The Avery Painting Preservation Project

The Arizona State Museum has undertaken a large-scale project to responsibly preserve The Avery Collection of American Indian Paintings. A condition assessment completed in 2000-01 by professional paper conservator Laura Downey revealed that many of the works suffer from the effects of time, non-museum quality materials, commercial matting, inappropriate adhesives, and other deteriorating factors. These problems were demonstrated in frequent stains, adhesives residues, tears, creases, and other markings. For example, of the paintings currently housed at ASM almost half were affixed to their mat with pressure sensitive tapes such as “masking tape”, known to cause damage if allowed to remain in contact with the work of art.

The museum’s first priority has been to ensure the preservation of this culturally and historically unique and important collection. Immediate steps needed to be taken to treat the paintings and properly mat, hinge, back, and frame the works in museum-quality materials.

Funds from the Stockman Family Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities enabled conservators and assistants to:

Use a variety of complex conservation techniques to treat damaged paintings, clean surfaces, and remove adhesives.

Rehouse the paintings in acid-free matting materials and replace glass with UV-filtering acrylic glazing.

Document the preservation actions with reports, photographic images, and a database.

Additionally, in November 2002, ASM Conservator, Nancy Odegaard, was selected to attend a “Master Studies” workshop on the Removal of Pressure Sensitive Tapes and Tape Stains at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. The course included both lecture and hands-on sessions using a range of treatments for the removal of pressure-sensitive tapes and the reduction of tape stains.

The Arizona State Museum has been able to provide the necessary preservation treatment and rehousing for this unique resource in order to ensure its well being into the future and, thereby, facilitating scholarly and public access through exhibition, presentation, and interpretation.

• The Avery Collection of American Indian Paintings
• A Glossary of Paint Terms
• Recommendations for the Matting, Framing, and Display of Art on Paper

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