Month: September 2011

Libyan World Heritage Sites Safe

The recent conflict in Libya called for an emergency assessment mission to determine the cultural heritage situation. Since no independent confirmation about damage and looting had occurred thus far, two organizations involved in international protection of cultural heritage, Blue Shield and the International Military Cultural Resources Work Group, organized a mission to meet with Libyan officials and get a first hand impression of the situation.

The mission has visited the National Museum in Tripoli as well as two World Heritage archaeological sites: Sabratha and Leptis Magna. All three are closed to the public now, but well guarded. The team was very impressed by the excellent precautionary measures of the local museum professionals and archaeologists. The most important pieces were brought into the storage rooms or hidden vaults. Welding exterior doors proved to be much better protection than locks. Very important at the large archaeological sites was the intense collaboration with the local population, e.g. sheep herders.

  • National Museum in Tripoli: no losses, nearly no damage.
  • In Leptis Magna Gaddafi militia tried to take control of the site but without success. Everything is safe.
  • In Sabratha the Army Brigade 219 that occupied posts from early July until the 17th of August. This caused minor damage from small arms and anti aircraft fire and from the use of heavy equipment on site. The perimeter fence was broken down in many places.

Reports from other places in Libya were mixed. Among the bad news is that the museum in Misurata has been severely damaged, but it is not known if pieces are missing. The museum director was kidnapped by the Gaddafi militia shortly before the collapse and his fate is unknown.

Overall it has to be stated that there is no evidence of organized looting in the museums or sites.

The final detailed and illustrated report will be published online next week on the web site of Blue Shield Austria: http://www.kulturgueterschutz.at.

About the mission
Planning this mission began this spring, but commenced in earnest only after the cessation of active hostilities in Tripoli. There were a number of problems to be solved with regard to official approval from the Transitional Government for the team to travel to Libya, not to mention the logistical problems of travel to and within Libya.  The team flew to Djerba, Tunisia, on Tuesday, 27 September and on 28th they traveled by car to Tripoli. Today, September 30, the team has returned by the same route.

The team:

  • Karl von Habsburg, President, Association of National Committees of the BlueShield (ANCBS)
  • Drs Joris Kila, Chairman, International Military Cultural Resources Work Group (IMCuRWG); University of Amsterdam
  • Support provided by:
  • Dr. Hafed Walda (archaeologist from Misurata, currently working at King’s College in London)
  • Home base (background research, coordination, communication):
  • Dr. Thomas Schuler, President, Disaster Relief Task Force (DRTF) International Council of Museums

Media contact:

Dr. Thomas Schuler
Tel: +49 371 2601007
Fax: +49 371 2600743
Skype: drthschuler
Email: th.schuler@t-online.de

Media Release – September 30, 2011

by the Association of the National Committees of the Blue Shield (ANCBS)
and the International Military Cultural Resources Working Group (IMCuRWG)

New ECPN Officers

ECPN was very fortunate to have so many strong candidates interested in a leadership role on the committee. We are pleased to announce the following new officers:

Chair

Molly Gleeson

San Diego, CA


Vice Chair

Eliza Spaulding

Philadelphia, PA


Outreach Co-Coordinator

Anisha Gupta

Champaign, IL


Outreach Co-Coordinator

Megan Salazar-Walsh

Buffalo, NY


Carrie Roberts will continue as Professional Education and Training Coordinator, Amber Kerr-Allison will continue as Professional Development and Training Coordinator through December, and Amy Brost will continue as Communications Coordinator.


Please join us in thanking outgoing Chair Rose Cull and outgoing Outreach Coordinator Heather Brown for all their hard work to help make ECPN what it is today.


The officers are looking forward to an exciting and productive year for ECPN. Please note that our monthly meeting time will be changing, so stay tuned for more information on the committee call schedule for the coming year.

Dead Sea Scrolls come to life on the Web

Discovered in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have been available for viewing only in a museum in Israel…until now.

Thanks to some expert digital photography and a project set up by Google, high-resolution photos of five of the seven original Dead Sea Scrolls can now be seen online. The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls Web site offers a peek into the distant past, allowing people to view and examine the scrolls in fine detail.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20112167-76/dead-sea-scrolls-come-to-life-on-the-web/#ixzz1ZBvJpX9Y

Art Conservation Training Programs Outside the USA

Talk to anyone in the profession, and you may hear that a lot has changed in the art conservation field. In the past, conservators often toiled behind the scenes, but in recent years conservation has become a much more visible profession. Today, some museums have conservation labs open to public view. Many institutions and private conservators use social media to get the word out about their work, and exhibitions and the accompanying catalogues often feature the contributions and perspectives of conservators. As a result, more and more people discover conservation, making entry into an academic training program more competitive than ever.

