Services

Art Restoration in Santa Fe

Your Visit at Revive

When you bring your artwork to Revive, we will examine it and gather information about the artist, period and medium. We will also discuss treatment options and your desired outcome for the restoration process.

Depending on the state of the artwork and what we discuss are the best options for restoration, we will examine it under ultraviolet light to determine whether there is any previous inpainting, the type/s of varnish present and whether there has been any previous restoration. Depending on the painting’s needs, we may also perform a cleaning test to find which cleaning agent will be most effective and if the pigments display any sensitivity to the cleaning agent. We then tailor a treatment proposal to reflect the desired outcome.

We are always happy to discuss your artwork, treatment needs and options with you. We provide restoration and conservation services for galleries, museums, collectors and anyone who owns art. Below you’ll find descriptions of the artwork we treat most often.

Historic Art Restoration and ConservationHistoric

Paintings of historical significance are also referred to as classical or traditional and include artwork from the mid-20th century and earlier. Often these works are executed in a traditional manner on canvas, wood panels or other types of artists’ boards. Before the mid-20th century many modern materials were not yet available. Criteria for examining and testing historic paintings is often much more standardized than modern and contemporary paintings.

Contemporary Art RestorationContemporary

Revive provides restoration and conservation for contemporary artwork. Often conservators are reluctant to work on contemporary pieces, with good reason, due to the various media artists use and the unpredictability of the materials. Whereas historic pieces use common media to paint and create artwork, contemporary artwork takes many forms and requires a greater amount of detective work to determine the appropriate treatment course.

Structural ArtObjects

Whether it is a Santo, painted wooden sculpture or unknown medium, Revive takes pride in extending our expertise into the realm of sculptural art. Sometimes a person’s most prized piece of art is not a painting or traditional sculpture but maybe a lamp, or a papier-mâché folk art masterpiece. We will work on many objects; however, when it comes to bronze and ceramic specialties, we are happy to recommend our colleagues.

Services We Provide

Structural Art RestorationStructural

Structural work we provide includes tear repair and consolidation (stabilizing flaking paint), vacuum table treatments, humidity treatments and thermal plastic infusion, linings, edge linings and replacing stretcher bars.

Cleaning

Cleaning artwork may involve the removal of surface grime, embedded dirt, discolored natural resin varnish, synthetic resin varnish and accretions. Art CleaningWhen cleaning paintings, we also treat other environmental situations such as tar, cigarette smoke, grease, wax, soot and oil. Cleanings are conducted using solutions of detergents and solvents, applications including cotton swabs, scalpels, and dry cleaning techniques.

Inpainting

Losses are filled with reversible vinyl gesso and color retouched using pigments mulled in acrylic resin, watercolor, dry pigments and other appropriate conservation materials. All inpainting done at Revive is fully reversible.

Varnish

Reversible varnish layers are applied when safe and appropriate. This protects the painting and provides an even sheen. Each batch is mixed to the desired sheen/matte ratio and applied evenly. Varnish is soaked and mixed from resin crystals by hand in the studio.

Write Condition Reports

A conservator will personally examine your painting and write a detailed report outlining structural condition, stretcher bars/substrate, canvas material/weave, ground, paint layers, varnish and any issues or problems present.