Category: Emerging Conservation Professionals

Diversifying your experience while you’re pre-program

Heather has posted some wonderful tips on what it takes to become a conservator, and her last post really rang true with me. It takes a lot of sacrifices to try to get even as far as a graduate school interview in this field, but we’re also blessed to do rewarding and interesting work that makes these sacrifices worth it.

I would like to add one more piece of advice to Heather’s list: (11) Diversify.

Even if you think you may know which specialty within conservation interests you the most, one key part of pre-program experience is to get a broader perspective on the field. Maybe you’re lucky enough to live in a major metropolitan city with abundant opportunities for internships, but maybe not—that’s why you have to have an open mind about the field of conservation and what “pre-program experience” really means.

Conservators come in many breeds, and many have worked in other places before coming to conservation. It’s no disadvantage to work a related field, even if the work seems not to offer the treatment experience we all crave. Here are some tips on how to think in broad terms and find ways to amplify your pre-program experience:

1. Think big.


Conservation is a large discipline, even if it may seem like a small community at times. Looking through the AIC directory can give you a sense of how diverse our profession is: there are conservators working on underwater archaeological conservation, natural history specimens, archival photos, national and international built heritage, and everything in between. Even if you’re interested in something specific, chances are you have something to learn by stretching yourself.

I started off with a summer Museum Studies Internship, which showed me that conservation in a big museum is one (important!) part of a much larger institution. Understanding the broader picture has helped me appreciate the relationships that form between conservators and education and curatorial departments in the museum, and other members of the arts community.

2. Think small.

Small museums are great places to work! Look for related positions in collections management, education, or anywhere else you can get involved. I worked for a year as a collections intern at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, an amazing gem of a museum that has both a historic home and a research library replete with rare books, prints, photographs and plenty of Americana.

I got a lot of experience working with the collection and seeing the needs of a smaller museum that focuses heavily on preventive conservation. Even though I’m interested in objects conservation, this experience was crucial to my understanding of the field and I saw firsthand the value of historic documents and the importance of their preservation

3. Don’t be shy.

When I visited the Academy of Natural Sciences for the first time since I was a little kid, I walked by the Fossil Preparation lab and saw people working on fossils right before my eyes. I asked some questions about what they were doing and what kind of experience they had. I was excited to learn that many of people I saw in the lab were volunteers, and asked who I could talk to learn more about working in the lab. After speaking to the lab supervisor, I contacted the museum’s official Volunteer Coordinator to begin volunteering. Now I get to work in an awesome lab preparing dinosaur fossils, and all it took was asking.

Don’t be shy when you visit museums. You should feel free to ask employees (docents, guides, visitors services, etc.) about opportunities to work or volunteer where they do. Usually when you show genuine interest in what someone does, they’re happy to talk to you. Make sure to ask for contact information and follow up.

Other tips:

Don’t forget to check the institution’s website: there’s probably a volunteer and internship coordinator waiting to hear from you.

Be persistent: sometimes emails get put on the back burner. If you haven’t heard back from someone, it usually doesn’t mean they didn’t find you important enough to email back. If you haven’t heard back from someone in a few weeks, email again, politely, to ask if they’ve had a chance to look over your request or if they know someone who can help you.

If you want to get diverse experience, you might consider trying to make some time for additional unpaid work, though I know this isn’t an option for everyone. If you can look for options to work as a weekend volunteer, you’ll get some valuable experience without sacrificing your 9-5 hours.

Last but not least, if you have an opportunity to meet other pre-program interns, ask them where they work and how they started out there. We pre-program interns know that it can be difficult to find internship opportunities, so let’s all help each other out. Current grad students and recent or not-so-recent graduates can also be a resource. Everyone has their own story of how they got into conservation, so don’t be afraid to ask.

Good luck!

