Category: Objects Conservation

In the second talk during the OSG luncheon, Suzanne Davis and Claudia Chemello explored the question “are archaeologists and conservators so far away from each other?”, inspired by the sentiment of the Dire Straits song “So Far Away”. Their talk was illustrated with historic photographs of archaeologists working in Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey in the 1920s, from the collection at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan.

As a follow-up to last year’s annual meeting presentation, which summarized the responses of a survey of archaeological conservators, this year Suzanne and Claudia presented the results of a 2011 survey of archaeological dig directors working primarily in the US. The purpose of the survey was to examine how archaeologists are engaging with conservators,  to gain an understanding of conservation needs from an archaeologist’s perspective, and to identify areas for outreach and education.

They made the survey using the online survey tool Qualtrics and after wide distribution, received a whopping 346 responses.

They plan to publish the complete results of the survey, but in their presentation, they summarized a lot of the data, such as:

• Half of the respondents are employed in an academic environment and half are employed in non-academic organizations.
• 41% have employed conservators in their projects. The 59% who have not said that it was due to lack of funding.
• Most respondents spent between 1-30% of their budget on conservation, and the most frequent amount spent was $10,000/season.
• 55% said that conservation is expensive or prohibitively expensive.
• Of those who have employed conservators, 38% have not received conservation reports, which corresponds with the 25% of archaeological conservators surveyed who do not write conservation reports for the sites they work on.
• 74% have never heard of AIC.
• 13% have used AIC resources.

Suzanne Davis broke up their presentation of this data by leading the audience in singing a few verses of Dire Straits- So Far Away.

In general, the archaeologists’ responses showed that there is a confusion between the terms “curator” and “conservator”, and they expressed that they feel that many conservators don’t have sufficient field training, nor do they understand archaeological research goals but that they feel that conservation is a necessary expense for archaeological projects.

Based on this survey, what do Suzanne and Claudia recommend? In essence, they said, to paraphrase Mark Knopfler, lead singer of Dire Straits, “we need to stop making love over the phone.” They said that while conservators and archaeologists are not so far away from each other, conservators need to work on increased and sustained outreach to archaeologists and to develop more resources for the AIC website or on the AIC WIKI specific to archaeology, particularly regarding funding sources and site preservation. They also indicated a need to improve education to further integrate archaeological and conservation research.

We think that the results of this survey are so interesting and help to provide hard data on topics that are often speculated on by archaeological conservators. We hope that Suzanne and Claudia are able to publish the entire results of the survey and we look forward to hearing more about efforts to improve the relationship between conservation and archaeology, and to contributing to this effort as much as possible.

-Vanessa Muros and Molly Gleeson

This year’s OSG luncheon featured 2 archaeological-focused talks, each sprinkled with pop-culture references.

Vanessa Muros spoke first-a presentation titled “Holy Mammoth Batman! Conservation Education and Outreach for the Preservation of a Columbian Mammoth,” which was co-authored by Allison Lewis.

This presentation addressed the issues and challenges of training archaeologists in conservation techniques, and covered some of the outcomes-both good and bad-of such a collaboration. In the fall of 2010, Vanessa and Allison were contacted by archaeologists from Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA to advise them on the excavation of the fragile remains of a Columbian Mammoth. This was an unanticipated find and the archaeologists had no money to hire conservators and Allison and Vanessa had very limited time (or perhaps desire since they would be working for free) to spend in the field.

The solution that Vanessa and Allison devised was to act as consultants and to go out into the field to assess the condition of the remains and the possible treatment options, to devise protocols for safely lifting the mammoth remains and to train students working on the project to carry out this work themselves. After speaking to the archaeologists about possible analysis of the remains and ensuring that all sampling had been carried out, they devised protocols that involved consolidation of the bone and ivory remains in situ with Acrysol WS24, facing with cyclododecane, and block-lifting.

Vanessa took several block-lifted items back to the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program training labs at the Getty Villa, and, along with the graduate students, devised protocols for further stabilization of the excavated pieces using Acryloid B-72 for the dry bone and Acrysol WS24 for the bone that was still damp. Packing and storage solutions were also devised in consultation with Foothill College so that they could be replicated by archaeology students for the rest of the excavated material back at Foothill.

