A death

In memoriam

Margaret Randall (Randy) Ash, born April 12, 1943 in Des Moines,
Iowa died November 7, 2014 in Denver, Colorado at Lutheran Hospital
after a long illness.  Services were private.  Ash resided in
Denver, Colorado since 1987 where she was a professional paintings
conservator.  She founded M. Randall Ash and Associates, LLC in 1995
serving museums, galleries and private collectors in the US and
South America.  Ash worked with the Anschutz Collection of Western
Art, Montana Historical Society, Montana State Capitol, and the Old
Courthouse Museum in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

As Senior Paintings Conservator for the Rocky Mountain Conservation
Center at the University of Denver from 1987-1995, she built
relationships in South America through the Fulbright Foundation and
the US State Department.  Ash was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship
for an educational conservation program in La Paz, Bolivia, and
received an Academic Specialist Grant from the US State Department
to teach in Caracas, Venezuela on new materials and methods in
painting conservation.  She later received support from the US State
Department and Banco Boliviana to teach painting conservation in La
Paz, Bolivia, and then organized a residency program for museum
professionals from Panama and Costa Rica with a
Smithsonian/Fulbright Central American Training Partnership. In the
West, she conserved murals in the Pierre, SD State Capitol, the
Siouxland Heritage Museum in Sioux Falls, SD and the Colorado State
Capitol Annex.

As a conservator in private practice in Baltimore, Maryland from
1985 - 1987, Ash worked with collections in Baltimore, Washington
and throughout the Midwest, including the Meyerhoff Collection of
Contemporary Art in Phoenix, MD and the International Folk Museum in
Santa Fe, NM.  As Conservator for the Baltimore Museum of Art from
1974-1985 Ash was responsible for the collections of paintings,
sculpture and decorative arts, and assisted as technical editor for
museum publications on the American Paintings collection and the
Cone Collection catalogue, and advised on collection storage and
installation during museum renovations.

As a freelance conservator in Des Moines, Iowa from 1969-1974, Ash
conserved six Grant Wood murals at Iowa State University Library in
Ames, IA funded by a National Endowment for the Arts grant,
contracted with the General Services Administration (GSA) to survey
WPA murals throughout Iowa, and conserved 16th and 17th centuries.
Italian creche figures at Simpson College in Indianola, IA.  Years
later she conserved the murals in the Iowa Supreme Court building.

Ash held a Samuel H. Kress Foundation Fellowship in painting
conservation at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art from 1968-69 and a
Committee to Rescue Italian Art (CRIA) Fellowship in 1967 to
conserve paintings in Florence, Italy after the 1966 floods.

Ash received an M.A. from University of Iowa in Art History, Studio
Art and Conservation in 1968, and a B.A. in Art History from
Maryville College of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis, MO in 1965 with
a semester in Rome, Italy through Loyola University, Chicago.  Ash
served on the Fulbright Scholar Awards Discipline Advisory committee
from 1993-1998 and on the Fulbright Scholar awards Application
Review committee in 1992.  Ash was a Fellow in the American
Institute for Conservation (AIC), an Associate member of the
International Institute for Conservation (IIC) and a member of the
Western Association for Art Conservators (WAAC), Midwest Regional
Conservation Group (MRCG), Washington Conservation Group (WCG), and
served on the Board of the Maryland Craft Council from 1982-84 and
the Curators of Maryland Arts from 1983-1986.

Ash mentored many junior colleagues and maintained close friendships
as these conservators moved on in their careers.  She was a fine
practitioner of conservation, an avid collector of art glass and
Guadalupes, a committed gardener of roses and tomatoes, a fabulous
cook, a gracious hostess and a genuine friend to many.  Her unique,
artistic style and grand presence brought color and joy to every
room.  She will be greatly missed by family, friends and colleagues
around the world.

Margaret Randall Ash was preceded in death by her mother, Margaret
Anne Amundson McKinsey Ash and her father, Robert Browne Ash, and is
survived by her cousins, Steve Ash and Kathy Hayden (Ash), Susan Ash
Bruun, William and Elizabeth Ash Schreiber and nieces, Maria Regina
Schreiber and Elizabeth Schreiber-Byers, her dog, Olivia, and close
friend, Jane Powell. A memorial service will be held in Denver, CO
on April 12, 2015 and private internment will be held at Glendale
Cemetery in Des, Moines, IA.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 28:26
                Distributed: Saturday, November 29, 2014
                       Message Id: cdl-28-26-001
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