Jessica Walthew

Open Positions on the ECPN Committee

The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network seeks three new committee members:

1-year term, beginning in September 2011, submission deadline August 25, 2011

Chair, Vice-Chair, and Outreach Coordinator

The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) works with various AIC committees to address the needs of conservation professionals with fewer than 7 years of experience. This includes pre-program students, graduate students, and recent graduates. The committee seeks to increase participation in AIC amongst emerging conservators.

The chair position coordinates monthly conference calls, writes agendas for these calls, oversees projects like: the mentoring program, the student research repository, and is responsible for editing all published material about the group. The chair represents the committee to the board of directors and at the Internal Advisory Group meeting, and collaborates on projects with other AIC committees and with representatives from conservation graduate programs.

The vice-chair is a new position that will oversee all of the ECPN activities at the AIC annual meeting (ECPN informational meeting, happy hour, portfolio session, and any new activities) and the yearly ANAGPIC meeting (there is a speaker each year from the ECPN who attends the ANAGPIC meeting). The vice-chair will also be a logical candidate for taking over the chair position after their one-year term.

The outreach coordinator is in charge of all social media communication including the ECPN blog, Facebook page, Flickr site, and other projects that involve outreach and communications. The outreach coordinator works closely with the communications coordinator, currently Amy Brost. The outreach coordinator may also take over the chair position after completion of a one-year term.

The ECPN communicates primarily via email correspondence and monthly conference calls. The committee meets in-person annually at the AIC meeting.

Please submit a brief statement of interest and your resume to Rose Cull, Chair, AIC-ECPN, (roseemilycull [at] gmail [dot] com) by August 25, 2011.

Questions about committee activities can be directed to Rose, or ECPN’s current outreach coordinator: Heather Brown (hnmbrown [at] yahoo [dot] com)

For more information about the ECPN see: www.conservation-us.org/emerging.

39th Annual Meeting-ECPN Informational Meeting, May 31, 2011

The ECPN Informational Meeting had a wonderful turnout of more than 50 people.  Chair Rose Cull and AIC Staff Liaison Ryan Winfield indicated that there has been a good response across the AIC membership to what ECPN has accomplished so far, and recognition of its importance, vitality, and growth.

 

Announcements

Chair Rose Cull announced that there would be three upcoming vacancies on the ECPN committee: the Chair, Vice-Chair, and Outreach Coordinator positions.  Position descriptions will be posted online and will appear in the AIC News.  The positions will be filled in September.  The minutes from the previous meeting on 5/19 were also approved.  Minutes are published on the ECPN blog following approval.

 

Communications

Communications Coordinator Amy Brost asked everyone to take a look at the informational sheet about ECPN in the conference bag.  The sheet provides the URL of the group’s blog (emergingconservator.blogspot.com) and Flickr page (flickr.com/groups/conservators), as well as dial-in information for participating in the group’s monthly conference call (866-225-4944, conference ID 9992396916).  The call takes place on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 1 pm ET.  Everyone in the room was encouraged to take part in a future call.  The next call will be on June 16.

 

Amy advised that emerging conservators are being invited to help with the development of the Specialty Group Wikis.  There are also opportunities for emerging conservators to write book reviews for JAIC and other online publications as long as they have sufficient expertise on the topic.  This will be the topic of a future blog post on the ECPN blog.  Amy indicated that the group will work in the coming year to connect pre-program  and emerging conservators with regional conservation centers to enhance ECPN involvement in regional Angels Projects.  She encouraged everyone to see the ECPN poster in the Exhibit Hall and make a note of the contact information provided for the Chair and the committee Coordinators in order to follow up later with any questions, or to volunteer.

 

Outreach

Outreach Coordinator Heather Brown encouraged attendees to visit the Facebook page, which has roughly 325 members, 100 of whom have joined since August.  She also encouraged everyone to post their photos to the group’s Flickr page.  They could be photos from the AIC meeting, but they could also be photos from other AIC or conservation-related events or workshops.  The group would like to have a lively dialogue on the Facebook page and expand the assets on Flickr, so everyone was invited to contribute.  Heather urged everyone to consider blogging about their conservation experiences.  Rose indicated that anyone interested in creating content for the blog could reach out to her or Ryan to be set up as an author.

