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As one of the few nonprofit regional conservation centers in the United States, and the only such center in the western region, the Balboa Art Conservation Center is undergoing transformational change as it shifts into a radically inclusive and accessible art conservation organization. The BACC Board helps nourish this shift while ensuring the organization's vision for inclusion has long-term systemic impact. The BACC Board of Trustees is led by Board President Dana Springs and boasts a board membership that is 50% BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). In addition to its racial diversity, BACC board members are located throughout BACC’s service area, including Seattle, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. They bring a range and depth of expertise in community organizing, arts management and advocacy, fundraising, conservation, education, and financial management. Their diverse perspectives and skills are essential as BACC seeks to fulfill its vision for equity and healing within our own structure and workplace, as well as the communities we serve. Throughout 2023, we are highlighting each of our Board Members to better understand what excites them about being a part of the BACC Team at this transformative time.  Joel Garcia (he/him) is a Huichol, Indigenous artist, cultural organizer, and educator who uses Indigenous-based frameworks to center those most impacted, and arts-based strategies such as printmaking, installations, creative action, and altar-making to raise awareness of issues facing underserved communities, youth, and other targeted populations. In various roles, he has worked with Indigenous communities across borders in support of issues of land, access, and self-determination. His work explores healing and reconciliation, as well as memory and place. He previously served as Co-Director at Self Help Graphics & Art (‘10-’18) and is the co-founder and current director of Meztli Projects, an Indigenous-based arts and culture collaborative centering indigeneity into the creative practice of Los Angeles.
He’s a current Stanton Fellow and former fellow of the Goethe-Institut, Monument Lab, and the Intercultural Leadership Institute as well as a former artist-in-residence at OXY ARTS and AIR (Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator). BACC: How does your professional, community, and/or cultural work inform your role as a BACC Board Member? Joel: As an arts administrator and arts advocate a significant part of my contribution to the field has been the dismantling of systems that other and exclude artists and organizations that have been negatively impacted by colonization. At times this has meant imagining new ways of doing things and expanding the definitions of frameworks to broaden inclusivity while simultaneously focusing on those most impacted by our decisions. To me, this means that systems and systems building should be adaptive and informed by the most marginalized. This approach led me to co-found Meztli Projects which proposes new approaches centered on the values of Indigenous Peoples. We have proven that these approaches work and have informed the innovation of youth development in Los Angeles County as well as increased support for Native and Indigenous artists and cultural workers helping raise the visibility of First Peoples to the extent that policy changes have occurred by some of the creative action impulsed by this work. Most importantly creating new ways to bridge understandings between peoples with a variety of orientations to place has been some of my most successful work. For example, the concept of cultural stewardship is really important to me, and the recently launched exhibition at OXY ARTS The Iridescence of Knowing which I co-curated with Mercedes Dorame is both a form of Land Acknowledgment and also another way to connect settler societies with First Peoples. A white-dominated worldview measures what cultural items, works, etc. are valued, and as institutions make attempts to decolonize or in some instances indigenize, these new ways, approaches and processes and those who can imagine them will lead the way. I feel this experience can support BACC in the forward-thinking work it is doing. B: What excites you most about being on the BACC Board? J: The arts and culture field is in a unique position to use its creative potential to infuse our society with new ideas, processes, and ways of being that it sorely needs right now. To me, imagining new systems and pulling together the resources to pilot, reflect, adjust, and repeat until we get it right is important. In my experience, Boards can disproportionately focus on the “organization” and overlook staff. For me, there’s an opportunity here to balance this and contribute to the development of care systems that can nurture an ecosystem of support for the people who steward the mission of BACC. B: If you could have one artwork or artifact (personal or otherwise) conserved by the BACC team, what would it be and why? J: I would say the murals of Paul Botello. He is the brother of David Botello of the East Los Streetscapers along with Wayne Healy and to my understanding was a member for a short time. Paul is one of those artists who 20 years later is going back to murals to care for them, repair them and ensure that the connection to the community is ever present. And he does this out of pocket. And that’s a shame for a city and county like Los Angeles to spend more money on graffiti abatement than on mural preservation and or creation. As one of the few nonprofit regional conservation centers in the United States, and the only such center in the western region, the Balboa Art Conservation Center is undergoing transformational change as it shifts into a radically inclusive and accessible art conservation organization. The BACC Board helps nourish this shift while ensuring the organization's vision for inclusion has long-term systemic impact. The BACC Board of Trustees is led by Board President Dana Springs and boasts a board membership that is 50% BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). In addition to its racial diversity, BACC board members are located throughout BACC’s service area, including Seattle, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. They bring a range and depth of expertise in community organizing, arts management and advocacy, fundraising, conservation, education, and financial management. Their diverse perspectives and skills are essential as BACC seeks to fulfill its vision for equity and healing within our own structure and workplace, as well as the communities we serve. Throughout 2023, we are highlighting each of our Board Members to better understand what excites them about being a part of the BACC Team at this transformative time.  