How to fund the maintenance and restoration of historic monuments and museums

Two recent pieces in The New York Times, “Tod’s to Help Colosseum Restoration” and ” ‘This Space for Rent’: In Europe, Arts Now Must Woo Commerce” have brought up the topic of commerical sponsorship of the maintenance and restoration of the cultural heritage. While there was no mention of advertising signage in connection with Tod’s pledged gift of $34 million for the multiyear restoration of the Colosseum, over the past year large advertising banners have appeared on the Musee d’Orsay and the Palais Garnier opera house and bring to mind the Bulgari ads that appeared on the facade of the Doge’s Palace in Venice. With cultural institutions in Europe (and in the U.S. too) in need of new sources of funding for their basic functions, might advertising ventures be preferable to sending out works of art for years at a time on moneymaking tours?

AIC’s K-12 Educational Outreach page and membership survey

AIC now has an active K-12 Education Working Group engaged in compiling information and resources on conservation, for use by educators as well as by conservation professionals who work with K-12 students. The information is hosted on the AIC website’s K-12 Education page at www.conservation-us.org/k12.

Many of you are already involved in outreach or education efforts or have expressed your interest in becoming involved. We are now asking for the help of all AIC members to develop this page into a meaningful, rich resource that accurately reflects the diversity of our field and our membership. To this end, we’ve developed a short (really!) survey through which you can:

– agree to work with educators or other interested individuals in your area

– share links or websites you find particularly interesting or useful for educating students

– share materials you have developed – lectures, workshops, activities, powerpoints etc. – for use with students

– contribute any other ideas you may have for AIC’s K-12 Education Outreach efforts

Click here to go to the survey.

Note that your contact information will never be made publicly available on the website; interested educators will email the Working Group with their queries, and we will then match them with conservators in their area who have agreed to be contacted.

Please feel free to email the Working Group with any questions or problems with the survey at k-12@conservation-us.org. Thank you for your time and participation! We look forward to expanding AIC’s Educational Outreach offerings with your help.

Beginning Book Conservation

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The journey to becoming a book conservator is long, like all fields in conservation and requires an understanding of many arts. There are vastly different paths you can take to achieving an education, but it all begins with a love of the book.. It could be the simple comforting pleasure you get holding a book in your hand, smelling the ink on its pages or admiring the special technique used to bind it all together. A book has a function. It is meant to be handled and goes through more abuse than paintings or sculptures. Your perspective begins to change once you realize that you are conserving something that will be touched repeatedly throughout the years to come. The older the specimen the better condition it is, hopefully, stored in, but remember, its primary function is to be opened and admired.

My journey began in graphic design and the desire to create great graphic novels in the art world, but my eyes were opened one semester when I signed up for Art of the Book, changing my perspective on the book world. A form of art, bookbinding, unraveled before my eyes and it was then that I knew my career of working with books had become more focused. A book conservator’s skills all begin with bookbinding. The continual practice of dexterity is vital to your success, but bookbinding encompasses so many other faces. Woodworking (pesky wooden panel covers), hand-crafting the perfect tool to add to your arsenal of conservation, leather paring, embroidery, paper making, etc. It’s good to sign up for all types of workshops. I’m sure metal working is in there somewhere. Vocational schools that offer 2 to 4 years training are the American Academy of Bookbinding and the North Bennet Street School.

It is also important to be involved in your book community, big or small. There are book lovers out there in every neck of the woods and learning about rare books, special editions, history behind printings, and the evolvement of the book over time are important to understanding the era a book comes from. What type of paper and bindings were popular during the 17th century? What is the base of the ink used? Can you remain true to the book’s original heritage? These questions you must ask yourself when approaching any conservation treatment.