 

Heather is actively soliciting input from everyone about possible topics for webinars and podcasts.  Some initial ideas could include how to create a conservation portfolio, or how to set up a private practice.  She encouraged everyone to consider what they are hoping to learn through ECPN.

 

Education & Training Co-Coordinators Amber Kerr-Allison and Caroline Roberts shared an overview of the proposal to develop an online student research repository.  This repository is on the agenda for discussion with the graduate program leadership during this week’s annual meeting.  Some of the issues that will be discussed include: types of documents to be included (although the goal is to provide abstracts as well as full text), the submission and vetting process, hosting, and copyright issues.

 

Another exciting program that was established a few years ago but is now hitting its stride is the Mentoring Program.  Ryan Winfield indicated that the mentor-mentee matches made so far have generally been successful, but that there is a shortage of mentors.  Roughly 20 more mentors are needed to match to the current mentee applicants.  The AIC meeting presents a good opportunity to ask someone you admire to consider serving as a mentor.  Mentors need to have Professional Associate or Fellow status in AIC.  Ryan encouraged anyone who had applied to be a mentee but had not heard back to please be patient until more mentors could be identified.  They can also get in touch with Ryan or Rose to discuss further.

 

In the coming year, the group is hoping to identify one or more Graduate Student Liaisons to each of the American training programs.  This will give AIC and ECPN a “point person” for reaching current students about opportunities.  As ECPN becomes more visible and productive, more of the AIC membership thinks of reaching out to the group, and having designated liaisons will help streamline communication.  This designated liaison model may be effective for connecting ECPN to the regional conservation centers as well.

 

Lastly, everyone was especially encouraged to participate in the Portfolio Session on Thursday, June 2 during the morning and afternoon breaks.  This is a rare chance to see portfolios from all stages – pre-program, graduate, and emerging professional.  This event is new for 2011.

 

Q&A

There were many questions about the online student research repository, but because the idea is still in the proposal phase, many details of how it will work are not yet known.  The outcome of the discussion with the graduate program leadership may be discussed in ECPN’s June 16 call, in which everyone was invited to participate.  Others were curious about the group’s connections to emerging professionals in related fields, and indeed, strengthening those connections is a goal for the coming year.  Some inquired about the international reach of ECPN.  The group has a liaison to the ECC-CAC, Stephanie Porto, but aside from Canada, ECPN does not have a liaison to any other country.  Some asked about qualifications for involvement in ECPN.  The committee coordinators range from pre-program to graduate students to emerging professionals, so anyone is welcome.

 

Closing

Amber and Amy encouraged everyone in the room to find some way to be involved, whether by taking on a position on the committee, or by helping with one specific project.  The group welcomes new ideas and is made better by ongoing input from everyone in the room.  The more people who get involved, the better ECPN can be.   Rose collected everyone’s email address and will send a follow-up survey to see how everyone felt about the ECPN sessions and events at this year’s meeting.  Everyone was invited to ECPN’s Happy Hour on Friday from 6-10 at McGillin’s Olde Ale House.

39th Annual Meeting – ECPN Portfolio Session, Thursday, June 2, 10-10:30am and 3-3:30pm

ECPN Portfolio Session at the 39th Annual AIC Meeting

The Emerging Conservation Professional Network (ECPN) organized the first graduate student portfolio session ever sponsored at an AIC Annual Meeting. Graduate students in conservation programs from the University of Delaware, New York University, University of California Los Angeles, and Buffalo State College presented their portfolios to a packed house of attendees during both the morning and afternoon sessions. In all, over 80 individuals attended the two sessions.

