The Des Moines Art Center is expanding its commitment to gender equity in the arts through a strategic investment in both the preservation of history and the cultivation of future talent. The institution has been awarded a Bedrock Grant totaling $26,200 from the Every Page Foundation, a gift specifically earmarked to support women artists and career education in the specialized field of art conservation.
This funding arrives as part of a broader effort to surface and stabilize works by women that have historically been underrepresented in museum galleries. The grant will facilitate the meticulous restoration of significant pieces within the museum’s permanent collection, ensuring they are physically preserved and ready for public display in a high-profile upcoming exhibition.
The initiative serves a dual purpose: it addresses the immediate physical needs of the artwork while simultaneously acting as a recruitment tool for the next generation of specialists. By highlighting the technical expertise required to save these works, the Art Center aims to dismantle barriers for women and girls entering the STEM-adjacent world of art conservation.
Preparing for ‘Whisper to a Scream’
The primary catalyst for this conservation push is the 2027 exhibition titled Whisper to a Scream: Women Artists and Minimalism. Organized by senior curator Laura Burkhalter, the exhibition is designed to explore the nuanced contributions of women to the Minimalist movement—a period often characterized in art history textbooks by the dominant voices of men.
Because many works from the Minimalist era utilized non-traditional or industrial materials, they often require specialized stabilization to prevent degradation. The Bedrock Grant ensures that these pivotal works are not merely stored in archives but are restored to a condition that allows them to be viewed by the public in their intended form.
In a deliberate move to align the process with the theme of the exhibition, the actual conservation work will be performed by an all-woman team from the Midwest Art Conservation Center. This partnership ensures that the labor of preserving women’s art is mirrored by the expertise of women practitioners.
The Intersection of Art and Science
Beyond the gallery walls, the Des Moines Art Center is using this grant to tackle a pipeline problem in the arts. Art conservation is a rigorous discipline requiring a blend of chemistry, material science, and art history. Despite this, the professional path is often opaque to students.
To bridge this gap, the Art Center will produce an educational video detailing the career paths of art conservators. The goal is to provide a visible roadmap for women and girls, showcasing the daily realities of the profession and the academic requirements necessary to enter the field. By documenting the work performed by the Midwest Art Conservation Center team, the project transforms a technical process into a teaching tool.
Project Breakdown and Timeline
The implementation of the grant follows a phased approach, moving from the laboratory to the public eye over the next several years.
| Phase | Primary Objective | Key Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conservation | Stabilization of women artists’ works | Preservation for public display |
| Education | Production of career path video | Increased female enrollment in conservation |
| Exhibition | Launch of Whisper to a Scream | Public debut in 2027 |
Why This Matters for the Arts Ecosystem
From a policy and institutional perspective, this grant represents a shift toward “active” curation. Rather than simply acquiring art, museums are increasingly tasked with the lifelong maintenance of that art and the diversification of the staff who care for it. When a museum invests in an all-woman conservation team to prepare a women-centric exhibition, it creates a closed-loop system of empowerment.
The focus on Minimalism is particularly poignant. The movement, which peaked in the 1960s and 70s, often stripped art down to its most basic geometric forms. For women artists of that era, navigating this rigid aesthetic while fighting for recognition was a feat of both artistic and political endurance. The preservation of these works is, an act of recovering a lost narrative.
the educational component addresses a critical need in the workforce. As museums worldwide seek to modernize their conservation labs, there is a growing demand for specialists who are trained in the latest chemical stabilization techniques. By encouraging more girls to pursue these careers, the Des Moines Art Center is contributing to the long-term sustainability of the museum industry in the Midwest.
The next major milestone for this project will be the completion of the conservation phase and the subsequent release of the educational video, leading up to the final curation and installation of the 2027 exhibition.
We invite readers to share their thoughts on the intersection of art conservation and gender equity in the comments below.