I am just at the beginning of this journey and the sources of information on bookbinding and workshops are in no short supply. Book arts and bookbinding do not always go hand-in-hand in book conservation, but there are many book art centers around the country that offer classes in bookbinding, letterpress, printmaking and more to get you started learning the fundamentals. The west coast has the San Francisco Center of the Book and the east coast has the Center for Book Arts in New York City. Be sure to check out local community colleges, as they can hold one day workshops in their art departments. Talk with local rare book dealers and don’t forget about your local library. Often times, preservation departments are hard to find on library sites so be prepared to email a lot of questions. If a library doesn’t have an onsite lab, then find out where they are sending their books out for treatment. Check with your State Archives offices for internships with works on paper.

One question that has been brought to my attention repeatedly and I’ve yet to find an answer for, is if you want to go into book conservation should you be getting a master’s in library sciences? This is where I am having a moment of hesitation because I have started my graduate studies strictly in art conservation and the option of library sciences was only recently presented. If you have the desire to work strictly in a library as a conservator, is an MSLS required? I’ve learned quite a bit and gleaned a lot of information from a variety of sources, but with questions answered more are bound to arise. I believe it’s important to remember that everyone’s journey into book conservation will be different and finding the best path for your needs and goals is vital. There are no concrete paths, but you must hone your skill. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions. If all else fails, remember to read, read, read. Know your history and truly embody what the book is all about.

10 Tips for Becoming a Conservator

Tip #7: Read, read, read…then create an annotated bibliography

Websites and blogs contain a lot of helpful information, but you can still learn about conservation the “old-fashioned” way—by reading a book or article! Once you’ve done that, put together an annotated bibliography in order to remember that information for the future. For those of you that are pre-program, an annotated bibliography makes a great addition to your portfolio, and there may not be another opportunity to do it once you begin a conservation program.

With so many wonderful conservation books and journals, the largest problem is deciding where to start! A good idea may be to begin reading about the projects you’re working on, and then move on to specific interests (maybe they’re one in the same). From there, ask for recommendations from your supervisor(s). If they’re willing, consider discussing articles with them, because sometimes the information you read about is outdated and completely irrelevant, but you’d never know as a beginner.

If you’re planning on attending a conservation graduate program some day, get a head start and ask for the reading list required of their students; these sources may be broad in scope, but it’s valuable to learn the basics of all materials, even if you’ve already decided on one specialty. Finally, from all of these books and articles, you can check the authors’ references and suggested bibliographies to continue your reading.

Some of the staple conservation books are worth buying, if you can afford to. Multiple people have recommended these to me: Mills & White, The Organic Chemistry of Museum Objects, or Artists’ Pigments, vols. 1-4. Sometimes there will be discounted book sales posted on the distlist, so keep an eye out for that. Also, museums should have a collection of good books and journals in their conservation department and/or in the library for you to borrow, and you may even be able to find some things at your local university or public library. As always, you can find free resources online, like the JAIC archive, or the JCAC archive; just be sure they’re from a reputable source. Happy reading!

New Conserve-O-Grams available online

The U.S. National Park Service Museum Management Program is pleased to announce the publication of several new Conserve O Gram technical leaflets on the following topics:

– Care and Identification of Objects Made from Plastic

– Preparing and Storing Geological Drill Cores

– Digital Storage Media

The National Park Service (NPS) Conserve O Gram (COG) series is geared to collections management staff. Technical leaflets cover a range of collections types, including archives, ceramics, digital media, fine arts, furniture, leatherwork, natural history collections, photographs, and textiles. The COGs address specific procedures, techniques and materials on preservation, security, fire and curatorial safety, agents of deterioration, packing and shipping, storage, and disaster preparedness.

The NPS Conserve O Gram series and other NPS museum publications are available for free download at http://www.nps.gov/museum/publications/.

December Meeting Minutes

ECPN MEETING MINUTES

December 16, 2010

Conference Call Attendees:
Ryan Winfield

Karen Pavelka

Amy Brost

Heather Brown

Rose Daly

Ruth Seyler

Stephanie Porto

I. ECPN November meeting minutes approved unanimously

II. Angels Project (Ryan)

a. Site selection in progress. Send ideas to Ruth Seyler. One idea is to use CAP (Conservation Assessment Program) applications, because those sites self-selected for assistance. Decision to come early 2011. Amy and Ruth can work together on publicity as needed; AIC generally handles press releases and media relations for the annual meeting and Angels Project. ECPN members should forward media contacts to Ruth.

