David,

In addition to the great advice from Mark, as a conservator who has spent many years working on outdoor sculptures and public art, please know that you exponentially raise the risk to your collections when you make the decision to place them outdoors. 

I strongly advise that the institution consult with a conservator before taking this step both to have an assessment of the risks to the collections and in long term planning to reduce risks and to fund yearly ongoing maintainance. Otherwise your investing into rapid deterioration that within less than 10 years will turn into very expensive conservation treatments and significant losses to the surfaces of the art.

Right now is the time to do this.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Principal Conservator & Museum Consultant
Los Angeles CA USA
www.cityofangelsconservation.weebly.com

On Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 6:33 AM David Lewis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello Museum-Listies . . .
I'm involved in helping a mid-sized, community, historical museum grow and develop a plan to collect and exhibit outdoor art and sculpture.  This is relatively new territory (for both of us), and so we could (both) use some help.

The museum has always included art in their collecting plan, and they have a great collection of two-dimensional works and some smaller pieces of sculpture.  They organization has now moved into a new larger campus, (several acres) and they are interested in collecting/exhibiting larger outdoor sculptures.

I would love to see examples of collecting plans, policies, guidelines from other museums and outdoor sculpture parks. How much of your collection is "permanent" vs. "temporary/loaned" works? How does the selection criteria work? How about selection placement decisions, are those made by staff of by the collections/curatorial department?

Ultimately I wonder, is large outdoor sculpture classified and treated the same as say an oil painting?  One is relatively easy to collect, move, exhibit, store, preserve/conserve --- the other is a bit more difficult.    

Currently the museum has a collections committee which makes recommendations (based on our mission and collecting plan).  However, because of the size and inordinate amount of responsibility to store and care for these large, outdoor, works, the museum's full board has been given the responsibility to make the ultimate decision -- and this is fraught with the potential for the board to make (personal) ascetic choices.  Choices in what the museum collects, and where these pieces will be exhibited. . .  At a recent board meeting I literally heard, "You want to put -- THAT [expletive] -- in our front yard?!" .

Again I'm mostly on a fact-finding mission. So any plans, policies, guidelines, contacts, or nuggets of advice relating to collecting, exhibiting, and the "care-n-feeding of", outdoor sculpture, would be most appreciated.

  - David -
David Lewis, retired curator, and current museum board member, volunteer, and supporter.


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