Friday, September 16, 2011

Restorin' Dat Artwork

Hey guys. :) Today Ima blog about what I'd do if I were to pick a career in art. Mkay? Kay. Sooo....
Ever heard of art restoration? It's so much more of a complicated process than you think. First, let's start with what art restoration even is. It's simply the process by which a trained professional cleans, repairs, and restores a damaged or old (we're talking hundreds of years) painting, sculpture, vase, basically ANY artwork you can think of. Many people just think art restoration is simply going over and repainting something to make it look brand new. Right? WRONG. Professional restorers need to know or have the following skills :
  • Some degree of scientific knowledge as far as chemistry goes.
  • Degrees in studio art, fine art, and art history are needed.. Along with graduate programs in fine art conservation.
  • A background or in depth understanding of painting (or sculpting, etc., depending on your choice of medium).
  • Obviously because of all the above, you will need to have a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) or Master of Fine Arts (MFA) courses... Which can go up to five years. 

Wait? Chemistry? Why chemistry. Well guys, sorry for the bad news, but I don't have an amazing video for this one. But.. It does sorta show you why you need some knowledge of chemistry to be a prof. restorer. WATCH THIS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-7epo34-lY&feature=fvwrel

You'll see in the beginning of the video he uses an NH3 (Ammonia) compound to remove the layers of dust and grime caked on the surface of the painting after years upon years of existing. So, there's the chemistry part for you.
Where in the world would you find a job after you're training is complete and are an "aspiring professional"? Simple. Go to ANY museum and tell them you're a prof. restorer. They'll absolutely eat you up if you have the credentials. However, art restoration is a VERY competitive career choice. So, you have to have a strong sense of business and impress very high-ranking people in the art world. I think that I'd love this job because... I'd personally love to challenge myself in order to impress people and actually make my indirect mark upon the art world. Not to mention my perfectionist type attitude and my slight chemistry background would definitely help with the miniature details and compounds I'd have to mix to clean the paintings (or medium of my choice).
Ahhh... The money. After intensive internet research (about 5 minutes of it) I've come to the conclusion that depending upon your locality... You can earn anywhere from $15 to $100 an hour as a prof. art restorer, with an avg. yearly income (of all art restoration related careers) about $60,000. Pretty good, eh? :) Happy blogging!

References:
http://www.careerage.com/career/cc/art/
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-Art+Restoration
http://www.ehow.com/list_6195741_art-restoration-careers.html

3 comments:

  1. Awesome! I've never thought about that job and it seems really interesting.

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  2. You're particular. You could do that well. :P

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  3. Art restoration is a hard process which I'm sure you're aware of, but given the will power I'm sure you can do just about anything, just go for it.

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