Library Needed for Conservation Program in Erbil, Iraq

AIC is working to help the newly formed National Institute for the Preservation of Iraqi Cultural Heritage in Erbil as a critical component for rebuilding Iraq’s cultural heritage professional capability. The Institute will carry out training in conservation, museum management, historic preservation and archaeology. With the help of AIC and its membership, we are hoping to put together a library for the Institute in Erbil, Iraq.

AIC members Jessica Johnson, Ruth Norton, and other partners have put together an initial list of books for the library and we are soliciting donations. The University of Delaware, one of the partners with the Institute, is collecting the books for shipment. Each book will have a book plate added indicating who donated the book in English, Arabic, and Kurdish. Please check your personal libraries for any of these books you are willing to part with and if you have others that were not on the list but you think would be useful to the Institute, we will gratefully accept these as well.

Read more about this story and view a list of the books needed>>

Connecting to Collections Forum Webcast Available

AIC, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Heritage Preservation, and the Art Conservation Department of Buffalo State College, State University of New York, recently organized the fourth in the series of IMLS forums in the Connecting to Collections National Tour. The forum took place on June 16 and 17 in Buffalo, New York, at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. A webcast of the forum is now available online>>

Of particular note: listen to the excellent keynote address (5:20) presented by Maxwell L. Anderson, FAIC Board Member and the Melvin and Bren Simon Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  The title is “Prioritizing Conservation in our Disposable Culture” and is an important message to us all.

FAIC Online Courses: Summer Stimulus Sale Ends Soon

Attention AIC Members!

Only 1 week remains to take advantage of our Summer Stimulus Sale!

Right now, save 50% on the registration fees for all remaining 2009 FAIC online courses!

The convenience, the new insights, and the on-line community of an FAIC online course will allow you to take your conservation practice to the next level without leaving your home or office.

Register by July 22 and receive the low registration fee of $100 for members ($150 for non-members) for courses such as:

“Mitigating Risks: Contracts and Insurance for Conservators” (July 30-August 26)
“Establishing a Conservation Practice” (July 30-August 26)
“Laboratory Safety for Conservators” (September 10-October 7)
“Marketing for Conservators” (October 22-November 18).

Save gas, time and money and still participate in meaningful professional development.

Simply go to:

www.conservation-us.org/education

Log in as a member to the our website and register for an online course (or two!) before July 22 to take advantage of 50% off registration fees.

Please let me know if you have any further questions about this.

Best,

Lisa Avent

Education Manager
Foundation of the American Institute for
Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works
1156 15th St. NW, Suite 320
Washington, DC 20005-1714
Phone: 202-661-8069
Fax: 202-452-9328
Email: lavent@conservation-us.org
Web: www.conservation-us.org

CoOL is coming to AIC!

Having reviewed a proposal from AIC and following several discussions, Stanford University Libraries has agreed that AIC will be given responsibility for CoOL and the Conservation DistList. The transfer of content from the Stanford servers will take place immediately with expert guidance from Walter Henry, John Burke, and technicians at Stanford.

Our first goal is to have the DistList operational as soon as possible. Watch for one or more announcements on the DistList for periodic updates regarding the resumption of activity. Other CoOL resources will come online under new URLs as expeditiously as possible. Discussions with allied and affiliate organizations will continue.

AIC is pleased to be entrusted with these invaluable resources and for the opportunity to sustain and develop them into the future. Our goal is to keep CoOL and the DistList safe, viable, objective, and accessible for the conservation community worldwide.

Please note that the DistList is not yet accepting submissions or new registrations. Comments or questions can be sent to coolinfo@conservation-us.org.

Thank you for your support of this major initiative.

– AIC Executive Director Eryl Wentworth and the AIC Board of Directors

Call for Conservators to Treat Historic Monuments

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or 2009, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration has the opportunity to conserve historic monuments in its cemeteries. Sixteen solicitations have already been issued and several dozen more will follow in the coming weeks.

Heritage Preservation will post a list of the opportunities that will point users to the Solicitation Number that can be checked on www.fbo.gov for full proposal instructions and forms. Please note that all questions about proposals should be directed to the contracting officers at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Public Events in Conservation Survey

As part of an MA in Arts Management dissertation, student Sophie Sarkodie has posted a survey about public outreach in conservation. She describes this as “a chance to hear what conservators have to say about the changing role of the conservator in regard to facing the public, and what events in their opinion are most successful for educating the public about conservation.” Take the survey>>

AIC is reaching out!

AIC Member-led Workshop at AAM Conference: Wet Recovery Workshop for Registrars Committee of the American Association of Museums

On May 4, 2009, Ann Frellsen and David Goist, members of the American Institute

for Conservation-Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC-CERT) conducted a Hands-on Care Workshop: What to Do When the Water Recedes event at the end of American Association of Museums (AAM) annual meeting at the Philadelphia Marriott. Tamara Johnston, Collections Manager and Preservation Coordinator, Kohler Foundation Inc., Shorewood, WI, was Chair for the workshop. Ann Frellsen is Collections Conservator at Emory University, Atlanta, GA. David Goist is a conservator of paintings in private practice in Raleigh, NC, and past Project Manager for the AIC-CERT training program.

