Portland State Magazine Spring 2018

18 A s Tami Lasseter Clare was finishing her Ph.D. in chemistry and looking for work, she had a sudden, startling realization: she wanted more from her life than a purely scientific career could offer.To find a livelihood that would make her happy, she analyzed the skills she’d acquired during her education alongside her passions, and she found the perfect combination in the field of art conservation. Now an associate professor of chemistry at Portland State, as well as director of the Universi- ty’s Regional Laboratory for the Science of Cultural Heritage Conservation, Clare combines science and art, using her knowledge of chemistry to solve mysteries about artworks in the museums of the Pacific Northwest. One of her first mysteries came soon after she started at PSU in 2009.The Portland Art Museum had a second-century Han Chinese Dynasty Money Tree that was shedding some of its delicate metal leaves.The Money Tree is a bronze sculpture over four-feet high that was placed in a tomb to bring good luck to the dead. Clare analyzed the chemical composition of the debris that had accumulated on the tree’s surface to determine what approach to take with its conservation. Based on her research, the museum decided to gently remove the encrus- tation, leaving the underlying design more clearly visible than ever before. Chemistry professor Tami Lasseter Clare helps save works of art. WR I TT EN B Y STE PHAN I E ARGY