Dusting artworks

Paul Benson <pbenson<-at->nelson-atkins<.>org> writes

>I am writing an Artwork Dusting Plan for my museum and would like to
>know how other institutions dust their works of art. ...

As a collections care assistant I dust a large number of objects
including painting and sculptures that are on open display.  I work
to dust the objects with conservators, other collections care
assistants as well as volunteers.

The decision on how often to dust an artwork must be informed by the
position of the artwork, the visitor numbers to your museum and
other factors such as the use of the gallery space.  If the artwork
is positioned near the entrance door, windows that face a busy,
polluted road or near turns in the visitor route, may will need
dusting more often.  If your museum has very high visitor numbers
artworks may need to be dusted more often and less often if there
are very few visitors.  Catered events or building works could also
increase the amount of dust that falls on an artwork.  Different
areas of one artwork may need dusting more often as most dust
deposition is between average shoulder and waist height.  Some
materials are more fragile than others and should be dusted less
frequently.  To determine how often to dust an object you can
inspect the area visually and use a small square of muslin over the
nozzle of a Museum Vac to catch the dust as you dust and monitor the
amount of dust being removed as well as any pieces of the surface.

Just as an example, for paintings, I generally dust the lower parts
of varnished wood frames once every few weeks, the bottoms of gilded
frames every six months if they need it and tops of the frames once
a year.  I would only dust the painted surface of a painting very
occasionally if the dust was obscuring the image.  Paintings behind
glass can be dusted much more frequently, but beware of pushing
against surfaces that are fragile, such as pastels and chalks.  The
backs of paintings should be dusted once a year and the chains or
wires inspected at the same time.

How often 3-dimensional artworks are dusted again depends on the
material, fragility of the surface, its position in the building and
size of the object.  Very generally, flat and stable areas with
surfaces such as varnished wood are dusted between daily and weekly.
More fragile surfaces such as gilding, lacquer and leather are
dusted every six months to a year as needed.

You want to contain the dust not just displace it, the best way to
do this is to remove he dust using a brush and suck it immediately
into a vacuum.The equipment I use depends on the material I am
dusting;

    Pony hair brush with a back mounted Museum vacuum for gilded
    frames

    Hogs hair brush with a Museum vacuum for plain wood frames.

    Large 'banister' brushes and a Museum vacuum for larger stable
    surfaces.

The National Trust's Manual of Housekeeping is an excellent resource
for the care of collections on open display, covering housekeeping
and conservation cleaning.

Sarah Coggins
Collections Care Assistant


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 29:17
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