An article discussing the many online resources for conservation research?
A description of a Socratic Dialogue session conducted at the 2013 AIC Annual Meeting?
Important updates about the MSDS and chemical safety?
Links to many new conservation webinars?
A list of eight publications of interest to conservators?
Notification of the latest student research?
And three new position and fellowship announcements?
The November 2013 issue of AIC News! It’s one of the many great benefits of AIC membership.
This issue is now available online and as a pdf. Members should check their email for the information, or visit www.conservation-us.org/aicnews to get access to the latest issue (members must log in first). Note that the conferences, call for papers, and workshop listings are updated as they come in, and may contain more in-depth information than is included in the PDF version.
Submissions for the January issue should be sent by December 1st to me or Lisa Goldberg. Happy reading!
–Bonnie www.conservation-us.org/contact
The American Academy in Rome (AAR) invites qualified individuals to apply for the position of Academy Director. The individual selected to fill this position will ideally have an established reputation in one of the four humanities disciplines served by the AAR (ancient studies, medieval studies, renaissance and early modern studies, and modern Italian studies) or one of the seven arts disciplines served by the AAR (architecture, landscape architecture, design, historic preservation and conservation, literature, music, and visual arts). Broad cultural interests, in particular in those fields of scholarship and the arts served by the AAR, is also desired for this position as well as some degree of fluency in spoken and written Italian.
Reporting to the President in New York, the Director provides intellectual and managerial leadership for all the activities and programs of the Academy in Rome. The Director (together with the Deputy Director in relation to administrative matters), manages a culturally and linguistically diverse staff of approximately 70, with direct reports from the Drue Heinz Librarian, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor, the Andrew Heiskell Arts Director, the Deputy Director (joint report to the President/CEO), and the Executive Secretary to the Director.
For more information and to apply, visit aarome.org/jobs.
(Deadline for receipt of materials is October 11, 2013.)
The Brooklyn Museum is offering two Andrew W. Mellon Postgraduate Fellowships, one in paintings and one in objects conservation. Each position will be two years with the option of a third, each commencing in September 2014. The Fellow will carry out examinations, research, and treatments, produce and maintain technical documentation, and participate in preservation activities within the Museum. The applicant should be a graduate of a recognized conservation training program.
Each Fellowship includes an annual stipend of $34,000.00, full benefits including health insurance, and $2,500.00 in travel funds. Applications should be sent electronically as pdf files containing: statement of interest, résumé, and three examination and treatment reports with photographic documentation. These documents should be sent to Ken.Moser [at] Brooklynmuseum.org. Please include in subject line: “Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships Conservation.” Confidential supporting letters from three conservation professionals familiar with the applicant’s work should be sent directly to: Ken Moser, Chief Conservation and Vice Director for Collection, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238, or at e-mail above.
All application materials must be received by January 1, 2014. Receipt of application will be confirmed by e-mail.
The September 2013 issue of AIC News is now available online and as a pdf. Members should check their email for the information, and please let me know if a message didn’t appear in your in-box. Visit www.conservation-us.org/aicnews to get access to the latest issue — members must log into the site first.
Visitors to the online AIC News site should bookmark the URL, as the conferences call for papers, and workshop listings are updated as they come in, and may contain more in-depth information than is included in the PDF version.
Look for articles by the Health & Safety and Sustainability committees; updates about museum environmental guidelines; a summary of new publications; and much more.
Submissions for the November issue should be sent by October 1st to me or Lisa Goldberg. Happy reading!
–Bonnie www.conservation-us.org/contact
Monona Rossol is one of our field’s greatest spokespersons for conservation lab and artists’ studio health and safety guidelines; she is also a fount of knowledge on changing regulations for use of conservation chemicals and understanding of personal protective procedures and equipment. Please visit her website at www.artscraftstheatersafety.org/bio.html.
She does general safety and OSHA-required training sessions for art and art conservation students/faculty in universities, colleges, public and private museums, conservation laboratories, and more. What will happen when she retires? She has no understudy! Is there someone out there in AIC with a very strong chemistry background and understanding of conservation lab practices and artists’ materials who would be interested in branching out to include safety training and consultation to their skills? Monona promises to help direct such people to sources of technical training and to share her expertise and training materials. Once someone is qualified, she will gleefully recommend them to her clients. In fact, she has repeatedly offered to turn over her small nonprofit to someone qualified so she can do more writing.
