Hi Sarah,
Our practice is to record the works as officially missing, but not to deaccession. You might ask yourself: what is the reason to deaccession? What if the work
shows up somewhere in 10 years and you had already deaccessioned it? If you are thinking about deaccessioning as part of your record-keeping, marking as Missing may do the trick. I tend to mark works that haven’t been seen in a few years as “Not Yet Located”
– maintaining optimism they will surface -- and ones that have been missing for decades as “Missing.”
In the case of works where you know its disposition- for example there is record of damage or you know it was stolen- that might be a different case. For example,
if an insurance claim necessities an official statement about the work no longer being in the collection.
Best,
Eleanor
Eleanor Sandys | Registrar & Research Specialist
she/her pronouns
Oregon Arts Commission
775 Summer St. NE, Salem, OR 97301
o: 503-986-0091 | m: 971-707-3004
From: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com <public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com>
On Behalf Of Lauren Kennedy
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2020 12:47 PM
To: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com
Subject: Re: Deaccessing missing public artworks
Hey Sarah,
I doubt our policy is any different from yours, but wanted to share a quick note with you on a similar situation we had recently. A sculpture installed in a public facility undergoing a massive renovation was lost (still can't get solid
answers on how this happened), and in addition to deaccessioning it, we have asked the City's public art oversight committee to approve contingency funding for the original value of the sculpture to commission him to make a new piece. Luckily we have a healthy
contingency budget right now and they appreciate that we could help makeup the loss for the artist and the collection.
Not sure if this helps but wanted to pass it along in case!
On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 2:27 PM Sarah Bluvas - sarah.bluvas at
mercergov.org (via public_art_network list) <public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com> wrote:
Hi all,
I hope the PAN is staying safe and healthy during this time! I’m reaching out for thoughts/best practices related to public art deaccession. The City of Mercer Island has several works of 2D art in its public art collection that predate me by decades and have not been seen by other staff members for about as long. Have any of you dealt with the need to deaccess missing works of art? Any adequate processes/policies for exhausting all avenues before deciding on deaccession? We already have a (somewhat dated) deaccession policy in place, but the City has only deaccessed one work of art during the lifetime of the policy. So, any input or direction you all can provide is most appreciated.
Thanks,
Sarah Bluvas, MBA
City of Mercer Island - Parks and Recreation
206.275.7864 | mercergov.org/parksConnect with arts & culture: Mercer Island Arts Council
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Artists and neighborhoods are at the core of UAC’s mission. During these anxious times,
we are aiming to keep as many projects (and checks to artists) moving forward as possible. We appreciate your attention and support, and are here for any questions you may have.
Lauren Kennedy
Executive Director | UrbanArt Commission
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