In the end, Vanessa and Allison deemed the collaboration a success-they felt that the archaeology students learned about conservation techniques, materials and proper storage, and the mammoth remains were safely lifted and stored. They also felt that they had promoted conservation and demonstrated the skills and knowledge required to be a conservator. Despite these great outcomes, they also saw several potential issues, including the fact that the project director, in the project’s Flickr photo album, labeled photos of archaeology students as “conservators.” Did the project director understand that his students aren’t conservators? Had they undermined our profession by demonstrating that non-conservators can do this work, and by teaching non-conservators irreversible and challenging treatments? Had they devalued conservation by volunteering to do all of this?

For being a potentially controversial topic, there were surprisingly no questions or objections about any of this by anyone in the audience. Personally, I think that this project is good for conservation- instead of trying to do the work themselves, the archaeologists contacted Vanessa and Allison, which I believe is an acknowledgement of the expertise and skills of conservators. And I think that while Vanessa and Allison trained students to carry out conservation methods, they did it in a way so that those students do NOT feel like they are conservators (even if the dig director may not fully understand). I also believe that these archaeology students will probably be even more likely to contact a conservator in the future, since this appeared to be a very positive collaboration. What I’d like to see, however, is archaeologists involving conservators like Allison and Vanessa from the beginning of projects. I know that there are always unexpected finds, but if conservators are involved from the beginning, there will hopefully be funding and time to carry out such work in the case that conservation is needed. Projects like this demonstrate the important relationship-building necessary for this collaborative work to take place.

“Always Becoming”, an outdoor sculpture installation at the National Museum of American Indian (NMAI), was the focus of the presentation by Artist Nora Naranjo-Morse, NMAI Collections Manager Gail Joice and NMAI Conservator Kelly McHugh.  Like the work of art “Always Becoming”, this presentation was engaging, thoughtful and inspiring.

Nora Naranjo-Morse, a member of the Tewa tribe, Santa Clara Pueblo, won the NMAI outdoor sculpture competition in 2007.  Nora Naranjo-Morse lives only a few hours from Albuquerque and was a welcome artist addition to the objects conservation talks of the day.  Her creative and welcoming personality was apparent through out the presentation, as it is her artwork.  The outdoor installation “Always Becoming” consists of five ephemeral sculptures made of straw, mud, stone and wood built on a landscaped area near NMAI.  The creation of the sculptures started a ten year project that will continue to grow and transform for years to come.  The design of artwork is based on indigenous architecture and has the ideas of environment, family and culture at its core.

A one hour long documentary movie on this project will be coming out in the summer 2012, and we were lucky enough to see a few clips from it during the presentation.  The movie clips clearly showed how the creation of this artwork was a truly inclusive project with NMAI staff members and interns working along side Nora Naranjo-Morse during the construction and subsequent yearly repairs.  Interviews with passersby, workers and volunteers made it touchingly clear that the whole process was a moving one.  The movie clip stated that the project was “not just a pueblo idea, it was an intertribal idea, it was a people idea” and this feeling of inclusiveness was apparent in the movie interviews as well as in the presentation.  Many NMAI podcasts are available, if you want to see clips of the creative process.

“Always Becoming” is an ever-changing artwork that is intended to melt back into the earth.  The artwork is always deteriorating naturally as it weathers the DC snow and thunderstorms, summer heat and the passage of time.  This is an idea that does not immediately correlate with conservation standards, but it was extremely clear that NMAI has worked through this initial change in conservation practice.  Through continual communication and yearly visits by the artist, the conservation department at NMAI has been able to work past the automatic reaction to preserve and protect.  By allowing the sculptures to change over time they are in fact protecting the original and continual intent of the artist.

Gail Joice is the Collections Manager at the NMAI Museum.  It is her job to monitor the adobe sculptures onsite.  Gail made the enlightening comment about how her work with these artifacts has pushed the bounds of her thoughts on objects care.  Before this project the ideal for a condition report was to be able to state “no change”, a statement that all of the conservators in the audience clearly understand, but to Nora Naranjo-Morse this would be a disappointment.  Change is built into the life of these artifacts.  If a piece falls off of the sculptures, it will be left where it falls without any picking it up, labeling it and placing it in a fragment bag (Obviously a collections managers first impulse!).  The question session after the presentation clarified that these fallen pieces are often reincorporated into the sculpture during the yearly conservation workshop when the artist returns to work on the pieces.