Erika Katayama (she/her) is the Associate Director, Interpretation at the Seattle Art Museum. With 20+ years of experience in multiple museum departments, she has worked at federal, state, and private institutions. Her work has taken her to Louisiana, Texas, Washington DC, Oklahoma, and California. She is committed to access and inclusion within all areas of museums and is currently writing a book about issues of diversity (and the lack thereof) within exhibition design. Her previously held roles on the West Coast have included advisory committee membership for DEAI initiatives for the California Association of Museums, Sr. Director of Audience Engagement at the Museum of Us, and Director of Visual Learning at the Museum of Photographic Arts. Outside of work, she volunteers as a Girl Scout troop leader for 17 5th graders. BACC: How does your professional, community, and/or cultural work inform your role as a BACC Board Member? Erika: In particular, I am especially excited for BACC’s outreach efforts to show young people the various careers that are available to them that combine art, science, and education. I want our field to continue to diversify, and BACC is demonstrating the wide area of opportunities that exist. Additionally, I want people to see themselves reflected in these various jobs, one of the reasons why representation matters. I know what it is like to be the “only” in the room and BACC is helping to break down the systems and structures of access and gate-keeping. B: What excites you most about being on the BACC Board? E: My participation on the board from Seattle means that I am helping to solidify BACC’s place as a regional resource, not just for Southern California. I want to help amplify the work that is being done, but also create a framework for sustainability and growth of that work for the West Coast and beyond.  B: If you could have one artwork or artifact (personal or otherwise) conserved by the BACC team, what would it be and why?
E: Like tens of thousands of other Japanese-Americans, my grandma was incarcerated at Poston in Arizona during WWII. A friend of hers there made a beautiful carved and painted bird brooch, which my grandma has now gifted to me. There are some paint losses and the object is quite fragile. I intend to eventually donate the brooch to the Japanese American National Museum. While lovely, the brooch serves to remind us all of that horrible chapter in American history.  As one of the few nonprofit regional conservation centers in the United States, and the only such center in the western region, the Balboa Art Conservation Center is undergoing transformational change as it shifts into a radically inclusive and accessible art conservation organization. The BACC Board helps nourish this shift while ensuring the organization's vision for inclusion has long-term systemic impact. The BACC Board of Trustees is led by Board President Dana Springs and boasts a board membership that is 50% BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). In addition to its racial diversity, BACC board members are located throughout BACC’s service area, including Seattle, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. They bring a range and depth of expertise in community organizing, arts management and advocacy, fundraising, conservation, education, and financial management. Their diverse perspectives and skills are essential as BACC seeks to fulfill its vision for equity and healing within our own structure and workplace, as well as the communities we serve. Throughout 2023, we are highlighting each of our Board Members to better understand what excites them about being a part of the BACC Team at this transformative time. Tim Campbell (he/him) began his career in the arts after graduating from Occidental College at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, acting as the Collections Manager, working with volunteers, docents, and assisting curators and registrars with exhibitions. After the Bowers, Tim was a Visiting Researcher at the Tokyo University Museum in Japan, assisting curators with exhibition research for two years. Upon returning from Japan, Tim worked at Disney’s Animation Research Library for a decade, expanding his experience with art conservation, creation and tracking of digital images, the different approaches of archives vs. museums, and the licensing of intellectual property. Following his work with Disney, Tim worked with Blizzard Entertainment to start a culture of exhibitions, providing access to art created over the company’s 20-year history. In addition to displays of artwork at Blizzard’s offices and events worldwide, he was able to partner with art galleries and museums for a program of external exhibitions, including a very successful exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei in 2010. After leaving Blizzard in 2012, Tim took a position at the Laguna Art Museum, and served as Collections Manager, Registrar, and Manager of Collections and Registration until 2023. Tim has been the Curator at the Golden West College Art Gallery, taught courses in the museum studies program at Irvine Valley College, and is currently the Art Gallery Technician for three gallery spaces run by Santa Ana College, occasionally curating exhibitions. Tim also serves on the Board of Directors of The Chimaera Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women and non-binary filmmakers to help change the landscape of hiring practices in the film industry. BACC: How does your professional, community, and/or cultural work inform your role as a BACC Board Member? Tim: I have had the opportunity to work with large collections of art on paper, as well as paintings, and have been the point person to contract the services of conservators for many projects over the years, so I have a fundamental understanding of the business involved. I have also had an interest in preservation and conservation since my earliest museum days, which inspired me to join the Western Association for Art Conservation and to audit classes in conservation science while living in Tokyo (taught by Frank Preusser, first staff member of the Getty Conservation Institute). B: What excites you most about being on the BACC Board? T: I hope that I am contributing in my small way to support a good cause, helping to provide an excellent and needed resource, one which has grown in mission and vision in really cool and important ways while I have been here, which I am extremely honored to be around and participate in. I am excited to be supporting the people who are doing the work, making a difference, and furthering the institution and the field. B: If you could have one artwork or artifact (personal or otherwise) conserved by the BACC team, what would it be and why? T: Most of my personal collections are objects, books, and photos, but I wouldn’t want to pass up such an opportunity…maybe one of these two items would be within the scope of things that BACC is now equipped to handle?  B: We are certainly equipped to treat these!
