2013-14 REPORT 
TO THE COMMUNITY
ICA Logo

LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT


The fiscal year ending August 31, 2014 saw a gradual increase in our conservation projects as the economy improved and much needed funding became available for art conservation. We begin the new fiscal year with an increased backlog of projects. ICA has also seen growth in its neighborhood since becoming a pioneer with its move to our current location eleven years ago. Our neighbors now include a top-notch art museum, a beautiful place for children to learn music, a unique coffee experience, an upscale floral boutique, and dynamic new residential opportunities.


The ICA continues to offer a range of services including on-site and off-site conservation, climate-controlled storage, custom crate building, surveys and inspections, photo documentation, and disaster assistance to collecting organizations, governmental agencies, corporations, and the general public. Fine art shipping and handling services have recently been added to our wide range of services.


However there is even more to the ICA. As we continue to act as an advocate for the protection of art and cultural artifacts, the ICA remains supportive of existing initiatives, while seeking new collaborations and alliances to maximize outreach efforts to new audiences and increase our impact on the Northeast Ohio Region.


The ICA conservators and education staff offer professional development and public programs to young people at the local and state level. The ICA remains committed to providing educational experiences for artists and emerging artists creating the great works of tomorrow.

The ICA is grateful to the Ohio Arts Council and Cuyahoga Arts and Culture for their continued support. Our Board of Directors invites you to be a part of our mission with funding from people like you to protect, preserve and enrich the art and cultural heritage through preservation, conservation, advocacy, and education for the benefit of future generations. So with this in mind I appeal to you to be a supporter and friend to help the ICA pursue its work for our community.


Opportunities abound for ICA. Studies show that there is significant pent up demand for ICA services. Almost three fourths of institutions feel that half or less of their collections are stored adequately. Just over one quarter have had some type of emergency or disaster in their facility. Half of institutions do not have a disaster plan in place.


William C. Beckenbach

Board President

 
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S LETTER 
I am pleased to report that 2014 was an outstanding year for ICA - Art Conservation (ICA). Founded 62 years ago, ICA was the first nonprofit conservation center in the U.S., and today it serves a geographic region stretching from western New York to Wisconsin, and Michigan to the Southeastern states. Most projects come from within 150 miles of the ICA, but occasionally conservators work on pieces from collections outside of this region, or even travel internationally to provide conservation expertise. 

This year ICA completed 350 conservation projects for clients ranging from major art museums to small town historical societies, and from large civic entities like the City of Cleveland, to historic house museums and individual collectors. Every day, countless people throughout this region view works on display in public spaces throughout our community, including the Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland State University, IdeaCenter, Playhouse Square, and outdoor sculptures around downtown Cleveland that have been treated by ICA.

 

ICA continually works with public institutions including government bodies and agencies, universities, libraries, and nonprofit organizations serving this community. In particular, many of the WPA-era murals that were displayed in post offices, schools, civic buildings and public housing scheduled for demolition have been rescued and treated by the ICA. These priceless works are an important link in our social and artistic history. While many have been reinstalled and put back on public view, still others await new homes, being carefully maintained under ICA's public art stewardship in our onsite fine art storage, while we advocate for their preservation and re-installation.

 

We thank the community for its ongoing support of ICA. We are particularly grateful to Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and the Ohio Arts Council for their role in the success of ICA. We appreciate the philanthropic support that has made it possible for ICA to broaden its reach into the community.

 

We look forward to a fulfilling and prosperous future.


 


 
Albert Albano

Executive Director

 
ICA ACHIEVEMENTS 

Art and Artifact Conservation

 
In FY 2013-14 ICA conservators treated over 350 artworks, of which 36% were public projects for museums, libraries, historical societies, universities, churches, community organizations, and foundations.

 

Each year, ICA provides free consultations amounting to more than 150 hours of service to over 300 institutions and individuals throughout our region, who seek advice on how to preserve their treasured objects. ICA has a long and rich history of working to preserve our region's artistic and cultural heritage, treating important public artworks and 2014 continued this tradition of service. 

 

ICA Textile Conservator, Jane Hammond, stands on the platform of a scissor lift two storeys up in the Lausche Building's lobby to clean the multitude of linen threads comprising Cloud VI.
Textiles

In the summer of 2014 , ICA conservators led by Textile Conservator Jane Hammond  worked to clean and stabilize a monumental fiber art sculpture in the Frank J. Lausche State Office Building, located in downtown Cleveland. Installed by the artist Lenore Tawney in 1981,  Cloud VI consists of 16' lengths of painted and dyed linen thread hanging in bundles from a 26' x 6' painted cotton canvas "cloud", which is suspended from the 28 ft. high lobby ceiling by clear monofilaments. 


For three weeks, ICA conservators painstakingly removed years of dust and grime from each of the thousands of linen strings. After cleaning, the strands were wound intfigure-8 weaver's "butterfly" skeins to allow the scissor lift to pass safely underneath to the next section of threads. Once cleaning was complete, the bundles were unwound and humidified. This extensive and unique project was funded by a grant from the Lenore G. Tawney Foundation.

