Bringing together the international mountmaking community
The 7th International Mountmakers Forum was held virtually from October 26-29, 2020.
Mountmakers and allied professionals from around the world attended this four day virtual forum full of talks, tours, posters, and after-parties!
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The first day included talks on various topics such as display and conservation, telescopic mounts, working with plexiglass panels, internal mounts, a tour of the Mount Lab at the St. Louis Art Museum, and a poster presentation: "Floating Cradle for Pamphlets and
Light Books."
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The second day included talk focused on seismic mounts and considered mountmaking in earthquake zones. Our tour was of the Mount Shop at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and that day's poster was "Herculaneum Tripod and Ivory Fragments: A Visible Mount."
The third day was focused on mannequins, including a wonderful panel discussion at the end of the day. Our tour was at the Mountmaking Focus Studio in Seattle Washington, USA and our poster presentation was "Paper Hair and Paper Maché: Mounting Three Korean Headpieces at the V&A."
The fourth day wrapped up the forum with a smattering of different topics such as templating, lost ornaments, chairs mounted at an angle, magnets, clear view-top jar lids, Lascaux 303, and remote mountmaking.
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Here is the link to the IMF's YouTube Channel for each day's sessions:
To see each presenter's abstract, bio, and presentation on You Tube:
Day One Presentations
Monday, October 26th
Early Session 2-4 pm ET
Intro Speaker: Duane Blue Spruce, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC, USA
"Mount-making for Display and Conservation: A Case Study"
Leanne Smith, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
"Nowhere to Hide: Seamless Mounting on a Plexiglass Panel"
Andrew Estep, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA; Jody Hanson, Freelance Mountmaker, Buffalo, New York, USA
"Telescopic Slide: A Wall-mount System for Presenting Light and Fragile Objects"
Pierre-luc Brouillette, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, CA
Tour 415-445 pm ET
St. Louis Art Museum: Virtual Mount Lab Tour
Tim Skornia, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Poster Presentation 445-500 pm ET
“Floating Cradle for Pamphlets and Light Books”
Lucía Torner, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Winterthur, Delaware, USA
Late Session 5-7 pm ET
“Internal Struggles: A Look at Interior Mounting Solutions”
Warren Bennett, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA
“Invisible Mounts: Internal Mounting Techniques at the Harvard Art Museums”
Jill Comer, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
“Mounting Religious Objects with a Consideration for Access to the Object”
Louise Bradley, Conservation Framing for Works of Art, Rye, Victoria, AU
“Mounting a Private Collection of Ethnographic Art”
Louise Bradley, Conservation Framing for Works of Art, Rye, Victoria, AU
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Day Two Presentations
Tuesday, October 27th
Early Session 2-4 pm ET
Intro Speakers: BJ Farrar, The Getty Center and McKenzie Lowry, The Getty Villa, Los Angeles, California, USA
“Mount Fixtures for Donald Judd Sculpture”
Tim Skornia, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
“Mounting Isamu Noguchi’s One Ton Sculpture, The Seeker Sought”
Vincent Avalos, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, California, USA
“Shaken Not Stirred”
Ted Gardeline and Monica Shah, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Panel Discussion: “Earthquakes and Mounts”
Vincent Avalos, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, California, USA; BJ Farrar, The Getty Center, Los Angeles, California, USA; Ted Gardeline, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, Alaska, USA; Richard Hards, The Getty Villa, Los Angeles, California, USA; Jamie Hascall, Mountmaking Focus Studio, Seattle, Washington, USA; McKenzie Lowry, The Getty Villa, Los Angeles, California, USA; Mark Mitton, The Getty Center, Los Angeles, California, USA; Monica Shah, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Tour 415-445 pm ET
MFA-Boston: Virtual Mount Shop Tour
Brett Angell, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Poster Presentation 445-500 pm ET
“Herculaneum Tripod and Ivory Fragments: A Visible Mount and Reversible
Conservation Support”
Richard Hards and Jessie Arista, J. Paul Getty Museum, Pacific Palisades, California, USA
Late Session 5-7 pm ET
“Digital Fabrication in the Museum Space”
Adam Bradshaw, Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum,