I carried out a history interview with Monona in 2003 and have worried ever since about making sure she has protégés with whom she can share and possibly pass on a great body of knowledge and a very busy practice. This is certainly an area of our field with increasing need and certain future employment. If you are interested in exploring this possibility please contact Monona at ACTSNYC [at] cs.com.
–Submitted by Joyce Hill Stoner
The American Academy in Rome is launching a six-part lecture series, featuring former recipients of the Rome Prize. The series will take place in New York City; the first lecture will take place at the Metropolitan Club. The speakers are all Fellows, Residents, or Affiliated Fellows, and will share how Rome impacted their lives during and after their experience. Home From Rome’s first speaker will be AAR Trustee, C. Brian Rose, FAAR’92, RAAR’12, the James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology and Curator-in-Charge, Mediterranean Section, University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, discussing “Who Owns Antiquity?: Museums, Repatriation, and Armed Conflict.”
This lecture is Thursday, September 12, at 6pm, and reservations are required.
Metropolitan Club, 1 East 60th St., New York City
RSVP by September 5 at https://support.aarome.org/homefromrome-rose.
Visit the American Academy in Rome at www.aarome.org.
Demolition of the hotel, with L.A. in the background.
A documentary film, After 1968, is being made that highlights a 15-year struggle by preservationists to save the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and creates a “living history” of the building through interviews of local residents and those who stayed at the hotel. Camilo Silva is the director/filmmaker behind the project, and took footage of the actual demolition in 2005. The hotel, which hosted the Academy Awards as well as countless celebrities and U.S. presidents, was also the location of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. The site is now a school.
Silva is funding this project in part via Indiegogo, with the campaign ending on Saturday, August 24, 2013. Below is a press release about the project, and a trailer can be seen at www.after68.com. Silva also is featured in an interesting interview on the National Trust blog PreservationNation. ICONIC AMBASSADOR HOTEL RISES FROM THE RUBBLE IN NEW DOCUMENTARY AFTER 68 Filmmakers Recover Legacy of Historic Hotel by Resurrecting its Demolished Past LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
In 2005 the landmark Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles became one of the most historically significant and celebrated U.S. buildings of the 20th century ever to be destroyed. Nearly a decade later, a dedicated team of documentary filmmakers intend to bring the Ambassador back to life with After 68. The feature length documentary is a gripping exposé on the dynamic history and controversial demolition of the iconic hotel. “Though the hotel’s structure is gone we are working hard to ensure that its legacy lives on. By chronicling its rich history and the emotional fight to save it from demolition, we hope to give the Ambassador its rightful place in history,” states director/producer, Camilo Silva. “This film is particularly important because it goes far beyond just recapping the history of a famous site. It will challenge audiences to think about historic preservation in new ways and question how actively we value our aging structures from the past.” The Cocoanut Grove was part of the Ambassador Hotel. After 68 examines historic preservation through the lens of the 15-year struggle to save the Ambassador Hotel from the wrecking ball. For decades the Ambassador was the epicenter of cultural and civic life in the U.S., playing host to the Academy Awards, celebrities, international dignitaries, iconic authors, artists, scientists and every U.S. President from Hoover to Nixon. The hotel’s legendary Cocoanut Grove was one of the most sought after music venues in the world, showcasing almost every major musical act of the 20th century and launching the careers of countless stars. In 1968 the Ambassador’s fate took a dark turn when it became the site of a tragedy: the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
When the hotel closed in 1989, the Ambassador once again garnered national headlines during a dramatic battle between preservationists and the school district over the fate of the site. A heated fight ensued, quickly polarizing the community and sparking a multifaceted debate that pitted education against historic preservation. After a lengthy and costly legal battle, the board voted to demolish the hotel. “California doesn’t preserve much of their history…Tear it down and build something new, there was no interest in the preservation of it” stated Merv Griffin in his After 68 interview. Coming in at just under $600 million, the new school campus that was constructed would end up with the distinction of being the most expensive school built in U.S. history. Photo taken during filming of the Cocoanut Grove demolition.