III. 2011 AIC Meeting – ECPN Poster (Heather/Amy)

a. Heather received abstract updates from Rose. Amy will create the poster following the ‘2011 Poster Guidelines’ document, using the committee charge plus bullets about initiatives in each area. Amy will reach out to Morgan Gilpatrick, AIC Communications Director, for AIC logo and design guidelines.

b. Coordinators will provide a couple of bullet points about their initiatives to Amy for the poster, along with any print-quality images they might have. Rose will notify Carrie and Amber about bullet points.

c. Images will include a few “actions shots” and/or photos to identify ECPN members. Some images from ECPN and AIC Flickr pages may be used.

IV. 2011 AIC Meeting – ECPN Dinner (Heather)

a. Group determined that McGillin’s Olde Ale House was the best choice. Dinner to be informal, drop-in style, 6-10 pm on Friday. Talks end at 5:30 that day, so 6 pm is ideal.

V. 2011 AIC Meeting – ECPN Business Meeting (Rose)

a. Business meeting will take place 5:30-6:30 pm on Tuesday. No food needed. Rose will explore whether Skype or audioconferencing could be used to involve more people, but Ruth advised that the hotel will charge for this.

VI. AIC Website, CoOL and Student Research Database (Ryan)

a. The AIC website is in transition, and CoOL is being transitioned to AIC servers from Stanford, the long-time host. Per Ryan, hold the discussion about the possibility of hosting the Student Research Database as part of CoOL until after the transition. Since CoOL requests go through Nancie Ravenel, Carrie could speak with her about this possibility.

VII. Mentoring Program (Ryan)

a. This program is still in the early stages, with the first group of matches recently completed (15 mentor-mentee pairs). Prior to that, there was a small test group. The program has run for one year so far.

b. The following deadlines were added to the webpage by Ryan: 3/1, 6/1, 9/1, and 12/1. All the data collected from the online application flows into a spreadsheet that can be used to manage the matching process. Currently, mentor requests exceed mentor applications, but Rose and Ryan are able to make inquiries with potential mentors when a prospective mentee applies.

c. A survey is being developed to measure the effectiveness of the program. Anecdotal feedback indicates that some matches have been very successful, while some did not generate a sustained connection. Survey results could be used to help promote the program online and in the newsletter (“Success stories”)

d. Developing FAQ’s for mentors and mentees could also be helpful.

VIII. AIC News Articles from ECPN (Amy/Heather)

a. Topic #1 – ECPN at the 2011 AIC Annual Meeting (Amy). Deadline is February 1 for March issue. Include Angels Project if determined.

b. Topic #2 – Mentoring Program (Heather). Deadline is April 1 for May issue. Will be a good time to promote applications by the 6/1 deadline.

IX. OSG Wiki

a. Amy brought a request from Rachael Perkins Arenstein, e-Editor, to find out how to involve ECPN in expanding the OSG Wiki. Ideas included:

b. Reach out to training program heads, so they can inform their graduate students of the opportunity to publish on the Wiki and help their peers

c. Reach out to institutions that have fellowships in objects conservation (Straus at Harvard, NMAI, Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta, etc.) so they can inform fellows

d. Promote the idea in ECPN materials and add Wikis to the committee charge

e. Promote the idea at ECPN activities at the 2011 AIC Meeting

f. Need to ensure quality control on the Wikis, and with cooperation from training program faculty, could vet student work for inclusion.

g. Amy will get back to Rachael with this list of ideas. Find out if Rachael will do the actual posting or if institutions would post directly to the Wiki. Also, ask Rachael to put a request out to the specialty groups to find out which ones are interested in involving students and post-graduate fellows in creating Wiki content.

h. Stephanie Porto (ECC liaison and chair of the RATS specialty group) mentioned that she would be interested in students contributing content to the RATS Wiki.