As a prospective student in the US, one way to expand your ideas about your future in the profession might be to consider undergraduate or graduate study outside of the United States and Canada. If you have the flexibility and desire to explore another country and culture, one of these programs might be for you. Some of them offer training in specialties that might mesh with your specific interests and experience, enabling you to make a strong application. (Anyone interested in building and conserving clocks? Set your sights on West Dean!) These programs are often just as competitive as those in the US, if not more so (The Courtauld Institute program accepts eight students once every three years). However, some have a stated interest in receiving applications from candidates outside the country. Perhaps your experiences will bring diversity to the composition of an incoming class, strengthening your application in that way.


If you are not aware of it, Queen’s University in Kingston (Ontario, Canada) has a highly respected graduate program:

http://www.queensu.ca/art/artconservation.html


Here are a few universities in the UK that offer graduate programs in English. Be sure to contact the schools you are interested in to fully understand how the degrees correspond to those awarded in the US. For example, in the UK, the “first degree” is the bachelor’s and is a 3-year program. Then, you would read for a graduate diploma, usually one year, and a post-graduate diploma after that. Following that, the master’s degree can be earned.


West Dean College

West Sussex, UK

MA, Conservation Studies

Graduate and Post Graduate Diplomas in Books & Library Materials, Clocks, Ceramics, Furniture, Metalwork. Programs in Stringed Instruments and Buildings, Interiors, and Sites.

http://www.westdean.org.uk/West%20Dean%20Prospectus%2011-12.pdf


Camberwell College of Arts, London, UK

MA, Conservation (2-year program new in 2011)

Art on Paper, or Books & Archival Materials

http://www.camberwell.arts.ac.uk/courses/coursesbylevel/graduateschoolcourses/maconservation2year/


Cardiff University, Wales

School of History, Archaeology, and Religion

BSc, Conservation

MSc, Conservation Practice

Cultural heritage, archaeological materials

http://www.cf.ac.uk/share/degreeprogrammes/archaeology/postgraduate/


City & Guilds of London Art School

BA, Conservation Studies (Stone and wood sculpture)

Post Graduate Diplomas in Conservation

http://www.cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk/departments/conservation


The Courtauld Institute, London

MA, Conservation of Wall Painting

Post Graduate Diploma in the Conservation of Easel Paintings

http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/degreeprogrammes/postgraduate/index.shtml


Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge, UK

Postgraduate Diploma, Easel Paintings

http://www-hki.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/courses/


Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Conservation, Department of Arts within the School of Arts and Social Sciences

MA, Conservation of Fine Art (paintings or works on paper)

MA, Preventive Conservation

http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/academic/sass/about/arts/subart/cu/?view=Standard


Bucks New University, Buckinghamshire, UK

BA, MA Conservation of Furniture and Decorative Arts

http://bucks.ac.uk/en?t=/customCode/courseFinder/view/course&ParentID=1295428942034&courseCode=MD1CFD1&tab=1


London Metropolitan University, London, UK

MA, Conservation (Wood and metal objects; decorative surfaces, architectural interiors)

http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/pgprospectus/courses/conservation-of-decorative-surfaces.cfm


Lincoln School of Art & Design

University of Lincoln, UK

MA, Conservation of Historic Objects

http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/lsad/_courses/postgraduate/conservation_of_historic_objects/Default.asp


For archaeological materials, be sure to look into Cardiff (above), UCL Institute of Archaeology in London, offering the MSc (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/studying/masters/degrees/msc_conservation), and Durham University’s MA program (http://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/postgraduate/ma_conservation/).


This list is by no means comprehensive. For example, this list focused on art conservation, but there are a number of programs for buildings and architectural conservation, as well as many schools offering conservation courses. You should definitely visit the “Training” page of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) at http://www.iccrom.org/db_train.php. There, you can search for programs around the world by specialty. Listings indicate the language of instruction. If you happen to explore another program in detail, please let us know so you can write a post about it for this blog! And if there’s a great program you think our readers should know about, feel free to add it in a Comment and provide a link.

Publishing Opportunity for Emerging Conservators: WAAC

WAAC, the Western Association for Art Conservation, is a nonprofit membership organization for professional conservators. WAAC was founded in 1975 to bring together conservators practicing in the western United States to exchange ideas, information and news. Although WAAC is specifically a regional organization for the western states including Alaska and Hawaii, any individual or institution may become a member regardless of location or national boundary.