 Beginning October 18, 2023
Public to be given rare opportunity to observe the scientific examination and professional conservation of a major work of art—the first public conservation at the Museum in more than half a century. For the first time in its 58-year history, the Timken Museum of Art in San Diego's Balboa Park will undertake something truly unique. Its upcoming exhibition, titled 'Boucher: Conservation in a Park,' will be unlike anything many visitors have ever seen before. François Boucher’s painting, Lovers in a Park (1758), which is part of the Timken’s permanent collection and a public favorite, will undergo an interactive and extensive conservation treatment in public view beginning October 18, 2023. This innovative project is a collaboration between the Balboa Art Conservation Center (BACC) and the Timken Museum of Art. This partnership between the Timken and BACC will allow the two organizations to showcase how a precious masterpiece is restored, and at the same time, demystify the world of art conservation. Following scientific analysis in BACC’s lab, the conservation process will take place in the Timken’s temporary exhibition gallery. The public will be invited to watch and ask questions of the conservators. François Boucher’s Lovers in a Park was among the very first works acquired after the Timken opened in 1965. At that time, research shows that the Museum administrative staff questioned whether Boucher’s painting might actually be physically too big for the Timken’s intimate and elegant spaces of its Mid-Century Modern building. In retrospect, those staff members may have had a point. Due to the painting’s large size, Lovers in a Park has rarely left the Museum, and for this reason, the painting will be treated in the gallery space. In subsequent years, the painting’s protective varnish layer has naturally yellowed, and previous selective cleanings have resulted in an uneven impression of the artwork. Although varnish discoloration is common in historic paintings, the Timken is eager to bring one of its most popular paintings in the permanent collection back to its original, brighter appearance. This upcoming conservation process is part of a comprehensive collections care program, a practice undertaken by the great museums around the world to ensure the longevity of their artworks. “Working with the experienced and knowledgeable staff of professional conservators at BACC, we believe we can significantly improve the appearance of Lovers in a Park," stated Derrick R. Cartwright, PhD, director of curatorial affairs of the Timken. “We also want to use this conservation process as an occasion to study this impressive painting using a variety of imaging technologies that were not widely available in 1965 when the work was purchased by the Putnam Foundation.” Cartwright continued: “Our goal is to share new knowledge with the public while offering a glimpse into the kind of maintenance which happens behind the scenes and is invisible to our Museum visitors. The Timken is committed to caring for its extraordinary collection. To this end, we’ve commissioned conservation treatments of at least a half-dozen other works in recent years, but not Boucher’s painting, which is a public favorite. After nearly 60 years, it is time to bring this radiant piece of art back to its original appearance!” Understanding Conservation Conservation is an interdisciplinary profession that combines art, history and science to preserve art and cultural materials for the future. The original vision of the artist serves as a guiding principle for each conservation treatment. Many of the Timken’s beloved objects owe their enduring beauty to the talents of conservation professionals. The process includes an examination to understand the materials and techniques used by the artist followed by reversible conservation treatments. Conservators employ a variety of tools to complete their tasks, including X-radiography and multi-spectral imaging to see through a painting’s layers. These highly trained professionals possess a specialized suite of skills to address technical challenges, be it a painting just in need of minor structural repairs or more intensive rehabilitations. In the case of Boucher’s painting, the museum does not expect major surprises, but one never knows what will be discovered when modern science is applied to a work that is nearly three centuries old. “Through the work of the Balboa Art Conservation Center, Museum visitors will be able to witness the conservation of François Boucher’s Lovers in a Park and explore our conservators’ process,” stated Alexis Miller, head of paintings conservation at BACC. “The process includes a technical analysis employing X-rays and imaging of the artist’s process and material choices followed by conservation treatment techniques.” Leticia Gomez Franco, executive director at BACC concluded by saying: “This is such an important moment for the Balboa Art Conservation Center. We have been serving our region as the only nonprofit art conservation organization for nearly five decades. Through this partnership with the Timken, we will finally get to share with the public what usually takes place behind the scenes—and we welcome seeing the Timken visitors.” François Boucher, Lovers in a Park (1758) Oil on canvas; Dimension: 91.50 x 76.73 inches (232.4 x 194.9 cm) Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, California François Boucher (French, 1703 - 1770) was a renowned painter, draftsman, and etcher. Born in Paris, he earned the prestigious Prix de Rome at age 