Public Art Conservation Services
B.R. Howard works with you wherever you are in your conservation process. From assessments to training, we’ve got you covered.
Public artwork faces all kinds of challenges daily including weather and contact with people. Over time, each of these leads to wear and tear on our valued pieces. Regular maintenance care for communal artwork is crucial for healthy, long-lasting collections.
Public Art: Isaiah Robertson’s “Second Coming House” - Fred Scruton Photography & Videography
Preserving your community’s social artistry is a wise investment to enhance and maintain the cultural richness of your city. Our team dedicates all our skill and experience to keeping your collective artwork vibrant and complete. We partner with you to protect your invaluable artistic heritage for the enjoyment of generations to come. Whether your communal collection includes murals, large metallic sculptures, stone carvings, ceramic tiles, fountains, memorials, or site-specific installations, we're ready to preserve the artistic integrity of each and every piece. At B.R. Howard, we help your community preserve the beauty of its artistic assets by providing diligent communal artwork assessment, maintenance, preservation, and training designed around your specific needs.
B.R. Howard works with you wherever you are in your process. From assessments to training, we’ve got you covered. Contact us to discuss your community’s art preservation needs today.
Maintenance
Regular maintenance of public artwork ensures that your city, campus, or community looks it’s best at all times. By treating your collection on a regular schedule, you can prevent many common issues.
Art maintenance and preservation must be as thorough and diligent as in-museum conservation, while overcoming unique challenges presented by exposure to the outdoor elements, including the sun and environmental pollution. In addition to routine, regularly scheduled maintenance, we also offer post-traumatic or post-event maintenance and restoration. Additional maintenance efforts may be recommended after severe storms, harsh winters, temperature extremes or accidental damage to artwork displayed in public, highly trafficked outdoor areas.
We can provide extra care in these emergent situations to clean, restore and protect against future damage and deterioration from the sun's rays, as well as intentional or accidental damage caused by members of the community. For example, we apply and maintain protective coatings on steel, bronze and painted murals on a variety of surfaces, to help prevent UV damage/fading and make graffiti removal simpler.
Conservation
Our skilled conservators will treat any outstanding issues and properly complete reoccurring routine maintenance on pieces according to AIC guidelines.
Coordinating and scheduling with your city’s Department of Public Works and other municipal departments, we deploy conservation professionals with wide-ranging expertise. We not only work to prevent fading of paint on surfaces like brick and stucco, but we also restore completeness and vibrancy to help correct prior damage. Our specialized methods help us re-create and perfectly match colors and finishes.
Our team provides specialized care based on the medium in which the piece is created, as well as the material comprising the surface beneath. Preservation of paint on stucco, and paint on concrete, require different methods of care during conservation efforts. We treat metal sculptures and similar work so that it stands up to the elements, and to community interaction, without corrosion. We also treat past rust, water stains, wear and tear damage and more. Cities can also call on us after a severe weather event or vandalism to provide emergency restoration to help your pieces recover after sudden destructive damage.
Assessments
Our team will document and evaluate the current condition of your artwork. Photos will be taken of each asset and a report will be provided outlining suggested routine care along with steps for treating problematic areas.
As part of our thorough and careful documentation process, in text and photographic form, we also include video and design drawings when possible. Our detailed recordkeeping includes identifying material composition of each piece. Members of our team will meet with the artist and incorporate their goals, observations, and instructions pertaining to the pieces they have created for your city. This allows us to design a tailored maintenance program for all your communal pieces, and guides future preservation efforts.
Training
Our staff will provide hands-on training for your community’s staff to learn how to properly care for your artwork.
As part of our commitment to provide budget-friendly solutions and enable consistent care of your installations, we also provide documentation and best practice instructions that your staff can refer to. This helps to refresh your recollection after training sessions and ensures that new hires can provide consistent and appropriate care for your city’s treasured work.
Training often consists of in-person visits by one or more of our conservators to your location to conduct training classes for staff and/or volunteers. Conservators train your employees on the proper methods and materials to clean and protect the artworks. We also teach your team what not to do, since mistakes can seriously damage your pieces. We can also be on hand as consultants while city employees are working on a particular cleaning or maintenance project.
Public Art Treasures Deserve Diligent Care
Community artistry is created in reflection of the community itself and can take form as sculpture, paintings, architectural features, and more. Recently, communal artistry has gained incredible momentum and popularity as there have been countless success stories about communities who have improved their downtowns by choosing the right pieces.
Caring for your public art is caring for your community.
Percent for grants have helped encourage communities to implement communal art programs. Communal artistry can bring incredible economic value to a community, making it an asset worth properly maintaining. Our services keep your artwork looking its best so your collection is a source of inspiration for your community and an attractant for tourism.
Public artistry is a treasure. It is an invaluable investment in your community, showing the uniqueness of your local area, spurring creativity and thoughtfulness in viewers, and inspiring civic pride. As experts in public artwork preservation, B.R. Howard is dedicated to protecting and preserving your community's artwork for the benefit of future generations.
Trust the team at B.R. Howard to guide and facilitate conservation of your community’s irreplaceable cultural legacy, your public art. Contact B.R. Howard today to arrange for customized conservation services built around your needs.
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