SUNO's art is purged of mold, insects

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SUNO's art is purged of mold, insects

The road to restoration begins in Mandeville

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Times Picayune - New Orleans,LA

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-

6/1150614452127560.xml & coll=1

By Pope

Staff writer

Even after fetid floodwater receded from the Southern University at

New Orleans campus, the soggy artifacts in its collection of African

art marinated for months in dark, dank buildings.

Intricate patterns carved on a drum were barely visible beneath a

film of mold. Mold had blackened raffia that sprouted like hair from

tribal masks, and it had eaten away at shackles and chains in a

plastic storage chest that was full to the brim with a thick,

viscous, yellow-brown broth.

" I wasn't putting my hand in there, " Hill, the collection's

curator, said of that box. " I love what I do, but this was beyond

me. "

On some pieces, mold colonies grew straight up, looking like wispy

weeds.

" I never knew mold could grow like that, " Hill said. " This was

science-fiction mold. "

Water from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which flooded the

Pontchartrain Park campus to depths of 11 feet, knocked pottery and

masks off their shelves and managed to invade Plexiglas display

cases.

As a result, Hill said, about 28 percent of the 1,000-piece

collection was deemed unsalvageable.

To save the rest, Hill has embarked on a process designed to stop

the action of the compounds that had permeated the wood, pottery and

textiles in the remaining artifacts. It may take as long as five

years, and no one is sure how much it will cost.

So far, Hill said, she has received $1.7 million for the restoration

initiative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

" We will be cleaning the pieces to remove the mold that's on them

and try to stabilize the objects to slow down deterioration that has

been caused by the mold and becoming wet, " conservator Gat

said. " Working with , we will work to bring them back to the

best condition that's possible. "

That task is expected to start next month. Gat, who is based in New

York City, and her fellow professionals will be assisted by

volunteer members of a Harlem youth group.

" From a conservation point of view, it's a very exciting project, "

Gat said.

The high-schoolers will learn not only about the science involved in

art restoration but also about the history of the art itself, said

Means, the director of the Math & Science Upward Bound

Program.

" They'll know all of this stuff, " he said. " It's great. . . . Some

of the freshmen who are coming in will be able to work through this

project and see it through from beginning to end. "

Argon blast

But before SUNO's treasures could be bundled off to Manhattan, they

had to be dried and disinfected in a process that blasts the

collection with a nonstop barrage of argon to suffocate whatever

contaminants and insects might linger in the masks, musical

instruments and other pieces.

To be successful, this form of fumigation must be carried out in an

environment from which all other air has been sucked out. For the

SUNO collection, this environment is a giant, shiny, silver-colored

polyurethane bag with a blue tube connected to a gleaming tank full

of argon.

" We're actually suffocating whatever's living in there, " she said.

Argon, which the National Archives uses to protect the U.S.

Constitution inside its case, has been pumped into the big bag since

May 11, said Bill Louché, a wood restorer from Montgomery, N.Y., who

set up and started the treatment.

In addition to thwarting further mold growth, argon kills pests such

as book lice, which can eat through objects to get to the mold they

crave, he said.

When Louché inspected the objects this spring, he didn't see any

signs of insects, " but there's always that possibility, " he

said. " Insects can lie dormant until the right conditions come

along, such as moisture. "

The argon treatment is being administered in a dark 2,400-square-

foot space in a Mandeville strip mall that has been cut in half by a

row of wall studs from which strips of plastic sheeting hang.

On one side is the artifact-filled polyurethane bag, which, Hill

said, " looks like aluminum foil. "

No one has peeked inside the sealed bag since the gas infusion

began, and, Louché said, removing the treasures for shipment will

involve much more than simply ripping into the container without

protective gear.

" If you put your head in there, you would go brain-dead in a short

length of time, " he said. " The argon would push the oxygen right out

of your brain. "

Drowned art

On the other side of the space, less-damaged objects lie on the

floor. Smaller pieces, including masks, a thumb piano and a banjo

decorated with cowrie shells, are protected from the concrete by

Ziploc bags; bigger pieces, such as textiles and a horn-like basket

used for fermenting beer, are on plastic sheeting.

Just because these objects are out in the open doesn't mean they're

being ignored or that they're home free. A special filter is at

work, sucking from the air potentially damaging particles such as

spore dust. The filter is changed every two weeks.

As Hill walked among the treasures, she pointed out such details as

facial expressions on masks, the lines and circles that had been

carved into a door, and protrusions encircling the top of a jug that

look like rope.

" What amazes me about this work is that these people didn't have

blueprints, " she said. " It's in their heads. They just sat down, and

they did a work of art. "

Hill, who earned a master's degree in museum studies at SUNO, became

the collection's curator and archivist in April 2005. She set to

work identifying, cleaning and cataloging the pieces, which came

from several collections and range in age from 40 to 100 years.

" I got halfway through recording and cleaning the collection -- and

then Katrina came, " she said. " The first water covered this campus,

then receded. Here came Miss Rita, and we went back up. "

Hill was sitting in her SUNO office on what is called the North

Campus, a collection of trailers near the Lake Pontchartrain levee.

As she spoke, she showed on her computer monitor a series of slides

of the ruined collection that were taken in October.

" You don't know what was in that water, " she said as she displayed

picture after picture of dark, dank buildings. " As contaminated as

you can get, that's what this was. "

When Hill saw what the storms had done, " I cried, " she said. " I was

hysterical. I could see all these things floating. "

Then she started calling people to help her salvage what she could,

including Gat and Louché, experts at the sonian Institution and

, her mentor in the museum studies program, who

leapt in to offer what help he could to his former student.

But before the conservators could get to work, the collection had to

be stabilized, and that meant moving it off campus.

More complications arose. Hill and said they weren't

allowed to move the artifacts until mid-February. And the bid she

got for moving the collection to Mandeville was $1.6 million.

Stunned by that figure, " I rented a 16-foot truck and drove it

myself, " she said. " That's how determined I was. We made at least

three trips a day for a week. "

The work was slow because the pieces were so fragile. Some of Hill's

prized textiles fell apart in her hands.

" We had to take our time, " Hill said. " We had to make sure that if a

piece was broken, we got as much of it as we could. . . . My

attitude was that if you could get it and it didn't fall apart, be

very careful -- but get it. "

" I was a helping hand, really, " said. " She did a good job,

under the circumstances. "

Each time Hill and unloaded the truck in

Mandeville, " people were watching and saying, 'What in the hell are

they doing?' " Hill said.

When they saw pieces of art, " people were asking, 'When is the

exhibit?' " said Gus Jr., a SUNO photographer.

Even though she can't see most of the holdings that have been

entrusted to her, Hill treks to Mandeville several times a week to

ensure everything is going well on both sides of the room divider.

" No one recognized the good that can happen from something like

this, " she said. " This was one of the most horrific experiences that

a curator of a collection of this caliber could experience -- to

have your collection swimming in water, then to have people come

here and say: 'Calm down, we're going to help you.' "

.. . . . . . .

Pope can be reached at jpope@... or (504) 826-

3317.