Washington, DC, USA
“3D Technology for the Making of Replicas and Mounts”
Bebay Gonzalez, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland, NZ
“Displaying a Leather Back Turtle Amongst a Sea of Rubbish”
Tom Beeston, Auckland Museum, Auckland, NZ
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Day Three Presentations
Wednesday, October 28th
Early Session 2-4 pm ET
Intro Speaker: Robin Hanson, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
“Stephen Jones Hats: A Pragmatic Approach to Mounting 160 Objects in 30 Days”
Jamie Robinson and Ania Golebiowska, Zenzie Tinker Conservation, Brighton, UK
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“Waist-ing Away: Developing a Hanging Waist Support System for Safe Costume Storage”
Becky Doonan, freelance textile conservator, Maastricht, NL
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“Hang in There! Fashioning Storage Mounts for Costume”
Ann Coppinger and Alison Castaneda, Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, New York, USA
Gwen Spicer, Spicer Art Conservation, LLC, USA; Tim Harriss, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA
Tour 415-445 pm ET
Mountmaking Focus Studio: Virtual Shop Tour
Jamie Hascall, Mountmaking Focus, Seattle, Washington, USA
Poster Presentation 445-500 pm ET
Andrea Goldstein, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Late Session 5-7 pm ET
Mannequin Focus “Now you see me, now you don’t”
Institutional Solutions
Part 1 “Mannequins at NMAI: An Ongoing Conversation”
Emil Her Many Horses and Shelly Uhlir, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC, USA
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Part 2 “Mannequin Matters at Kent State University Museum”
Sara Hume and Jim Williams, Kent State University Museum, Kent, Ohio, USA
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Part 3 “Anchorage Museum Mannequin Evolution”
Sara Owens, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
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Now You See Me....
Part 1 “Mannequins For Real People: Historic Vs. Contemporary”
Lara Flecker, V&A Museum, London, UK
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Part 2 “A Mannequin Is Converted”
Brett Angell, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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...And Now You Don’t
Part 1 “Mount for a Riding Habit”
Sam Gatley, Te Papa Museum, Wellington, NZ
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Part 2 “Animated Forms”
Mair La Touche, Benchmark, Rosemont, New Jersey, USA
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Part 3 “There Are Two Sides to Everything”
Heidi Swierenga, The University of British Columbia, Museum of Anthropology, British Columbia, CA
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Part 4 “Mounting a Queue of Human Hair for an Exhibit on Discrimination: A Mountmaking Story”
Ian Hart, Natural History Exhibit Preparator, San Francisco, California, USA
Day Four Presentations
Thursday, October 29th
Early Session 2-4 pm ET
Intro Speaker: Jamie Hascall, Mountmaking Focus Studio, Seattle Washington, USA
“What Your Mountmaking Mama Never Told You”
Erika Johnson and Jen Simons, Brigid Mountmaking, USA
Jody Hanson, Freelance Mountmaker, Buffalo, New York, USA; Nick Pedemonti, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA
“The Chair That Wouldn’t Fall Over”
Brett Angell, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
“Buttons and Magnets: A Mountmaker’s Journey”
Laura McClure, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History,
Washington, DC, USA
“Looking at Magnetic Cleaning Pads for Exhibit Display Cases”
Gwen Spicer, Spicer Art Conservation, LLC, USA; Yadin Larochette, Tru Vue, USA
Panel Discussion
“Magnets: Safety, Storage, Handling, Tools, and Coatings”
Gwen Spicer, Spicer Art Conservation, LLC, USA; Pierre-luc Brouillette, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, CA; Laura McClure, National Museum of American History, Washington, DC, USA
Poster Presentation 445-500 pm ET
Zoë Lanceley, Freelance Conservator, UK
Late Session 5-7 pm ET
“A Clear View From Above. View-top Jar Lids for the Exhibition of Fluid
Preserved Specimens”
Ian Hart, Natural History Exhibit Preparator, San Francisco, California, USA
Sebastian Denize, Neeha Velagapudi and Emily Fryer, Canterbury Museum,
Christchurch, NZ
“Remote Mountmaking and Virtual Couriering: A Case Study”
Philip Brutz, Robin Hanson, Elizabeth Saluk, Kristen Windmuller-Luna, Cleveland Museum
of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA;
Renée Stein, Bruce Raper, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Closing Remarks
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