The sculptures have been a welcoming addition to the grounds of NMAI.  Not only do the visitors and passersby appreciate the installation, but red tail hawks, mason bees, spiders, and a mother robin have all made their homes in the sculptures.  One story they told occurred right before President Obama’s inauguration.  The nighttime security at the museum noticed flames coming out from under one of the sculptures and it became quickly apparent that a homeless man had crawled underneath the sculpture and had lit a fire to warm up.  The museum officers responded quickly and the fire was extinguished, but the artist’s and NMAI staffs’ reactions to this are not what the conservation audience would have predicted.  This was not seen as an act of vandalism, but instead it was seen as a man needing to find shelter in the cold and he had found the artwork welcoming and inviting as it was intended.  It was a thoughtful and reflective moment in the audience when this was described.

Kelly McHugh is the NMAI conservator that is involved in Nora Naranjo-Morse’s annual visits and sculpture care workshops with the NMAI conservation interns and fellows.  Kelly was able to sum up all of the main points of the presentation and clearly put them into a conservation context.  As Kelly stated, “Always Becoming” is a contemporary sculpture, a traditional sculpture, a community sculpture and an ephemeral sculpture.  Nora Naranjo-Morse’s intention of inclusiveness, community importance and sculptural interaction with the environment fits perfectly into the framework and mission of NMAI.  Kelly made a comparison between a spider on an outdoor bronze sculpture versus one living on “Always Becoming” that struck home with the conservators in the room.  She said that a spider on a museum bronze sculpture would be seen as an invader and need to be removed, where as a spider coming to live on “Always Becoming” would be welcomed and would have found his home.

The question session after the presentation ran late, but this only served to make it clear how engaged the audience was in the presentation.  The questions clarified further the process that takes place when the artist comes on her annual visits.  Essentially the NMAI staff follows her lead and assists her in ways that she sees fit, whether that is cutting back weakened bamboo to be sent to the horticultural department’s compost or reworking a delaminating section of the sculpture.   Scott Carrlee asked about whether the artwork is accessioned into the NMAI collection and Gail answered that yes each of the sculptures has a number and is accessioned into the collection.  She thought that once the sculpture has returned entirely to the earth that there may be a ceremonial deaccessioning of the piece.  This seems like a very fitting course of action.

I could write pages on this presentation, because it was interesting, informative and thought provoking.  The audience was engaged in each of the speaker’s presentations which all worked together to give a full and clear picture of this project.  As Kelly pointed out, “Always Becoming” continues to inspire them into always becoming something better.  We, the world, and conservation is always changing and the NMAI staff and Artist Nora Naranjo-Morse clearly shared a project that had us all thinking about the ways that our profession has changed and needs to change in order to fit the future.  This was a truly enjoyable and valuable talk.

The last talk of the Objects Specialty Group session focused on the work of Nora Naranjo-Morse, a Tewa Indian of Santa Clara Pueblo who was selected from a nationwide contest to design a composition for display outside the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). In 2007, her idea for five sculptures, ephemeral in nature, came to fruition on the NMAI grounds, entitled “Always Becoming.” The three speakers shared their ongoing experiences regarding their collaboration in this talk, representing artist, collections management, and conservation.

It was Nora’s intention to embody in the sculpture the significance of three main values held by Pueblo families: environment, family, and culture. However, she took a unique approach by engaging community in both the creation and stewardship of the sculptures, and in doing so, highlighted the idea of an intertribal ideal. The ideal was manifested in the cooperation of members of the public, as well as staff at NMAI, who all came together to build the artworks. A series of podcasts as well as YouTube videos (Episode 1) document their collaborative effort under her guidance.

The figures vary in form and materials, comprised of mud, fired pottery sherds, wood, and straw, and other organic materials. Her choices are especially relevant given that Nora’s desire was to allow the sculptures to ultimately return to the earth, promoting stewardship, but not preservation in the sense that conservators typically understand it. The role of nature in shaping their condition and form is welcomed as a part of the process of “Always Becoming.” Weather plays an expectedly large role in the formative processes, and is reflected by the layered structure of the sculptures; as one layer melts away, another is revealed, a process that Nora appreciates in person as she travels to NMAI on annual visits. The return of the materials to the earth is also represented by the re-use of elements. For example, ground up sherds of fired pottery, or grog, were mixed into some of the mud. However, the idea of returning to the earth does not preclude the replacement of all elements. When a bamboo rope used to represent a tie at the top of the teepee form disintegrated, it was decided to replace it with strips of rawhide, offered by a staff-member at NMAI. In this way, intertribal community was also promoted, and the sculptural form maintained what Nora considered a crucial element. This promotion was also clear given the numerous phone updates, dialogues, and discussions that occurred between Nora and the staff over the course of the year when she was not present.

