June 2012 – Page 2 – AIC Blog Archives: Conservators Converse

Call for Papers and Posters : 12th ICOM-CC Wet Organic Archaeological Materials Conference (WOAM)

Istanbul, Turkey

May 13-17, 2013

Aims of the Conference

To present relevant case studies in the conservation of wet organic archaeological materials
To disseminate scientific research results in the field of wet organic archaeological materials
To promote the application of new materials and technologies for conservation as well as new tools for analysis and documentation
To identify further research and to provide networking for future activities

The Wet Organic Archaeological Materials Working Group has decided to focus on the following subjects. The list is not inclusive and all topics of relevance to the analysis, treatment and care of wet organics are welcome.

Pre-conservation storage
In-situ preservation and reburial
New materials for the conservation of organic materials
Re-treatment of artifacts with particular reference to alum in wood
Acids (sulphur and iron) formation in organic materials
Categorization of materials, wood degradation and analysis
Post-conservation display and storage
Review of the samples from the 1987 International Comparative Wood Treatment Study
Reports on ongoing conservation projects and case studies

Due Dates:

Sept 15, 2012: Submission of abstracts for papers or posters

Abstracts for Peer Review papers (title, authors and text, maximum 800 words, no images or graphs)

Please indicate if Paper is for Peer Review.

Abstracts for all other papers and posters (title, authors and text, maximum 400 words, no images or graphs) Abstracts for papers or posters should be submitted by e-mail to: tara.grant [at] pch__gc__ca

Oct 15, 2012: Approval of abstracts, speakers and posters, notification of authors

Jan 15, 2013: Submission of Peer Review Papers

April 30, 2013: Submission of all other papers or posters submitted for publication.

Late acceptance of Non-peer reviewed papers may be accepted if space remains.

All papers will be published in the conference proceedings.

For more information about submitting an abstract, please contact tara.grant [at] pch__gc__ca

For more information concerning the conference please go to http://www.icom-cc.org/42/working-groups/wet-organic-archaelogical-materials/

Tara Grant, Coordinator WOAM

Senior Conservator – Archaeology

Canadian Conservation Institute

1030 Innes Road

Ottawa ON K1A 0M5

613-998-3721 ext 227

Artists’ Colourmen Database

Paintings conservators at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Australia, have compiled a database of Artists’ Colourmen stamps, stencils, labels and marks found on artworks in the NGV Collection as a resource for study and interest.

The database can be viewed online at: http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/conservation/artists-colourmen

Companies manufacturing and supplying artist’s materials, from the late Eighteenth Century onward, are known as Artists’ Colourmen. They marked their products, canvases, stretchers, and boards, for instance, with individual and characteristic stamps, stencils, labels and embossed marks. These often carry the company name and address, which can be used to indicate the source and general date of manufacture of the canvas, board or stretcher associated with an artwork.

This online resource has been made possible by the generous support of the Telematics Course Development Fund. We are also indebted to Jacob Simon for allowing us to reference the rich on-line archive of historical information on artist’s colourmen provided by the National Portrait Gallery, London.

6th Helen Warren DeGolyer Triennial Competition and Exhibition Winners

The 6th Helen Warren DeGolyer Triennial Competition and Exhibition for American Bookbinding took place Friday, June 8, 2012 at Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University and it was a great day!

There were 31 entrants in the competition (almost a doubling from last Triennial’s participation); great workshops by Karen Hanmer, Shanna Leino, and Chela Metzger; a superb and personal luncheon presentation by Priscilla Spitler on her design and realization of the binding from that 2009 award-winning design; many moving memorials to Jan Sobota; and a wonderful awards ceremony and exhibition opening–the Bridwell Library staff did a fantastic job of everything!

The winners at this Triennial’s competition are:

Jana Pullman
2012 Award for Design

Eleanore Edwards Ramsey
2012 Award for Excellence in Fine Binding

David John Lawrence
2012 DeGolyer Award for American Bookbinding

See www.smu.edu/Bridwell/Collections/SpecialCollectionsandArchives/Exhibitions/DeGolyer2012.

