Conservation of Neon

Neon Conservation Workshop

October 14, 2025

9:30 AM to 4:30 PM (break 12:30-1:30 PM)

Nichols Trustees Suite, Art Institute of Chicago

Free workshop, limited to 13 participants. Registration required.

Registration closes August 4th.

An all-day workshop will be led by Taylor Healy, Meryl Pataky, Joy Bloser, and Ellen Moody. Modeled after the Neon Conservation workshop at the American Insitute of Conservation's 52nd Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, the workshop leaders will present a brief lecture to familiarize participants with neon technology and terminology. Following the lecture, participants will be guided through neon assessment and documentation and participate in hands-on installation with neon components. The workshop is free. It will be limited to 13 participants and priority will be given to collections professionals tasked with installation and care of neon objects institutions or collections. Accepted applicants will be notified by August 8th.

Workshop attendees will have the opportunity to attend the Symposium on October 15th, and participate in a bending demo hosted by local neon studio, Lightwriters on October 16th. Lightwriters will host a special 6 hour neon bending event in their space for participants to gain first-hand exposure to the process of bending glass and the decision-making/skills that goes into creation. Participants will leave this event with a bent glass unit, packed for travel. The bending event will be limited to 8 participants, with priority given to those attending the workshop and symposium. Participants are expected to cover the costs of the event $420 for a bent glass object (does not light up) or $600 for a bent glass object that does light up.

This site will be periodically updated. Check back for more information!

Workshop Leaders

Taylor Healy is the Assistant Conservator of Media at the Art Institute of Chicago focusing on the preservation of neon and cathode ray tubes. She holds dual master’s degrees from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center. She completed a post-graduate fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, where she contributed to the documentation and preservation of both contemporary neon artworks and historic illuminated objects. Her work supported the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and included the development of innovative approaches to documentation and exploration of obsolete materials.

Joy Bloser is the Associate Objects Conservator at The Menil Collection, in Houston, TX, specializing in the care of contemporary art. Her research interests include treatment strategies for polymeric materials and built networks of care in conservation. She was formerly the Assistant Conservator for Public Outreach at the MFA Boston and the David Booth Fellow in Sculpture Conservation at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. She holds an MS in Conservation and MA in Art History from NYU and a BA in Chinese and Art History from Middlebury College. She is the Assistant Program Chair for AIC’s Contemporary Art Network (CAN) and co-organizer of CAN Conversations.

Ellen Moody is a Project Specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute, where she develops projects to advance modern and contemporary art conservation and support its practitioners. Her favorite research activities are working with artists, especially those experimenting with materials and technologies, and creating documentation, especially of artworks with elusive qualities. Before joining the GCI, she worked at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as an objects conservator for 7 years, where she often felt out of her depth when tending to the museum’s neon artworks. She completed graduate internships at the Brooklyn Museum, the Kröller-Müller Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She holds an M.S. in Objects and Preventive Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, and a B.A. in art history from Pomona College. She is currently working with local colleagues to form the Conservation Association of Los Angeles.

Meryl Pataky is an artist, curator, and educator in the Bay Area. She has been working in Neon for 13 years and in that time has founded She Bends, an organization dedicated to building a more equitable future for neon through public education, curatorial projects and artist programs that foster diversity and sustainability. She Bends, and Meryl in her work, pushes the boundaries of neon beyond the confines of commercial signage and into the realm of Fine Art.

Workshop Schedule:

9:15 - 9:30 Welcome Workshop Attendees through Monroe Dock

9:30 - 9:45 Coffee and Mingling

9:45 - 10:00 Introduction to the Workshop Hosts

10:00 - 12:00 Lecture

12:00 - 1:00 Break for Lunch

1:00 - 4:00 Hands-On Assessment, Troubleshooting, Documentation, Installation

4:00 - 4:30 Questions/Discussion