BYU NewsNet - The secret chambers of the MOA

By RACHEL STEFFENSEN

It's a combination of beauty, color and emotion, locked behind a giant vault. The prized artwork collection of the Museum of Art is housed within layers of security.

The pieces not on display in the galleries upstairs are placed in an organized storage facility made up of large hallways and vaults. Chris Wilson, the museum's public relations manager, said it might be the most secure place on campus.

Managing the collection and tracking the pieces falls under the responsibility of the registration department. Down on the first floor, the department works within the vaults and can pinpoint the exact location of any piece. But don't try to meander down there yourself.

"No one is admitted without proper security clearance or an escort from a museum security officer," said Trevor Weight, a manager of the museum collection. "Vaults are accessed only by individuals with clearance via a security card scanner."

The vaults are monitored by trained security personnel through cameras, motion detectors and sonic sensors. Basically, nothing goes on without someone watching.

Once a member of registration swipes through the locked doors, it's all business.

"We oversee the movement, storage, handling and safe-keeping of the artwork," said Emily Poulsen, senior manager of the collection. "We are responsible for keeping records of where each piece in the collection is at any given time. Anything that has to do with the physical object is handled by registration. We also keep all of the records that are associated with each work of art."

These records are filed away in cabinets that line the walls. In addition to the name of the author and the title of the work, each file informs registration about where the piece came from, how much it was worth at the time of acquisition and the year the museum added it to the collection.

To keep track of the 17,000 items in the collection, the museum uses The Museum System, a database developed for museums to keep track of artwork. When the museum gets a new piece, it is set up and given its own photo shoot, where the artwork is captured digitally and can be cataloged on the database. The system keeps track of every single detail on every single work.

"Objects in the collection are stored and organized by many different criteria, medium being the first," Weight said.

Registration is responsible for maintaining proper storage for the artwork. With each medium requiring a different storage condition, the objects are divided up into a specific category.

Paintings are stored vertically on large rolling racks or in bins. Works on paper are especially sensitive to light and are stored in dark, flat environments. The sculpture vault has cabinets that hold the sculptures to protect them from dust and are secured with weights to prevent movement in case of an earthquake.

The storage units for works on paper and sculpture have specific temperature and humidity climate control settings. Weight said these elements are crucial to maintaining the collection.

Maggie Leak learned on her first day of the job how valuable the collection is.

"I had to touch very expensive artwork," she said. "Someone was just like, 'Here, hold this Rembrandt.'"

Leak, 25, is a art history student from Kansas City, Mo. She said she's learned the importance of organization and about the archival materials from working within the registration department.

"It's all acid-free and we use gloves for everything," Leak said. "Even in the rooms, the temperature and humidity have to be just right."

Kelsey Rudd, 23, a humanities student from Woodinville, Wash., also works in registration. She said people would be surprised how many works are in the collection because they're not always on display.

The responsibility to show the art falls into the hands of the curators. They search the database to view the entire collection and find pieces that they feel should be used in upcoming exhibits. Their search brings the artworks out of the collection and into an exhibit for display.

"Curators are mainly concerned with doing research on our collection," said Cheryll May, head curator at the museum. She said once a curator finds pieces from the museum's collection, they then extend their search and propose acquisitions to better fill out their exhibit.

"We like to [first] display our permanent collection in some form," said Marian Wardle, curator of American art. "We'll look at what's been on exhibit, what is on exhibit and what hasn't been on exhibit for a long time."

Curators work anywhere from two to five years on exhibits.

"There is a great deal of research, planning and organization that goes into the creation of an exhibition," said Dawn Pheysey, curator of religious art. "It begins with determining a thesis or main concept for the exhibition that is meaningful or significant to our university community."

Constant exploration of the collection helps curators find new meaning from the works on the first floor, and they are eager to share it with the community.

"Sometimes the artwork itself is the impetus for determining an evocative thesis," Pheysey said. "Sometimes the idea comes first, and we then determine the artworks that will support that thesis."