Rosa Lowinger & Associates

2012 Begins with a Great Project and a New Website

2012-01-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

The latter half of 2011 was so busy for our firm that we had no time to add to this blog. In the meantime we launched a new website www.rlaconservation.com. The new site will be the general site for learning about RLA personnel, projects, news and more. This site will be used by Rosa Lowinger for blogging about culture, conservation, preservation and RLA projects.

The project seen in the photo is the first of 2012. It is the conservation and repainting of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen's "Dropped Bowl with Scattered Slices and Peels". Installed in 1990, the 17-component fountain installation is in the collection of Miami Dade County's Art in Public Places Program. Situated in downtown Miami at Government Center at Open Space Park, the painted fiberglass, concrete, and stainless steel components are undergoing their first professional conservation treatment.

Stay tuned for more images.

Conservation of Amida Buddha - Lahaina, Maui

2011-08-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

In May 2011, RLA supervised the conservation of Amida Buddha at the Jodo Mission in Lahaina, Maui. The largest bronze of its kind outside Japan, the 12 foot, 3 1/2-ton sculpture was cast in Kyoto, Japan between 1967-1968. The sculpture had been brazed and painted over the years, obscuring the original bronze surface. Carried out in conjunction with Michael Jones of Art Services Hawaii and University of Hawaii sculpture professor Linda Yamamoto, the treatment consisted of chemical paint stripping, removal of epoxy fills, cleaning, and spot repatination to specifications provided by the Lahaina Mission's Reverend Hara. The treatment was finished by the application of two coats of a proprietary paste wax to the heated metal surface, followed by a sacrificial coat of cold paste wax.

Above and below: Art Service's Michael Jones removing the paint.

The Buddha after treatment is complete, at opening ceremony.

Article on Removal of Haiti Murals

2011-07-26T06:29:00.000-07:00

Read my recent report on the removal of the Haiti murals at www.c-monster.net, where I write a column called the Art Nurse:

http://c-monster.net/blog1/2011/07/26/haiti-report/

Untitled 1980-1984 Concrete Sculptures by Donald Judd

2011-05-31T04:31:00.000-07:00

Untitled 1980-1984 is a master work in reinforced cast concrete by minimalist artist Donald Judd. Located at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa Texas, the installation consists of 60 open room-sized boxes that are grouped into 15 individual works. The installation recently underwent a monumental conservation treatment to shore its foundation and repair cracks to the concrete. Following this, RLA was hired to caulk appropriate open joints and apply an alkoxy silane water repellant to reduce damage from moisture.

The work is being done under the auspices of the Chinati Foundation and specifically in collaboration with its chief conservator Bettina Landgrebe. RLA is setting the protocols for treatment and supervising the work of four interns from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Texas at Austin in carrying out the treatment. Completion is anticipated by late summer.

For more images or to request additional information, please contact us directly.

Wolfsonian Cast Stone Façade Conservation

2011-03-23T04:18:00.000-07:00

RLA technician Nestor Guzman re-creates portions of the decorative frieze using Cathedral Stone Jahn M-90 restoration mortar.

In January, we began the task of stabilization, conservation and restoration of the 1926 cast stone façade at the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami Beach, Florida. Administered by Florida International University (FIU) the Wolfsonian is an institution that houses an important collection of decorative and propaganda arts spanning the years 1880-1945. The building that houses the collection is a former warehouse and storage facility with a splendid decorative cast stone portal and two tiers of friezes. Corrosion of internal rebar and poorly executed repairs carried out in 2000 have been causing fragments of the cast stone elements to detach and fall.

RLA has been tasked with carrying out a full examination of the friezes and portal and executing all repairs. The work has included demolition of loose areas of poor repairs, removal and/ or stabilization of old rebar, re-attachment of salvageable original fragments, recreation of missing sections, and the application of corrosion inhibitors and vapor permeable water repellant coatings. Work is expected to be completed in April 2011.

Update on Removal of St. Trinity Murals in Haiti

2011-02-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

Preparation for removal of fragment of "Last Supper" by Philomé Obin

More than a year after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti, the famed murals at St. Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince have begun to be removed by a team headed up by our frequent collaborator, noted murals conservator Viviana Dominguez, together with RLA director Rosa Lowinger. We are working under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution’s Haiti Cultural Recovery Project.

