Month: January 2018

Donald Peterson Student Travel Award

The Donald Peterson Student Travel Award Subcommittee invites applications from archival science students and recent graduates of archival programs.  The award subsidizes travel to the SAA Annual Meeting for students presenting research or actively participating in an SAA-sponsored committee, section, or roundtable.

Application details are below. The application deadline is February 28, 2018. Applications will only be accepted online.  If you have any questions regarding the award or the application process, please contact Veronica Denison, Donald Peterson Student Travel Award Committee Chair, at vdenison@alaska.edu.

Purpose and Criteria for Selection: Established in 2005, this award supports students and recent graduates from graduate archival programs within North America to attend SAA’s Annual Meeting. The goal of the scholarship is to stimulate greater participation in the activities of SAA by students and recent graduates. This participation must include either a presentation of research during the Annual Meeting or active participation in an SAA-sponsored committee, section, or roundtable.

Eligibility: Awarded to an SAA member in good standing who is currently enrolled in an archival education program or who graduated from an archival education program in the previous calendar year. Applications are evaluated based on the merits of the applicant’s essay and letters of recommendation.

Sponsor and Funding: The Society of American Archivists, in honor of Donald Peterson (1908-1999), New York lawyer and philatelist, whose deep appreciation of world history and preservation developed early through his stamp collecting and held true throughout his life.

Prize: Up to $1,000 in support of registration, travel, and accommodation expenses associated with the SAA Annual Meeting.

First Awarded: 2006

Application Information and Documentation: Click here to preview the application and/or to apply. All applications must be submitted online and include the following:

  1. A 500-word essay describing the applicant’s career goals and potential impact on the archival profession.
  2. Unofficial transcript to verify student status or copy of graduate diploma.
  3. Two letters of recommendation from individuals having definite knowledge of the applicant’s qualifications.

Application Deadline: February 28, 2018

FAIC Awarded $900,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

9 January 2018

Contact: Eryl P. Wentworth
Phone: (202) 661-8060
E-mail:  ewentworth@conservation-us.org

Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation Awarded
$900,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (FAIC) was recently awarded a grant of $900,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support change and growth capital.

The Comprehensive Organizational Health Initiative (COHI) launched in 2014 by the Mellon Foundation, aims to build organizational resiliency within the national arts ecosystem by broadening access to resources in underserved regions, creating more equitable systems of support for artists and cultural organizations, and strengthening community participation. Working with the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), cohorts of organizations progress through a sequence of financial capacity-building strategies and receive infusions of capital, peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and individualized technical support. COHI grants in 2015 served six members of the National Performance Network/Visual Arts Network and eight American art conservation service organizations. Following two in-person meetings of Mellon, NFF, and cohort leadership representatives, participant organizations worked individually with NFF advisors to assess their business models and develop plans for sustainability.

With this award, over a three-year period, FAIC will engage in activities designed to increase capacity and ensure financial stability in a rapidly evolving world. “The Mellon Foundation’s commitment to support growth capital for arts organizations is groundbreaking,” notes FAIC Executive Director Eryl Wentworth, “and we are thrilled to be a part of an initiative designed to strengthen our organizations and increase their impact.” FAIC strategies will focus on increasing fundraising capacity, developing a “Friends” program for those interested in conservation but not professionally involved in caring for collections, and building a sponsorship program. A special reserve fund will be created to provide working capital for future opportunities and change. With the assistance of contractors, consultants, and an additional staff member, these new activities will be incorporated into existing FAIC programs and initiatives.

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About FAIC
FAIC, the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works, supports conservation education, research, and outreach activities that increase understanding of our global cultural heritage. Learn more at www.conservation-us.org/foundation.

About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Founded in 1969, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation endeavors to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies by supporting exemplary institutions of higher education and culture as they renew and provide access to an invaluable heritage of ambitious, path-breaking work. Additional information is available at mellon.org.

Call for Papers: JAIC Special Issue on “Reflectance Hyperspectral Imaging to Support Documentation and Conservation of 2D Artworks”

The Journal of American Institute for Conservation (JAIC) seeks submissions for a special issue on the topic of “Reflectance hyperspectral imaging to support documentation and conservation of 2D artworks.” Two-dimensional artworks include paintings, works on paper, tapestries, and photographic materials. The focus of this special issue is on hyperspectral systems that provide continuous reflectance spectra over the portion of the spectral range from the UV to the Mid-IR.  Specific areas of interest include:

  • Description of the best methodologies and acquisition parameters of workflows for operating hyperspectral imaging cameras under museum conditions or in non-controlled environments such as when studying outdoor frescoes or murals;
  • Hyperspectral image cube processing workflows to mine datasets for useful information such as pigment or binder maps, or visualizing compositional changes or revisions;
  • Defining, testing, implementing, and developing specific criteria for optimizing the format of acquired data and processing procedures for analysis, storage, usage, and dissemination of hyperspectral imaging data and results;
  • Case studies on the identification of artists’ materials using reflectance hyperspectral imaging, mapping distribution or improving visualization of compositional paint changes or revisions.

