UCI Giving Day 2023

Six years ago, UCI committed to establishing an art museum and research institute on campus following gifts of two important art collections that reflect California artmaking from the late 19th century to present day. Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) understands that this commitment comes with the obligation to care for its growing collection for the benefit of current and future generations.

A fundamental aspect of Langson IMCA’s stewardship plan is conservation, which helps to ensure the long-term health of artworks in the collection. The practice of conservation, which requires professional training and combines artistry with science, protects works from loss or deterioration caused by temperature and humidity fluctuations, mold and mildew, over-exposure to light, pests, smoke, and human damage. The process entails four principal actions:

• Analysis – to review an artwork’s history, understand how it was made and with what materials, and examine its current condition.
• Documentation – to record via photography and written report an artwork’s existing condition.
• Treatment – to repair or stabilize an artwork in ways that are unobtrusive and reversible to preserve the artist’s original intent.
• Prevention – to mitigate future deterioration through prophylactic measures such as safe storage and handling, proper display, environmental monitoring, and pest control.

Langson IMCA has partnered with Balboa Art Conservation Center (BACC) in San Diego to provide expert conservation care to the collection. Each year, approximately 150 artworks in need of intervention are assessed, treated, photographed, reframed, and repacked. One work currently poised for treatment is a large, colorful, two-piece mural (shown above and below), painted in oil on canvas by Jessie Arms Botke in 1955-56 for The Coral Spa at The Oaks hotel in Ojai. Previously on view in 2021 at the Laguna Art Museum, the mural was recently examined by BACC conservators, who outlined a plan to clean its surface of accumulated dirt, remove old varnish and overpaint, and infill a few areas where paint has flaked off the canvas. Here the conservators have marked the areas of deterioration to guide their work.


A suite of three acrylic paintings circa mid-1990s by Patssi Valdez, shown below, needs similar remediation, especially surface cleaning to restore the paint’s original luster and new mounts to better support the canvasses.

On Giving Day 2023, please join Langson IMCA as a safekeeper of California cultural history by making a gift for art conservation. A generous supporter of the museum has stepped forward and offered to match all contributions made on Giving Day up to $15,000! Langson IMCA has established a fund to enable ongoing conservation of works like these in its permanent collection. Caring for the collection in this way allows greater access to important works through exhibitions, educational programs, scholarly research, and institutional loans. 

Your gift to the IMCA Museum Director's Innovation Fund will enable the permanent collection’s long-term care for generations to come.

For questions, please feel free to contact Jamie Bigman at jamieh6@uci.edu. Thank you!

Image Credits

Jessie Arms Botke, Untitled (mural from The Coral Spa’s east wall at The Oaks in Ojai), 1955-1956, Oil with gold leaf on canvas, 82 ½ x 347 ½ in. UCI Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art, Gift of The Irvine Museum.

Condition map prepared by Balboa Art Conservation Center following assessment.

Patssi Valdez, Domestic Goddess/Diosa doméstica, 1995, Acrylic on canvas, 78 x 26 in. The Buck Collection at UCI Jack and Shanaz Institute and Museum of California Art, © Patssi Valdez.

Patssi Valdez, Red Roses/Rosas rojas, 1996, Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 35 in. The Buck Collection at UCI Jack and Shanaz Institute and Museum of California Art, © Patssi Valdez.

Patssi Valdez, Virgin of Guadalupe/Virgen de Guadalupe, 1996, Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 24 in. The Buck Collection at UCI Jack and Shanaz Institute and Museum of California Art, © Patssi Valdez.