Cleaning and characterization of artists' materials including acrylic paints and grounds

现代艺术-谁在乎？“1997年保护会议的这个挑衅性的标题揭示了一些人的疑惑。 答案当然是，越来越多的人关心。 现代艺术品通常是由20世纪的聚合物制成的;例如，博物馆里陈列着有机玻璃雕塑和丙烯画。 巴内特纽曼的有争议的绘画“火的声音”，由加拿大国家美术馆拥有，是用丙烯酸涂料。 自20世纪60年代以来，大约75-80%的北美艺术家使用丙烯酸涂料。 有了新的合成材料，艺术家可以用传统材料所不允许的方式来推广他们的艺术理念。 丙烯酸涂料干燥快，并提供其他新的属性，艺术家不提供与传统的油画颜料。 保护人员在处理艺术品时也使用合成聚合物。保护人员、制造商和一些艺术家（取决于他们的哲学）都关心材料的寿命。 在一些博物馆里，并不是所有的丙烯画都能展出，因为它们的状况很差。 我现在集中我的研究工作在丙烯酸涂料和理由。 在未来，我将研究用于艺术品和保护处理的其他合成材料。 我的实验室正在描述清洁、老化和环境带来的变化。 我和我的学生使用化学，机械和表面方法来识别暴露于清洁溶液时被去除的材料以及强度，刚度或其他材料特性的任何变化。 我的目标是找到保护方法，使破坏最小，并使重要的作品能够展出。在接下来的五年里，我计划与10名保护科学家，10名本科暑期学生和60名保护治疗学生一起进行研究。 随着如此多的艺术品是用现代材料制作的，未来的保护需求是迫切的，我的实验室将产生重大的潜在影响。

"Modern Art - Who Cares?"  This provocative title of a 1997 conservation conference puts upfront what some people wonder.  The answer is, of course, that more and more people do care.  Modern art is often made of 20th-century polymers; for example, museums house plexiglas sculpture and acrylic paintings.  Barnett Newman's controversial painting "Voice of Fire," owned by the National Gallery of Canada, is made with acrylic paints.  Since the 1960s, approximately 75-80% of artists in North America use acrylic paints.  With new synthetic materials, artists can promote their artistic ideas in ways that traditional materials don't allow.  Acrylic paints are quick to dry and offer other novel properties to the artists not available with traditional oil paints.  Conservators too use synthetic polymers when treating works of art. Conservators, manufacturers and some artists (depending on their philosophy) are concerned with the longevity of materials.  In some museums, not all acrylic paintings can be displayed because they are in poor condition.  I am now concentrating my research efforts on acrylic paints and grounds.  In the future, I will be investigating other synthetic materials used in art objects and conservation treatments.  My lab is characterizing the changes brought about from cleaning, ageing, and the environment.  My students and I use chemical, mechanical, and surface methods to identify the materials that are removed when exposed to cleaning solutions and any changes in strength, stiffness, or other material properties.  My aim is to find conservation methods that do the least damage and enable important works to be displayed. In the next five years, I plan to perform research with ten conservation scientists, ten undergraduate summer students, and 60 conservation treatment students.  With so many works of art being made with modern materials, the future conservation needs are urgent and the potential impact my lab will make is significant.