The WAAC Newsletter is published three times per year, in January, May and September. Over the last few years, each issue has been 28-32 pages long. The Newsletter contains feature articles, regional news, a technical exchange column, a health and safety column, conference reviews, an events calendar, positions available and a publications section. Newsletters are available online at the website approximately 6 months after publication.

Students and emerging conservators are welcome to submit content to the Newsletter, especially feature articles or items for the Technical Exchange section. Feature articles can be from any specialty area, or they can focus on a more general topic, such as philosophy, basic science, new technology, exhibition/display, disaster recovery, preservation, and/or business practices.


Also, as of March 2011, authors submitting content for the newsletter can also include a video component. This would be a short clip designed to function as a “video illustration” for a specific point in a written article, much like a traditional figure. The maximum length is five minutes. Complete video submission guidelines are also available on the website. This could enrich your written content and also perhaps expand what you can demonstrate in your article.


If you are not familiar with WAAC but feel you should be, you’re in luck – the group’s Annual Meeting is scheduled to take place in Austin, Texas on October 19-22, 2011. You can download the registration form here.

Proposal for the creation of an AIC Collections Care Network

Proposal for the creation of an AIC Collections Care Network

This proposal recommends the creation of the Collections Care Network (CCN), a group of collections care, conservation, and allied professionals united in promoting a preventive approach to collections care.

Objective:

The CCN will respond to the directive in the AIC’s Guidelines for Practice to “recognize the critical importance of preventive conservation as the most effective means of promoting the long-term preservation of cultural property”. It will do so by: providing resources to support collections care and conservation staff; creating awareness of preventive care; identifying and developing standards and best practices, training, and other projects to advance preventive care in institutions of all types and sizes, locally, nationally and globally; and working with related groups to reach and support key collections care constituents.

Goals:

  • Create a network of collections and conservation professionals committed to the preventive care of collections by providing a focused forum for current AIC members and encouraging non-member collections care professionals to become AIC members.
  • Advance the understanding that preventive care preserves our cultural heritage in a way that post-damage interventive treatment cannot restore.
  • Advocate for professional recognition of all collections care professionals and support the development of the role they play in institutional preservation planning.
  • Create a forum for collections and conservation staff to exchange preservation information, ideas and research.
  • Provide preventive care programs and resources that will be of interest to the broad spectrum of constituents the CCN intends to serve.
  • Network with related collections and conservation organizations to better support shared goals.

 Rationale:

The creation of the CCN offers AIC the opportunity to more efficiently support the growing number of conservators with strong preventive responsibilities and interests. This change in role and focus affects conservators from all AIC Specialty Groups. Thus, the creation of this network would build a bridge between groups, allowing conservators to discuss needs in a topical, rather than media specific way.

Today, many collections care staff have difficulty selecting a professional organization that fully represents their interests. Creation of the CCN would offer AIC the opportunity to significantly expand its membership by welcoming collections care staff and positioning AIC as a professional organization relevant to their needs.

Ultimately, strengthening the connection between conservators and collections staff as professional peers will enable AIC to further the preservation of collections by facilitating exchange and dialogue, support the development of training and resources that interest collections care groups, and ultimately, lead to the application of sound standards for collections care practice in cultural institutions.

Anticipated groups to be served:

The audience for this network will include those with stewardship responsibilities in museums, libraries, archives, historic sites and other institutions working to preserve tangible and intangible heritage, including but not limited to:

  • Collections managers
  • Conservators
  • Art handlers
  • Collections care staff
  • Registrars
  • Packing and crating staff
  • Libraries and archives staff
  • Preservation architects and engineers
  • Historic house museum staff
  • Exhibition mountmakers
  • Preparators
  • Preventive conservation supply vendors
  • Exhibit designers
  • Archaeologists
  • Heritage preservation students
  • Conservation students

Ideas for future projects:

 Collections Care Resource Development

  • Create an online resource that would help to codify resources and offer a platform for the sharing of projects, curricula, and material sources.
  • Advocate for and identify people to write needed text books in the field
  • Identify or develop best practices for the care of challenging collections.
  • Develop formal standards of commitment and practice for collections care that can guide institutions and staff
  • Develop educational materials to promote preventive conservation approaches and conservation planning to institutions at conception, building, renovation and operational stages
  • Support AIC projects and Committees
    • AIC wiki Exhibition Standards & Guidelines
    • Web module on collections storage  (STASH –  Storage Techniques for Art, Science and Humanities collections)
    • RATS sponsored wiki on materials and materials testing
    • Environmental Guidelines Working Group
    • Emergency Committee effort to develop risk assessment and preparedness resources and AIC-CERT
    • AIC Health and Safety Committee

