The Emerging Conservation Professional’s Network (ECPN) is excited to announce that we will be hosting a Poster Session Lightning Round during AIC’s 45th Annual Meeting next year in Chicago. This session will highlight the contributions of ECPs who are accepted to the Annual Meeting Poster Session, providing a fun and informal platform for you to share your work with ECPs and established conservators alike. Participants will give a very short presentation—essentially an “elevator pitch”—that highlights the contents of their poster with an opportunity to field questions from colleagues.
Posters are an excellent way to participate in the Annual Meeting and present research, treatment projects, new tools, and innovative techniques in a concise format; we encourage you to submit an abstract! Once final selections are made by the Poster Session Committee, ECPN will put out a call for participants.
In the meantime, submit your Poster Session abstracts by the September 12 deadline using AIC’s submission portal: http://www.conservation-us.org/annual-meeting/call-for-submissions#.V6ytE036uig
ECPN 2016-2017 Committee (left to right): Eve Mayberger, Jessica Walthew, Rebecca Gridley, Kari Rayner, Alexa Beller, and Michelle Sullivan (not pictured: Kimi Taira, Emma Schmitt, and Alyssa Rina)
We are happy to introduce the officers of the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network for the 2016-2017 term! The new and returning officers are very grateful for the dedication and service from the outgoing officers of the 2015-2016 term: Elyse Driscoll, Anne Schaffer, and especially our fearless outgoing chair, Fran Ritchie. We wish you all the best and look forward to your future endeavors in AIC and ECPN!
Meet the 2016-2017 ECPN Officers:
Michelle Sullivan, Chair
Michelle Sullivan is an Assistant Conservator in the Department of Paper Conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum. She earned an M.S. and C.A.S. in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, specializing in works on paper with a minor concentration in photographic materials. She has completed graduate internships at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Michelle previously served as ECPN’s Vice Chair (2015-16) and Professional Education and Training Co-officer (2013-15). Rebecca Gridley, Vice Chair
Rebecca holds a BA in Art History from Yale University, and is currently working towards an MA in Art History & Archaeology and an MS in Conservation at The Conservation Center at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (expected 2017). She is currently completing a summer internship at the Brooklyn Museum, and will begin her fourth year internship in the Objects Conservation Department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this September. She has held internships at The Museum of Modern Art, The Frick Collection, and the American Museum of Natural History. Before graduate school, she worked as a National Account Manager at The Conservation Center in Chicago and completed pre-program work at private practices in New York. She previously served as Communications Co-Officer for ECPN (2015-16). Jessica Walthew, Professional Education and Training Co-officer
Jessica is an objects conservator focusing on archaeological and ethnographic materials. Her research currently addresses the use of digital tools for documentation and technical analysis of artworks. She is currently completing an Andrew W. Mellon foundation fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum’s Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas and will begin a teaching/research Mellon fellowship this fall at the Bard Graduate Center and American Museum of Natural History. Jessica Walthew is serving a second year as co-officer for Professional Education and Training. Emma Schmitt, Professional Education and Training Co-officer
Emma Schmitt graduated from the College of Wooster in 2010 with a BA in Archaeology. She held pre-program jobs and internships at ICA- Art Conservation, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Harvard Art Museums (2011-2012). Emma attended the Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History at the University of Glasgow (2012-2014). During this time she interned at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford UK, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Glasgow Museums, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Upon returning to the US, she worked for Windsor Conservation before taking up her current position as Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Textile Conservation at the Denver Art Museum. This is Emma’s first year serving ECPN. Kari Rayner, Webinar Coordinator
Kari graduated with a BA in Art History and a second major in Art Theory and Practice from Northwestern University. She holds an MA in Art History and Advanced Certificate in Art Conservation with a specialization in paintings conservation from the Conservation Center, the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Kari has previously interned at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne, Germany; and Modern Art Conservation in New York, NY. She is currently a post-graduate intern at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, Cambridge University, and she will be returning to the National Gallery of Art in the autumn of 2016 to begin an Advanced Fellowship in Paintings Conservation. This is Kari’s first year serving ECPN. Kimi Taira, Outreach Co-officer