The workshop drew 27 attendees, largely registrars and archivists, from 14 states ranging from Rhode Island to California. Louisiana and Texas were well represented with 7 attendees.

Goist presented PowerPoint lectures on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the flooding in Iowa, and lessons learned from other disasters and on how to be better prepared for future disasters. The attendees were made aware of AIC-CERT, but were cautioned that they need to be self-reliant with good emergency plans and additional response training. He also discussed aspects of dealing with wet paintings.

Frellsen organized the hands-on wet recovery portion of the workshop. She skillfully conducted the exercises in two relatively small, carpeted hotel meeting rooms. A number of handouts were provided to the attendees. AIC members from Philadelphia, Nancy Love and Leslie Guy, assisted during the day of the workshop. All of the AIC members were impressed with the care and dedication which the attendees demonstrated toward the workshop exercises.

(Written by David Goist)

Helping other emerging professionals beyond our borders

Recently at the AIC annual meeting in Los Angeles, I had the chance to talk more in depth with Terry Drayman-Weisser, director of conservation and technical research at the Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, MD), about an initiative that she has of late been promoting – the Iraq Cultural Heritage Project (ICHP). Developed under the aegis of the International Relief and Development (IRD) through a grant from the United States Department of State, ICHP is a multi-faceted initiative designed to focus US and international resources and expertise on rebuilding the professional capabilities of Iraq’s museum, heritage and archaeology organizations, as well as supporting antiquities preservation and management. IRD is a charitable, non-profit, non-governmental organization that directs assistance in regions of the world that present social, political and technical challenges.

A tangible result of this project will be the creation of the National Training Institute for the Preservation of Iraqi Cultural Heritage in Erbil, Iraq, housing two training programs: a Collections Conservation and Management program, and a Sites, Monuments, and Buildings Preservation program. Cultural partners, including the University of Delaware, Winterthur, the Walters Art Museum, the US National Park Service, and other institutions were selected by the US Department of State to work in consultation with the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage to develop the programs to meet the short- and long-term preservation needs of Iraqi collections and cultural institutions. Beyond serving the preservation and training needs within Iraq, ICHP will also assist with the re-establishment and expansion of the professional environment within the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad; as well as identify and facilitate opportunities for professional development and capacity building of Iraq’s museum and heritage staff. Recently, Jessica S. Johnson, formerly Senior Objects Conservator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, has accepted the position as program director for the Collections Conservation and Management program.

What in my mind is one of the more interesting aspects of this project is that the program is meant to transcend religious and ethnic divides, aiding reconciliation by emphasizing the nation’s rich heritage. In order to understand how ICHP intends to do this requires at least a basic understanding of the profound tensions that have existed and remain present in Iraq.

Within the Islamic world, religious practice is divided mainly between two major denominations of Islam – Sunni and Shi’a, with their essential difference being grounded on the legitimacy of the Caliphs as successors to Muhammed.While Sunni sects represent almost 90% of Islam’s adherents worldwide and 97% of Iraq’s population is Muslim, Sunni Muslims are nonetheless a minority group in Iraq – representing only between 32 to 37% of the population. Even more of a minority are Sunni Arab Muslims, who represent only approximately 12 to 15% of the overall population. While a minority group within the religious population, a Sunni Arab controlled state has existed in the area of present-day Iraq since as early as mid-16th century under the Ottoman Empire, acting as a buffer against the influence of a Shi’a Safavid Empire in Iran. This dominance continued after the fall of the Ottoman Empire during the first half of the 20th century under both British rule and the subsequent British-backed Iraqi monarchy, with Sunni Arab Muslims experiencing political and socioeconomic prominence. Under Saddam Hussein and the Iraq-based secular Ba’ath party, Sunni Arab Muslims prospered while Shi’a clergy and Muslims experienced severe repression and marginalization.

Notice before that I made the distinction of Sunni Arab Muslims, which leads into the other major source of tension – ethnic disparity. Beyond religious identity, ethnic identity has functioned as a source for either social unity or discord. The Iraqi population can be described as an Arab majority and a number of smaller minorities, the largest of which are the Kurds. Kurds are ethnically related to ancient Persian cultures (Hurrian and Medes). Some 70% of Kurdish population is Sunni Muslim (even this is misleading as the majority follow a different school from the Arab population), representing between 18 to 20% of the country’s population. During the early part of the 20th century, the ideology of a pan-Arabism, arguing that Arab culture and the history of the Arabs transcended religious and communal ties, became popular in Iraq. This came at the exclusion of non-Arab minorities, such as the Kurds, who had their own nationalistic aspirations. Under Saddam Hussein, the Kurdish population experienced massive repression by his Sunni Arab-oriented government in the name of national unity, including genocidal campaigns and human rights violations.

