The McKay Lodge Conservation team travels far and wide to preserve a wide variety of media, from electronic media and optical art to large scale murals to outdoor sculpture. Conservator of Public Art and Sculpture, Jim Gwinner, of McKay Lodge…
An icon can be defined as "a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration". Jesus Christ is such an icon for the Christian religion. In the Fall of 2020, a project to restore an…
Math and science have their own values or constants which express a relation or property that remains the same in all circumstances. It was this notion which inspired the outdoor artwork, Garden of Constants, 1994 by Barbara Grygutis. Any works…
Christina L. Simms, Conservator Objects and Sculpture, recently completed a conservation treatment of a Model 1777 pistol at McKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory, just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. The Model 1777 Pistol, before treatment Many good things come from France, including…
Conservation treatment is not always black and white, even if it is the colors of the object. In fact, there is often a lot of gray area for the preservation of cultural heritage works. This was the case for a…
The mid-18th century was a turning point in American history in which the colonial era ended, and the long road to independence began. Revolution, however, brought turmoil, uncertainty, and war. An object from this time, a 1760s American Revolution period…
McKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory recently completed the restoration of several military monuments for the National Park Service at the Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The main entrance to Vicksburg National Military Park For nearly forty-seven days, the Battle…
Taxidermy specimens can be the good, the bad, and the ugly. In the case of the taxidermy case created by Jesse Swinehart of Licking County, Ohio, there is whole lot of good. The wooden case is filled with a rich…
The right pairing can mean the perfect shoes for an outfit or the best drink to enhance the flavor of a meal, but in this case the "Wright" pairing refers to the conservation treatment of two Frank Lloyd Wright chairs.…
Preventive conservation often involves environmental monitoring, the use of archival materials and storage, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), but it can also include installation of physical barriers to protect a work of art. Christina L. Simms, Conservator of Sculpture and Objects,…