BACC Collaborates with Hoover High

Throughout the 2022-2023 school year, BACC collaborated with Herbert Hoover High School to introduce students to art conservation and engage them in the treatment of “Girl Reading,” a sculpture located in the school’s library. The sculpture was carved by Donal Hord in the 1930s. Other works by Hord, which he carved in the 1930s as part of the Works Project Administration, can be found throughout San Diego. 

The Hoover High Project is part of BACC’s larger Workforce Development Initiative. Funded in part by the Conrad Prebys Foundation, the initiative aims to engage students at all educational levels in conservation. This is essential in building a more diverse conservation sector. When considering potential careers, few students know conservation is a career path. This is especially true among communities whose cultural heritage has been underrepresented within cultural institutions and who have been excluded from arts and conservation access. Located in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, Hoover High’s student body is 99% BIPOC. All student participants in the project are part of the 11th-grade Sustainable Academy of Building and Engineering (SABE) program.

Lack of awareness about conservation and preservation among the public is closely tied to a systemic lack of arts education in this country, which predominantly affects schools with a larger percentage of non-white students, low-income, and English learners. This initiative seeks to help address these inequities by working with majority BIPOC schools to expose their students not only to conservation but the broader arts ecosystem and career paths. The programming is developed by Associate Paintings Conservator and Programs Manager Bianca Garcia, with support from Executive Director Leticia Gomez Franco, Kress Conservation Fellow Annabelle Camp, and former graduate intern and current WUDPAC Fellow, Adriana Benavides. Over the past year, the programming has taken multiple shapes, as we have responded to the needs of our educational partner. 

The Hoover High programming was inspired by a request for treatment of Hord’s sculpture, which is carved from white onyx. Prior to its current display in the school library, “Girl Reading” was displayed outside for decades. It was therefore very grimey, stained, and has lightly carved graffiti in numerous areas.  

When contacted for treatment, BACC turned the opportunity for a contract into an opportunity to educate students on the field of art conservation and the role of preservation in sustainability. SABE English teacher, Julie Millen explains the importance of the project within the larger Sustainability curriculum: “Sustainability is about keeping what we love and what’s important for the world alive and well. For us, preserving art is more than just preserving objects; it’s preserving history, culture, and all of the things that make humans special, and that’s worth sustaining; it’s worth preserving; it’s worth keeping.”

BACC conservators worked with the educators to build a curriculum that integrates history, English, engineering, and chemistry, while investigating the history and care of the sculpture. BACC began by presenting to the 100 11th-graders participating in the SABE program to introduce them to conservation, where it fits within the arts and culture ecosystem, and the questions we must consider prior to undertaking a conservation treatment. 

Following this initial introduction, students came to the BACC labs in Balboa Park to gain a better, first-hand understanding of conservation practices and decision making. Students participated in hands-on activities in paper conservation, received a tour of the paintings conservation lab, and learned about the agents of deterioration. Students engaged in conversations on conservation ethics and ways to mitigate the agents of deterioration currently affecting “Girl Reading.” 

Following discussions with students, teachers, and alumni and based on testing conducted by BACC conservators, the statue was cleaned with student assistance. Conservators Bianca Garcia and Annabelle Camp selected a methyl-cellulose poultice for cleaning, which students helped to apply and remove. The cleaning formula selected was nontoxic and allowed important cleaning concepts, such as chelators, surfactants, pH, and capillary action to be demonstrated and explained to students. Students were eager to engage in cleaning and demonstrated a clear pride in preserving the school’s cultural heritage, as well as shock at how much grime came off of the sculpture surface! 

Additionally, because the sculpture was treated in situ, students outside of the SABE program and teachers were able to observe as they entered the library and ask questions. BACC conservators were also interviewed for the school news, ensuring that knowledge of BACC and the field of art conservation reached the entire student body. 

The Hoover High collaboration resulted in the successful treatment of the sculpture. More importantly, however, it empowered the students to care for this sculpture they are accustomed to seeing daily, encouraging them to become increasingly committed to and engaged in the preservation of other art and cultural heritage throughout their communities.

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