GOOD-NEWS ART REPORT IN WAKE OF THE QUAKES

At the San Diego Museum of Art, close to the epicenter of Sunday’s 5.3 earthquake, there was no damage to the permanent collection or indeed to any art in storage areas. About the only thing museum officials noticed when they reported to work Monday morning was that some glass tiles became dislodged in the roofing of the museum’s original 1926 building, where the Old Masters are kept.

“For the past two or three years,” noted museum spokeswoman Barbara Fleming, “we’ve done some significant earthquake-proofing as best we can, specifically in the areas of storage. We’ve padded the braces that hold storage shelving. Especially in the area of decorative arts, we’ve helped secure items to shelving. We’ve added padded substances to prevent jarring or knocking or jiggling off shelving.”

At the Palm Springs Desert Museum, close to the epicenter of last Tuesday’s earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale, a few ceiling tiles collapsed, glanced off the edges of some paintings and scratched some frames. On the outside facade, some rocks came tumbling down.

“It was very minor damage,” said assistant director Tom Mathews. “We were very fortunate. I can honestly say there was no damage to our objects.”

“Ironically,” Mathews added, some new space-saver storage units that “ride on rails” and are “one of the safest storage mechanisms for artwork” were just being finished as the earthquake hit. “We also have a fairly modern building--two-story, poured concrete, steel reinforced. We’re pretty sound . . . I hate to tell you, there’s just no story here.”

This, apparently, is a good-news story.

Local museum officials indicate that they are reasonably prepared for relatively strong earthquakes.

The Getty Museum in Malibu has taken the lead in earthquake-proofing research, and an official there goes so far as to say that its U-shaped, two-story reinforced concrete building, a re-creation of an AD 1st Century Roman country villa, could endure a 6.5 temblor and suffer no damage.

At the California Museum of Photography at UC Riverside, about 50 miles northwest of the Palm Springs quake epicenter, there was no damage whatsoever.

Nor was there any damage at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, which is about 30 miles southeast of the approximate epicenter of the offshore quake near Oceanside Sunday.

Charles Desmarais, director of the Riverside museum, believes the “extra lip” on the museum shelves, a five-inch border that “gives an extra layer of protection,” helped prevent items from sliding off shelves.

Three years ago, Desmarais said, the National Endowment for the Arts gave a $16,790 matching grant to the museum for various conservation efforts, including the shelving improvement. He added that the museum’s bookshelves are also anchored into the wall “with big bolts.”

Meanwhile, the photography museum is scheduled to be relocated to a 1929 five-and-dime department store in downtown Riverside. Desmarais noted that considerable attention and money are being spent on better earthquake proofing, including sheer walls and a new diaphragm for the roof.

At the Huntington Art Gallery in San Marino, spokeswoman Katherine Wilson said that since 1971’s 6.5 earthquake at Sylmar “when things turned around on their pedestals,” museum officials have become “extremely earthquake conscious.”

She added that the Huntington is getting help from earthquake experts at the Getty as the San Marino museum rebuilds the gallery for British and American art that was damaged in last October’s fire.

One of those experts is Bruce Metro, head of the Preparation Department at the Getty, who is involved with everything from installation of exhibitions to gallery lighting. Among the work being done at the Huntington, he said, is replacing glass shelving with Plexiglas. “Plexiglas is stronger and won’t shatter upon impact,” he said. Plexiglas is also easier to handle, for mounting and drilling, he added.

Overall, there are two key methods for securing and maintaining paintings and sculpture, Metro said. Works can be “anchored” to the building or “isolated” so that if an earthquake hits, the object doesn’t run up against anything that might damage it.

“Many things that are done for the benefit of earthquake proofing,” he added, “also have a security benefit.”

Metro said the Getty puts “rubber bumpers” on the backs of paintings “so that if there is an earthquake and (the works of art) are jolted, (they) won’t bang into the wall. There is a slight cushion behind (them).” He also pointed out that paintings hang from wires in the ceiling, which he said are more secure than those nailed with hooks into the wall. “For heavy paintings, we have aircraft cable or chain. All our paintings are hung from the ceiling. . . . This system was developed for this museum. In many of the painting galleries the walls are damask-covered, and we didn’t want to make any holes in the fabric.”

As for isolating an object, Metro mentioned a small champagne glass, a Greek antiquity piece, at the Getty. “The shape is relatively tipsy,” he said, “and it could fall over by itself. So, we attached it to a thick flat piece of Plexiglas that is covered with fabric, and so it looks like it’s in a nice little box. . . .

“On a more complicated scale,” he continued, “we have engineered entire systems to isolate a full-sized sculpture. We have full-sized marble statues that are very old and with many ancient breaks, which if they were secured rigidly to the building would probably break at the ankles and fall over” in the event of an earthquake.

“Concealed in the pedestal is an isolation system which consists of a concave bowl either anchored to the floor or to the pedestal. A spring-loaded pin is forced into the bowl. On the end of the pin is a steel roller, and the entire pedestal is also on steel roller, like a captive steel ball. There would be six or eight of these to distribute the weight around.

“When the earthquake comes and the floor moves, the pedestal on the rollers moves and the spring-loaded pin pushes into the concave bowl. As the pin rides up the sides, an equal amount of pressure increases as the spring is compressed.”

The Getty, he said, is apparently quite earthquake-safe. He noted that in 1983 the Getty commissioned a study from Lindvall, Richter and Associates in Pasadena (the late Charles Richter developed the earthquake-measurement scale).

“They did a complete study of the building including an examination of the structure, a complete geological site evaluation that included core drilling 200 feet into the ground. . . . “

According to Metro, the Richter associates found that even at a 6.5 measurement, “our building would survive with no damage whatsoever.”

At the County Museum of Art, spokeswoman Pam Jenkinson-Leavitt said that each of the individual buildings has its own “floating foundation or pad” so that in the event of an earthquake a building would “shift by itself rather than slamming into the next one.”

She said paintings are securely fastened into the walls, and works in storage are securely fastened as well. “They never just sit on a shelf,” she noted.

“Wires hanging down (from the ceiling)?” she asked. “That’s kind of ugly.”