The murals were conserved, but environmental problems remain

According to The New York Times (“Ancient Church in Rome, Restored and Imagined”, by Eve M. Kahn, June 15, 2012), after more than a decade of analysis and conservation of its early Christian murals, the church of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome will open to the public on a limited basis in September 2012. The Times article notes that cobwebs are now growing on the freshly restored paintings due to the constant humidity within the building. If the environmental issues of the structure are not dealt with might all of the conservators’ painstaking work be for naught?

ECPN April Meeting Minutes

The April minutes were just approved today; this was our first meeting since the AIC annual meeting. An overview of the ECPN Informational Meeting held in Albuquerque is also on the AIC blog here.

ECPN MEETING MINUTES

Monday, April 16, 2012

Conference Call Attendees:

Molly Gleeson (Chair)

Eliza Spaulding (Vice Chair)

Amy Brost (Communications Coordinator)

Anisha Gupta (co-Outreach Coordinator)

Carrie Roberts (co-Professional Education and Training)

Gwen Manthey (co-Professional Education and Training)

Megan Salazar-Walsh (co-Outreach Coordinator)

Rebecca Rushfield (ETC)

Stephanie Lussier (Board Liaison)

Amber Harwood (CAC-ECC Liaison)

Genevieve Bieniosek (Student Liaison, ETC)

Robin O’Hern (CSCP)

Ryan Winfield (AIC Staff Liaison)

