ECPN interviews emerging conservators authoring personal and class blogs
Steven O’Banion, Winterthur / University of Delaware, Class of 2012
Tell us a little about yourself-your background, where you’re working now and what you do in your current position?
My undergraduate degree is in Biochemistry. However, my love for art and museums lead me to apply my scientific background to a career in art conservation. I am currently a third-year student in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC). I have particular interests in the conservation of modern/contemporary art and outdoor sculpture. I began my year at the Tate and am now at the Museum of Modern Art. I have been very fortunate to be able to treat works composed of a variety of materials, ranging from metal to wax, and bitumen to latex.
What form of outreach are you using? If it is an online tool, please specify which platform (Blogspot, Tumblr, Twitter, etc.). 3. Who would you say is your target audience? (I’ll answer these two questions together)
I have a blog titled “When Super Glue Won’t Do” that is hosted by BloggerTM. This blog chronicles my experiences as a conservation student. As my blog is linked to the Art Conservation Page at the University of Delaware’s site, much of the traffic comes from those interested in perusing a career in art conservation. However, the blog has an international following, which is particularly strong in the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Portugal, Germany, and Croatia.
I also give talks to the public.
I was very excited to have been invited to speak to students at Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury about art conservation. In total, I gave six talks to over 350 students between year 9 and year 13 (which equates to 13 to 18 year-olds). In the British school system, students start to focus their studies earlier than students in the United States. As such, the purpose of my talks was to introduce the students to a possible career path that combines both art and science. With some of the more advanced classes, students pulled out their artwork (much of it involving mixed media) and we discussed how it may age. The students were engaging and asked some great questions.
I have prepared a talk titled “Plastics in Peril,” which focused on the importance of preventive care of plastics collections on plastics conservation. I first presented the talk at the McNair Scholars Research Conference, which was held at the University of Delaware. The audience included undergraduates from across the country. I also spoke at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of Delaware. The audience varied greatly in their knowledge of plastic, ranging from those with no in-depth knowledge of plastics to retired DuPont employees that invented many of the polymers mentioned in my presentation.
What were/are you trying to achieve using this form of outreach? Was it met or solved using this particular approach or tool?
My goal for “When Super Glue Won’t Do” is simply to share my experiences with the public. I post about conferences, gallery openings, my projects, new products, etc. A blog is a perfect vehicle to share information with those who have an interest in one’s content and wish to follow.
Is there anything you would do differently, or any recommendations you would make to other conservators who might want to use your approach / tool for themselves?
I always recommend that students and interns review their host institutions internet guidelines before blogging about anything related to their projects. Also, don’t be afraid to have your supervisor follow your blog to review content.
Have your outreach endeavors produced any unexpected outcomes or benefits?
I find that the more I involve myself in public outreach, the more invitations I receive to participate in further outreach activities.
Check out Steve’s blog at: http://www.whensupergluewontdo.com/
Heather Brown, Winterthur / University of Delaware, Class of 2014
Tell us a little about yourself-your background, where you’re working now and what you do in your current position?
My name is Heather Brown. I’m from Northern California, and I have a background in Art History. I’m really interested in modern and contemporary photographs and art on paper, things that I write about a lot on my blog. At the moment, I am a first year student in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, where I also organize a blog for the class of 2014.
What form of outreach are you using? If it is an online tool, please specify which platform (Blogspot, Tumblr, Twitter, etc.).
I have a personal blog called Repair the Tear on WordPress.
Who would you say is your target audience?
In the beginning, my goal was to share my experiences with other pre-program conservators, but I think my audience has grown a lot in the last two years to include more of the general public. I went from one viewer a day on average to about about forty a day now. I know that’s probably nowhere near someone like Richard McCoy, but I think people can find my posts when they want to learn about conservation-related topics, and that encourages me to keep going, even when I’m busy with school.
What were/are you trying to achieve using this form of outreach? Was it met or solved using this particular approach or tool?
I hope that I’m teaching a non-specialist audience a few things about conservation, and making them interested in what we do. WordPress shows me my stats for each day: the links visitors used, the terms they searched, which posts they read, and what links from my page they clicked on. Seeing those results makes me feel like I’m actually reaching out to people and teaching them something new.
Is there anything you would do differently, or any recommendations you would make to other conservators who might want to use your approach / tool for themselves?
WordPress is great, and has worked really well for me. It’s so intuitive that I think anyone can easily create a professional-looking product. Even more than design, the most important thing about producing a blog is content. As long as there is new content on a regular basis, people will retain their interest. And the more you post, the more you will come up in search engines, so growth is definitely exponential.
Have your outreach endeavors produced any unexpected outcomes or benefits?
Yes! I’ve met a lot of other bloggers, and have even been asked for referrals for conservation services. The most exciting outcome was an email from a contemporary artist, in response to a blog I wrote on one of her pieces. It’s a really long story, but she found my blog through a google search, and ended up inviting me to a gallery opening!
Check out Heather’s blog at: http://repairthetear.wordpress.com/
Megan Salazar-Walsh, Buffalo State College, Class of 2014
Tell us a little about yourself-your background, where you’re working now and what you do in your current position?
I am currently a first year student (class of 2014) in graduate school for Art Conservation at Buffalo State College, and Co-Outreach Coordinator for ECPN.
What form of outreach are you using? If it is an online tool, please specify which platform (Blogspot, Tumblr, Twitter, etc.).
Some of my classmates and I created a blog on WordPress. We update it periodically with activities we are doing in and out of class.
Who would you say is your target audience?
The target audience is mostly prospective students, friends, family, and the public at large. It isn’t geared towards established conservators, and we don’t feature any of the conservation treatments we are working on, so none of the content is very technical. Posts are generally short and light-hearted.
What were/are you trying to achieve using this form of outreach? Was it met or solved using this particular approach or tool?
The main goal was to promote our graduate program and give a better understanding of how art conservators are trained. I think we did this successfully by sharing our personal experiences as students and writing about the broad scope of skills we’ve been learning in school. Because we are so busy in grad school, and writing a blog is about the lowest priority, the posts are generally sporadic; this is something we expected from the start and I don’t think it interferes much with the blog’s success.
Is there anything you would do differently, or any recommendations you would make to other conservators who might want to use your approach / tool for themselves?
Having the support of all relevant parties is very important. In writing a joint blog such as ours, clearly defining the rules and expectations of all those involved is vital. Also, this may seem obvious, but you should always ask for permission before publishing names or images of people and artwork.
I would recommend a WordPress blog over Blogspot. The number of variables may seem overwhelming at first, but the WordPress platform gives users a lot more control over what the blog looks like and how it functions.
Have your outreach endeavors produced any unexpected outcomes or benefits?
We haven’t received much feedback on the blog except from family and friends; it is a nice way to keep them updated. I’m not sure if very many people ever read our blog, but if nothing else it has been an incentive to actively document our first year of school. It sort of functions as a joint diary for the class of 2014; I think it will be fun to revisit the entries in a few years.
Check out Buffalo State College class of 2014’s blog at: http://buffaloartconservation.wordpress.com/
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