Lightweight: ACM panels are lightweight and easy to handle, making them suitable for large-scale works or for artists who need to move their paintings frequently. It allows for an even paint application and a consistent surface to work on. They are also more durable in extreme temperatures and humidity, making them suitable even for outdoor or high-traffic areas.įlatness: ACM panels have a smooth and flat surface, which can be important for precise painting techniques or for reproducing fine details. Why Aluminum Composite Materials (ACM) Panels are Some of the Best Supports for PaintingĪCM (Aluminum Composite Material) panels have several advantages over stretched canvas as a support for artwork:ĭurability: ACM panels are made from a combination of aluminum and plastic, making them more resistant to warping, cracking, and fading compared to stretched canvas. ACM is a versatile and cost-effective material that is commonly used in the construction industry for cladding buildings, creating signs, and as a painting support for fine art, among other applications. The aluminum sheets are bonded to the core through a process called thermobonding, which uses heat and pressure to fuse the layers together. It is a type of building material that consists of two aluminum sheets sandwiching a core of plastic or mineral-filled material. Learn more about the Painting Best Practices.ĪCM stands for Aluminum Composite Material. This is the topic of the entire first day of the Painting Best Practices workshop and one of many subjects explored in detail at the three-day workshop.
#Oil paint canvas paper crack#
Cracks on canvas paintings are predictable, and museum conservators can predict the appearance of such cracks through mathematical modelings, such as those appearing in the paintings above, where even changes in crack patterns appear above the location of stretcher bars than over other areas of the canvas.įor this reason, artists concerned about their work’s posterity should choose rigid materials as supports because this choice will lead to a better outcome for their paintings. Paintings on rigid supports (wood, stone, and metal) with lower response to environmental changes, such as relative humidity, are preserved for extended periods because the support does not induce as much stress on the paint film. Shock and vibration, low temperature, low humidity, high pigmentation, and aging increase the stiffness and the likelihood of cracking these layers.Ĭanvas expands and contracts with changes in relative humidity, causing cracks and cupping in the paint layer. These stiffer materials are subjected to much stress as the canvas expands and contracts, resulting in cracks and, finally, loss of adhesion and cupping (illustrated by the animation). On the other hand, the layers in paintings that carry most of the tension (varnish, paint, ground, and size) are composed of amorphous or semi-amorphous polymers that are much less flexible and expand and contract to a much lesser degree and equally in all directions. This canvas shows a “spider” crack pattern usually caused by poking a brittle painting on canvas.Ĭanvas is a very flexible material that is also biaxial, so it expands and contracts at different rates according to its axes-the weft and warp direction of the yarns.
(The environment constantly changes due to temperature and relative humidity changes.) Although these changes may appear small, they place much stress on paint over time, leading to cracking, cupping, and paint loss. Canvas swells and contracts at different rates than paint layers, producing mechanical stress on paint as the environment changes. As humidity in the air changes, the canvas absorbs and releases moisture to maintain equilibrium.
The crack patterns on this painting show various problems typical of stretched textile supports, such as low profile stretcher bars, re-tensioning, loss of mechanical strength, cycles of relative humidity (RH), and shock and vibration.Ĭanvas is hygroscopic, which readily absorbs and releases moisture from the environment. In 1982, Marion Mecklenburg and other scientists at the Smithsonian Institute reported the first systematic explanation of painting mechanics, especially that of canvas paintings, while other researchers at the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) soon followed. The symptoms were obvious-cracking and paint loss-but the causes were not clearly understood. Although the majority of paintings today are painted on canvas, it is not the best choice for painting-in fact, they lead to cracking early in the life of a painting.įor over a hundred years, most of the causes of cracking have been explored: humidity and temperature, expansion and contraction, stress, and paint embrittlement.
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