Texas Museum Conferance Awash In Tepid Waters

Each year the Texas Association of Museums conference (TAM) has an official theme, this year it was Navigating the Raising Waters of Change. And then there is the theme that develops as the attendees converse.  Last year it was "Yes, Our budgets and staff have been cut back, but we are optimistic about finding new ways to deal with it".  (TAM post 2011)

As the 2012 Texas Association of Museum conference in San Antonio progressed, it became clear that those strong hearted souls from 2011 were feeling the toll of yet more cut backs, lay offs and reduced funding.

For some reason beyond my comprehension. Texas supports the elimination of all funding for the arts. Texas supports deep cuts in funding of public education and public programs. Texas also supports reducing the taxable write off of donations.

Eliminating funding for the arts will not only get rid of that non-profit museum down the street that only shows conceptual installations involving string and hot glue, it will also close the doors of the hundreds  historic museums in small towns across Texas.

With the cut backs in art funding, most museums, big and small, have turned to developing their educational departments as a way to make ends meet. Now, with education funding under the gun, museums, libraries, community centers and historic sites are wondering where to turn next...

Perhaps the community! Perhaps they can fill that financial gap with donations?!  Unfortunately the taxable write off for donations made to non-profits has been reduced yet again. This reduction has persuaded the community to hold off on giving away their hard earned money.

Last Option: Raise the ticket price for admission.


Result: The community cries foul! This museum is an elitist institution that thinks its to good for people like me!!! So the doors shut.

Fortunately, most art museums are high security structures that can easily be converted into prisons. With all the cuts in education and public programing, we'll be needing a lot of those real soon.

Talking About Art Conservation at the TAM Conferance

The Texas Association of Museum (TAM) conference starts on Tuesday. This year the 5 day conference is being held down by the River Walk in San Antonio.

I'll be part of the NTAAC session Conservation Roundtable. There will be 5 art conservators sitting at 5 roundtables. Each conservator will be addressing questions that pertains to their field of expertise:

Paper- Tish Brewer - the Center for Art Conservation, Dallas TX
Paintings- Anne Zanikos - Anne Zanikos Art Conservation, San Antonio TX
Textiles- Melanie Sanford - Textile Preservation Services of Texas, Dallas TX
Photographs- Corinne Dune - DBA Photogragh and Paper Conservation Services, San Marcos TX
Furniture- Brad Ford Smith - Studio Six Art Conservation, Dallas TX

Very excited to be on the panel with this group of art conservators.

TEDxSMU Auditions: Time is Ticking Away

When I signed up for the TEDxSMU Auditions it was the middle of August when the Texas heat was so intense you could fry up a whole chicken on the hood of your Ford truck.

Now it's October, I have survived, I have also realized I signed up and/or volunteered for things like a man soon to die. October has become an out of my comfort zone experience. This audition being what my Dad would call a personality growing experience.

So here it the ruff draft. I'll be one of 13 people presenting a 3 minute lecture on a topic of our own choosing. 4 judges and an audience pole will decide who goes on to present an extended lecture at TEDxSMU in December. Here is the itinerary. Thank god I"m not going last, but on the other hand most of my friends are well known for running late...

Brad Ford Smith                "What People Reach For When Things Fall Apart"

Christian Genco                "Outsource Your Brain: Why Everyone Needs to Learn How to Program."

Golbahar Dadyan             "Unlocking the Creative Genius: Living the Dream Circuit"

Jon Eric Fountain              "Follow My Heels"

Will Clarke                           "Seeing Through The Haze: Why Do We Haze?"

RJ Daum                               "Wild Mustangs, Wild Life"

Short Break- music

Sean Springer                    "Making Good Product: Inspirations, Sensations and Values"

Stacy Cherones                 "Make Cafeterias Complete"

Jasmin  Brand                    "What Ike Turner & Social Media Have in Common"

Belinda Baldwin                "The Power of You"

Darren Collins                    "Disaster Relief Housing: A Clown's Perspective"

There will be a short intro of each speaker- just name and talk title.

Each speaker will only have 3 minutes. Anyone that goes over 3 minutes will be pulled off the stage, but in a fun way :)

Doors open at 6:00 and we will begin the program at 7:00. We will have one short break with live music by Kerri Arista. She will also perform at the end while we are counting ballots and the judges deliberate. A winner will be announced that night.