The graduate students volunteered to exhibit portfolios representing their cumulated experience as either a first-year, mid-term, or graduating student in art conservation. The portfolios highlighted their treatment experience and professional training; including reports, photographs, and research projects. The participating students were available to address any questions attendees had and to offer advice and information to those interested in pursuing a graduate education in art conservation. Attendees included pre-program students, current graduate students, emerging professionals, and AIC professional members and conference attendees who were curious about the work graduate students are doing.

The portfolio sessions were a tremendous success and we look forward to the opportunity to make this an annual event at the AIC meetings. ECPN would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the following students for participating in this initiative and making it such a wonder experience for all:
Buffalo State College – Genevieve Bieniosek, Kari Kipper, and Rebecca Summerour
New York University – Julia Sybalsky and Maggie Wessling
UCLA/Getty Conservation Program – Tessa de Alarcon and Dawn Lohnas
Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation – Sarah Gowen, Laura Hartman, Gwen Manthey, Carrie McNeal, and Elena Torok

To read and contribute your comments on this event please visit ECPN on Facebook or our Blog.

39th Annual Meeting – Notes from an Emerging Conservator

I am a third-year fellow in the Winterthur / UD Program in Art Conservation, and this year’s annual meeting in Philadelphia was my first. I was amazed at the sheer size of the conference, the number of conservators, students, scientists and educators present, and at the expanse of topics discussed during the talks. As bewildering as the event often felt, it was wonderful to be able to engage in conversations with friends and colleagues. I was extremely impressed with the strong presence of emerging conservators, especially the many pre-programmers who ventured to Philly. It was equally inspiring to watch the many leaders in the field present at the meeting share their expertise, and engage in discussions with young professionals.

As with any new experience there were many surprises. I did not realize how much I would regret not having a business card – everyone, pre-programmers, students, and recent graduates should have one. During the meeting I had the opportunity to deliver a talk, and while I felt prepared in the moment, I was surprised at the amount of interest people showed when I was approached with questions afterward. I am very glad that the talk – as well as those delivered by two of my classmates – were so well received. It showed me that student research has a place at AIC conferences, and is valued by many in our profession.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend this year’s AIC meeting, which would not have been possible without the support of the FAIC George Stout Grant, as well as the gracious hospitality of two of my WUDPAC classmates. It was inspiring to see many conservators at so many levels in their careers together in one venue, and to observe such an active exchange of ideas between them. The online tools that enable this exchange are helping us make the most of the collaborative relationships we build at these conferences. It would be great to see the debates raised during the general and specialty group sessions continue on some of these available platforms – including the AIC and ECPN blogs, as well as the email distribution lists (which, I have heard many say, would benefit from an inter-specialty-exchange of ideas).

39th Annual Meeting – Architecture Student Session, 6/2/2011, 9:40AM-10:40AM

Following my own presentation in this session, I had the privilege of listening to my colleagues at Columbia University and the University of Texas-Austin discuss their research on architectural conservation material issues.

Sarah Sher (Columbia) exposed the design theory behind soiling on Marcel Breuer’s buildings through conducting an elaborate study of his personal writings and lectures.  She challenged conservators that approach Breuer’s structures to view the soiling as significant to its overall design aesthetic, because it was intentional.  For Breuer, reinforced concrete was the ideal material- requiring little to no cleaning (as opposed to its glass/steel counterpart), and that soiling in fact enhanced the aesthetic of the architecture “to aid in the process of aging.”  In the section of her presentation entitled “Designing the Aging Process,” Sher focused her discussion on Breuer’s Cleveland Trust tower.  Breuer anticipated heavy soiling on the structure, quoting the effects of polluted Cleveland air.  He designed for this effect, which he believed allowed shadowing and depth of the surface.  Sher ended her talk with Riegl’s conception of age value, and the questions that modernist pose for conservation interventions.  With a fascinating talk, Sher introduced research into a field that will need to be expanded and better understood as we are increasingly working on modernist and Brutalist structures.

