Join us September 15th, 2019 at 2pm as the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County unveils the newly acquired pen and India ink illustrations from Rosemary Well’s Noisy Nora in the beloved nook in the Children’s Library. The illustrations are richly hand colored in watercolor, colored pencils, acrylic ink and gauche pigments. With so much detail, they are a treat to see in person!
Acclaimed author and illustrator, Rosemary Wells, has written many endearing children’s books, including Noisy Nora (a story about a mischievous young mouse) and an entire series about the bunnies Max and Ruby. As part of Ms. Well’s initiative, Real Art for Young Artists, Rosemary Wells has generously offered the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County the opportunity to exhibit more than a dozen original drawings for long-term display in the Children’s Library located in the Main building downtown.
Since the spring of 2018, the Preservation Lab has been collaborating with colleagues in the Public Library’s Programming, Digital Services, Cataloging, and Facilities departments, as well as the artist herself, on an exhibition of Wells’ Noisy Nora illustrations. To prepare the materials for long-term exhibition each department lent their expertise to ensure a balance between preservation standards, viewer’s needs, and the artist’s vision. This blog post highlights some behind the scenes activities leading up to the exhibition.
Above is an image of the nook in the Children’s Library selected as the exhibition space for the illustrations. The nook is a perfect spot where the light can be controlled, preventing the artwork from fading overtime and it’s a great place to showcase the art at a height children can easily interact. Facilities updated the nook with new paint and wall decals where the artwork will be hung. In addition, to inspire young generations to create their own artwork, seating and tables for crafts will replace the current audio visual shelving and television.
At the Lab, approximately 16 pen and ink drawings and one booklet were received directly from the artist as a group within a folder. Many drawings were attached to illustration boards with translucent overlays wrapped around from behind, taped into place, giving the feeling as though they were just recently mocked up for production. Graphite notes to publishers were written on the transparent papers to inform the size the images should be enlarged or reduced for printing. While not exhibition ready, seeing the artwork in this preproduction state is a rare glimpse into the creative process of the artist!
After the drawings were carefully removed from the illustration boards, using conservation tape removal techniques, some unique features were discovered on the verso of two illustrations. The drawings were digitized to document their condition prior to exhibition. Digitized images of the backs of two illustrations are shown below.
Left: Verso of “And then she dropped her sister’s marbles on the floor” showing an impression of a Windsor and Newton watermark. Right: verso of “No Nora in the Mailbox, No Nora in the Shrub” with a prior sketch crossed out on the back.
To visualize how the illustrations would look in their frames, mock up window mats were created to experiment with how the drawings and captions should be arranged. Below, the frame on the left centers both the artwork and the caption with a small margin around the art; whereas the frame on the right centers mostly the artwork with a much larger margin around the art. Ultimately, our aesthetic preference was the extra margin around the art since the artwork itself was not square. We also decided that no matter what option we chose, we wanted the bottom of the caption to line up throughout all of the frames, whether there was a single or double line of text.
Next, the artwork was measured to estimate material costs for matting and framing. Following exhibition preservation standards, Rising rag museum mat board, UV filtered glazing, and wood frames were selected by the Preservation Lab. We choose using glass over Plexiglas glazing so there would be less concern of harming the glazing surface with cleaners. Because the artwork will be displayed a children’s height level, we also took into account how the artwork will be hung. With the aid of security locking devices, the frames are not removable from the wall by the public, therefore there will be no danger of the frames falling.
To mimic how the artwork was mounted on the original presentation boards (preserving the artist’s intent), the work was matted with captions from the children’s book added below the art. The artwork was mounted with Kozo (mulberry) tissue v-hinges that were pasted to the back of the artwork and then adhered to the back mat with with Zen Shofu wheat starch paste. To maintain a 45% relative humidity environment, the matted artwork was housed within a sealed archival framing package.
Kozo hinges were adhered to the verso of the drawings with Zen Shofu wheat starch paste.
The hand colored drawings were then attached to the back mat using the kozo v-hinges, also adhered with wheat starch paste. The hinges were lightly pressed under weight to dry using pressing stacks.
Landscape window mats were hinged along the top edge with P90 Filmoplast tape.
View of the v-hinges after they are dry.
Drawings are float mounted so the rough cut edges of the drawings are visible.
Recto of sealed framing package.
Verso of sealed framing package.
The framing package contains:
- UV filtered Tru View Museum glass (purchased from our local art supply framing store).
- Float mounted artwork with two Usu gami hinges applied with wheat starch paste inside matting system. Window mat hinged to the left edge of back mat with P90 filmoplast tape.
- Blue corrugated cardboard used as a backing board to the matting package.
- Conservation note loosely set into place for future reference on the back of the corrugated backing board.
- Sheet of Polyester film added behind the corrugated board as a moisture proof barrier.
- To fully seal the entire package, the edges of all the materials were first sealed with pressure sensitive P90 filmoplast tape. A second foil backed framing tape from University Products (part of the Perma/Seal label line) was applied as a barrier to prevent moisture and gas exchange.
- A Dove Gray dust cover was attached to the back of the frames with 3M 415 double stick tape. Barcode labels and an additional conservation note were added to the dust cover.
- Lastly, Three security hangers were attached to the back of the frames; two at the top and one at the bottom.
With the exception of one frame, the original metal prongs were reused to secure the matting packages within the frame. The one exception includes the booklet mounted with a sink mat, this thicker package required nailing brads secured to the inside of the frame rabbet to hold the matting package in place.
Booklet was mounted within a sink mat to account for the thickness of the object.
Before exhibit prep:
During exhibition preparation:
After installation (the art is hung at children’s height!):
During Will Hillenbrand and Rosemary Wells visit on Sept. 15th, they discussed inspiration for books such and Max and Ruby (who are modeled after Ms. Well’s own children!) and delved into the subject of creating a “noisy” book. Mrs. Wells explained her process of conveying sound through illustrations – which by nature are a silent, quiet experience.
You can view the treatment report and treatment documentation for this original artwork on the Preservation Lab’s Digital Resource Commons site here.
Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) – Book and Paper Conservator
Photographic Documentation by Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer, Jessica Ebert & Sidney Gao