X. Outreach Update (Heather)

a. Everyone praised the “10 Tips” series on the blog. Very substantial.

b. Rose suggested that the next series on the blog could be the “Top 10” things to know about private practice. Heather suggested profiles of people in private practice who give their own top 10 list, and perhaps have someone from each specialty, since the needs are so different. Each person profiled might also be willing to share a “Resources” list for their specialty, to help other conservators starting out in the same specialty and procuring supplies, which could accompany the blog post.

c. Heather/Rose to explore rolling ECPN Flickr page into AIC Flickr page.

d. Heather to draft AIC news column about the Mentor Program.

XI. Communications Update (Amy)

a. Flier text is complete and was reviewed on a prior call. Ryan provided Morgan Gilpatrick’s contact information. Amy to follow up to ask about logos and design guidelines, and then lay out the flier as letter-size PDF.

b. Amy suggested the flier format with detachable wallet card might be good for the 2011 AIC conference bag, or as a take-one at the poster.

c. Amy to provide a draft of news column about ECPN at the AIC meeting for the next call for review (due date Feb. 1)

d. Upon receipt of design guidelines and coordinator bullet lists/images, Amy will lay out the poster.

XII. Portfolio Review Sessions (Rose)

a. It would be ideal to offer portfolio reviews at the 2011 AIC meeting, perhaps two representatives from each school, one showing the pre-program portfolio and one showing the graduate-level portfolio. Portfolio reviews are an opportunity for both pre-program and graduate students.

b. Rose and Amber are following up with the graduate programs to see if any students will volunteer to present their portfolios. Need a good distribution of students from the various programs, as well as examples of both types of portfolios.

c. Compile and distribute links to students’ online portfolios, so pre-program and students-in-training can learn from them.

Next conference call 1 PM EST, Thursday, January 21, 2011.

Respectfully submitted,

Amy Brost

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A rare map is found and saved but an oppotunity to educate the public is lost

The New York Times has published a front page article, “Cunning, Care and Sheer Luck Save Rare Map” , about the conservation of a fortuitously discovered copy of an extremely rare map among the holdings of the Brooklyn Historical Society. When discovered, the “Plan of the City of New York” (which was drawn by a British Lieutenant, Bernard Ratzer in 1769 and first published in 1770), was coated with shellac, backed with linen, and cut into long strips. The article discusses the treatment carried out by conservator Jonathan P. Derow and mentions that he charged a reduced rate of $5,000 for his work. As the article makes no mention of what the usual fee would have been or how many hours Mr. Derow worked on the piece, an opportunity was lost to educate the public on the time consuming nature and cost of conservation work.

A section of the map before and after treatment

You don’t rush the work just because a painting has little monetary value

“Picassos in Reverse”, a brief profile of paintings conservator Simon Parkes and his studio published in the January 7, 2011 issue of The Wall Street Journal, ends with a quote from Mr. Parkes: “A picture of your granny is going to cost aproximately the same as a 1916 Picasso. I’m not going to pretend it takes any longer to do a Picasso.” These throw away lines inform the Wall Street Journal readership of an important principle of conservation

Check out these posts on the AIC news blog by Jessica Ford and Katherine Langdon, two Indianapolis Museum of Art conservation interns.

On the Road to Conservation: Pre-Program Road Trip – Part 1
Jessica talks about making a trip out to University of Delaware and New York University to see their graduate programs.
On the Road to Conservation: Pre-Program Road Trip – Part 2
Katherine talks about visiting the Buffalo State College graduate program and nearby cities.

On the Road to Conservation: A Pre-Program Road Trip – Part II

Image caption: Clockwise from top left: JessiKat on the Buffalo campus, Niagara Falls, the Liberty Bell, JessiKat back home, JessiKat outside UPenn’s museum, Katherine with Buffalo’s mascot. Center: Reading Market in Philadelphia.

This entry by Katherine Langdon is the second part of a two-part blog post. Read the first entry by Jessica Ford below (posted 1/12/2011). Both Katherine and Jessica are pre-program interns working with Richard McCoy at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

I’m Katherine Langdon, pre-program intern in conservation at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and prospective conservation graduate student, and today I am continuing the story begun previously by my fellow intern, Jessica Ford. If you didn’t catch her blog entry you should begin there.