Sarah Caitlin von Hedemann (Columbia) presented her thesis research on current cleaning formulations for removing biogrowth on stone, utilizing a newly manufactured Prestor gel.  She utilized laboratory testing, as well as field tests on sites around the city of New York, including 1- Wallace limestone (facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art), 2- Indiana limestone (exterior of The Cloisters museum), 3- Texas limestone (Bronx Victory Memorial), 4-Tuckahoe marble ( Lagrange Terrace, Delbarton School), and 5- Carrara marble (Portrait Bust, Delbarton School) –if I mislabeled or misunderstood any of these stone types, please comment to correct me!  Utilizing analytical tests ranging from XRD, SEM-EDS, FTIR and GC-MS, she tested the products’ effectiveness and the presence of residues left by the cleaners.  von Hedemann concluded with her recommendations:  Prestor gel should be used for less porous stone, as it had atendency remove porous stone surfaces, CB-4 requires more research but was overall ineffective and left larger residues, BioKlean was successful but this might be due to its 2-step process and it is considered very agressive and alkaline, and D-2 and BioWash had average cleaning capability.

Payal Vora (UT-Austin) studied as a Materials Science engineer in her undergraduate education, and became interested in preservation efforts following natural disasters.  Her thesis is an extension of this interest, as she conducted a study of masonry cleaners for Fort Livingston, LA following the 2010 Gulf coast oil spill.  The fort, located on Grand Terre island is the only occupied barrier island in Louisiana, and has been greatly affected by the spill due to erosion issues that allow parts of the fort to remain underwater.  The unprecedented contamination of the spill, required a technical study to guide conservation efforts, and this was spear-headed by NCPTT and UT’s Architectural Conservation Laboratory.  Unable to remove original material from the fort, NCPTT provided contemporaneous brick (from a demolished early 1900s home) as samples for Vora’s study.  Developing her experimental design,Vora prepared her samples according to ASTM C-67-09, she developed a method for soiling the samples, and conducted artificial weathering with an Atlas C-4000 Xenon Arc Weather-oMeter on the brick Q-series.  On the U-Series, samples were unweathered, but placed in an oven for 8-10 hours to ensure samples were dry prior to cleaning.  Cleaners were chosen from the National Remediation Plan’s list of approved cleaners for the Gulf Coast spill- the 6 final choices were Petro-Clean, Cytosol, SC-1000, Gold Crew, De-Solv-It Industrial Form and De-Solv-It APC.  Cleaning was evaluated using telecolorimetry and a visual inspection survey.  Responding to a national crisis, the project represents an important effort in disaster relief for historic structures.

It was a pleasure to hear about the incredible work being done by emerging professionals in this field!

AIC’s 39th Annual Meeting – Links to photos

Photos from AIC’s Annual Meeting are being uploaded to our Flicker site as time permits. Each photo below represents a set. So far I’ve posted photos from the reception at Philadelphia Museum of Art on Wednesday night, the Manikin workshop, and Thursday’s portfolio review session. There will be a lot more coming, so please check back regularly to this post or go directly to our Flicker site (at www.flicker.com/photos/aic-faic/) to view additional photos.

Museum Manikins Workshop (click on this photo to view the entire set)

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The reception at Philadelphia Museum of Art, June 1 (click on this photo to view the entire set)

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Portfolio Review Session (click on this photo below to view the entire set)

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ECPN Officers (click on this photo below to view the entire set)

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May Meeting Minutes

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ECPN MEETING MINUTES

May 19, 2011

Conference Call Attendees:
Rose Cull

Ryan Winfield

Karen Pavelka

Heather Brown

Carrie Roberts

Amy Brost

Rebecca Rushfield

LeeAnn Barnes Gordon

I. April Minutes

a. ECPN April minutes approved.

