Art In Public Places Murals

Murals unite the City of Indio and preserve its rich culture, diversity, and beauty. In keeping with the city’s mission to promote the arts, they brought our conservators on to assess and advise on maintenance and preventative care for the murals that are part of its Art in Public Places (AIPP) program. The murals are a combination of commissioned and vintage pieces, and the oldest dates back to 1997.

EverGreene conservators surveyed eleven murals and found that varying degrees of conservation were required. The murals, which are acrylic and oil paint mediums on cementitious block, currently appear to have general surface deposits and secretions, active material disintegration and flaking, possible unsound voids or hollows beneath the presenting surface, and possible unstable structural cracks. Each presenting condition requires specific conservation measures which are to be adapted to each circumstance. The approaches required to conserve the murals span from severe to light conservation measures. These include substrate, injection, crack, and general paint consolidation, as well as general surface cleaning, selective overpaint removal, the removal of efflorescence and desalination, loss compensation, and inpainting.