Kimi is an Assistant Conservator for Works on Paper at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. She earned her BA in Studio Art from Mills College and an MS from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, specializing in paper with a minor in library and archive materials. She has served various positions and internships at Zukor Art Conservation, the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the UCLA Library Conservation Center. Her interests include conservation ethics, community-centered preservation initiatives, and the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage. This is her second year serving as an ECPN Outreach Officer. Evelyn (Eve) Mayberger, Outreach Co-officer
Eve holds a B.A. in Art History with a concentration in Asian Art from Wesleyan University (2010). In 2016, Eve graduated with a M.A. and M.S. degrees in art history and conservation at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University where she specialized in objects conservation. She has worked in the conservation departments of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Historic Odessa Foundation, Small Collections Library at the University of Virginia, National Museum of the American Indian, Worcester Art Museum, and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (fourth-year internship). In addition to museum work, Eve has participated in excavations at Sardis (Turkey), Selinunte (Sicily), and Abydos (Egypt). In November, Eve will start a Mellon fellowship at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This is Eve’s first year serving ECPN. Alyssa Rina, Communications Co-Officer
Alyssa graduated with a B.F.A. in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of Visual Arts (2013) and worked at Jim Kempner Fine Art in Chelsea (2014) before discovering art conservation and becoming a pre-program student. Since then, she has studied Chemistry and French, and completed additional studio courses like: ceramics, mold making, three-dimensional printing, and book binding. Alyssa has completed pre-program jobs and internships with private conservators at Francavilla Paper Conservation, The Better Image, and Cultural Preservation and Restoration. Recently, Alyssa has been completing a pre-program summer internship in outdoor sculpture and Ancient Greek objects at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Alyssa is most interested in object conservation, but continues to seek opportunities that will diversify her experience across most conservation specialties. This is Alyssa’s first year serving ECPN. Alexa Beller, Communications Co-officer
Alexa holds a BA in History, a BFA in Painting, and a minor in Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2013). She is currently a third year student in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation majoring in paintings conservation with a minor in murals. She is in Paris this summer conserving murals by Delacroix and Roger and will be spending her third year internship at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and within the private practice of Gianfranco Pocobene. She has had previous internships or positions at the Western Center for the Conservation of Fine Art, the private practice of Ria German-Carter, Architectural Conservation Inc., the Chicago History Museum, the Spurlock Museum, and the University of Illinois Library Conservation Unit. This is her second year serving as an ECPN Communications Officer.
To promote awareness and a clearer understanding of different pathways into specializations that require particular training, the Emerging Conservation Professional Network (ECPN) is conducting a series of interviews with conservators in these specialties. We are kicking off the series with Chinese and Japanese painting conservation. We’ve asked our interviewees to share some thoughts about their career paths, which we hope will inspire new conservators and provide valuable insight into these areas of our professional field.
In our first interview, we spoke with Sara Ribbans, Assistant Asian Paintings Conservator at the Cleveland Museum of Art. She earned her BFA from York University and Master’s of Art Conservation from Queen’s University where she concentrated on paper conservation. Sara Ribbans – Assistant Asian Paintings Conservator, Cleveland Museum of Art [Photo: Howard Agriesti]
ECPN: Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Sara Ribbans (SR): I began my training in paper conservation but by the end of my program I was intent on traveling to Japan and concentrating on Asian paintings conservation. I had never really traveled much prior to getting into conservation, but throughout my Master’s degree, I had never stayed in one place longer than 9 months so the idea of packing up and moving to Japan was not strange. I helped reconstruct a section of a 400 year old castle, restored the wall paintings in a large Buddhist temple, and remounted hanging scrolls, handscrolls, folding screens, and panels. It gave me the opportunity for a great deal of hands on work and the ability to create something in the process, which–coming from a fine arts degree–really appealed to me. ECPN: How were you first introduced to conservation, and why did you decide to pursue conservation? SR: While I was studying fine arts, I had come to realize that I really wanted to learn more about techniques and materials, not just what made a pleasing composition. Luckily, York University in Toronto, Canada, had a course on historical techniques taught by Srebrenka Bogovic-Zeskoski who had studied paintings conservation. Throughout the course, she would mention this idea of the permanence and degradation of materials and the conservation work done to preserve different artworks. It was the first time I had even heard of art conservation, and I quickly decided that I was more suited to conserving artwork than I was to creating a career out of being an artist. Final Lining Replacement [Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015.85; Photo: Joan Neubecker]ECPN: