Gift expands Ackland’s conservation efforts

Grace White is one of the few people in the world allowed to handle original Rembrandt drawings and other priceless works of art with her own hands. As the conservator of art on paper at the Ackland Art Museum, she is caretaker for Ackland’s 17,500 works of art on paper. She helps to preserve the vast collection of art for future generations, working in a studio to repair damage to drawings, watercolors, manuscripts and prints.

The Ackland is home to the largest collection of art on paper in the state, and art on paper comprises about 80% of the Museum’s permanent collection. The Ackland was a pioneer among leading public university art museums when it opened a conservation studio and hired a conservator in the late 1980s. While Ackland’s conservation needs are great, that position has, for budgetary reasons, always been part-time.

That’s about to change, however, thanks to an anonymous donor’s generous gift that endows the position, creating the Dr. Ian Morgan Happer Conservator for Art on Paper. The gift honors the late Dr. Ian Happer, a prominent Denver neurologist. It will be paid out over five years, ultimately enabling the Ackland to have a full-time conservator for art on paper and ensure that the position is permanently secure.

“It’s challenging to do this work in a part-time capacity, considering the Ackland’s vast conservation needs,” said Carolyn Allmendinger, interim director and director of education and interpretation at the Ackland. “We have a long queue of artwork that has been awaiting attention since it was acquired. The limitations of part-time hours slow that work and can also be disruptive to workflow. Expanding the paper conservator role to a full-time position will ensure that the Ackland’s art on paper collection — the lion’s share of its collection — receives the attention it needs.”

“With a conservation studio and a qualified conservator in-house, the Ackland goes beyond the basics of art conservation,” said Peter Nisbet, deputy director for curatorial affairs. “This work is more than a matter of cleaning and repair. Accuracy in the understanding of how a work of art is made and how its existence over time has affected its appearance is a wonderful tool, especially in teaching students to look closely at art and to understand the work of art as so much more than an image on a screen. Having a full-time conservator on staff will maximize our scope for formal and informal teaching.”

While the future full-time conservator has a queue of artwork awaiting repair, that’s far from their only focus at the Ackland. The conservator teaches guest lectures to Carolina classes; serves as a resource to students who are interested in careers in art conservation or at museums; advises preparators and art handlers on safe handling and exhibiting of artworks; engages with the public through blog posts and studio tours; and assists other museums, libraries and archives by teaching workshops and providing advice about artworks on paper.

The impact of this gift will be felt across the entire state and beyond. Through the Ackland Exchange program, the Museum loans exhibitions to other historically minority-serving UNC System schools, free of charge. Additionally, the Ackland loans art to other national and international museums — the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Asia Society Museum, and the Louvre, to name a few — as well as traveling exhibitions. The Ackland also serves the state through knowledge sharing, offering workshops at other museums to ensure the future of their collections.

“We’re so thankful to this donor, whose generosity is enabling the Ackland to expand its capacity for conservation work in the long term and across the state and beyond,” said Allmendinger.