Preservation & Restoration

The GNDA Virtual Museum recognizes that the objects in the Gallup New Deal art collection are in need of conservation. Some conservation work has been done over the years, but none recently. 

In terms of past conservation work, particular attention has been paid to Lloyd Moylan’s mural in the courtroom of the historic McKinley County Courthouse. According to available records, the mural was first “refurbished” in 1962 by T. Noe. Additional conservation work was undertaken in 1987 by Claire Munzinrider from the New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe (now the New Mexico Museum of Art). It would appear that the last time the mural had conservation work done was in 1991, when Jill Whitten and Robert Proctor, students from Buffalo State College, provided assistance.

Other known conservation work includes: 

• Treatment of West Wind by the artist Joseph Fleck by Gallup artist Jacquelyn Cattaneo in 1997; 
• A restoration on 13 paintings in the Octavia Fellin Public Library by Neri Zagal Fine Art from Albuquerque in 1999; 
• Cleaning and repair of the W.R. Leigh painting Horses & Whiskey Don’t Mix by Steven Prins & Company from Santa Fe in 1999.

Public art, including that in Gallup’s New Deal art collection, faces a variety of challenges and “risks” to conservation, including public access, non-ideal display conditions (e.g., adverse lighting, temperature, and humidity), and lack of funding and/or expertise.