Tony Smith in Red: High Performance Paint Systems and the Science of Choosing the Right Paint for outdoor Sculpture

April 16, 2017
Event Types
Talk / Lecture
Red painted steel geometric sculpture with hard edges and rectangular shapes within on a small grass field.

Tony Smith, For Marjorie, 1961. Purchased with MIT Percent-for-Art funds. © 2024 Tony Smith Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Charles Mayer Photography

Join List Visual Arts Center and Rika Smith McNally, Conservator, in a discussion about the science of choosing the right paint for outdoor sculpture and get a behind-the-scenes perspective on conserving public art works through close looking at Tony Smith’s For Marjorie. Rika Smith McNally is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and has a master’s degree in conservation from the Winterthur University of Delaware Art Conservation Program.  She has a certificate in conservation from the Harvard University Art Museums and is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.  Her published research includes the preservation of modern and contemporary outdoor sculpture. Currently the Director of Art Conservation for the Cambridge Arts Council, she has conserved a number of outdoor sculptures on the MIT campus.