In the five-story, nearly 100-year-old building at 1635 W. St. Paul Ave. in Milwaukee, trained art handlers, technicians and registrars handle the logistics and transportation needed to ensure valuable artwork gets safely from point A to point B.
The 63,000-square-foot warehouse was converted into Guardian Fine Art Services in 2017, initially serving as a storage facility for the collection of Guardian owner John Shannon and his wife, artist Jan Serr. Today, the business counts museums, galleries, artists and private collectors among its clients, serving as a liaison for deliveries, loans, donations and other services. It provides everything from protective cardboard sleeves to museum crates for domestic and international shipments, with technicians creating customized crates in the climate-controlled facility to ensure safe storage and delivery.
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- Paul Peterson drills a storage crate shut in Guardian’s workshop.
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- Guardian builds customized crates for pieces of art in its Milwaukee facility.
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- Guardian builds shipping containers for framed canvases along with less traditionally-shaped artwork, such as this piece.
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- Separate from the storage and transportation side of the business, Guardian Fine Art Services’ building includes an art gallery, called The Warehouse.
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- Guardian facility manager John Voith and Leonard Cicero place a piece of art into a custom-made crate to be transported.