Authors are invited to submit an abstract and article outline to the special issue organizers by January 31, 2018. Complete article submissions are due April 30, 2018. JAIC guidelines and its style guide are found at www.conservation-us.org/jaic. Articles selected by the guest organizers should be submitted through our online portal at jac.edmgr.com. Datasets can be included as supplemental information.

You may send inquiries about the issue to Julio M. del Hoyo-Meléndez, JAIC Editor-in-Chief, at jdelhoyo@muzeum.krakow.pl.

Send proposals to special issue guest organizers by January 31, 2018:

  • John K. Delaney at j-delaney@nga.gov
    Senior Imaging Scientist, Scientific Research Department,
    National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
  • Marcello Picollo at picollo@ifac.cnr.it
    Research Scientist, Institute for Applied Physics “Nello Carrara” (IFAC)
    National Research Council (CNR), Florence, Italy

Andrew W. Mellon funded Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation

The UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials has received a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help increase diversity in the study and practice of conservation of art and cultural collections. This grant supports outreach and summer opportunities for undergraduate students who are interested in learning more about cultural materials conservation and are underrepresented in the field, which is 87% non-Hispanic white.

Applications are currently available for students or recent degree holders to attend a fully funded, week-long summer workshop in Los Angeles, July 9-14, 2018, designed to introduce 15 participants to conservation and other collections work through tours, lab activities, lectures and presentations at the Getty Villa and regional museums.

Participants in the 2018 summer workshop are eligible to apply for a fully funded 8-10 week internship the following summer.

More information and the application, due March 9, 2018, is available at: http://conservation.ucla.edu/Mellon_diversity_opportunity.

Please distribute widely and encourage young people interested in art/science/social sciences to apply to learn about whether conservation is a field they would like to pursue.

For further information, feel free to contact: Laleña  Arenas Vellanoweth, Program Manager, Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation, lav256@g.ucla.edu; or Ellen Pearlstein, Professor, UCLA Information Studies, epearl@ucla.edu.

June Baker Trust Grant for Emerging Conservators

  • Deadline: January 31, 2018
The June Baker Trust was set up to promote and encourage the development and study of the arts and sciences of restoration and conservation of historical or artistic artefacts in Scotland.

To be eligible to apply you have to be a conservator and able to demonstrate a connection to Scotland through work, birth, living, education or other means.

The Emerging Conservators Grants Scheme gives funding of up to GBP1,000 to support conservators who are in the process of gaining their early workplace experience. Applicants must be within three years of qualifying as a conservator.  2018 will be the final year of this scheme. The funding is to support a learning plan of their own choosing, with activities which help them establish a career path. This learning plan can be on top of or instead of employment. The learning plan must meet the June Baker Trust’s objectives for the scheme which are for recently qualified conservation professionals to:

  • build professional networks;
  • gain practical and employability skills; and
  • widen sector understanding, with the overarching aim of increasing future employability.

Grants for Emerging Conservators

Please e-mail a completed application as an attachment and in time for the deadline to: junebakertrust@gmail.com.

Pre-program Summer 2018 Internship, Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH, USA)

Isobel Rutherford pre-program conservation internship

Application deadline: March 2, 2018

The Cleveland Museum of Art is offering a summer internship opportunity for a pre-program student to work with the Objects Conservation department.

Projects will reflect the Museum’s upcoming programming in exhibitions, loans and acquisitions, including preparation and maintenance of the Yayoi Kusama “Infinity Mirrors” exhibition. The internship is for the duration of 8-10 weeks and is paid at $12/hour. Candidates should have completed their prerequisite coursework for admission into graduate programs, and should have previous experience working with conservators. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required. Please submit a letter of interest and e-portfolio. Selected candidates will be interviewed by telephone or Skype, or if possible, in person at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Applications must be submitted by March 2, 2018.

The intern must be authorized to work in the United States and must provide acceptable verification of such eligibility in accordance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

Selected candidates will be invited for an interview, either in person of via Skype. A portfolio of conservation treatments and research should be presented by the candidate at the interview. At that time the candidate should be prepared to give a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Please submit application here: https://recruiting.ultipro.com/CLE1004CMA/JobBoard/85cb4420-40e1-440b-9c73-ab703c4fa94d/OpportunityDetail?opportunityId=8f47525b-18c8-4f43-8244-5de20e2cd225.

Please email bedelstein@clevelandart.org with any questions.