Laura Eva Hartman, DMA Paintings Conservator; Elena Torok, DMA Associate Objects Conservator; and Lance Lander, DMA Manager of Gallery Technology and Innovation, will present a behind-the-scenes look into the preparation of various objects for the exhibition Slip Zone: A New Look at Postwar Abstraction in the Americas and East Asia, on view until summer of 2022. The presentation will include discussions of conservation treatments, including the treatment, such as repairing a tear in the canvas, of a modern painting by Maria Luisa Pacheco, and an installation by Atsuko Tanaka. A Q+A will follow.
This is one of a three-talk series featuring Laura Eva Hartman and other DMA staff, who will discuss their conservation work on paintings and objects featured in the exhibitions Focus On: Henry Ossawa Tanner, Slip Zone: A New Look at Postwar Abstraction in the Americas and East Asia, and Van Gogh and the Olive Groves.
Laura Eva Hartman is the Paintings Conservator at the Dallas Museum of Art. She joined the DMA in October 2015 to work alongside Mark Leonard in establishing the formal Paintings Conservation Department at the DMA. Hartman undertakes the examination and treatment of paintings in the DMA’s collection, as well as of loaned works for special exhibitions, working closely with colleagues in the Curatorial and Conservation departments. Notable projects include contributions to the Van Gogh and the Olive Groves exhibition and catalog, and significant treatments for works in the DMA’s collection, including Jackson Pollock’s Cathedral, Louis Anquetin’s Woman at Her Toilette, and Rufino Tomayo’s Nude, to name a few. Hartman has published widely on the use of new and innovative treatment techniques developed at the DMA. Hartman received her MS degree from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. She has held positions at institutions including the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Spain; the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery in Den Haag, Netherlands; the Yale University Art Galleries in New Haven, Connecticut; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Elena Torok is the Associate Objects Conservator at the Dallas Museum of Art, where she works on the treatment, research, and long-term care of objects in the collection. Since 2017 she has worked with an interdepartmental team at the DMA to develop and implement collection care plans for time-based media artworks at the Museum. She earned her MS from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2013, with concentrations in Objects Conservation and Preventive Conservation.
Lance Lander is the Manager of Gallery Technology and Innovation at the Dallas Museum of Art. During his 17 years at the Museum, he has managed the installation of all time-based media, and he designs, installs, and maintains all technological components within the DMA’s exhibitions and galleries. Lander also works directly with the Conservation Department to properly care for and store the DMA’s media-based artworks, and he recently designed and developed a “Migration Station” to transfer magnetic tapes to digital format. He has developed pioneering innovations in remote access, automation, and playback reliability. Some of his noteworthy installations include Fast Forward (2006), Phil Collins: The World Won’t Listen (2007), Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson (2008), All The World’s a Stage (2009), Private Universes: Media Works (2009), The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier (2011), Omer Fast: 5000 Feet is the Best (2012), Koki Tanaka (2013), Mirror Stage (2015), Carey Young: The New Architecture (2017), Truth: 24 frames per second (2017), Focus On: Ragnar Kjartansson (2019), Speechless: Different by Design (2019), and For a Dreamer of Houses (2020).