Some Conservation Science news from the IMA

The Conservation Science Laboratory will host the first of its Project MUSE (MUseum Sabbatical Experience) fellows this summer.  These colleagues are college and university chemistry faculty who teach courses that blend the Arts and the Sciences.  The program allows them a 3 month sabbatical stay at the IMA with furnished housing and access to the museum’s collections. The program, funded by a Dreyfus Foundation Special Grant in the Chemical Sciences, will support Dr. Robert Bauchman, an inorganic chemist from The University of the South at Sewanee, and Dr. Mike Samide, an analytical chemist from neighboring Butler University in Indianapolis.  Dr. Bauchman will be assisting Dr. Greg Smith, Otto N. Frenzel III Senior Conservation Scientist, in the analysis of artworks in preparation for an exhibition while Dr. Samide will push forward on a project related to materials suitability testing.  Both faculty members will create online curricular modules to share with other “Chemistry in Art” colleagues at academic institutions around the world.Organized by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, CSI: Conservation Science Indianapolis will be a series of three exhibitions exploring imaging and analytical technologies applied to the study and interpretation of works in the IMA’s permanent collection. The first exhibition, Paintings in the Round, will feature 5 paintings visible from all sides, to show artists’ inscriptions, interesting constructions, reused materials, and the use of labels, wax seals, or other markings to establish history of ownership or authenticity. This exhibition is tentatively scheduled to run from October 2015 through September 2016.