Storage Equipment for the Graphic Arts Collection

FAIN: PG-50660-09

Plains Art Museum (Fargo, ND 58102-4904)
Mark Ryan (Project Director: May 2008 to October 2010)

The purchase of oversized flat files for the storage of graphic works of art, pursuant to the recommendations of a general preservation assessment survey. Most of the works date from the 1970s and '80s and include pieces by such artists as Frank Big Bear, Salvador Dali, Jasper Johns, Truman Lowe, James Morrison, Robert Rauschenberg, and James Rosenquist.

The National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant will provide for the proper storage of a high percentage of Plains Art Museum's large and expanding graphic arts collection, which currently contains 692 objects. The specific focus of this project is the 310 object anonymous donation of art that was given to the Museum in 1996 - the largest single donation of art to Plains Art Museum and the largest single acquisition of art in North Dakota history. Of the 310 objects that were given to the Museum, 289 works fall within the graphic arts category. The Museum intends to store the 289 works, along with several other large artworks that have been acquired over the past 10 years, in six powder-coated, metal Delta Designs Ltd. flat files. Museum staff researched various storage options and chose Delta Designs Ltd. as the vendor. Recommendations were made based on a 2005 general preservation assessment survey conducted by the Midwest Art Conservation Center (MACC).