Smoke, Mud and Mold Damaged Artwork! Will Montecito Collections Survive? 3 Tips to Save Your Treasur

Smoke, Mud and Mold Damaged Artwork! Will Montecito Collections Survive?

3 Tips to Save Your Treasured Items

By Marissa Condie, UC Santa Barbara, Conservation Scientist Intern

Montecito, California was recently the center of two major natural disasters over the course of a few weeks. The Thomas Fire covered Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties in ash and smoke. Close on the fire’s heels, a mudslide filled commercial and residential buildings with boulders, mud, and debris. 1,000’s of home were impacted and 100’s damaged badly or obliterated by the boulders being pushed by the mudslides. Without minimizing the apocalyptic conditions that resulted and the impact on personal lives and the community, this article deals with professional services response for saving, protecting and restoring collectibles, artwork and family history items.

Fine Art Conservation Laboratories (FACL), is located only a mile or so from the site of the mudslides. Calls came in almost immediately… “I currently do not have access to my home, but I know there is damaged artwork…..my family and I escaped, and we brought one painting with us…..my home is four feet deep in mud, can my artwork be saved?” At FACL the art conservators are not only equipped to answer these questions, but immediately began to respond to Montecito’s crisis by doing what they do best, saving art. See the short video at the end of this article.

One homeowner that contacted FACL to assist with their disaster response had received a double hit. First, smoke from the Thomas Fire heavily damaged their home. Then, the mudslide left a three-foot mudline throughout the first floor of their home. Smoke, generally, heavily acidifies all paper and fabric materials in the house including framed prints (that appear sealed) hanging on the wall. This chemical process, that if not treated, 1

can begin to yellow the paper perceptively within the year. The ever-present odor of a wildfire also seeps into the canvas works of art and the wooden frames.

In the “mud zone,� many of these pieces were splattered with mud.

Luckily, some of the artwork hanging on the walls was physically untouched by mud, but, as the mud below it started to dry, the drastic swing in humidity began wrinkling the paper and growing mold. In their overwhelming situation, these homeowners took the best step they could have taken and called the conservators at FACL. In the hands of these experts, all of these issues, paper acidity, odor, and wrinkling, are completely treatable. When the rebuilding process is complete, this family’s artwork will be ready to return to the walls of their home.

Another home that contacted the conservators at FACL were also affected by fire and water, but in a peculiar way. The family evacuated for an extended period of time due to the Thomas fire. While they were away, a breeze through a kitchen window knocked over a cutting board, which knocked a potted plant over plugging the drain in the sink, which caused the kitchen water faucet to turn on. It blasted water, at full pressure, for the rest of the evacuation. Besides finding extensive smoke damage upon their return, the family found that their house had experienced a massive flood. The artwork in the home needed special attention, which the conservators at FACL were able to provide including interfacing with the insurance claims adjuster, packing up and storing the artwork during renovation, clean-up of the artwork and redelivery with the care these types of items require.

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In the photo on the right: the fire created a pyroclastic cloud over the areas of Ventura and Santa Barbara. Ash fell on residents for 3-4 weeks

Art conservators are able to use their expertise to guide and aid a community’s disaster response. The timing and nature of a natural disaster can never be predicted, as the Montecito community experienced. Even within this sobering fact, here are 3 tip precautions that can be taken to ease the extent of damage to artwork during a natural disaster: 1. Make sure that a treasured piece of artwork is hung on a wall, or safely stored off the ground at all times. Piled in a corner is a bad idea.

In a flood or mudslide, this simple act can make all the difference.

2. Keep copies of all legal documents and policies in another location. While you may think you can get a copy of your policy from your agent, if the disaster is community wide, there may be a backlog of activity that will keep you from getting the speedy response you desire.

3. The longer the art waits, uncleaned, the more damage is occurring. This leads to a third suggestion, which is to contact a professional art conservator as soon as possible after a natural disaster. An art conservator can help you differentiate, also, for your disaster response company, what can be hit by a mop and what requires special handling and attention.

Questions? Call Fine Art Conservation Laboratories at 805 564 3438 faclartdoc@gmail.com Scott M. Haskins, Virginia Panizzon, Oriana Montemurro - Art Conservators. Andrew Jacobs, Disaster Response Services Coordinator

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Click on this link for a short video.

What treasured family keepsakes, art and collectibles can be saved from such a disaster?!?!

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