Written by Will Shank

The winter 2011 Forum Journal

The important mission of Heritage Preservation is to make sure that the art and artifacts of the past are respected and cared for. Through its programs like Save Outdoor Sculpture (SOS) and the Conservation Assessment Program (CAP), Heritage Preservation makes it possible for communities to connect with conservators and historic preservation experts.

Its emergency programs also bring cultural institutions together with advice from preservation professionals, and its publications make the sometimes-obscure lingo of the conservator understandable to a lay public. Theirs is a very important charge, filled with the challenges and satisfaction of working with local communities and small cultural institutions nationwide.

As much as I admire almost everything about Heritage Preservation, I like to think (from my completely unbiased perspective) that Rescue Public Murals is its most vital program. Rescue Public Murals has been part of the “fold” of Heritage Preservation in Washington, DC, since its inception in 2006.

We are bringing the past into the present and extrapolating into the future, in a way that the caretakers of the aging portraits of the founding fathers cannot do. It is one of the reasons that I chose to become a conservator of modern and contemporary art.

When Dr. Tim Drescher and I first entrusted to Heritage Preservation the administration of our initiative to promote, document, and preserve the murals of America, we felt certain that our “baby” would be in good hands. SOS served as a staggeringly successful precedent for the care of public monuments in communities large and small, and it was our model for getting organized around the matter of the care of contemporary murals.

Yet, there were fundamental differences between caring for an aging bronze by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and a fading mural by William Walker. Conservators of historic artifacts routinely address well-understood problems of traditional artists’ materials. But the behavior of outdoor paints applied to architectural surfaces often requires specific, and unprecedented, research in order to address the changes that can occur, sometimes quite dramatically and early in the lifetime of the artwork.

When Meg Saligman’s eight-story tall mural Common Threads in Philadelphia [see cover of the Forum Journal above and annotated restoration photos below] began to age prematurely, Rescue Public Murals was able to lend a hand to the city’s Mural Arts Program (MAP) by bringing in conservators to assess its condition. The enormous work from 1998 is much beloved by the community and viewed, in the estimates of the MAP, by at least 5,800 people on a typical day.

Common Threads is significant because it encouraged Ms. Saligman and other muralists to think bigger, not just in execution, but also in community involvement. The artist recruited students from nearby Benjamin Franklin High School and the School for Creative and Performing Arts to pose for the fifteen figures that imitate porcelain figurines from the past, including Egypt, eighteenth century Europe, and China.

Several students also aided in the actual painting of the mural, and one of them went on to become a professional muralist. Common Threads is one of many commissions of the highly active and successful MAP, which has transformed the appearance of Philadelphia.

The fading of the colors stymied Meg Saligman, who serves on the advisory board of Rescue Public Murals. After a condition assessment by conservators Carole Abercauph and Barbara Ventresco, and consultations with University of Delaware Art Conservation faculty Dr. Joyce Hill Stoner and Richard Wolbers and their students, Ms. Saligman developed a plan for the restoration.

Conservation scientists’ research suggests that an appropriate clear coating may help re-saturate the color in some faded mural paints. The principal is similar to the way in which shells or stones look vibrant when seen under water but appear dull when the water evaporates.

Tests on Common Threads indicated that a varnish application, after careful cleaning of the surface, would significantly reduce the faded appearance of the mural. This cost-effective method was essential because Common Threads measures 75 by 100 feet, and repainting it would be a massive undertaking.

Thanks to the fund-raising efforts of the Mural Arts Program, Common Threads is now in the process of being restored, an activity that will continue into the summer of 2011.

Read more about the preservation of public murals in the latest Forum Journal, Broadening Perspectives: Current Issues in Preservation. This issue also includes articles about Habitat for Humanity’s Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, Jane Jacobs, and a discussion about breweries in historic buildings. If you are a Forum Member you can read these articles on Forum Online. To purchase a copy visit www.preservationbooks.org.

Will Shank is the co-founder and co-chair of Rescue Public Murals, an initiative of Heritage Preservation. Mr. Shank lives in Barcelona. You can reach him at www.willshank.net.

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