FAIC is joining the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield (USCBS) to help recover cultural and historic artifacts damaged by the January 12 earthquakes in Haiti.
In early May, two AIC-CERT members joined Corine Wegener, President of USCBS, and engineers from the Smithsonian Institution to assess collections and to evaluate a building in Port-au-Prince for use as a conservation center. Paintings conservator Susan Blakney of West Lake Conservators in Skaneateles, New York, and paper conservator Vicki Lee of the Maryland State Archives were able to view and assess conservation needs at a number of museums, galleries, and historic sites.Based on their findings, the Smithsonian entered into a lease on the building to create the Haiti Cultural Recovery Center. The Center will be operated by the Smithsonian Institution in cooperation with the Government of Haiti. FAIC will help supply volunteer conservators to provide assessments, advice, stabilization, and storage solutions for works currently in peril.
(Pictured: AIC-CERT volunteer Hitoshi Kimura working on the FIRST painting at the
Haiti Cultural Recovery Center)
Read the full story on the AIC-CERT page of the AIC site, www.conservation-us.org/cert