We were all looking forward to spending three days at the National Gallery and one day at Pyramid Atlantic looking at prints, but just as the start of the workshop approached, the government shutdown began. With the National Gallery closed indefinitely, the workshop organizers had to scramble to make alternate arrangements.
As one of the participants, I am happy to report that they were successful. The Corcoran Gallery of Art was able to provide space for us, and we had a great first day. We reviewed familiar print techniques and terminology, and learned some new ones (for me, anyway), such as CNC, or computer numerical control- using a computer to achieve detail and precision that would be difficult or impossible by hand; soap ground, or white ground- a technique using a mixture of soap flakes, linseed oil, and water to create painterly white areas; and water bite- using an acid/water mixture on a tilted plate to create subtle gradations in depth.
We have begun day two and will be going more in-depth on contemporary print processes and hear from some guest lecturers, including: Marian Dirda from the National Gallery; Shelley Langdale, of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Amze Emmons, R.L. Tillman and Jason Urban from the website Printeresting.
Thanks to Stephanie Lussier, Scott Homolka, Abigail Choudry, and everyone from AIC and the Corcoran that made this workshop possible despite the shutdown.
Author: DeniseStockman
AIC's Committee on Sustainable Conservation Practice becomes Sustainability Committee
Why the re-branding?
When our committee was founded in 2010, we chose the name “Committee on Sustainable Conservation Practice” after much discussion and a vote. We soon noticed that people both inside and outside the committee would often get the name slightly wrong in postings, articles, and conversation. Common versions included “Committee for Sustainable Conservation Practices” and “Committee on Sustainability in Conservation Practice.”
At first, we thought that this was temporary; the name was new and would take time to get used to. But by the spring of 2013, it became clear that the confusion was proliferating each time the wrong name appeared on a website or article. Committee members would find it necessary to double-check the name (because even we were not certain we could remember it exactly), but had to be careful which site we used to double-check.
Since the name has not become effortless after 3 years, we decided the best thing to do is go with the name that most people find easier to use in conversation anyway, “Sustainability Committee.” (With an optional “the” at the beginning.)
Our email address remains the same: sustainability@conservation-us.org. Contact us if you have a question, a story, or a tip related to sustainable issues in conservation.