Coatings for Exhibition Mounts: A Deep Exploration of a Superficial Process

Since the birth of modern mountmaking in the mid 70’s, little has changed in our mount coating processes. This is a small part of our process, so we tend to keep it simple. We know that choosing the wrong coating can have a damaging effect on the items we are trying to protect. Guided by our institutions, our conservation colleagues, our aesthetics, our tried-and-true methods, and our metalworking processes, we have generally whittled our personal choices down to a useful and select palette of dips, sprays, powders or patination methods. Inspired by a desire to shake up my own old habits by trying to use materials that are less toxic sent me down a multi-branched path of exploration, collaboration, and discovery that resulted in potentially useful choices for our work.