This is from the workshop I offered on Saturday.
The workshop was only 4hrs with a tea break and lunch break included, so it was extremely difficult to give as much information as I would have liked. The purpose as I mentioned to the students was that hopefully this would make them think about the choices they make and to do further research for themselves on the materials they use as well as how they choose to price their works.
In South Africa materials are expensive and the quality on certain materials is at times questionable, furthermore at least in the city I live in, artists often mention to me that the sales assistants don't know enough about the products to really be informative or helpful. My advice therefore to artists here, is that they really need to research the materials they use.
The workshop was done in three sessions within the allocated 4 hours, the first session was about preservation.
ARTKAPTURE
PRESERVATION, PRESENTATION AND PRICING
Introduction
It may seem strange to group these 3 topics together, but one cannot really decide on how to price your work without considering the quality of the work.
By quality, I mean, the quality during the production of the work, the preparation decisions.
These decisions can add value to your work and protect your reputation.
In this workshop we will look at how preservation and presentation can add value and affect your pricing.
Preservation
Preservation of artwork has to do with doing as much as possible to prevent possible deterioration of the materials you use.
Most people think that preservation of art begins at the completion of the artwork, so where and how we display art and we store art, but in fact preservation starts even before you, as an artist, embarks on creating an artwork.
What are the possible damages from which we need to protect art?
Possible causes of damage include:
Sunlight/Light
Acid
Insects
Humidity/moisture
Air pollution/air quality
Oxygen
Nature of the material or medium
All artwork does and will deteriorate but, by doing everything we can, we can slow this process down and ensure a longer lifespan.
So, preservation begins with the choices you make as an artist in respect of the materials you select as well as the way you encase (or frame) your work.
Paper
There are 2 types of paper:
Wood pulp paper
Rag paper (fabric)
Wood pulp contains a substance called lignin. Lignin helps the fibres in trees to bind but during the pulping process lignin is broken down and releases acid. Acid is like kryptonite to paper. The acid can cause the fibres to break down, discolouring the paper. It can also cause chemical reactions with the pigments you lay on the paper (paint, pencil, charcoal) and can also damage the mounting around the work.
There are some wood pulp papers from which the acid can be removed during the production process, either by a chemical process which removes the acid or by adding alkali to neutralise the acid.
Rag paper, on the other hand, contains no acid as it is made from the fibres found in cotton and linen for example (no lignin)
If you are using wood pulp paper you need to ask the supplier the following questions:
Is the paper wood pulp or rag?
If it’s wood pulp, is it acid free?
Is it archival or museum quality?
Archival or museum quality paper have a hundred-year guarantee against discolouration caused by acid.
Canvas
Today most artists trust commercial canvas producers to deliver on quality, but if you are going to use these canvases avoid student quality and spend the little extra. The correct preparation of a canvas will protect your art from oxygen or moisture accessing the paint from the back of the work, this would create bubbling and the paint separating from the canvas. For that reason, make sure that it is primed well, no light should penetrate from the back. Good beveled inner edge will reduce contact of the canvas on the wood. Ensure that nice broad pieces of wood are used to create the frame, this will also help to prevent warping. Good quality thick canvas should be used. Large canvases must be braced to avoid warping. There should be key slots to allow for tightening if the canvas sags a little.
The best however in my opinion is to learn how to prepare a stretched canvas yourself, that you can ensure the correct preparation, do the research and learn to do it well and correctly.
Paint
In the past artists would make their own paints from pigment and each artist would have their own tried and tested recipes. They therefore had a great understanding of the chemistry behind paint production. Nowadays, though, there are very few artists that really understand pigment chemistry.
The making of paints is a very complicated science, but I think it’s important for artists to understand at least a little more than just the colour science and colour wheels.
Colour science is understanding how the eye reacts to certain colour combinations to create harmony and balance or vibration.
Pigment science or pigment chemistry is understanding what happens at a chemical level.
Why do you think this important?
Pigments are derived from various sources, it can be organic or inorganic using base metals, plant matter, animal matter. Each of these components is a chemical. What happens when we mix different chemicals? Sometimes they react well. At other times there can be negative reactions and the chemicals can cause unfavourable and unwanted changes. Depending on the source, certain pigments can be more sensitive to light or more resistant to the effects of light. Pigments themselves also dry at different rates and so, using pigments with big differences in drying time can cause cracking.
There are plenty of sites available offering information on the characteristics of certain pigments. When you do your research use the words pigment and chemistry and find a site that easy for you to follow or suits your needs.
Sculpture
Any form of metal sculpture is prone to corrosion of some form. Some metals corrode faster than others. Metals are affected by humidity, moisture, pollution. Did you know however that a thin layer of initial patina (corrosion) can help protect the metal from further corrosion, creating a buffer between the metal and the environment. Obviously we do need to protect them from further damage, so a good quality antique wax can do that, again do your research and find a suitable product.
Natural materials like marble and some stone are prone to damage caused by acid rain. This was not an issue in the times the old masters, but today this can cause huge damage. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere combines with moisture to form an acid which reacts very strongly with the calcium carbonate in marble to dissolve it. High carbon dioxide levels are part of climate change and acid rain is a consequence of air pollution.
Wood must be treated to prevent insect damage and wood rot even indoors. Wood must be aged (dried) properly before carving. Look for a good quality sealer to protect your wood.
Collage and Mixed Media
Collage and mixed media art are very popular at the moment, but you need to be particularly careful when creating this type of art. I have spoken to a few art restorers and they said mixed media are going to be a nightmare or probably impossible to restore in the future. The rule of restoration is whatever is used in the restoration process must be removable and if you are using mixed media then that becomes impossible… to remove something you need to use some kind of solvent that won’t affect the original work. A solvent used to remove one medium safely may damage another medium.
If you are creating collage work, you need to consider your source material. Magazines or newsprint may not be acid free. Furthermore, the adhesive that you use needs to be acid free. I’ve seen artists over the last few years using masking tape as a material, this becomes brittle in just a few years and loses its adhesiveness. The glue often contains starch or sugar which are firm favourites for certain insects such as cockroaches.
Digital works/Photography/Video
Printed artwork is extremely sensitive to light. This has been improved over the years, but you must ensure that the paper used by the commercial printing labs is acid free as well as using good quality ink.
When it comes to video or animation… these forms of art also need to be preserved. If we look at the history of film and video, the technology is often now obsolete. Thankfully technology has made it possible to transfer film and video into digital formats. It does, however, make one wonder if what we are creating in existing formats may become obsolete in future. Ensure that the programmes and apps that you use can be updated to newer formats if need be.
At the end of the day, whatever material you choose to use, take the time to do some research and spend the little extra money on quality materials. This will ensure your work will last and that you develop a good reputation for delivering on quality.
I know the information above may seem very basic and obvious to many of you, this was prepared for new artist just starting out and have no formal art background.
If any artists have further advice, please let e know, I want to offer the best possible information. If you disagree with anything, feel free to give your opinion as I am open to critique.
I will post the following two parts of the workshop over the next few days.
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Hey I missed this one when it was posted... Not read yet, but I was wondering if your workshop on preservation topic did well :)
I'll read it when I'll have a quiet moment :)
@berien it went okay. Let me rather say that the students really enjoyed it and all said that they learnt something new, my feeling is I can improve on it a bit more. The problem is always that there is far too much content to cover in the time allocated. Like I said to them, this is an introduction and it's now up to them to go and do further research.