Outdoor Sculpure Collection Condition Assessment Survey

FAIN: PG-50252-08

Ursinus College (Collegeville, PA 19426-2509)
Sara Hesdon (Project Director: May 2007 to April 2008)
Julie M. Choma (Project Director: April 2008 to November 2008)

A condition survey of 55 modern works of outdoor sculpture held by the college's museum, including pieces by Lynn Chadwick, J. Seward Johnson, G. Noble Wagner, Steve Tobin, and Harry Bertoia. The outdoor sculpture collection embodies the museum's commitment to integrate the visual arts into the intellectual and physical life of the campus community.

The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum at Ursinus College requests funding through an NEH Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions to contract conservator Virginia Naude, a principle of Norton Conservation Associates. Ms. Naude will conduct a condition assessment survey of the 55 works that comprise the museum's outdoor sculpture collection. The survey would include item level condition assessments of each work of art, treatment proposals, and maintenance recommendations. Each sculpture would be given a conservation and collections management priority level which will allow staff to assess the needs of the sculpture collection and integrate the information into the Museum's Preservation Plan for short and long-term goals of the collection. The assessments will help the staff identify sculpture conservation projects for grant proposals. A final report will include a summary of the project and major conclusions from the assessment.