Fourteen life-sized murals depicting scenes from the New Testament were painted on the interior walls of the Cathedral in the late 1940s and early 1950s by eight of Haiti’s most celebrated artists. Only three murals survived the January 12, 2010 earthquake--“The Last Supper” by Philomé Obin, “Native Procession” by Préfète Duffaut, and “the Baptism of Christ” by Castera Bazile, and these were severely damaged.

The onsite work was preceded by offsite testing to determine the paints and binders used on the surface and the composition of the underlying wall mortar. Fragments from each mural were sent to the Getty Conservation Institute and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute for analysis. Tests revealed that the murals were painted using egg tempera on top of a very thin concrete render. The paint is powdery and efflorescing in places. The mortar showed severe fractures and displacements. We concluded that the best method for saving the murals was to detach the surface painting and render using the stacco method.

Our team is working with Junior Norélus and Joseph Junior Racine, two graduates of the Ecole Nationale des Arts in Port-au-Prince. To date we have cleaned the mural surfaces, have began poulticing the salts from the Obin mural, have fully faced and removed the Duffaut mural and have begun facing the Obin mural, which will be removed in the coming weeks.

The project is organized by the Smithsonian Institution with the Government of Haiti, Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Presidential Commission for Reconstruction, in partnership with the U.S. President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. The project is supported by the U.S. Department of State through US AID, the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Broadway League and Broadway community. Additional funding has been provided by, Affirmation Arts Fund, Peggy Burnet, National Haitian Art Society, Macondo Gallery, Waterloo Center for the Arts, Friends of the Art Center, Jerome and Thao Dodson. Program partners include the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation, La Fondation Connaissance et Liberté (FOKAL), the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), UNESCO and the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.

See more photos below:

Application of facing onto "Native Procession" by Préfete Duffaut

Transfer of Duffaut mural fragment from wall to cleaning tables

Conservators Dominguez and Lowinger test the removal of the facing.

Best Wishes for 2011

2010-12-31T14:54:00.000-08:00

Big Wave by Tony Delap. City of Santa Monica, CA.
Work completed December 2010 in collaboration with Exclusive Welding, Inc. La Crescenta, CA.

All of us at RLA Conservation want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the friends, colleagues, collaborators, and clients who have helped make 2010 our best and most interesting year ever. We look forward to a joyous and fruitful 2011.

Please see a selection of our 2010 projects below:

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Miami, FL
Throughout 2010 RLA has been working extensively at Vizcaya. We began in March with a survey of all architectural features, including fountains, interior surfaces, and garden walls. Throughout the summer and fall we worked with Trigram GC, Inc. as conservators for cast stone and marble floors, fireplaces and staircases as part of the Phase I restoration project. In September we began our work as the conservation coordinators for Vizcaya's IMLS survey of interior collections. We expect work at Vizcaya to continue throughout 2011.

Hope Street Terminus- The Garden of Convergence: by Blue McRight and Warren Wagner.
Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Association and Skid Row Housing Authority.
Treatment carried out July-September in collaboration with Silverlake Conservation and Martifer Solar, Inc.

Sun Disc by Tony Rosenthal. Collection of the Bank of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI.
Examination and testing in preparation for full scale cleaning, repair and conservation treatment. Carried out in conjunction with Art Services, Inc. Honolulu.

Survey of sculpture collection- Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami.
May-June.

Detail of Viewing Machine by Olafur Eliasson
One of the many extraordinary installations seen during attendance at the Getty Conservation Institute's Conservation Issues of Modern and Contemporary Art (CIMCA) II meeting in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Lichtenstein Mermaid Completed

2010-12-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

Roy Lichtenstein's Mermaid, after conservation by RLA Conservation.

On December 1 we completed treatment of Roy Lichtenstein's first work of public art. Located in the City of Miami Beach, Florida, "Mermaid" is a painted concrete and steel fountain sculpture that was installed in 1979 and treated back in 2000. The sculpture's present treatment consisted of cleaning, corrosion removal and stabilization of its ferrous metal elements, compounding of the painted surfaces, concrete repair, and partial repainting. Of particular issue was the blue color, which was not the right shade prior to treatment (see below). RLA Conservation worked together with the Getty Conservation Institute and Pompano Paints in Pompano Beach Florida to find the right color match for the artist's original blue in an industrial paint that could be applied outdoors. See more images below.

The sculpture before treatment, facing NW.

During treatment. Note repaired concrete sections and color of blue wave.

