MCI paintings conservators researched and adapted a small footprint, re-usable, cross-function, modular, and environment-responsive travel box for shipping paintings. This design reduces cost and risk of mishandling, protects the painting surface, and maintains the safety of the painting during transit. In collaboration with SI collection care staff, the travel box is being added to the standard procedures for packing and shipping paintings. This travel box works especially well for fragile and over-size paintings.
Preventive Conservation: For Paintings on Canvas in Storage and in Exhibition
Collection care integrates the principles of preventive conservation, collections management, and sustainable practices in order to preserve cultural heritage and the environment for future generations. Sustainability is now being incorporated into conservation endeavors. In addition, to consider the interaction of artworks in response to the environment, conservation must consider the production, use and disposal of materials used in our practice. We must be aware of our impact on pollution and waste, and implement more sustainable practices—reduce, recycle, and reuse.
Standard museum crates are expensive and often overbuilt for van travelling. The travel box, for packing and handling paintings on canvas, grew out of the need to incorporate sustainable practices into preventive conservation. The back of the painting is attached to the travel box and the free space between the edge of the travel box and the painting around the face and sides makes it possible to pack and unpack with very little handling and direct contact. Conservation-grade materials—Ethafoam and Volara—are added to the bottom of the box to absorb shock and vibration, and Coroplast covers the front and back of the travel box.
The travel box is especially useful for fragile and over-size modern and contemporary paintings that are prone to damage due to mishandling.
The following diagrams illustrate the construction of the travel box, the clips used to secure the painting, and the locking and handling hardware. The travel box can be placed inside a crate for air travel. It can be streamlined for temporary storage, shipping, and safe handling.