II. AIC Meeting 2011

a. Portfolio Session (Carrie) – Amber will send out the final notice on Monday to participants and will include the event location. Ryan will email it to her – it is Room 415, 4th floor. Buffalo will have 2-3 participants, Delaware will have 4, other programs will have at least one. Per Ryan, the 1-1:30 coffee break was canceled, so the committee agreed that the Portfolio Session should run during the 10-10:30 morning break and 3-3:30 afternoon break. Ryan will change the conference program guidelines to reflect this change.

b. Survey (Rose/Ryan) – ECPN members should review the survey (set up in Survey Monkey) that will be given to attendees at ECPN events following the AIC meeting. Rose will send it out to the full committee following the call. Provide comments/feedback to Rose and Ryan. Email addresses of participants will be collected at all ECPN events at AIC.

c. Meeting of the Graduate Programs (Carrie) – Primary discussion topic will be the student research repository. Stephanie Lussier of ETC, Carrie, and Amber will deliver a summary of the proposal, and then open the floor for discussion, which will be moderated by Eryl Wentworth. Will perhaps record it. Discussions will be used to develop the proposal, which is evolving. Topics for discussion: Types of documents (paper or/and posters?) How material will be submitted? What role will programs play in the vetting process? How are we going to sustain the site? Should there be a committee devoted over the long term to overseeing it and maintaining/expanding it? Should the database be part of CoOL or be its own separate entity? If it’s not on CoOL, how can it be funded? Carrie will forward agenda to ECPN members. Rose proposed adding Graduate Student Liaisons to the agenda for the meeting, in terms of a broader goal to connect students to what ECPN is doing. Get them involved in ECPN initiatives, not only the student research repository, but activities across the board.

d. ECPN Informational Meeting – Ryan provided the meeting location: Room 406, 4th floor. Rose asked that each committee member provide agenda items to her for this meeting. Amy, Heather, Carrie, and Amber should provide agenda items by Wednesday of next week.

e. Poster Amber picked it up. She should either download and complete the form for reimbursement from the AIC website, or provide her receipt to Ryan who will complete the form. Amy will connect with Amber and install the poster on Tuesday morning, if possible. Exhibit hall closes at 5 pm. Amy has a tour from 12:30-5:30, so if the poster cannot be installed before 12:30, alternative arrangements will be made. Amy to bring push pins. Ryan provided the space number: #18. Exhibit hall opens officially on Wednesday, 6/1 at 10 am. Anyone interested can join Rose during the poster session. Poster presenters are expected to stand by their posters for an “Author in Attendance” period, during the final coffee break (3:00 to 3:30 PM) on Thursday, June 2.

f. Flier – Ryan is having it printed for the conference bag.

g. Outreach – Heather already created Events in Facebook, and will post the Portfolio Session also. She will update the Wall, and the blog post is completed. Ryan will send out the email reminder.

h. Meeting Attendance – Additional meetings that will be attended by ECPN members are: Publications Committee (Amy), Education and Training (Carrie, Amber, and Karen), ECPN meeting (Rebecca Rushfield from the ETC), RATS meeting (Stephanie Porto). Rose & Amy will attend the Wiki meeting – if others are interested this meeting is 5:30-7 pm on June 2nd after the AIC business meeting. Amy will attend the Heritage Preservation Meeting on Wednesday at 4 pm.

i. Blogging at the AIC Meeting – Rachael needs bloggers. Has BPG and OSG. Looking for more people who are attending other sessions to blog. Karen suggested sending a message to chair of each session to call for volunteers. Rachael has done that, per Rose. Rose to email Rachael and let her know that people could write a summary and she would turn it into a blog post. Not sure why people are hesitant – the note-taking or the posting? For the AIC blog, has some kinks – introduction to Philly blog post going up soon. Heather will follow up with Rachael.

III. Position Vacancies – Chair, Vice Chair, and Outreach positions will be turning over and will transition by September. Heather will write a position description for Outreach and send it to Rose before the informational meeting at AIC.