Color matching done using a color card of the artist's original Magna colors. Special thanks to Tom Learner and Julie Wolfe of the Getty Conservation Institute and Getty Museum for their help with this project.

Hawaii Pomodoro Sculptures- after treatment

2010-11-15T18:38:00.000-08:00

Partial view of the three Arnaldo Pomodoro sculptures in Honolulu after conservation. All treatments done in conjunction with Michael Jones, senior conservation technician and proprietor of Art Services, Inc. of Hawaii.

Detail of polished bronze column after treatment.

Putting the finishing touches on the concrete and steel sculpture.

Arnaldo Pomodoro Sculptures- Honolulu

2010-10-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

For the past month we have been working on the conservation of three monumental columns by Italian sculpture Arnaldo Pomodoro in the Bank of Hawaii Collection. Made respectively of polished and patinated bronze, mirror-finish stainless steel, and concrete with mild steel bands, these sculptures are being treated in collaboration with technician Michael Jones of Honolulu's Art Services. The tropical climate and proximity to the coast have taken their toll on the sculptures' surfaces. The polished steel is clouded, the mild steel deeply pitted and corroded, and the concrete is faded, cracking, and eroded. Most interestingly, the bronze sculpture, which had been previously lacquered, exhibits a deep and overall pattern of red cuprite pitting on its polished surfaces.

Treatment is giving us a great deal of information on the behavior of the aforementioned metals in an extreme tropical climate.

Michael Jones cleaning the concrete sculpture. [Corroded bronze column in foreground.]

In Haiti, rescuing murals from a collapsed cathedral

2010-07-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

A few days ago we were in Port Au Prince, Haiti, creating a proposal for the removal of 1950s murals from St. Trinite Cathedral. An 19th century Episcopal Cathedral rebuilt in 1924, the cathedral was decorated in the 1950s with monumental wall murals painted by Haiti's most important artists of the period which depict scenes from the life of Christ. The cathedral collapsed in the January 12, 2010 earthquake and only 3 of 12 original murals survive. The murals were painted directly on the reinforced concrete walls and are in very precarious condition, with many large sections lying in rubble on the ground, and others detaching from the wall. Rosa Lowinger & Associates and Viviana Dominguez Paintings Conservation worked under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution to document the remaining murals and create a protocol for their safe removal and conservation.

For additional information and photos, please see a photo essay at:
http://culture.wnyc.org/blogs/gallerina/2010/jul/26/haiti-art/

Lauren Hall joins Rosa Lowinger & Associates

2010-05-13T06:56:00.001-07:00

Rosa Lowinger & Associates is delighted to announce the addition of Assistant Conservator Lauren Reynolds Hall to our firm. Lauren has an undergraduate degree in drawing and painting, and an MS in Historic Preservation with an Advanced Certificate in Architectural Conservation from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation.

Lauren served as a project manager and conservator for the University of Pennsylvania’s Architectural Conservation Laboratory at Mesa Verde National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As a Samuel H. Kress Foundation Fellow in pursuit of her certificate at Penn, she developed, managed, and executed the pilot conservation treatment program for the Carrara marble capitals at the Philadelphia Merchants’ Exchange in Independence National Historical Park (see before and after images below). Immediately prior to joining RLA, Lauren worked for New York's prestigious Building Conservation Associates, Inc., where she performed construction monitoring for the restoration of the New York Hall of Science’s Great Hall reinforced concrete and glass façade, worked as a conservator to stabilize the painted dining room ceiling at Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site in Hyde Park, NY, and developed construction documents for the Newark Museum’s Ballantine Carriage House and Polhemus House in Newark, NJ

Lauren's addition to our firm will allow us to offer the highest level architectural conservation services to our nationwide clients.

Philadelphia Merchant's Exchange Capital, before conservation.

Philadelphia Merchant's Exchange Capital, after conservation.

Stone Conservation Research at Huntington Library

2010-05-04T17:46:00.001-07:00

The Temple of Love in the Huntington's Rose Garden. The central limestone sculpture is marred by pocked erosion.