In the first feature film ever to turn the lens back on the Ambassador, Silva weaves together classic photography and historical footage, along with captured footage of the building’s demolition, and emotional interviews from a range of key people involved with the hotel. “As documentarians timing is critical for us because with every day that passes we are threatened with losing the oral histories that only remain within our collective memory and we want to recover them before it is too late,” says Silva.
Using first-hand accounts, After 68 demonstrates how the Ambassador Hotel’s rich history ultimately placed it between opposing cultural divides: a pawn in the power struggle between those who saw the importance of preserving our past as a means to define our future, and those who were willing to destroy it. “The Ambassador’s story marks the irrecoverable loss of an important relic of human and social history, and as filmmakers we want to educate the public about the value of protecting our past, and thereby ensure that the other Ambassadors of the world may be saved” declares Silva. This film is not only a tribute to the life and legacy of the hotel but it will also serve as an important symbol for the value of historic preservation worldwide. For More Information Visit: www.after68.com
The American Academy in Rome is now accepting applications for the 2014 Rome Prize. Conservators are encouraged to apply for the prize.
Each year, through a national juried competition, the Rome Prize is awarded to about thirty emerging artists and scholars working in the following categories:
Architecture
Design
Historic Preservation and Conservation
Landscape Architecture
Musical Composition
Visual Arts
Ancient Studies
Medieval Studies
Renaissance and Early Modern Studies
Modern Italian Studies
Rome Prize winners are provided with room and board, a study or studio, and a stipend of $28,000 for 11-month winners and $16,000 for 6-month winners.
For more information and to apply, please visit the Academy website at www.aarome.org/apply.
The deadline for applications is November 1, 2013.
The trilingual site BROMEC is the online resource for research dissemination by conservators and scientists of metallic cultural heritage artifacts.
BROMEC 34, the Bulletin of Research on Metal Conservation’s April 2013 issue, is now available online at the following websites:
Eight research abstracts and 8 announcements are presented, together with the usual lists of contacts and informative metal research/conservation websites and discussion groups. The issue includes articles on:
Calls for collaboration:
Survey on the stabilization of marine iron-organic composite artefacts
New research projects:
New approaches and applications of electrochemical techniques and corrosion inhibitors for in situ monitoring of shipwrecks and treatment of recovered marine metal-organic composite artefacts
MAIA: Microbes for Archaeological Iron Artefacts
Fabrication, corrosion and conservation of the silver jewellery from Lumbe’s Garden, Prague Castle
Ongoing research projects:
The MIFAC-Metal project: a methodology for studying and analyzing microstructures and corrosion profiles of heritage metals; application to metallographic samples from Swiss collections
The St Maurice project: development of an electrolytic pen for cleaning tarnished gilt silverware with wooden cores
Finalized research projects
Conservation of a fluvial deposit of bronzes from Agde-La-Motte
English, French and Spanish language versions are available for downloading as PDF documents.
To subscribe for email updates about BROMEC: www.warwick.ac.uk/bromec-subscription BROMEC Editorial Team
Anglophone Editor & Translator:
· James Crawford
Francophone Coeditor:
· Michel Bouchard
Hispanophone Coeditor:
· Emilio Cano
Francophone Translators:
· Nathalie Richard
· Elodie Guilminot
· Marc Voisot
Hispanophone Translators:
· Diana Lafuente
· Inmaculada Traver
The first online edition of AIC News is now available! On May 6th, an email announcement was sent out to all members with the link to the AIC News site.
The May 2013 issue features the article “ASG, Past, Present and Future: Architectural Specialty Group at 25,” as well as annual meeting announcements, excellent Health & Safety and Sustainable Conservation Practice articles, and an interesting new cleaning method in the New Materials & Research column. FAIC thanks all the AIC-CERT volunteers and announces new grant and scholarship recipients in the FAIC News column. As always, Specialty Group and Network columns provide timely updates for their members.
Please remember to check the Calendar Listings for interesting conferences and workshops to attend, and for possible venues to present your next paper. This section will be updated continually as new events are announced, so check back often.
I hope you enjoy this new feature of AIC membership!
To access the AIC News, log into the AIC website and navigate to www.conservation-us.org/aicnews. The link is under the Current Issue heading, as well as in the email members received on May 6th.