IV. Mentoring Program – Rose and Ryan are drafting an e-mail to send to PA’s and Fellows to get more mentor applications. Some people applied and never heard back, probably due to legacy issues with the previous system. Rose will follow up with them and ask them to apply again. Karen added that she has heard the same – Karen will send something out to BPG to encourage people to apply again. The AIC Annual Meeting is a good opportunity to ask people in person. Karen would like paper forms to hand out to people. Ryan indicated that the revised forms are up on the website to download and print out. Rose will distribute hard copy forms as well.

V. Updating the AIC Website – Discussed at the Education and Training meeting. Stephanie Lussier indicated that the group is seeking suggestions from ECPN. Areas for updates include documents on the Education & Training page and “How to Become a Conservator.” Rose will set up an area for ECPN feedback on Google Docs.

VI. CAC – Rose will follow up with Stephanie to find out if anyone else from the Canadian group is coming to AIC, and to explore more ways to collaborate.

VII. IAG Meeting 2010 – Rose reminded everyone to take a look at the minutes from the November 2010 meeting of the Internal Advisory Group, to get a sense of the issues of importance for the organization as a whole.

VIII. Discussion – Rebecca made a general comment that she felt ECPN was a valuable resource, one that she would have appreciated when she first started. She hopes that students and recent graduates take full advantage of what the committee has to offer.

a. She asked about member numbers, and ECPN has around 500 people in the AIC mailing list (who checked the box to receive ECPN information), over 300 Facebook friends, and around 30 people attended last year’s informational meeting. The group has many stakeholders and is growing.

b. K-12 initiatives are being discussed by ETC to increase the number of people who appreciate the field and are interested in it. Rose responded that there is a tremendous need for conservation, and a discussion of how ECPN can help meet this need followed: (1) Perhaps a mentor program for small institutions on fundraising; (2) Engage the regional centers to help small institutions; (3) Advocacy that can help increase funding for the field; (4) Explore alternative funding models based on social media (example, Kickstarter.com)

c. See the poster at AIC about the value of conservators which has statistics about the profession and its past, and future

d. Brainstorming can be part of the ECPN meeting at AIC

IX. Early Career Support – Point was raised that there is a need for funding in the intermediate phase between student and Professional Associate (PA). Per Karen, the PA requirement was added to some funding to encourage PA status, but it does create a gap in funding eligibility. ECPN can help support emerging conservators seeking PA status. Also, in the ECPN statement about “what we do” it says we facilitate people’s transition to PA. Helping with the application? Maybe develop a “How to become a PA” FAQ sheet? Some people don’t know the steps or the benefits. Rose could call someone in membership to talk about this. Rose will speak with Tom Edmondson and Martin Burke. Ryan indicated that the PA evaluation committee has a different structure – the members process/approve applications. Function-oriented, and not interested in growth, per se. They try to remain impartial. Rose will develop talking points for ECPN informational meeting. Karen mentioned that acquiring PA status could be the point at which members move out of ECPN.

Note on accommodations at AIC: Rebecca Rushfield can share her room on Tuesday and Wednesday night for $10 per night. Email Rebecca if you or anyone you know is looking for a room to share. For the 2012 AIC Meeting, consider reaching out to more established conservators in advance to see if they would be willing to share their rooms.

Next call will be June 16 at 1 PM EST.

Respectfully submitted,

Amy Brost

On the Road to Conservation: A Pre-Program Road Trip – Part II

Clockwise from top left: JessiKat on the Buffalo campus, Niagara Falls, the Liberty Bell, JessiKat back home, JessiKat outside UPenn's museum, Katherine with Buffalo's mascot. Center: Reading Market in Philadelphia.

 

This entry by Katherine Langdon is the second part of a two-part blog post. Read the first entry by Jessica Ford below (posted 1/12/2011). Both Katherine and Jessica are pre-program interns working with Richard McCoy at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
I’m Katherine Langdon, pre-program intern in conservation at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and prospective conservation graduate student, and today I am continuing the story begun previously by my fellow intern, Jessica Ford. If you didn’t catch her blog entry you should begin there.
After our delightful and fast-paced visit to Winterthur for the WUDPAC Portfolio Day we spent the night in nearby Philadelphia. Philly turned out to be an ideal way-station for our travels, not only as a central hub of the east coast, but also as a bustling capital of culture and American history.