Staff Development

  • Identify and encourage development of continuing education programs for collections care professionals
  • Advocate for job creation and permanence for collections care and preventive care staff
  • Provide training activities that will address
    • collections care activities
    • project management
    • planning
    • obtaining institutional support
    • professional development

Outreach and Networking

  • Connect with related professional groups world wide to explore joint programming and resource development, including but not limited to
    • AAM and related sub-groups, RC-AAM and PACCIN
    • Allied professionals in universities
    • American Institute of Architects
    • ICOM-CC
    • International Institute for Conservation
    • Mountmakers Forum
    • RegionalMuseumorganizations, such as New England Museum Assoc (NEMA), Virginia Association of Museums, (VAM), and the Small Museum Association.
    • SPNHC
      • Support the preventive conservation session at 2012 SPNHC meeting – Yale, June 2012
    • The Association for Preservation Technology (APTI)
  • Work with other AIC committees and specialty groups to develop joint programming
  • Support the CAP program

To be submitted to the AIC board by the CCN organizing committee, October 15, 2011:

  • Rachael Perkins Arenstein, A.M. Art Conservation, LLC
  • Julia Brennan, Textile Conservation Services
  • Rebecca Fifield, Collections Manager for the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, MetropolitanMuseum of Art
  • Gretchen Guidess, Mellon Fellow, HistoricNew England
  • Catharine Hawks, Conservator, NMNH Smithsonian Institution
  • Wendy Jessup, Conservator, Wendy Jessup and Associates, Inc.
  • Karen Pavelka, Lecturer,School ofInformation, TheUniversity ofTexas atAustin
  • Patricia Silence, Conservator, Conservator of Museum Exhibitions and Historic Interiors, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
  • Joelle Wickens, Assistant Conservator, Head of Preventive Conservation Team and Winterthur Assistant Professor, Winterthur Museum

 

Publishing Opportunity for Emerging Conservators: Write a Book Review for JAIC

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Emerging conservators developing confidence in an area of expertise should consider writing a book review for a print publication or online forum. One publication actively seeking submissions is the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation (JAIC), the peer-reviewed journal of AIC.


According to Harriet K. Stratis, Book Review Editor for the JAIC, there are many books available for reviews, and she welcomes submissions from emerging conservators.


However, to write a successful review, you must be a strong writer and choose a topic to which you can bring a high level of expertise and insight. While this could be a tall order for an emerging conservator, there could be texts that are directly relevant to your education, experience, and current research. If you are interested in learning about the available titles for review, contact Harriet directly; she is at The Art Institute of Chicago and is listed in the AIC Member Directory. Then, if you identify a text you would like to review, you might want to identify an advisor or mentor who can give you tips and feedback before you submit.


For your reference, the complete “Guidelines for JAIC Book Reviewers” appear below:


GUIDELINES FOR JAIC BOOK REVIEWERS

The purpose of the review is to give readers a sense of the strengths and weaknesses of a publication, and to acknowledge whatever contribution the publication makes to the field and to the literature. The review should succinctly describe the contents of the publication being reviewed. The intended audience, as stated by the authors or as implied, should be identified, and the success with which the book deals with its subject for that audience should be evaluated. Reviewers are encouraged to critically assess the information found in the publication, as well as the method of presentation and point of view, as appropriate. If the publication makes a contribution, for example, of new information, or of compiling previously scattered information, or of publicly voicing for the first time a particular point of view, the contribution should be noted and its relative importance acknowledged.


Reviews of more than one publication on a particular subject are encouraged. Such reviews should provide the information noted above, and in addition may include the reviewer’s assessment of the relative successes of the publications in dealing with aspects of the general subject matter that they share.


Reviews may be of two general types: reviews of single publications and reviews of two or more publications. Suggested maximum length for reviews of single publications is 1000-2000 words (approximately 4-8 typewritten pages). Review of multiple publications may be proportionately longer.


The review should begin with standard bibliographic information and availability, in the following order: 1. Author; 2. Title of Book; 3. City: Publisher, 20XX; 4. xxx pages, hardcover, $xx; 5. (If applicable) AIC member price $xx; 6. (If applicable) Available from Name of Organization, address; 7. ISBN xxxx. The review should end with the reviewer’s name and complete working or institutional address.


Manuscripts must be typed in a 10 or 12 point standard typeface, with paragraphs indented, double-spaced, with reviewer’s name and page number in the upper right corner of each page, and a 1 inch margin or more on all sides.