Roll call — Molly took roll.
Officer update – (Molly) Abby Aldrich decided that she will have to step down from her position as co-Professional Education and Training. Gwen will take over her responsibilities, and the committee is happy to welcome Gwen in her new role as co-Professional Education and Training.
Minutes Approval (Molly) – March meeting minutes were approved.
ANAGPIC (Molly, Megan) – Presentation and fliers were a great success. Megan felt her presentation went well, and she was approached by a few people (including Jennifer Morton, and others) who wanted to become involved. Joyce Hill-Stoner was interested in coordinating with the interview series to bring those interviews into the oral history project. Amber will follow up with her. Megan felt the presentation at ANAGPIC was a great way to share news of our initiatives (ECPN and ECC), which were well received and raised awareness. Columbia, Penn, and UT-Austin were having architecture student events this month, and the ECPN flier was distributed. Will follow up with Avigail to see how it was received.
Network Guidelines (Molly) – CCN and ECPN are now designated networks, as opposed to specialty groups or committees. New guidelines are being drafted by the Board to describe how the networks function. As Stephanie indicated, it will not change how ECPN has operated. ECPN was the first network, so when the Collections Care Network (CCN) approached the Board about becoming a network, the Board began to consider what makes the networks unique. This is a positive development based on the success of ECPN. Networks are wide-reaching groups meant to reach out to conservators in all specialties, and have a broader scope, and fewer limitations versus specialty groups and committees. AIC is working to put in writing how the networks function, to formalize the category, and this is why the current operations of ECPN will not be affected by the guidelines.
AIC Annual Meeting Poster (Megan, Carrie, Amy) – Megan is producing the actual poster layout and the latest round is looking very strong. Carrie polled the group about how to handle the companion blog post. Feature each interview as a post? Or condense into a question with multiple answers? Amy suggested an “overview” blog post with links to the individual interview blog posts. Carrie added that there could also be links there to getting started with social media and other tools. Thanks to those who solicited content for the poster. Molly and Amy volunteered to help with copy-editing the individual blog posts. Amy’s flier will have two parts: highlights of the poster sections, and notes on how to get started with outreach initiatives. Amy will have the poster produced at FedEx Office in Albuquerque and pick it up. She will pay personally and submit a reimbursement form to AIC. Ryan will send her the reimbursement form. For the Poster Session (4-4:30 Thursday) Megan and Eliza are free to pitch in as needed, and Amy and Carrie are free to be at the poster, or tag-team.
Portfolio Session (Carrie) – Have the location, a list of presenters, and several established conservators participating also. Took names last year as people arrived in the room, so they could be polled later. That was very valuable. There was a mix of conservators at all levels last year, so it was an educational and networking opportunity for all levels. Carrie felt that there should be a notebook and someone standing with it, to encourage people to ‘sign-in.’ Gwen volunteered to do ‘check-in’ as well as sit with her portfolio. Molly offered to support Gwen at check-in, or Gwen could be a back-up to Molly. Ryan suggested checking off names on the printed Attendee List, which requires less information to be collected. Email addresses can be married to the checked-off names later on. All agreed this was the best check-in approach. Anisha will post the location to the Facebook event and send a reminder a week in advance.
Informational Meeting (Molly) – Have a chance to introduce people, to put faces with names. Have a sign-in sheet to collect information. Provide an overview of activities going on at the meeting, and ongoing projects, and opening the floor for discussion/feedback. Last year was run much like a monthly call – each officer spoke about their initiatives. The Chair, Rose Cull, did an introduction. Very popular session last year – ran out of chairs. Provide copies of the ECPN flier as a handout? Print an agenda? Ryan remembered that there was no printed agenda last year. It was thought it would be a committee business meeting, but the officers kept it more general when the large turnout was observed. Eliza felt that feedback was critical and asked about last year’s session. Amy recalled the post-meeting survey generated the most feedback, rather than the Q&A at the informational session. Perhaps a written survey to have in the room? Or break out into smaller groups? It will help that the Happy Hour is right afterward. Molly asked Anisha to update the Facebook event with room location and post a reminder a week in advance. Ryan will email the room name to Anisha.
Happy Hour (Megan, Anisha) – Will be held at Marble Brewery, a short distance from the Hyatt, from 6-10 pm, immediately following the informational meeting. Have a reservation and the group is expected to be 20+ people. Molly suggested a confirmation a week in advance. Anisha will follow up with the restaurant. Molly asked Anisha to update the Facebook event with room location and post a reminder a week in advance.
Angels Project (Molly) – Sandoval County Historical Society Angels Project is also on Tuesday (8:30 – 2 pm or 4 pm) with provided transportation. There are still openings – contact Molly or visit the website to sign up. Will not conflict with the informational meeting for ECPN, if anyone is interested in attending both.
Liaison Updates
1. There will be an upcoming article in AIC News on Sustainable Practices.
2. Emergency Committee is sponsoring a workshop on Tuesday, 9 am to noon, and it will be a Disaster Response Workshop (CERT member – free; otherwise $79). Experts from FEMA on hand, and others. Posted on the website and circulated on the ECPN website.
3. Objects Group will not be having a meeting with archaeological materials this year.
4. CCN is still looking for volunteers for notetakers on May 9 ‘Outreach to Allies’ session. Molly will pass along any volunteer names to Joelle Wickens, CCN Chair.
5. WAG is adding a new advisory committee (if approved) and will include an emerging conservator, to broaden officer structure and provide a mentoring opportunity. Focus on wooden artifacts preferred (panel paintings, furniture, etc. – as long as primary membership is in WAG). To suggest someone, contact Molly.
Forum Calls (Molly) – Updates to come. Check Writeboards on Basecamp for more information on how topic selection and technology selection are developing.
Mentoring Program (Eliza) – Finished reviewing applicants and matched 13 of 20 applicants. Ryan will reach out to them this week. Reached out to all specialty groups to ask for assistance to promote a call for mentors for the remaining 7 applicants. The goal is to match all 20 applicants by the annual meeting, so they can connect with their new mentors at the meeting. Mentoring program Toolkit is nearly complete, and a protocol based on the recent process will make the next cycle run smoothly.
Student Research Platform (Carrie) – New term “platform” instead of “database.” Will work with Eliza to look at the range of platforms that have been considered (AATA, AIC website, CoOL), and keep working on new, revised proposal. Sections in development include description, target audiences, features (searchability, etc), maintenance needs, cost estimate, etc. Carrie will work with all in the working group, and with Gwen, to develop the proposal. No deadline for the proposal yet, from Eryl, but Molly suggested we set a date for sometime after the AIC annual meeting, perhaps the end of May. Need to check in with Eryl to see if that is a good timeframe. Want to keep the momentum going.
PR Toolkit (Molly) – Working on the Wiki to develop content for the toolkit. Some of the discussion section has working sections, which will be migrated to the main page before the annual meeting. There will be a flier to announce the project in the conference bag (Ryan is working on this), and the project will be discussed with the membership at the annual meeting on Friday, from 4-5 pm, at the “Next steps” session, to describe the project and also to solicit content.
ECC (Amber) – Thanks to everyone for collaborating on the flier and session at ANAGPIC. ECC looks forward to future collaborations. ECPN (Molly) extended our thanks to ECC for all their efforts as well. CAC has a monthly conference call, but ECC does not. Molly indicated that someone from ECPN could participate in ECC calls, when they begin. More collaboration and cross-linking could be done via Facebook and the blogs.
Next Call (Molly) – Molly suggested skipping the May call since the officers will meet at the Annual Meeting. The next call would be June 18.

