Terry Way Bio & Sculpture
Terry Way interviewed about FACTS - January 24, 2001
TRIPP: I understand you just returned from the West Coast Art and Framing Conference in Las Vegas, where you were on a discussion panel regarding an organization called the FACTS Guild. What is the FACTS Guild??
TERRY: The FACTS Guild is short for Fine Art Care & Treatment Standards Guild. FACTS is a non-profit organization which was created in 1994. The organization evolved from the ever-increasing need for information about artwork and keepsakes among those who prepare them for display, collect them for personal or investment reasons, and create them as artists.
The simple fact that artwork and keepsakes need ongoing care and maintenance if they are to last, is news to many.
So FACTS set out to create, for the first time, guidelines for preservation framing.
I am a committee member for the Generally Accepted Framing Practices project, which began in 1995. That project undertook the task of determining what the common methods and practices of picture framers were and to discover and compile the various problems that we saw occurring and finally to recommend solutions for the various problems.
TRIPP: How many people were on the committee?
TERRY: Originally there were 52 members of that committee, with a combined experience of about 850 years. Over a period of about a year and a half we finally arrived at a consensus for the Standard Guide for Maximum Preservation Framing. The original guidelines were for works on paper. Since that guideline was released, we have also released guidelines for preservation framing of photographs and textiles and in fact discovered that the requirements for these three categories were very similar, and so we combined all of the guidelines into one document which is reviewed and updated every two years.
TRIPP: What kinds of damage or problems do these guidelines address?
TERRY: A great deal of the artwork that is produced currently and that we have from the past is done on paper. Now paper is not the most stable nor consistent product that was ever made. Prior to the mid-1800s, paper was made primarily from cotton or rags because they did not have machinery to process wood pulp into paper. Now wood pulp does have good fiber in it, it is referred to as alpha fiber, but it also has lignin in it, which is a highly acidic material. Newsprint is the best example of a low-grade paper, which contains lignin. Everybody knows what happens to newsprint if it is exposed to direct sunlight for a few days: It turns brown and becomes very fragile. That’s because the sunlight activates the acids which are present in the paper, and the integrity of paper begins to fail. Paper is also vulnerable to moisture, mold, dirt, staining, and tearing.
TRIPP: So what measures can be taken to extend an artwork’s life?
TERRY: Some of the basic things that the FACTS guidelines recommend is to use only high-grade Mat Board and backing, which is lignin-free, to use glass which has an ultraviolet filter, which cuts down on the amount of damaging light that hits the artwork. FACTS guidelines also recommend placement of artwork in the home or office, because no matter how well artwork is framed, is still vulnerable to fading and damage when placed in direct sunlight or areas of high humidity. The best example of controlling environment and presentation will be found in museums. Most museums are dimly lit, and if they have indirect sunlight it will be filtered. You will also see humidity and temperature controls set to very narrow tolerances. Museum shows are also up for a short amount of time, then they are handled and inspected for any problems, and put back into safe, protected storage. This is very different from hanging a fine art print in your living room, which gets strong indirect sunlight and large temperature changes and perhaps having a forced air heating duct blowing on it or, my favorite, hanging artwork above a fireplace.
TRIPP: So if you have an old print that has some damage, will preservation framing help it?
TERRY: Not really. Preservation framing will not repair damage. The most we may ask of preservation framing is that it will do no harm. If artwork or photographs have a problem it should be dealt with and repaired before being framed for presentation.
TRIPP: Do photographs have their own set of problems?
TERRY: Yes, they do. In just a few years there will be no surviving original photographs from the civil war era. The photographic process of that time was not stable. The photographs are destroying themselves. Museums are very busy digitizing their collections of photographs to save the images. The more modern photographs are often vulnerable as well. Many of the color snapshots that were taken in the 1960s and ’70s are now shifting their color to the reds. This is a function of the processing. The only thing that can be done is to copy the photograph and color correct it. Obviously preservation framing a photograph that is shifting its color will not correct the color.
TRIPP: So, what is next for the FACTS Guild?
TERRY: FACTS is a dynamic organization. The guidelines are always open to revision. Information is constantly being collected and updated. FACTS has a broad support base and is involved in getting the word out. Anyone interested may become involved.
For more information visit the FACTS web site: www.artfacts.org.