Reviews will be edited by the Book Review Editor in consultation with the Editor, and sometimes with an Associate Editor in the appropriate specialty. No change in the substance of the text will be made without consulting the reviewer. The Editor of JAIC is the final authority in matters of content. Reviews will be copy edited by the paid copy editors who handle all Journal articles. The reviewer will receive page proofs.


Send the review by e-mail to Harriet K. Stratis (see the AIC Member Directory for details).

Publishing Opportunities for Students and Emerging Conservators: e-conservation magazine


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Online publications and forums offer tremendous opportunities to connect with the conservation community worldwide. One online journal, e-conservation magazine, is a bimonthly publication focusing on the conservation of cultural heritage. In addition to peer-reviewed articles, the magazine includes news, reviews, project reports, and other content as approved by the editorial board. It is published exclusively online, both as a PDF and on a website: http://www.e-conservationline.com/

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The magazine is an Open Access project, so all issues are free. The editorial board is comprised of conservators and conservation scientists. The magazine is actively seeking papers on a broad range of topics, including treatment case studies, preventive conservation, documentation, theory, and conservation science. Articles from other fields that relate to conservation and restoration are also welcome. Emerging conservators developing confidence in an area of expertise could consider writing a book review of a conservation text.

Prospective authors may check the suitability of their submission before writing a full paper or article by using the preliminary submission form on the website. In particular, this could be a useful route for students who are interested in publishing in the magazine, and want to utilize their time most effectively. The magazine hopes this will encourage student submissions; in the past, e-conservation magazine has published articles, conference and book reviews, case studies, and project reports written by students.


While there are submission deadlines listed on the website, full and preliminary submissions are accepted at any time and are evaluated for the next available issue.


If you are interested in publishing in e-conservation magazine, visit the website for complete information, and to read the current issue as well as issues from the archive.


Below are some helpful links to get you started:


· The details about how to submit articles of any sort, including book reviews, can be found at: http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/20/114/


· The email address for submissions is submission [at] e-conservationline.com


· The preliminary submission form can be found at:

http://e-conservationline.com/index.php?option=com_performs&formid=2


· The submission deadlines can be found at: http://www.econservationline.com/content/view/503/116/


Even if you’re not ready to submit an article, this is definitely a publication to bookmark and read regularly. You can also find e-conservation on Facebook and Twitter, and you can follow their daily online newspaper (http://paper.li/econservation/econservation-daily), so there are several ways to stay plugged in to this valuable resource.

Life & Death in the Pyramid Age: The Emory Old Kingdom Mummy’ at Carlos Museum

Excerpt from AJC:

Recently conserved after almost a century-long hibernation in storage, [a mummy] is the star of and impetus for the museum’s “Life & Death in the Pyramid Age: The Emory Old Kingdom Mummy.” Egyptologist Peter Lacovara conveys the historical, religious and geographical context for the prized artifact through tomb objects from the Carlos collection — many acquired with this show in mind — loans, large-scale photographs and informative texts.

The exhibition designers created a particularly dramatic tableau by transforming a gallery doorway into the entrance to a tomb. The visitor walks through it, just as an ancient Egyptian bringing an offering for the deceased would have done, to reach the offering plate (one of the new Carlos acquisitions), which sits in front of an actual “false door” door of a tomb.

Off to one side, a wooden sculpture — a repository for the tomb-owner’s soul — “watches” the proceedings through a backlit slit in the wall.

The video about the mummy’s conservation, definitely a highlight, recounts the lengths to which a multidisciplinary team went to reassemble and secure the severely deteriorated mummy — a prospect a daunted conservator described as the equivalent of piecing together a bag of crushed potato chips.

 

In some respects, conservation was uncharted territory. The mummy represents a period in which Egyptians were still experimenting with the process and conventions of mummification — before they arrived, for example, at the stiff prone position to which we are accustomed.

It’s fascinating to see how creatively Carlos conservator Renee Stein and colleague Mimi Leveque solved structural problems inherent in putting a 4,000-year-old Humpty Dumpty back together, and how they made use of discoveries Lacovara reported from the field during the process. (Hint: ears and mittens.)

Read the full article here.

Art materials can sometimes be difficult to come by

An article in the September 12, 2011 issue of The Wall Street Journal (“Virginia’s Slim Pickings for Smokers”, by Betsy McKay) describes the trials and tribulations that artist Xu Bing went through to obtain the 500,000 cigarettes he needed to create an installation in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Cigarettes are still commonly available –at least in small quantitites– and Xu’s work, “Tiger Carpet” is to be burned, so a conservator some years from now will not have to worry about finding replacement cigarettes. However, Xu’s problems are a reminder for conservators that common materials can one day be difficult to come by.