After our delightful and fast-paced visit to Winterthur for the WUDPAC Portfolio Day we spent the night in nearby Philadelphia. Philly turned out to be an ideal way-station for our travels, not only as a central hub of the east coast, but also as a bustling capital of culture and American history.

Our Thursday began early with a drive to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, where we had an appointment with Head Conservator Lynn Grant. As I have a background in archaeology, I was especially keen to see how conservation was approached at an archaeologically-focused museum. Lynn was very generous with her time and expertise, answering our slew of questions. We started with a tour of the collections in storage, where nearly a million objects are protected long-term – in fact the collection is so large that only about 3% of their artifacts can be on display at any one time. All of this is in the care of the two (soon to be three) full-time conservators and their assorted interns. The museum, housed in a historic building on the university campus, recently began renovations on much of the service area, so although the conservation staff currently operate in a makeshift lab, they anticipate having great new facilities in the near future.

Thrilled with the thorough visit, we thanked Lynn and stepped out into the very rainy city for an afternoon of exploration. This was Jessica’s first visit to Philly, so I made sure we hit all the major sites, beginning with lunch at the Reading Terminal Market. The rest of the afternoon we wandered through historic Philadelphia, finally visiting the Liberty Bell Center, which contains one small and uplifting exhibit, and touring Independence Hall, which is currently undergoing its own massive conservation project.

As you read yesterday, we spent the following day in New York City before catching a late bus to Washington, D.C. I headed for the National Mall, where I visited for the first time the D.C. branch of the National Museum of the American Indian, built in 2004. I loved the unique design of the building itself and its flowing exhibits, and I was pleased to see that the exhibits included a wide range of cultures and time periods, including some breathtaking contemporary pieces of art. That evening Jessica, Duncan, and I reunited in time to attend a gallery opening downtown where some of Jessica’s artwork was on display.

After spending Sunday driving to upstate New York, we headed to Buffalo State College to get to know the campus and to meet with second-year art conservation student Christine Puza. As we approached the school, two copper peaks towering over the campus caught our attention. A bit of research revealed that the building was part of the former Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane (known now as the Buffalo Psychiatric Center or the Richardson Olmsted Complex), designed by H.H. Richardson in 1870 and now out of use. The state of New York has committed to a restoration of the complex, which could someday perhaps provide great research and conservation projects for the neighboring school.

The friendly Buffalo State campus gave its art conservation program a more collegiate atmosphere than the independent departments of NYU and Delaware. I was surprised that the three programs could have such different, yet equally pleasing, settings and characters. At Buffalo, the Art Conservation Department is proudly housed in Rockwell Hall, the main campus building, near the music department. (The school clearly has its priorities in good order.)

Christine met us here and gave us an in-depth tour of the various labs, where she told us about the coursework underway and shared her own projects. As we entered one room filled with students’ original artwork she explained that the Buffalo program emphasizes the simultaneous development of hand skills and intimate knowledge of historical artistic techniques, taught by having the students replicate traditional methods of manufacture, such as painting with egg tempera. First-year students even design their own projects to focus on crafts of personal interest (smithing or flintknapping, e.g.).

The artworks used for conservation training are brought in from outside sources. People or museums can bring in their items for evaluation and treatment, with the understanding that it might be a few years before a student chooses it for a personal project. Christine was excited to show us her current paper conservation project, the removal of a poor backing from a woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai. In the objects lab she pulled out a damaged wooden box she was working on and told us that the second year students enjoy the opportunity to go “shopping” for such projects in the storage facilities of the next-door Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

After a delicious lunch with Christine at the Indian buffet near campus, we realized that the perfect autumn weather would be best spent on a visit to Niagara Falls, only a twenty-minute drive away. There the crowds were sparse and the trees were just unveiling their seasonal chromatic brilliance. Refreshed by this natural masterpiece, we began our long drive home to Indianapolis.