ECPN interviews emerging conservators involved in in-gallery conservation treatments
Allison Lewis, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum, University of California, Berkeley
Tell us a little about yourself-your background, where you’re working now and what you do in your current position?
I have an MA from the UCLA/Getty Conservation program and work at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. Many of my current activities include outreach related to a conservation-themed exhibition.
What form of outreach are you using? If it is an online tool, please specify which platform (Blogspot, Tumblr, Twitter, etc.).
The outreach activities are part of the ongoing exhibition “The Conservator’s Art: Preserving Egypt’s Past” (through June 2012). The exhibit seeks to provide visitors with insight into the field of conservation, using the Hearst Museum’s collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts as a lens through which to illustrate contemporary conservation practices. My “Conservator’s Art” outreach activities are twofold. Since the opening of the exhibition, I have been undertaking a gallery residence, working in the gallery three days a week. I carry out treatments at a lab station in the middle of the exhibition, where visitors are invited to observe and to ask questions. When tours visit the gallery, groups typically stop at the lab station for 15-20 minutes of discussion. Although each conversation is unique (influenced by the nature of the particular treatment being performed that day and individual visitors or tour groups), I try to touch upon exhibition themes including preventive conservation, reversibility, documentation, and the contrast between early twentieth century restoration practices and current approaches to conservation.
In conjunction with the gallery residence, I maintain a WordPress blog where I describe specific treatments or technical studies of Egyptian material, and answer questions. Sometime during spring 2012, the blog will be migrated to the museum’s website (Drupal).
Who would you say is your target audience?
The general/non-specialist public, all ages.
What were/are you trying to achieve using this form of outreach? Was it met or solved using this particular approach or tool?
Both forms of outreach seek to provide interactive “behind-the-scenes” access to conservation work that is undertaken at the museum and beyond, and to increase awareness about conservators’ roles and the value of preserving material culture. As interactive elements, the gallery residence and blog are intended to enhance visitor engagement with the exhibition, and provide a sense of personal connection to usually anonymous conservators. (In addition to having a conservator in the gallery, the exhibit also includes pictures and biographies of conservation staff. These are also meant foster a sense of connection between visitors and conservators, and to provide information about the kinds of backgrounds that conservators have.)
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?
Visitors are far more likely to stop at the lab table and interact if the conservator assumes an approachable demeanor, by making eye contact and, and sometimes verbally inviting visitors to ask questions.
Conservators working at such a lab station must be comfortable with frequent interruptions. Because of the unpredictable nature of visitor volume and interaction, I perform phases of treatments that require especially intense concentration during hours when the gallery is not open.
Having sufficient time to “field test” the laboratory station would have allowed us to make minor design improvements. The lockable Plexiglas clamshell lid of the laboratory table creates a sound barrier that impedes conversation between the conservator and visitors at certain angles. The lighting, currently provided by multiple small lamps of varying intensity and color temperature, can be challenging for treatments that involve color matching.
Have your outreach endeavors produced any unexpected outcomes or benefits?
Visiting elementary, high school and college groups have taken a special interest in both the gallery residence and blog. According to the education department, many teachers now specifically request tours that include a conversation with the conservator, and the blog has been utilized by classes as preparation for and follow-up to gallery visits. Due in part to positive reactions to the blog, the museum has included a blogging platform in the redesign of its website (see below), and plans to continue publishing regular conservation-related blog posts after “The Conservator’s Art” exhibition closes.
Check out Allison’s conservation blog at: http://conservationblog.hearstmuseum.dreamhosters.com/
…and in the future at: http://hearstmuseum.org/blog
Rose Daly, Phoenix, AZ
Tell us a little about yourself-your background, where you’re working now and what you do in your current position?
I am the owner of Art Conservation Services LLC in Phoenix, Arizona. I am a conservator with a M.S. from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation.
What form of outreach are you using?
The project I am focusing on for this ECPN poster on outreach is a project that was featured in the print and online version of the Kansas City Star newspaper, and in artdaily.com, an online newspaper. The project engaged museum visitors with a conservator and was also featured on the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art facebook page. The project was an important collaboration between the Marketing department, Education department, Conservation, Preparations, Curatorial, Security, and Visitor Services. For a description of the project please see the press release included in the file TapestryCleaning.pdf
Who would you say is your target audience?
Museum visitors, and the local community in Kansas City.
What were/are you trying to achieve using this form of outreach? Was it met or solved using this particular approach or tool?
Raise awareness for conservation. I feel the project was successful, but to raise awareness is not something that only needs to be done once or twice. In other ways, this project was a way for me as a conservator to experiment by combining needed conservation maintenance (vacuuming the Phaeton Tapestries) with a public outreach project (daily talks were scheduled where I could interact with visitors, a table was set up with a variety of interactive manipulatives including examples of silk, wool, a loom, and a petrie dish of dirt that was removed from the tapestries.) Outreach is important to raise awareness about the need for conservation of artifacts and the need for a professional conservator and the profession of conservation. This project was a good fit because I was willing to be put on display as an exhibition, interact with museum visitors, and I made myself available for a photographer from the Kansas City Star who was interested in featuring a picture of this project in the newspaper.