Gail then discussed her experiences in participating from a collections management perspective. She noted the role of human interaction in shaping the sculptures as well, citing an example whereby a homeless gentleman took up short-lived residence in the teepee after carving out a small shelter during a particularly inclement evening. While the sight of smoke and flame was certainly alarming, however brief and quickly addressed by NMAI security, Gail juxtaposed her own reaction with Nora’s, who appreciated that someone considered her work a warm and welcoming shelter. Gail proposed that the idea of the sculpture as a living document and testament to nature, nurture, and conceptual art is often at odds with the traditional museum approach to preservation. Even if roles were re-envisioned, however, a balance was reached whereby all parties contributed. For example, pieces of pottery or memory stones that fell off were to be left; on the other hand, fired ceramic moons, as they represented part of a sequence, were to be sent back to Nora to re-create. A locust wood and rawhide fence was constructed to keep children from climbing on the sculptures and the surrounding plants from being trampled. Gail highlighted the influence of animal interaction with a few examples: mason bees drilling holes into one of the figures, and a robin’s nest in the Y-post of another.

Kelly spoke about her involvement when she took the place of a previous staff-member in 2009, after the construction, focusing on the ongoing role of conservation in the project. She stressed the admirable qualities of Nora’s vision, including community inclusion, the interaction of the sculptures with people and the environment, the importance of materials, but most of all, engagement with both the public and NMAI staff. This point was especially relevant and well-received, given that the AIC Annual Conference theme this year is Outreach. NMAI conservators became more comfortable with the idea of deterioration and the expectation of it, though preservation by creation, through deterioration, is not typically a part of our approach. Kelly suggested that the project prompts a discussion regarding alteration of materials, wherein some ambiguity currently exists. She illustrated this point by noting use of the term “time-based media” to refer to many digital and performance arts, where change is accepted and expected as part of the life of the artwork, and effecting an appropriate conservation approach. She suggests that this very idea is just as appropriate and more useful for sculptural projects such as “Always Becoming,” which is, eponymously, in a constant flux. In conclusion, she expressed gratitude at being given the freedom to experience change, and urges other conservators to be open to similar experiences.

The multi-step treatment of a Mi’kmaq birchbark box was outlined in this talk presented by Season Tse. The circular box with four stacks of rings is made of birchbark and decorated with dyed spruceroot and porcupine quills. Before treatment, it was exhibiting significant instability due to a deformation of the lid, the separation of the rim from the lid, and localized deterioration of the dark brown dyed spruceroot. There were also reported losses in the birchbark, unknown instability of dye components to light, losses to the spruceroot, and overall surface dirt.

The treatment began with a cleaning of the quillwork with saliva. This step revealed the brilliance of the blue-dyed quillwork and the presence of yellow-dyed quillwork previously unnoticed. The sensitivity of the dyes to light damage was tested using microfade tests with a Blue Wool dye scale ranging from 1-8. The dyes were found to between 3-4, which indicates that the dyes would survive 100 years at 50 lux for 8 hours a day before noticeable fading occurred.

The lid of the box was deformed and warping. After testing using deformed samples of birchbark, they found the appropriate solvent and pressure parameters to treat the deformity. A methanol vapor chamber was used under 6 psi vacuum conditions for three days to reform the lid. The treatment was mostly successful though some springing occurred.  Broken spruceroot was stabilized, paper pulps fills were used for the loss of birchbark, and the lid was attached to the rim with Japanese tissue paper hinges.

The investigation and treatment of the dark brown colored spruceroot could be considered the highlight of the talk. Through their investigation into the colorants of the material they found that the colorant had both iron (II) ions and tannins present. This combination has been reported time and again as the source for severe deterioration of dyed cellulosic material. The concentration of iron (II) ions were identified and monitored throughout the treatment with iron indicator paper. To stabilize this deterioration they choose calcium-phytate solution, developed by CCI, to complex with the iron thus arrest the oxidation of the spruceroot material.  Because the box could not be immersed in to the solution the application was with brush. After each application the ion content was monitored. They found that five applications were enough to stabilize. However, the application of the solution was not without complications and risks. The spruceroot swelled during the application and staining of neighboring spruce root occurred due to migration of the iron ions.