This summer we will be partnering with conservation scientist Eric Doehne to conduct research into aspects of stone deterioration of the garden statuary at the Huntington Library. We will be looking at severe erosion and the effects of a misguided 1950s effort to consolidate 18th century Italian garden statuary using a slurry of concrete over degraded stone surfaces. This research has been requested by Catherine Hess, the Huntington's chief curator of European and British art, as a means of revamping the maintenance and conservation protocol for all the stone statuary, urns, tempiettos (or is it tempietti?) at the Huntington. The results of this study will dovetail with our investigative work at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami, FL

Sculpture of Neptune, exhibiting severe erosion, spalling, and cracking due to the application of a concrete slurry over the softer stone.

Neptune: detail of concrete slurry on foot.

Update: University of Miami Mural After Treatment

2010-04-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

Bolivar and Humboldt by Leopoldo Richter after successful conservation of vandalism and removal of mineral deposits and salts leached from grout.

Architectural Decorative Surfaces

2010-04-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

Detail of 1973 glazed ceramic tile mural by Dora De Larios. Compton Public Library, CA
Conservation treatment carried out by Rosa Lowinger in conjunction with Amy Green of Silverlake Conservation.

On April 14, I will be participating in the Getty Conservation Institute's public forum on conservation of architectural decorative surfaces. Finishing Touches: Conserving Wall Paintings and Other Architectural Surfaces will consist of three ten-minute lectures by panelists working on a range of architectural decorative surface issues. Moderated by Jeanne Marie Teutonico, Associate Director of the Getty Conservation Institute, the panel will include Professor Frank Matero of the University of Pennsylvania, who will speak on archeological sites, and Stephen Rickerby, a murals conservator in private practice, who will speak on painted murals in China's Mogao Caves and the tomb of Tutankhamem.

My presentation will focus on twentieth century non-painted decorative surfaces such as ceramic tile, mosaic, and terrazzo. I will particularly address the issues that arise when such elements must be removed and re-sited.

For more information or to make a reservation for the FREE forum, go to:

http://getty.edu/conservation/public_programs/finishing_touches.html

Bolivar and Humboldt by Leopoldo Richter

2010-03-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow work begins on a vandalized ceramic tile mural at the University of Miami. The tie mural will be cleaned, salts and mineral deposits will be removed, and teh gouged areas will be filled and toned to match the surrounding ceramic surface. See more images below:

Conservation of Anaglypta Wallpaper

2010-02-24T17:30:00.000-08:00

Anaglypta (from the Greek words 'Ana' (meaning raised) and 'Glypta' (meaning Cameo)wallpapers are wood pulp papers that began to be made in the late 19th century. A substitute for more-rigid Lincrusta, a paper backed with linen, Anaglypta papers are embossed, painted and lacquered.

The following are images of conservation of Anaglypta wall coverings from a 1910 residence in South Pasadena, CA. The papers were removed during fabrication of an addition. We are treating them to remove their plaster and mud coat backings, repair tears, reduce water damage and re-affix to a rigid support for re-installation.

See more photos below:

Detail of embossed surface.

Detail of verso after removal of mud coat. Existing plaster surface is apparent.

Blog Conservation Complete

2010-02-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new and improved version of www.rosalowinger.com. Thanks to the magic of a talented LA-based Internet programmer named Brad Merkel, I've been able to focus on developing a conservation philosophy for Vizcaya Museum and Gardens (see photo),while my ragged old blog and site has been transformed into the clean-looking professional venue a conservator should have.

Unfortunately, my former posts did not transfer easily, so in the next few days I'll try to do an update of what I've been doing lately. In the meantime, check out my recent conservation treatment of 1960s Assemblage sculptures by Robert Mallary at http://c-monster.net/blog1/2010/02/04/robert-mallary/.

Conservation of BIG WAVE by Tony Delap

2010-02-09T11:19:00.001-08:00

In the next few weeks we will begin conservation of Big Wave, Gateway to Santa Monica , a major public artwork by renowned artist Tony Delap. Designed and built in 1989, the 40' high painted steel sculpture, which spans Wilshire Boulevard at the 3200 block in Santa Monica, was commissioned by the City of Santa Monica 1% Percent for Art Program with contributions from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Santa Monica Arts Foundation. It is composed of painted mild steel which will be repainted, and fiber optic lighting and Plexiglas lenses which will be replaced with more sustainable LED lights and Lexan lenses, respectively.

Work will be done under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Department of the City of Santa Monica, in full consultation with the artist, and in conjunction with Exclusive Welding, Inc., general contractors with a specialty in fabrication, installation, and restoration of public art.

Stay tuned for more posts on this exciting project.