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?
Working inter-deartmentally was pivotal to the success of this project. The Marketing department at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has some exceptional staff including Kathleen Leighton, Communications and Media Relations Officer at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, who I worked with to write the press release, and who assisted the photographer from the Kansas City Star, Allison Long, who came to the museum to take my picture for the Kansas City Star edition on June 23, 2011. Kathleen is adept at speaking to the press, she was a news anchor for 12 years for WKBW–TV in Buffalo, New York and she gave me a number of hints to make me feel more comfortable in front of a camera. In the education department I worked with Emily Black, Interpretive Planner, Digital Media at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, to determine the materials that we should use for a table of manipulatives that would allow museum visitors to interact with materials that were similar to the materials used for the tapestry. Emily Black also assisted in writing content about the project and creating information that was included on the table of manipulatives to explain the conservation project and teach visitors more about tapestries.
Have your outreach endeavors produced any unexpected outcomes or benefits?
It was fantastic to work collaboratively with so many different departments in a museum, and to see the excitement this project created among museum visitors.
Checkout the ArtDaily article featuring Rose and the phaeton tapestries cleaning: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=48552
Melissa King, Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Tell us a little about yourself-your background, where you’re working now and what you do in your current position?
My name is Melissa King and I am a pre-program intern at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (MFA). I graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and have been a pre-program intern at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, and the Northeast Museum Services for the National Park Service. In 2010 I also participated in the field school for the “Gabii Project,” a University of Michigan excavation of a Roman Republic city close to Rome. My experience in conservation has been mostly with objects but I have worked with paper as well. I am also a professional pet portrait artist.
My work at the MFA has been primarily to assist in a project to conserve two Etruscan stone sarcophagi dating to the 3rd Century BCE from Vulci, Italy. I have been creating detailed condition diagrams with Adobe Photoshop, assisting in the research of the history of the objects, including past treatments, and I have helped in the surface cleaning of both of the sarcophagi. In collaboration with museum scientists, we have been performing a technical analysis of stone composition and original paint remnants from the two pieces. In February, I assisted in a presentation about the project to a limited number of museum members who had signed up in advance to be permitted into the gallery. Because of the size and condition of the two sarcophagi, it was decided to have them remain in the gallery, which created a unique opportunity to share the process with visitors of the museum.
What form of outreach are you using? If it is an online tool, please specify which platform (Blogspot, Tumblr, Twitter, etc.).
The project is entirely visible to museum visitors as part of a special exhibit series entitled, “Conservation in Action.” The 1,300 square-foot Etruscan gallery was transformed into a conservation studio with a Plexiglass enclosure to allow visitors to view the process from beginning to end. The Etruscan sarcophagi conservation project has provided the museum with the opportunity to continue its mission of preserving the collection while creating new educational opportunities for visitors. Gallery wall-text within the viewing area describes the project and the conservator posts daily updates on a whiteboard visible to the visitors.
Public exposure of the project is further supported through lectures and tours. Conservators give presentations to museum visitors as part of the museum’s gallery learning program and more in-depth tours are given to students and museum professionals. Additional project information with periodic updates is presented on the museum’s website and the museum’s Facebook page often posts photo updates of the “Conservation in Action” projects, which has proven to be a great way to galvanize public interest.
Who would you say is your target audience?
Museum visitors
What were/are you trying to achieve using this form of outreach? Was it met or solved using this particular approach or tool?
As an institution, this project has been useful to generate interest in visiting the museum. The “Conservation in Action” projects have been extremely popular, and because the treatments are ongoing, museum guests may be inclined to revisit the museum in the future to check on their progress.
As conservators, we appreciate this project because of its inherent ability to inform the public about conservation and galvanize support in our efforts as professionals. Our work is to ensure the longevity of cultural heritage, and in this difficult economic climate, we need the support of allied professionals and the public to help with our mission.
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?
The use of social media can be a very useful tool in a project such as this. As we continue on with this project I believe it would benefit us to reach out to other platforms such as twitter and tumblr.
Have your outreach endeavors produced any unexpected outcomes or benefits?
Both the Boston Herald and the Harvard Crimson have published articles in their respective newspapers on this particular project. A New York Times journalist was inspired to write an article, “Mosaic Restoration as Performance Art,” when she visited the museum and witnessed a past “Conservation in Action” project at the MFA that involved the conservation of a 3rd century AD Roman mosaic floor from Antioch.
To learn more about Melissa’s Conservation in Action project go to:
MFA website: “Conservation in Action: Etruscan Sarcophagi” http://www.mfa.org/collections/conservation/conservationinaction_etruscansarcophagi
MFA Facebook album: “Conservation in Action”: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150475274752321.367989.28314922320&type=1
New York Times Article: “Mosaic Restoration as Performance Art” http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/29/arts/design/29mosa.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all