We strongly urge any additional guests buy their ticket online since we will only be selling tickets at the door if we don’t sell out before. Ticket link: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2042078913/mcivte

Rome, Bits and Pieces of History: Survey #3

It didn't take me long to realize that beneath every step I made in Rome, I was walking on top of history. The Roman Forum is one of the more famous historic holes dug around the city, a city that is passionately linked to the history buried under its feet...

or incorporated into its buildings (Theater of Marcellus)...

or simply given right of way because it was there first. This respect for the past is because modern Rome knows that the dirt and stones they walk on are the embodiment of tradition and family.

This respect leads to the preservation of ancient fragments no mater where it might be found. Midway up a wall in the sub-basement of the Capitoline Museum or...

as a subterranean window boxes in a Metropolitana station.

More On Hall of Fame

Here is another entry for the More On Hall of Fame. This is a close up photo of the back leg join from a very hansom oak arm chair, circa 1890.

This leg join  has three kinds of glue on it, dried stripper, Four split wood dowels, four 3" long nails and five 3" long brads.

Here is the probable story of this chair.

It was originally constructed using wood dowels and animal skin glue. Over time the glue started to let go, this caused the chair to squeak when someone sat in it. To "fix" the squeaking, someone squeezed more glue into the loose joins, this acted like a wedge that helped to spread the joins further apart. Then someone added a few 3" large nails, which they pounded directly into the solid wood. This split the wood and caused more glue joins to fail.  Later someone submerged the chair into a strip tank. This removed the painted finish that someone had applied to the chair and also filled the all the joins with paint stripper.  With all the joins now loose the person refinishing the chair shot every join with enough 3" long brads to kill the squeaking. 

All this chair ever needed was to be simply dismantled, cleaned, and then reconstructed with animal skin glue. Basically, a day at the spa.

 

Speaking at the Texas Library Association Conference

I've been practicing on my portion for the presentation "You have a What? Preservation of the Unusual Objects in Your Collection." 

This is one of the programs for the Texas Library Association 2009 Conference. I am presenting with Carol Roark who is the Archivist at the Dallas Public Library.  The program is being hosted by Michelle Mears who is the Archivist at UNT.

I am speaking about the importance of knowing what your items are made from and on the effects of slow damage. That's a lot of info to cover in just 20 minutes. So lots of slides and quick talking. 

There are some slides posted on my web site as well as a list of resources.

Cows in the class room

 Doss Heritage and Culture Center wins the prize for the most surreal experience of the month. 

They made an appointment to have Studio Six examine some recently donated items, four Longhorn Steer mounts and one Buffalo mount. The Doss Center focuses on the history of Weatherford Texas which has always been a big cow town, so having a few stuffed cows in the collection is what you would expect. What made it surreal was stepping into a classroom that was filled with cow heads. I laughed outloud 

The Underside of Family History

A client recently brought in a dinning room table that originally belonged to her Great Grandmother. It had been stored in a barn until the estate was dispersed and the farm was sold. The table was in very very bad shape, but the connection to family history was to strong to pass up. So the client brought it into Studio Six for restoration. 

As the conservation report was being made it was noted that the underside of the table (see photo) had lots of pencil scribbles and what turned out to be numerous globs of old crusty chewing gum. 

After consulting with the client it was determined that these artifacts were limited to an area where her Grandfather would have set. The client decided not to remove these items because they gave a personal insight into the young life of her Grandfather.

More On Hall of Fame, A new conservation technique?

A client brought this marble top plant stand in to Studio Six Art Conservation. She got it from a friend of a friend. She thought it was pretty but a bit too wobbly. So we took a look to see what the problem could be. When I removed the marble top I saw these white squares sticking out from the four leg joins. Upon closer inspection I was dumbfounded to see that the plant stand was held together with velcro! 

TAM meeting 2008

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             This was the third Texas Association of Museums meeting that I have attended. There is always loads of great lectures, but meeting and talking with people involved in museums and obsessed with history is the real joy of the meetings. This year the TAM meeting was held in Galveston, so the evening social events included h’orderves and wine at the Bishop’s Palace, Freeto pie at the Galveston Art Center, grilled shrimp at the Ocean Star Drilling Museum, and on the final night, dancing under the wings of B 52 bombers at the Lone Star Flight Museum. How can you not love history!