The second stop on my journey through the bay area was the de Young Museum where I meet with paintings conservator, Elise Effman. It was the first paintings lab I had visited and the natural light in there was just beautiful. Elise went through the work she was currently doing on a piece and talked of the extensive time that is involved in the conservation of paintings. Varnish removal, in-painting, canvas repair, etc. It was quite fascinating to see the paintings out of their frames.
There is also a conservator on staff who works on the actual frames as well, which I thought was absolutely fascinating. It was almost enough to steer me away from books for a moment. Even though you see the frames in the museum when they are on the wall, to be up close and see the before and after details of conservation is really amazing.
Third-year intern at Buffalo, Erin, who I had the pleasure of talking with the night before at the ECPN Meet & Mingle, was kind enough to show me the work she had done during her internship and the importance of photo documentation.
It was very nice to visit a lab that had so many objects to be worked on that I had never seen before. The world of conservation is ever becoming more comprehensible as I discover how objects are all related to one another.
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