In the fall of 2011 owner and principle conservator, Amber Harwood, relocated her family and business from Kingston to Owen Sound, Ontario. Currently, Georgian Bay Art Conservation (GBAC) is located just west of the downtown harbour in the historic Victoria School studios.
With years of combined experience, the conservators and preservation specialists at GBAC provide professional services to institutions, galleries, museums, art collectors, and private individuals from across Canada. One of their core operating principles is to make the fine art of preserving objects of artistic, historic, or personal significance accessible to smaller communities and individuals located outside large city centers. This year, in recognition of the importance of local community and accessibility, GBAC is proud to launch the "Angel Project", which will provide voluntary conservation assistance for an important local collection each year.
What is art conservation? Simply put, it is the care and protection of cultural objects. Conservators are the custodians and will examine, research, clean and repair these objects, while taking action to prevent future deterioration.
Georgian Bay Art Conservation offers services ranging from basic preventative interventions to complex restorations of all media – extending from personal pieces that hold sentimental value to large corporate and public collections.
Their services include the conservation and restoration of fine art, archival, and photographic media; digital reproduction of works of art and photographs; custom conservation picture framing & storage solutions; museum and gallery services for exhibition mounting, framing and art installation, collection surveys, and condition reports; disaster recovery for objects damaged by fire and flood; collection care and management; and education and community projects.