hot wax coatings
- capturing, organizing, and editing treatment photos
- writing condition and treatment reports
Conservators I worked with this summer:Eve Mayberger, Assistant Object Conservator and intern supervisor
Linsly Boyer, Associate Object Conservator and intern supervisor
Emilie Tréhu, Assistant Object Conservator
Abigail Hykin, Head of Objects Conservation
Adrienne Gendron, Assistant Object Conservator
Patricia Navedo Garcia, Objects Conservation Graduate Intern
Christine Haynes Mitchel, Associate Conservator of Modern and Contemporary Art
LeeAnn Gordon, Object Conservator