A death

Rafael Reyes Ayala (1960-2008)

Rafael Reyes Ayala, Puerto Rican paper conservator in private
practice, passed away on August 5, 2008.

Rafael was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1960.  He attended the
University of Puerto Rico (UPR), where he received a BA and a MA in
comparative literature in 1981 and 1983, respectively. He completed
his MS in Library Science at the Preservation and Conservation
Science Program at Columbia University, New York, in 1991. After
graduating, he participated in a series of conservation internships
and fellowships in the United States and Europe in places such as at
the Castillo the Vilassar de Dalt in Spain, West Dean College in
England, Royal Academy of Arts in England, and most recently the
Library of Congress in the United States.

Following the completion of his academic work, Rafael started
working as a conservator in private practice in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, in 1993. He conducted conservation and preservation work on a
large number of objects in public and private collections including
the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena (ICP), Museo de Arte,
Historia, Arqueologia y Antropologia at the University of Puerto
Rico, Luis Munoz Marin Foundation, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Museo de
Arte de Puerto Rico, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, and Archivo
General de Puerto Rico, among others.

Rafael also had a commitment to education and dissemination of
information. He was an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of
Information Science and Technology at the University Puerto Rico and
at the Escuela de Artes Plasticas de Puerto Rico. Rafael's
curatorial projects evidence his interest in rescuing and preserving
the Puerto Rican graphic arts patrimony. He worked as an assistant
curator in several exhibitions such as Puerto Rican Posters from
1939 to 2003 and Puerto Rican Graphic Works of Art on Paper, both at
the Library of Congress in 2004. He was curator of exhibitions such
as La Linea Perdida: Hommage to Angel Olivera (Oliver Shaw) at the
Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, Treasure of Illustrated Books
and Bindings at the University of Puerto Rico, and Plakatkunst aus
Puerto Rico: 1950-1990 in Erlangen, Germany.

Those who worked with Rafael will always remember him for his
dedication to his work, attention to detail, patience, respect for
the collections, and commitment to the preservation of cultural
heritage especially books and paper artifacts. Rafael left a legacy
of knowledge and memories to his students and to those who had the
pleasure of working with him. His attributes cannot only be measured
on a professional scale since any person that had the opportunity of
knowing him will agree on the subject of Rafael's remarkable human
quality.

Julio del Hoyo
Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow
Smithsonian Institution
Museum Conservation Institute
Museum Support Center
Room F 2012
4210 Silver Hill Road
Suitland MD 20746-2863
301-238-1283
Fax: 301-238-3709


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:9
                 Distributed: Saturday, August 9, 2008
                        Message Id: cdl-22-9-001
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