 

Objects
ICA organized a complete conservation treatment of the Free Stamp, Cleveland's iconic pop art sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen installed in Willard Park adjacent to City Hall. The Free Stamp conservation project, initiated by The Sculpture Center, was a unique collaboration of the City of Cleveland and the technical experts at ICA and Thomariosan Akron-based firm with expertise in restoration and metal coatings. ICA lead a team of national experts in several specialties, including outdoor sculpture conservation.

At the onset of the project ICA consulted with Oldenburg, who contributed to aesthetic decisions regarding specifics of the treatment, ensuring that the results would remain faithful to his original vision. All interior and exterior surfaces were repainted using high-performance coatings from Sherwin Williams matched to the original colors.

Paintings
The iconostasis project involves the preservation and conservation of a ninety year-old icon screen (iconostasis) at the historic Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church in Tremont. This fall, ICA conservators worked onsite at Holy Ghost Church to treat the hand-carved, wooden and gilt, Hungarian icon screen that stands 30 feet high and 29 feet wide at the front of the church's sanctuary.


Holy Ghost Church was closed as a parish church in 2009, but after a creative visioning process was reopened as the Byzantine Catholic Cultural Center, a spiritual community center in the heart of Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood. The site plan for the mission of the Byzantine Catholic Cultural Center at Holy Ghost Church-- "Bringing Faith to Life in Tremont"-- includes a caf�, gallery space, men's discernment community house, and the Shrine of the Martyrs inside Holy Ghost Church, where the iconostasis is located. 


Paper Conservator, Jamye Jamison, instructs a student intern working to stabilize fragile materials in one of the Figge's scrapbooks.
Paper 

The scrapbooks are from the Figge Art Museum in 

Davenport, Iowa. They were compiled by Nan Wood Graham, Grant Wood's sister, following his death. They range in scope from albums of photos of all the works he produced throughout his life to travel journals of their trips around the US. There is of course extensive information about his most famous painting, American Gothic, which now hangs at the Art Institute of Chicago. 


The Figge was given these materials by Ms. Graham and the collection was first surveyed by the ICA in 2007. Over the last few years, the Figge has applied for grants and gathered donations to have several of the scrapbooks treated and made more accessible for researchers. With all of materials in the scrapbooks now accessible and stabilized, the Figge will digitize the scrapbooks and make this invaluable information available to a wider audience.



Education & Outreach

 

Education Outreach Officer, Jennifer Souers Chevraux, shares a 100 year-old photograph with a Head Start class at Archwood Early Center.

ICA engaged over 2900 individuals through its education and outreach programming in 2014, conducting 66 educational programs and tours for students, heritage professionals, collectors, and the general public. Through our art@work program, ICA combines interdisciplinary student experiences that bring STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Science) education to life, while we continue to conduct outreach and education for those in need of instruction on conservation topics. 


ICA established educational partnerships with the The Centers for Families and Children, the Center for Arts-

Inspired Learningalong with schools and universities around Northeast Ohio, providing free programming for students from Pre-K to post-grads. 

 

ICA presented free community programs on public art projects in partnership with Cleveland State UniversityPechaKucha ClevelandAllen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, Belt Magazine and the Happy Dog. We also held an open house as part of the Northern Ohio Art Dealers Association's Art Expo at the Transformer Station.


 

Special Services

 

ICA Executive Director, Al Albano, worked with the  Cuyahoga County Public Library  (CCPL) system to select artwork for four new library branches. Mr. Albano consulted with the library system, project architects, engineers, and others involved in the building campaign, choosing the artists who created unique, signature artworks for each library.

 

ICA Operations Manager, Chris Pelrine, oversaw the installation of a new sculpture by Northeast Ohio artist Paul O'Keefe in front of the Cuyahoga County Public Library's Parma-Snow branch. ICA conservation staff also treated and reframed five quilts for reinstallation in the newly renovated Warrensville Heights branch.


 


ICA Board of Directors                                                      ICA Staff
President
William C. Beckenbach
Cleveland State University

Albert Albano
Executive Director
Vice President
H. Scott Westover
The Progressive Art Collection

Andrea Chevalier
Senior Paintings Conservator
Secretary
Carl J. Dyczek, Esq.
Walter | Haverfield

Jennifer Souers Chevraux
Education Outreach Officer
Treasurer
Nancy Brown, CPA
Lakeland Community College

Charles Eiben
Art Transport Manager/Preparator
Cortney Crockett
Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority

Mark Erdmann
Objects Conservator
Charles Ellert
Federal Reserve Bank

Heather Galloway
Paintings Conservator
Lori Long, PhD
Baldwin Wallace University

Jane Hammond
Textile Conservator
Aaron Marcovy
MCPc, Inc.

Anne Cole Hinebaugh
Objects Conservation Assistant
Robert Maschke
Robert Maschke Architects, Inc.

Lou Cinda Holt
Director of Registration and Contracts
Charles J. Mintz
Mintz Photography

Jamye Jamison
Paper Conservator
Richard Rogers
Austin Bioinnovation Institute of Akron

Carl Macey, CPA
Director of Finance
Kerry Watterson
McDonald Partners, LLC

Wendy Partridge
Paintings Conservator


Christopher Pelrine
Operations Manager


John Seyfried
Conservation Photographer


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Preparator

ICA - Art Conservation is grateful for the generous support we receive from the community through individual donations and operating support grants from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and the Ohio Arts Council.

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ICA - Art Conservation
2915 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44113

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