Next call: June 18, 2012 at 1pm ET

Respectfully submitted,

Amy Brost

2012 IIC Vienna Congress- ‘The Decorative: Conservation and the applied arts’: registration now open

Registration is now open for IIC’s twenty-fourth international Congress, which will take place in Vienna from the 10th to the 14th of September 2012.
Full details, including the technical and social programmes, are available at the Congress pages of the IIC web-site: http://www.iiconservation.org/congress

The 2012 Congress will focus on a topic that is uniquely well-suited to Vienna’s wealth and breadth of decorative and applied arts heritage. Ornament and decoration have been evident in human endeavour since the beginning of human history, ranging from the bold clarity of ancient Egypt to the great period of Jugendstil and the Vienna Secession around 1900 and on to the exuberant revivals of today. Wherever civilisations have developed, many of their forms of cultural expression can be considered as ‘decorative’ or ‘applied’ arts. The congress topic coincides with Vienna’s Klimt 2012 celebrations, on the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Klimt.

Over 40 speakers and a further 40 poster presenters will report on contemporary thinking, current research and examples of best practice on a wide range of conservation topics including:
– glass
– furniture
– textiles and carpets
– porcelain
– precious metals
– jewellery
– musical instruments
– manuscripts
– wall paintings
– lacquerware

As with all IIC Congresses, the conference will bring together the international professional community to present and exchange ideas, to debate conservation practices and cutting-edge research, to consider exciting new developments and thought-provoking challenges, and to make new connections between this region and all corners of the world. There is a full social programme of receptions and the Gala Diner, plus the tours in and around Vienna on the Wednesday and the IIC Round Table event on the Wednesday evening. After the Congress a series of visits to neighbouring cultural centres is also available.

Book now at www.iiconservation.org to secure your place at what is already a very popular event.

On the front page

The front pages of two recent issues of The New York Times have featured articles concerning the preservation or technical examination and dating of works of art. One, “Greek Antiquities, Long Fragile, Are Endangered by Austerity” (by Randy Kennedy, June 12, 2012), discusses the grim situation in Greece for the preservation of archaeological sites and for archaeological research that is a direct result of government austerity measures. The other, “With Science, New Portrait of the Cave Artist” (by John Noble Wilford, June 15, 2012) discusses how new refinements to the technique of uranium-thorium dating have led to revised earlier dates for Spanish cave paintings which have brought “current ideas about the prehistory of human art in Southern Europe into question”.
The question we might ask is whether the placement of these articles on the front page of the main section (and not on an interior page or in the Arts or Science sections) is an indication that conservation and technical analysis have finally attained a higher status.