Now if you are not yet confused, place these ethnic and religious divides into a geographical context. Southern Iraq is predominately comprised of a Shi’a population while the Sunni Arabs are wedged in the center of the country from Baghdad north to the southern portions of Kirkuk and Mosul. Civilian violence in Iraq is centered mainly in central and southern Iraq and can be described as both religiously exclusive (Shi’a-on-Shi’a or Sunni-on-Sunni) and sectarian (Sunni-to-Shi’a or vice versa). Northern Iraq is inhabited mainly by (but not exclusively) a Kurdish population and has undergone peace and development since Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

Putting all this information into context, the new Institute will be situated in Eril. The city of Erbil (or Arbil) is located in Northern Iraq and also happens to be the capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region. Beyond the immediate relative security and stability that this location will provide to the program and its students, the reality is that students will have to struggle with and rise above the inherent tensions already described for a greater goal – protecting and preserving Iraq’s cultural heritage. With the training, these Iraqi students will become the new faces of Iraq’s emerging conservation professionals, collaborating with museums and sites within the country to promote national unity around the preservation of Iraq’s rich cultural heritage as well as engaging the wider international professional community.

As interesting as all this might have been to read, you may ask why am I posting this description in the ECPN blog? As emerging conservation professionals, we have the opportunity to collaborate with and support this initiative in a small but substantial measure. One aspect of the institute’s development is the creation of an on-site conservation library at the institute that will remain a resource to the Iraqi conservation students long after the project’s reins are turned over to its Iraqi partners. At the annual meeting, Terry made a call to conservation professionals to consider donating a book to this library in support of the project and these future conservation professionals. After having the chance to talk to Terry, and afterwards to Jessica Johnson and Vicki Cassman (who is helping to coordinate the library development from the University of Delaware), I believe more and more that this is a real opportunity for emerging conservators here in the US to help emerging professionals across borders (think of it as promoting cultural connections and ties with people of Iraq). While many of us have extremely limited incomes, it has been my experience that we often put something extra aside or make exceptions for buying books and adding to our own libraries. Wouldn’t it be great that when we buy ourselves that book that we also consider buying one for this project as well? It may sound a bit hackneyed but think of the old adage “if you give a man a fish, you feed him for one day; teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” For me, that’s seems to be the effect that a donation of a book can have for this institution.

In the near future, AIC will be publishing on its website an article about the project as well as a link to the books that are still needed for the library’s completion. I strongly encourage you to keep an eye out to learn more information about the project and consider donating. If you would like to make a more immediate donation or just have more questions about the Iraq Cultural Heritage Project, please feel free to contact Jessica for more information at: jessicasjohnson@gmail.com.



Minutes for ECPN Conference Call 6/18/09

Minutes for ECPN Conference Call 6/18/09
Attendees: Rachel Penniman, Ruth Seyler, and Ryan Winfield
Minutes taken by Rachel Pennimen

I. Welcome

II. Project Updates
A. Communications:Podcasts
Rachel will check with Jason on potential podcasts

B. Outreach: Angels Project in Milwaukee
Ruth will look into getting information on CAP assessment programs from Heritage Preservation. The next step will be to arrange a conference call with conservators who have knowledge of the institutions in that city and could help us in selecting a potential site.
In order to “compete” with other workshops/activities on that day of the Annual Meeting, we should have information about the Angels project in the registration brochure. The deadline to have this information included is the end of October/early November.

C. Professional Development/Training:
1. Training Advisory Group
Amber was unable to attend the call but is making contacts for this.

2. Pre-program “camp”: Judy Walsh’s idea for a workshop geared towards pre-program students
Discussed how this could be done so it was useful but still affordable. Concern that it might be too expensive for pre-programs to travel. Will talk to Eric to see if we can get funding like the other AIC workshops. Could potentially do a webinar so no travel costs.
Could possibly have graduate programs or conservators in private practice refer pre-program students or interns who contact them to the workshop.
What kind of info would be presented and who would be the audience?

There are some building blocks we need to develop before we can get a whole workshop up and running. Advertising to pre-programs and people interested in conservation (Ryan has an idea to make a flyer for undergrad studio art and art history departments). Survey who is taking interns and how that develops, what their needs are. Etc.

The pre-program workshop is a great idea and one we want to pursue, but aren’t yet in a position to get that started. But we’re definitely on a track to develop it in the future.

3. Mentoring Program
Ryan will send an email blast to get more applicants (mentors and mentees.)
We’d like to start pairing up the applicants we already have. By next month’s conference call we should try to review the applications and make preliminary matches.

III. New Business/Open Discussion
Ryan suggested the possibility of adding a feature in the “Find a Conservator” where PA’s and Fellows can note that they accept apprentices or pre-program interns. So you could find a potential internship by searching in the “Find a Conservator.”

IV. Setting of next call and adjournment
Next call will be Thursday July 16th at 1pm Eastern time.