The Conservator's Studio
Traci Cole, Seattle Art Museum, USA
Christina DePaolo, Seattle Art Museum, USA
Carrie Kim, Seattle Art Museum, USA
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org

Demonstration: Your Colleagues - 1

The Conservator?s Studio is an interactive web site exploring the conservation work on four of the paintings in the Gelman collection, three by Frida Kahlo and one by Diego Rivera. The web site is in conjunction with the exhibit Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism: The Jaques and Natasha Gelman Collection. The show is at SAM from October 17, 2002 through January 5, 2003.

The purpose of the project is to introduce the general audience to the field of conservation and allow them to experience some of the findings conservators come up with when they analyze and treat paintings. Much of this is fascinating behind-the-scenes work that the visitor doesn't see. We hope that people who experience this site will come to the exhibit and look at the paintings with an informed eye, and also bring this new knowledge about conservation to other exhibitions that they attend.

The web site features an introduction to conservation concepts, interactives about each painting, and an animated illustrated "toolbox" which visually explains conservator terms and tools used throughout the site. The web site was built in flash 6.0 and needs a player for viewing. This project is collaboration between the SAM New Media team and our new conservation department. The idea for this site was inspired by Will Shank who was lead conservator at SFMOMA when the work was done on the Gelman collection. He also contributed to the project.

The web site is on view in kiosks in the gallery but it also meant to be a stand-alone presentation on the web to live after the exhibition leaves SAM.

This site is our first attempt at developing in Macromedia Flash. Thank you for considering it for a demonstration.

You can launch the web site directly at http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/interactives/mexicanModernism/enter.asp