20 and received his first royal commission in 1735. He gained the favor of Madame de Pompadour, King Louis XV's mistress, becoming her favorite painter and producing remarkable works from 1750 until her passing in 1764. Deeply influenced by the Rococo taste of the French court of King Louis XV, François Boucher channeled his classical ideas into joyous, highly decorative compositions based on mythological or pastoral themes. Boucher: Conservation in a Park Exhibition Schedule The Timken Museum of Art is open Wednesday - Sunday from 10am to 5pm. Always Free Admission. Conservation Hours (Beginning Oct 18, 2023): Thursdays: 10:00am - 12:00pm and 1:00pm - 3:00pm Fridays: 12:30pm - 4:30pm Public is invited to interact with the conservators on Fridays from 1:30pm - 3:30pm. Monday, October 16, 2023 | 10:00am to 11:30am Curator Conversation - Derrick Cartwright in Conversation with Alexis Miller, and Bianca Garcia Join us for an engaging conversation with Timken Director of Curatorial Affairs, Derrick Cartwright, Ph.D. and Balboa Art Conservation Center Painting Conservators Alexis Miller and Bianca Garcia as they discuss the Timken’s extensive onsite public conservation of François Boucher's Lovers in a Park. Tickets: Free for Members / $15 for Non-Members Learn More: https://www.timkenmuseum.org/calendar/event/curator-conversation-BACC-2023/ Timken Museum of Art - Balboa Park 1500 El Prado San Diego, CA 92101 619.239.5548 www.timkenmuseum.org About the Timken Museum of Art Founded in 1965, the Timken Museum of Art preserves the Putnam Foundation Collection of European Old Masters, American art and Russian icons for the education and benefit of present and future generations of San Diego residents and visitors. Featuring world-class exhibitions that are open free to the public, the Timken is one of the leading art museums in San Diego. The Timken strives to expand art appreciation by serving the community through year-round tours both in-person and online. The museum exhibits the only Rembrandt on public display in San Diego County - a great attraction for those new to the art world and the art connoisseur. About the Balboa Art Conservation Center (BACC) For more than 45 years, BACC has been fulfilling its mission as a nonprofit art conservation and cultural preservation organization to provide conservation and preservation services for works of art, cultural objects, and historic artifacts. Its highly trained conservators offer a rigorous and scientific approach to the preservation, examination, and treatment of cultural heritage objects. BACC is committed to benefiting the public good by supporting training and education opportunities and partnering with stewards of community cultural collections. BACC is expanding access to the field of conservation to historically underrepresented communities by growing the existing knowledge base to include culturally conscious and responsive methods of conservation and preservation.  During Summer 2023, BACC Hosted ArtTable Fellow Yaning Xing. Yaning is an MFA candidate at UMass Amherst, working across the mediums of painting, drawing, and installation. In this guest blog, she reflects on her experience and work as an ArtTable Fellow. The ArtTable National Fellowship program provides quality real work experiences and mentorship to women-identifying and non-binary emerging professionals from backgrounds generally underrepresented in the visual arts. Thanks to ArtTable for the fellowship support; it was a pleasure to have Yaning as part of #TeamBACC.  My Journey at BACC By Yaning Jing, Summer 2023 ArtTable Fellow After (well, maybe not entirely "post") Covid, it feels like a dream to once again embark on adventures and explore the world. My summer kicked off with an amazing opportunity – the ArtTable fellowship with Balboa Art Conservation Center (BACC). Having previously interned at Archival Matters for a year, the ArtTable fellowship at BACC presented me with an incredible chance to deepen my knowledge of art conservation. It also opened my eyes to a whole new dynamic between conservators and artists. During my fellowship, I joined forces with the BACC team to conduct audience research. We aimed to uncover the conservation needs of San Diego artists to help inform future workshops focused on preservation education for artists. It was immensely satisfying to put my teaching skills to good use here! Our journey took us to local art institutions and artists' studios, where I engaged in meaningful conversations with artists, institutions, collectors, conservators, and educators – each with their unique perspectives and roles in the art world. But what became clear is that there is a wealth of information and knowledge we can share within the art community to enhance the art ecosystem. BACC is dedicated to tearing down the barriers that have traditionally separated conservators from artists. Through their innovative series of workshops, artists at any stage will be able to gain insights into the materials they use, understand how the environment impacts their work, and discover ways to extend the lifespan of their art.  As someone who straddles both worlds, I am thrilled to have learned about the art-making process from a conservation/preservation perspective. The knowledge I've gained is not only enriching my studio practice but also helping me to think about my future role in the art community. BACC's commitment to connecting and sharing resources serves as a role model for me as I aspire to contribute more to my art communities.
Keep exploring and creating! Yaning |