A Second Act: The Revival of Fire Damaged Objects
Presentation authors: Mayra Villegas, Abby Duckor and Chukes
Blogpost Summary by Crystal Choi
The devastating impact of the Los Angeles wildfires was deeply felt by many members of the community. Thousands of homes were destroyed, landscapes were burnt down, and many were left rebuilding their lives in the aftermath. But the consequences of these wildfires extended beyond physical damage. They left a profound impact on people’s histories, memories, and connections, with many precious memorabilia destroyed, family heirlooms lost, and artworks that carried memory and meaning damaged. What burned in these fires was not only physical, but deeply personal, and the permanence of this loss made this impact feel even heavier.
As conservators involved in fire remediation, Abby Duckor and Mayra Villegas of Fine Arts Conservation carefully considered how best to support clients who had endured such loss while determining an appropriate treatment approach. Their primary goal was to conserve the objects in a manner that ensured the conservators’ safety, stabilized the artworks for safe return to their owners, and thoughtfully addressed the damages caused by the fires. In their presentation, Duckor and Villegas illustrated this decision-making process through two case studies involving unglazed ceramics affected by the fires. The presentation also concluded with artist Michael Chukes, one of the clients involved in the case studies, sharing his personal experiences and reflections.
The first case study covered two sculptural pieces from Michael Chukes. The Fine Arts Conservation team had first been contacted by the ceramicist whose home studio in Altadena was severely damaged by the fires. The extreme heat caused significant alterations to many of his sculptures, resulting in severe cracking and surface discoloration. Although the two sculptures selected for treatment were structurally intact, they had undergone irreversible changes. Since Chukes patinated his ceramics in a non-traditional way, the treatment required careful consideration of his unique surface approach. The conservators began by using dry cleaning methods, which involved HEPA vacuuming, soft brushes, and soot sponges. This was then followed by consolidation of the cracks using BEVA. Some discoloration remained, but Chukes embracedthese changes as an added layer of aging to his artworks and evidence of what his sculptures had endured during the fires.
The second case study involved a Native American Wedding Vessel and a Kachina Doll, which were the only surviving objects from a client’s late father’s collection. These objects held significant emotional value for the client, as her father had made a special trek to the Mesas to purchase them directly from the artists themselves. Similar to the first case study, these objects also exhibited significant surface discolorations, in addition to fused glass shards in the surface, resulting from the extreme heat of the fire. Treatment involved an initial dry cleaning of the object and a careful mechanical removal of the fused glass. Discussions with the client were critical during the process as several of the damages on these objects were irreparable. These discussions revectored the goal of the project by shifting the focus more on stabilization than restoration. Removing all visible signs of fire damage would not be the main priority, but instead preserving the objects’ structural integrity in their altered state.
In both case studies, the conservators found a drastic shift in priorities as well as re contextualization of the objects themselves. In this recontextualization, the objects transformed from markers of loss to symbols of survival and resilience. The visible changes became part of their histories.
Duckor and Villegas reflected on lingering questions such as whether they had performed appropriate treatment for the unglazed ceramics, if it was possible to remove soot entirely from porous objects, and what the future stability of these objects would be. These case studies raised broader considerations on how conservators should navigate fire remediation in the future and where the line stands between restoration and acceptance of irreversible change.
In the final portion of their presentation, artist Michael Chukes spoke about the impact of the fires on his life and practice, and what it meant to lose both his artworks and his studio. For him, his art studio was his life, so losing that had a devastating impact on him. He described himself as both an artist and historian, with his artworks serving as a way to document his life and history. Losing his artworks to the fires meant more to him than a loss of his creations; it felt like a piece of his soul was lost in the process. As Chukes reflected on works like The Time Traveler, Tinker Toys, and A Message of Hope, he shared the memories embedded within them, including how tinker toys connected to his childhood and the joy those early experiences represented. He spoke about how his own history was embedded in these works, prompting the audience to apprehend that the loss of his artworks truly meant a loss of his own history.
Chukes’ piece of the presentation underscored the importance of preservation and what it can mean to artists like him. Creating the work, Chukes noted, is only one part of an artist’s legacy; without preservation, the stories and artwork an artist hopes to leave behind may not survive for future generations. His words served as a powerful reminder that conservation protects more than just the objects themselves; it safeguards the histories, memories, and legacies of the people behind them. In moments of disaster, conservation becomes more than just a technical practice, but a means of carrying forward the remains of each person, a society, and our shared humanity.