Priceless heritage at risk from extremists

Rebel group in control of Timbuktu desecrates venerated tomb and seeks to obliterate thousands of ancient manuscripts

By Emily Sharpe. Conservation, Issue 236, June 2012
Published online: 06 June 2012

Timbuktu is in the hands of religious extremists who have set fire to a 15th-century mausoleum

Concern for the cultural heritage of Mali is growing after militant Islamic fundamentalists desecrated a 15th-century tomb of a Muslim saint in Timbuktu in May, and threatened to destroy other tombs as well as anything else they perceive as being idolatrous or contrary to their version of Islam. The northern Malian city, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is home to several other such tombs and three historic mosques as well as many small museums. Timbuktu also has between 600,000 and one million ancient manuscripts housed in public and private collections that are vulnerable to acts of destruction from the occupying rebel forces as well as from those looking to profit from the political unrest.

Read the full story at the Art Newspaper >>

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting – Photographic Materials Session, May 11, “The Photograph Information Record” by Erin Murphy and Nora Kennedy

At last month’s AIC meeting, I had the pleasure of attending several of the PMG sessions, including this one on the Photograph Information Record, or “PIR” for short. The form was introduced in 2009 following several years of collaboration between the Photographic Materials Research Group, photograph conservators, and colleagues in conservation science, collections management, and curatorial. The goal was to create an international standard for an artist’s questionnaire, to collect essential information to aid in preservation efforts. The result was a concise, two-page form. A completed PIR covers the history and context of creation, ownership, exhibition, conservation, and publication of a photograph, and provides information about the tools and processes of image creation, printing, and finishing. It asks artists to discuss what aspects of the work they consider integral, and gives them an opportunity to provide a statement about the creation and preservation of the work.

In this session Erin Murphy, photograph conservator at the New York Public Library, reviewed the history of the PIR and discussed its present stage of development. Many institutions around the world have formally adopted the PIR, and now plans are underway to collect feedback from users in order to develop the next generation – a new and improved form.

French, Spanish, and Japanese versions are available, with more translations in the works. For some committees working on translations, it poses a real challenge to agree on terminology or create terms in the language that didn’t exist before. Some mentioned that those discussions may be suitable for the wiki, and for the glossary project.

Future goals include expanding the visibility and availability of the PIR on the web. Right now, the form is available in several languages as a free download on the AIC website at www.conservation-us.org/PIR. ICOM-CC-PM members can access it on the ICOM-CC website. The form can also be found on a few other sites, such as a gallery or library here and there. A secondary PR campaign will also help raise awareness and encourage more institutions, galleries, and photographers themselves to adopt this valuable tool. Some attendees suggested potential audiences, including photography curators, and the registrars’ groups of AAM and ICOM.

Another goal is to see if improvements can be made to the PDF format. Form fields in the PDF make it easy to complete the form, but the information is not easy to import into museum databases. The PIR’s creators would also like to see access to the PIR expand within institutions to reach more departments and researchers.

It’ll be exciting to see the new directions that the PIR form takes in the coming months.

JSTOR Launches “Register & Read”

AIC is participating, along with about 70 other publishers, in a new program that JSTOR is testing, called Register & Read. It’s not the kind of access for our members that we’re really after, but it’s a good start. Register & Read allows individuals to register for free with JSTOR and find content that can be read online or purchased. Users can add content to a “reading shelf” to read online for a minimum of 14 days during the BETA (meaning that this may change over time as JSTOR assesses use and user needs). Users have the ability to view articles within the context of the entire issue and can remove content from the shelf after 14 days or choose to leave it there indefinitely. Users may also choose to purchase and download articles if the publisher participates in the Publisher Sales Services, as AIC does. Purchased articles will be stored on a new “Purchases” tab in the user’s account and users will then have unlimited access to the article PDF file. Unregistered users who purchase articles will receive a traditional access token that limits access to 5 PDF downloads and expires in 14 days. Our goals in participating in this program include making JAIC more accessible to researchers beyond the field, researchers with institutional access to only a limited number of JSTOR collections, and researchers who currently have no access to JSTOR, in addition to helping to provide increased research opportunities to our members.