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Caring for Art

While the Museum strives to enhance the size and quality of our collection, another equally important task is caring for more than 20,000 art objects we already own. Read along to learn the many ways we conserve and protect our priceless works of art.

Conservation at the BMA: XFR Scanner

As stewards of one of the most diverse collections of art in the Southeast, the Birmingham Museum of Art has a duty to ensure each work of art is properly […]

American Painting Survey

This spring, the Museum took a close look at some of its American paintings. Collection highlights including George Inness’s Moonlight in Virginia, John Singer Sargent’s Lady Helen Vincent, and Charles […]

What is a Rotation?

The BMA staff recently completed the first of three rotations for its current exhibition, Third Space /shifting conversations about contemporary art. In addition to the 50 pieces that will remain […]

European Art Conservation

The European Art Department has been steadily working on the conservation of European paintings. The European Art Society and a number of generous patrons have funded multiple projects already and the […]

Popular Sculpture to be Conserved

After years of guarding the 8th Avenue entrance to the Museum, the monumental sculpture “Steelworker” will be removed for conservation work on May 10. The statue, created by artist Luis […]

Art Matters: What’s In A Color?

For thirty years, Exhibition Designer Terry Beckham has been establishing the look and feel of the Museum’s galleries through one important, though often overlooked, quality: the paint color on our […]

Art Matters: New Gallery, New Ideas

Numerous technological changes have occurred since the 1990s, and the world of art conservation is no different! Over the years, art conservationists have kept up with innovative products and solutions, […]

Art Matters: A Changing “Target”

[gss = Since its arrival on the grounds of the Museum, John Scott’s Target has enlivened the environment with its bright colors and fanciful shapes. In its position by the […]

From Paper Trails to Digital Delivery

by Suzanne Voce Stephens, Collections Database Administrator In the “old days” of Museum Registration, we used to type colorcoded cards to cross-reference our collection records—white cards for object records, pink for donors, green for […]

Protecting Our Material Assets

Some of the most fragile objects in the Museum collection are made of fabric. Our textiles range from delicate silk brocades to hardy raffia piles, collected from all over the […]