Art Guardians | Family Workshop: Painting Rescue

How do conservators save a painting when the paint begins to flake away? Discover the answer in this hands-on workshop for children ages 6-11 and their caregivers. Explore South Asian and Southeast Asian artworks in The Art of Knowing: https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/exhibitions/the-art-of-knowing-in-south-asia-southeast-asia-and-the-himalayas/, then learn how conservators keep paintings intact. Through simple experiments, investigate how liquids can travel through tiny spaces—the same process conservators use to guide adhesive beneath fragile paint flakes. Then create your own artwork using the same scientific principle, known as capillary action, to make colorful designs.

Image credit: National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution