Twenty Years of Conservation
Improvements through CAP
Morikami Museum & Gardens
Delray Beach, Florida
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Morikami Museum Building |
Since 1977, the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens has cared for a collection that has grown to over 5,000 Japanese art objects and artifacts, as well as 17 acres of Japanese gardens. In 1992, a CAP assessment was overseen by the museum’s Cultural Director, Tom Gregersen. He had noted with concern that the museum’s collection of traditional Japanese stone sculptures, which had stood outside for hundreds of years in Japan while suffering little to no damage, had begun to show marked signs of deterioration after just 10 years in the Delray Beach, Florida environment.
The museum’s CAP assessor, Nathan Stolow, recommended that the sculptures be brought indoors, cleaned and stabilized. Conservation work on these and other objects in the museum’s collection was done by staff, with assistance from conservators. Private foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts were the sources of most of the funds for these projects.
Given their small collections at the time of their CAP, the Morikami Museum was able to implement all of its recommendations many years ago. However, according to Gregersen, "the conservation principles Mr. Stolow taught us have stayed with us and inspire us to continue to apply best conservation practices, even to projects that started long after the CAP assessment." For instance, once a second building was completed on the site, the Morikami began to collect paintings. Thanks to what they learned from their CAP assessor, they were aware of the need to assess the paintings’ physical condition upon arrival at the museum, as well as the need to seek conservation treatment when necessary.
Thanks to Tom Gregersen for his help with this article.
Photo courtesy of the Morikami Museum
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