At the Georgia Museum of Art, preservation has moved out of the back room and into the spotlight. This fall, visitors can watch Atlanta-based conservator Larry Shutts at work on Joan Mitchell’s ‘Close’ (1973), an abstract expressionist canvas beloved by audiences since the museum acquired it in 1974. The project, supported by a grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation as part of the artist’s centennial celebration, transforms conservation into a public-facing experience.
A “tune-up” for a landmark canvas
‘Close’ features darker passages that were showing signs of traction crackle, tiny fissures caused when thick layers of oil paint dry unevenly. In this case, primer beneath the surface absorbed more pigment than usual, making the cracks unstable and vulnerable to further damage.
Ordinarily, conservation happens behind the scenes in specialized labs. Shutts’s work with ‘Close’, however, unfolds in a viewable, open-access conservation lab built inside the museum’s Virginia and Alfred Kennedy Gallery.
“The goal is no one knows I’ve been there.”
Conservator Larry Shutts
Visitors can stop by anytime through Nov. 2 to see ‘Close’ in progress. At 11 a.m.–noon and 2–4 p.m. on select Tuesdays and Thursdays, Shutts himself is onsite, prodding the surface with specialty brushes and HEPA blowers, answering questions, and explaining his process. To make the work feel approachable, the museum team set up simple, hands-on stations where visitors can try out some of the same tools.
The setup is as much a classroom as it is a lab. Shutts is also hosting “lunch and learn” sessions and evening lectures for University of Georgia students across disciplines.
Tools of a tiny trade
Shutts’s field is small. He estimates that only about 3,000 art conservators currently work in the U.S. A limited number of graduate programs admit fewer than 30 students a year.
The work requires precision and adaptability. Art conservation lacks a standardized toolkit; most of its instruments are borrowed or adapted from other industries. For ‘Close,’ Shutts uses dissolvable specialty paints and adhesives, ensuring future conservators can undo his repairs if needed. He warms paint layers with a hot-air pencil, a tool he describes as “a really small hair dryer.”
The ultimate goal, Shutts says, is to leave no trace: “Making it look like you haven’t done anything. The goal is no one knows I’ve been there.”
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Art in process
When complete, ‘Close’ will return to the museum’s permanent collection, renewed for another generation of viewers. But until then, it exists in a rare state of transition—half-painting, half-project.
By turning conservation into a live demonstration, the Georgia Museum of Art is reframing a behind-the-scenes craft as part of its public mission. Visitors who step into the gallery don’t just see a Joan Mitchell canvas; they see the fragile material reality beneath its surface and the quiet, painstaking work that keeps it alive.
