Hi Jodi -

Since 1991, we have been using Sherwin Williams Pro Mar 200 Flat. I am the registrar/preparator and have 3-4 volunteer husbands (their wives are docents or store volunteers) who help me 3 to 4 times a year with exhibition changeover. They do wall painting and pedestal painting. We use flat for everything. No sheen when lit and easy to touch up and clean. We rotate between Dover White to Silhouette (dark grey). Eventually we have to do a full coat on the walls, but often times, I can get away with small touch-ups and save the guys for pedestals or just give them a break. To do my touch-ups I use one of those mini roller kits. The Sherwin Williams person told me for touch-ups to go one nap length lower than what is on the wall. I use the mini with a fairly dry amount of paint and it works perfectly.

Sometimes we have used a color - various reds, blues, purple, green - and that usually requires a good coat of primer before we do a couple of coats of the new top coat color.

We do not close the museum down for painting, as we have two permanent galleries for viewing and a museum store. We charge admission and at exhibit change times, we usually charge half price.

Yes, the fumes can be annoying, but I've done it for over 20 years and don't really notice it anymore. The primer gets to me, but is used infrequently. Personally I think the low VOC paint has a funny smell. We always have a staff member or two who make comments about the smell, but they know the schedule and can always take the day off if it's that much of a problem. I/We have a specific window of time to get the work done and I don't keep my volunteers working after hours. The paint dries quickly in our building and the fumes are gone usually within a day. By then we are cleaned up and starting to work on the layout of the exhibit.

Your painter is correct about the annoying roller lines. With 3-4 volunteers I always end up with some lines - no two painters load paint on their roller the same. I keep telling them to not roll until the roller is dry, but sometimes it happens. If you roll on a good heavy coat of paint and not break for lunch without getting to a corner, the line issue should be alright. It's all in the technique and flat is the least to show errors.

No matter how careful or persnickety I am about the final product, I will always worry over minor details. All you can do, is the best possible job and remember that the work on hung on the wall is why you have people visiting your facility.

Hope some of this helps.

Kim Hanninen

Registrar/Preparator

Dennos Museum Center, TC, MI

On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 4:31 PM, Jodi Lundgren <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello wise and experienced ones,

We are an art museum working towards re-painting our galleries in the future. We are in standard patch and paint mode between shows from the last time the galleries were painted. The current paint is from Sherwin Williams (ProMar 200 zero VOC latex, both exterior and interior versions in flat and eg-shel).

As we look towards full repainting of the galleries I'd like to seek out recommendations from art museum professionals and conservators about the best paint to use in an art museum/gallery space, including brands, specific types and finishes/sheens. We have an account with Sherwin Williams so would prefer a paint that could be purchased there.

We are of course navigating all of the issues with painted walls and cases that artworks come into contact with: drying/curing time, offgassing potential for blocking, safety for patrons, staff and artworks. We have noticed some adhesion (blocking) with the eg-shel on the walls (rarely but it has happened that the paint seemed to "grab" the back of some frames hanging on a wall at one point) and were wondering whether using flat everywhere is appropriate, effective or necessary to prevent that. Our painter is concerned about roller lines and marks showing up on the flat paint on the walls so would like to know how to prevent that or if there is a type or grade of flat paint that helps control those issues. We will need to be able to patch and paint between shows after repainting everywhere once so need to use a paint that holds up well through that process--we just can't afford to paint the walls entirely after every show. We also can't shut down the museum entirely during painting and while we feel pretty good about our ventilation system we need to minimize or eliminate the VOCs or other environmental issues because we won't be moving everything out of the building or closing the museum down to the public while we re-paint.

What paint is best? Is there an industry standard for painting art museum walls that most of you stand by? What works best in terms of its safety for patrons/staff and artworks during painting and once cured as well as endurance, durability and coverage throughout years of patching/painting/cleaning afterwards. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

Best wishes,

Jodi Lundgren
South Dakota Art Museum

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Kim H. Hanninen, Registrar
Dennos Museum Center
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Traverse City, Michigan 49686
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