Beyond the Canvas

David Piurek is the Cleveland Museum of Art’s paintings and frames technician, who oversees the creation and preservation of the frames surrounding artworks in the CMA’s collection. Here, he outlines his role and how his work is central to the conservation and presentation of masterworks.

Can you share a little about your background?
I earned my BFA in painting from the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. After graduation, I joined the conservation department at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, working as the conservation technician and museum gilder. During my 14-year tenure, I developed my skills in gilded finishes and frame restoration working alongside curators and conservators, culminating in a three-year-long treatment of John Ringling’s private 1905 Pullman railcar that traveled with the Ringling circus. This project included reconstructing gilded and painted ornamentation on both the interior and exterior of the railcar. My experiences at the Ringling Museum provided a strong foundation in gilding and frame restoration that I was then able to continue building on when I joined the CMA staff in 2012.

What is the role of framing within the conservation department? 
Frames not only complement and enhance an artwork aesthetically but also play a crucial role in protecting paintings while on display. I work very closely with the paintings conservation lab to evaluate any condition or aesthetic issues with frames in the CMA’s collection. This can involve conserving, finding, or creating period-appropriate frames in consultation with CMA curators and conservators. 

When paintings are requested for loan, their frames may need to be modified to protect the paintings during transit. Sometimes, paintings that are sensitive to fluctuations in relative humidity need to be housed in a microclimate vitrine that consists of a specialized aluminum container and a material called Artsorb, designed to stabilize the internal environment within the sealed vitrine. Additionally, conserving, and modifying frames for transport, I  am responsible for creating new gilded frames.

Can you talk more about the gilding process? 
Gilding is the process of applying gold leaf onto a prepared surface. The gold leaf can be adhered with a variety of techniques, including water gilding, which allows the surface of the gold to be burnished to a mirrorlike finish. Gilding demands a delicate touch and requires years of experience to produce nuanced finishes. I am passionate about sharing my experience and teaching techniques to the next generation and enthusiastically host a gilding workshop each summer for preprogram and graduate conservation interns.  

In what ways do you collaborate with other departments in the museum on projects?
From acquisition to display to transport, my role necessitates close collaboration with the collections, curatorial, education, and exhibition production departments at the museum. Whether coordinating outgoing loans, fabricating mounts, or creating spacers or back builds for frames, I am constantly relying on the expertise of colleagues to collaboratively search for practical solutions to complex problems.

What might visitors not realize about the frames on view in the galleries?
Visitors rarely have the opportunity to see behind a painting’s frame. Old labels, fittings, and hanging hardware provide insight into a frame’s originality and history. Different frame styles can indicate the time period they were created in; these were selected by artists or may have been later changed by their owners. It’s rare for museums to have a large number of paintings still housed in their original frames. The CMA is fortunate to have a number of examples, including William Holman Hunt’s Mary Walker Waugh, George Bellows’s Stag at Sharkey’s, and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Sunflower, New Mexico, I. O’Keeffe was intimately involved in the design of her signature clamshell frames. Recently, I worked with a conservation intern to reproduce one of these “O’Keeffe” frames for temporary display for loan; since the original frame was too fragile for travel, this new replica allowed the painting to be safely displayed and glazed.

Is there a current treatment project that visitors might be able to see the results of in the upcoming months? 
When paintings are being conserved, I have the opportunity to evaluate the condition of the frames and determine if they can be aesthetically or structurally improved. My current project involves the complex restoration of a late 19th-
century tabernacle-style frame for Pintoricchio’s Virgin and Child. My treatment focuses on removing discolored, nonoriginal coatings and compensating for significant losses on the ornamentation that require surface consolidation and structural stabilization. Once complete, the frame will be reunited with the recently conserved painting, back on view in the galleries in August 2025.