Our Thursday began early with a drive to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, where we had an appointment with Head Conservator Lynn Grant. As I have a background in archaeology, I was especially keen to see how conservation was approached at an archaeologically-focused museum. Lynn was very generous with her time and expertise, answering our slew of questions. We started with a tour of the collections in storage, where nearly a million objects are protected long-term – in fact the collection is so large that only about 3% of their artifacts can be on display at any one time. All of this is in the care of the two (soon to be three) full-time conservators and their assorted interns. The museum, housed in a historic building on the university campus, recently began renovations on much of the service area, so although the conservation staff currently operate in a makeshift lab, they anticipate having great new facilities in the near future.

Thrilled with the thorough visit, we thanked Lynn and stepped out into the very rainy city for an afternoon of exploration. This was Jessica’s first visit to Philly, so I made sure we hit all the major sites, beginning with lunch at the Reading Terminal Market. The rest of the afternoon we wandered through historic Philadelphia, finally visiting the Liberty Bell Center, which contains one small and uplifting exhibit, and touring Independence Hall, which is currently undergoing its own massive conservation project.

As you read yesterday, we spent the following day in New York City before catching a late bus to Washington, D.C. I headed for the National Mall, where I visited for the first time the D.C. branch of the National Museum of the American Indian, built in 2004. I loved the unique design of the building itself and its flowing exhibits, and I was pleased to see that the exhibits included a wide range of cultures and time periods, including some breathtaking contemporary pieces of art. That evening Jessica, Duncan, and I reunited in time to attend a gallery opening downtown where some of Jessica’s artwork was on display.

After spending Sunday driving to upstate New York, we headed to Buffalo State College to get to know the campus and to meet with second-year art conservation student Christine Puza. As we approached the school, two copper peaks towering over the campus caught our attention. A bit of research revealed that the building was part of the former Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane (known now as the Buffalo Psychiatric Center or the Richardson Olmsted Complex), designed by H.H. Richardson in 1870 and now out of use. The state of New York has committed to a restoration of the complex, which could someday perhaps provide great research and conservation projects for the neighboring school.

The friendly Buffalo State campus gave its art conservation program a more collegiate atmosphere than the independent departments of NYU and Delaware. I was surprised that the three programs could have such different, yet equally pleasing, settings and characters. At Buffalo, the Art Conservation Department is proudly housed in Rockwell Hall, the main campus building, near the music department. (The school clearly has its priorities in good order.)

Christine met us here and gave us an in-depth tour of the various labs, where she told us about the coursework underway and shared her own projects. As we entered one room filled with students’ original artwork she explained that the Buffalo program emphasizes the simultaneous development of hand skills and intimate knowledge of historical artistic techniques, taught by having the students replicate traditional methods of manufacture, such as painting with egg tempera. First-year students even design their own projects to focus on crafts of personal interest (smithing or flintknapping, e.g.).

The artworks used for conservation training are brought in from outside sources. People or museums can bring in their items for evaluation and treatment, with the understanding that it might be a few years before a student chooses it for a personal project. Christine was excited to show us her current paper conservation project, the removal of a poor backing from a woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai. In the objects lab she pulled out a damaged wooden box she was working on and told us that the second year students enjoy the opportunity to go “shopping” for such projects in the storage facilities of the next-door Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

After a delicious lunch with Christine at the Indian buffet near campus, we realized that the perfect autumn weather would be best spent on a visit to Niagara Falls, only a twenty-minute drive away. There the crowds were sparse and the trees were just unveiling their seasonal chromatic brilliance. Refreshed by this natural masterpiece, we began our long drive home to Indianapolis.