Mend Our Broken Art: Hermitage Museum & Gardens, Norfolk, VA

<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Mend Our Broken Art: Hermitage Museum & Gardens, Norfolk, VA

con • ser • va • tion (kŏn’sûr-vā’shən) n.

1. the act of conserving; prevention of injury, decay, waste, or loss; preservation.

2. the careful utilization of a natural resource in order to prevent depletion.

3. the restoration and preservation of works of art.

4. the purpose of the Hermitage Museum art adoption program and Mend Our Broken Art exhibition promoting the preservation of irreplaceable cultural property for future generations.

Girl Drinking from a Shell, Edward McCartan

Mend Our Broken Art
Conservation Program and Annual Exhibition

The Mend Our Broken Art conservation program began with a great need: the cost of maintenance and care of the Hermitage’s permanent collection. With the recognition and funds raised by this annual exhibition, more than twenty works have been conserved over the course of the program’s three year history.

Art enthusiasts, conservators and patrons have combined their efforts with those of the museum to ensure the future of the cultural heritage of those works restored by the program. With your donation, the Hermitage can continue these strides in conservation and promote the preservation of irreplaceable cultural property for future generations.

With over 3,000 pieces in the Hermitage's permanent collection, nearly 88% of the museum's holdings require conservation at some level. A conservation triage system ranks the immediacy of the needs of each piece in the museum’s collection. Those works in most dire need are closely assessed by professional conservators and offered for public adoption.

Adopting a piece offers a rare opportunity for art enthusiasts to meet conservators and become intimately involved in the conservation process from beginning to end. These generous patrons also become members of our Conservators' Circle.

For additional information on Mend Our Broken Art, works available for conservation, or how to become a donor contact the Curator of Collections at (757) 423-2052 x 204.