Join a lively illustrated lecture intended to provide artists with basic information about the way art materials behave, so they can make thoughtful decisions about fabricating artworks that will last over time.
Drawing from their experience as leading conservators of contemporary art materials, RLA Conservation conservators Rosa Lowinger and Elena Bowen will give a basic introduction to what causes damage to artworks and how artists can maximize the use of even the most non-traditional objects and materials to achieve their creative ends.
This talk is the first of a series on the basics of conservation, with the next session focusing on saving works from weather-related incidents, including fire and flood damage. There will be ample time for individual questions from the audience!
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Please enter through the pedestrian gate adjacent to the yellow building facing 32nd Street. Free street parking is available on 32nd Street and 6th Avenue.
About the conservators
Rosa Lowinger is a Cuban-born American conservator of sculpture and architectural materials with 30+ years of experience in the private sector. As a graduate of the conservation program at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, she currently holds the position of a co-chief conservator at RLA Conservation, LLC, a practice she founded in 2009.
Rosa was one of the nation’s first conservators of contemporary art and pioneered the practice of reviewing new public commissions in order to ensure their longevity. She is also the author of the book Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of the Legendary Cuban Nightclub (Harcourt: 2006) and numerous articles for popular audiences about conservation, culture, and Cuban modern architecture. She curated the exhibits Concrete Paradise: Miami Marine Stadium at the Coral Gables Museum and Promising Paradise: Cuban Allure American Seduction at the Wolfsonian Museum.
She serves on the boards of Dade Heritage Trust, the Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami, the Florida Association of Public Art Professionals, the Florida Association of Museums, and the Partnership for Sacred Places. Her upcoming book Dwell Time: A Memoir of Art, Exile, and Repair will be published by Row House Publishing in October 2023.
Elena Bowen has been a conservator at RLA’s Miami Studio since 2021. She holds an M.A. in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials from the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program and received her bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from Wellesley College. At RLA, Elena manages the outdoor sculpture collection for the Lowe Museum at the University of Miami and serves as lead conservator managing the museum quality collections for a number of private clients. This has included the treatment of works by Fernando Botero, Fernand Leger, Robert Indiana, Yayoi Kusama, Beverly Pepper, Antony Gormley, Ugo Rondinone, and Donald Judd.
Prior to joining RLA, she completed pre-program internships at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, and the Penn Museum. She completed graduate internships at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Carlos Museum at Emory University. She has also worked on archaeological sites in Peru and Greece and has experience working with Native and local communities, artists, and artist foundations.
For information on RLA Conservation’s exciting compendium of projects, see www.rlaconservation.com.