ANA August 21, 2008, Meeting
Rick Parker, owner of Parker Conservation, Inc. of Gentry, AR, kept the members
guessing as he showed us an icon painted on an old wood backing. Was it real? The
icon was a forgery. One revealing clue was the white gesso backing.
Mr Parker spoke of his extensive training and was accepted for an opening at the
Smithsonian Institute. The oldest piece he has worked on was 3500 to 4000 years old.
He has cared for Goya's work and most of the Old Masters. He believes artists are not
taught about survivability for their work. He presented a slide show of a painting in the
process of cleaning and repair. Many technical, tedious stages and analysis of paints
and varnishes are used. Damaged pieces in the canvas are rewoven thread by thread.
A book, “Saving Stuff”, by Don Williams and Louisa Jagger was recommended
. More information about the problems of using zinc whitepaint
can be found at the naturalpigments.com website Pastel artists were cautioned
not to use fixatives. He went on to explain why oil paintings should
not be varnished until six months to a year because of chemical reactions
between varnish and paint.
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