Of all specializations you could choose from, what contributed to your decision to follow Japanese art conservation specifically? SR: The only way that I really became aware of Japanese paintings conservation was through the tools used in paper conservation. We would have lectures on Japanese papermaking, use Japanese brushes when pasting out paper, and even wheat starch paste comes from the Japanese tradition. But what really pushed me to learn more was a really difficult lining of a large poster. It was clear that while paper conservators knew the theory of lining an artwork on paper, the technique was very rarely practiced therefore complications were hard to deal with. I decided to do an internship with a Japanese paintings conservator to get a better grounding in the materials, tools, and techniques that had found their way into paper conservation. I loved the work so much, though, that I never looked back. ECPN:What has been your training pathway? Please list any universities, apprenticeships, technical experience, and any related jobs or hobbies. SR: I started as a Fine Arts student at York University, Toronto, Canada. From there I got my chemistry requirements from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada and Athabasca University, Edmonton, Canada, before doing my Master’s in Art Conservation at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada where I concentrated in paper conservation. During my Master’s degree I did internships at the National Archives in Kew, England, the Oxford Conservation Consortium in Oxford, England, and Nishio Conservation Studio in Washington, D.C. Through this last internship, I was introduced to Japanese paintings conservators, which led to a one year apprenticeship with Kentaro Tominaga in Kumamoto, Japan. This was unpaid, but teaching English at night and on the weekends helped me pay my way. When my apprenticeship was complete, he introduced me to the studio where he had trained, and I found my first job as a Japanese paintings conservator at Usami Shokakudo Co. Ltd. in Kyoto, Japan. ECPN: Are there any particular skills that you feel are important or unique to your discipline? SR: While a grounding in paper conservation was really important there are aspects of Asian paintings conservation that incorporate objects and textiles as well. Carpentry, or an ability to work with wood, and sewing are actually two skills that are very useful to have when it comes to Asian paintings and their mountings. The lattice cores in screens and panels are made out of wood, as are the roller rods and hanging rods. This means that you need to be able to saw, plane, whittle, sand, and generally manipulate wood. Certain parts of the scrolls are sewn, such as the decorative hanging strips at the top of the hanging scroll. If you have never done any of these things then developing the skills while also learning all the parts to mounting Asian paintings can be time consuming. ECPN: What are some of your current projects, research, or interests? SR: Right now I am fully concentrating on the remounting of a portrait painting on silk from the Kamakura Period (1185-1333). This painting has been lined overall with silk rather than paper, probably as a quick and easy way of compensating for loss to the silk substrate. The problem is that silk-to-silk adhesion is poor and therefore the lining delaminated. The mounting was also quite soiled and worn. Over the next couple of months, I will be doing a dry lining removal and filling the losses with silk which has been artificially aged. I am also working with a silk weaver in Japan to create a reproduction of the gold brocade used for the inner border of the scroll mounting as the pattern is no longer available and we like to maintain as much of the old mounting aesthetic as possible. Remounted Hanging Scroll [Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985.273; Photo: Joan Neubecker]ECPN: In your opinion, what is an important research area or need in your specialization? SR: I feel that Asian paintings conservation, whether it is the Chinese or Japanese tradition, is not very well understood and could benefit from some promotion to the general public and to students interested in entering the field of conservation. There is a great deal of Asian art in collections throughout the world, and there are very few people who understand their construction and are trained to deal with their deterioration. This does not always mean packing up your life and traveling to Asia for extended training to become a mounter as well as a conservator. There is also the need for conservators who understand the materials and the construction of Asian paintings who may not be able to remount a painting but who are able do remedial treatments, such as flattening and reinforcing creases, consolidating pigment, replacing cords, etc. ECPN: Do you have any advice for prospective emerging conservators who would like to pursue this specialization? SR: Everyone who has entered this specialization, both conservation and Asian paintings conservation, has done so from such different directions that it is hard to hand out advice. I would say to talk to as many people in the field as you can because they can be a great help in getting you where you are going. Spending some time interning with a studio in the US can be a great introduction to the field and will give you necessary skills to draw on. Look for grants and scholarships to help you start out. There is a developing interest to train young and emerging conservators in the specialization of Asian paintings, both in the Chinese and Japanese traditions. Finally, getting a basis in the language of the country you are moving to would be really useful as English speakers are rare. I managed to learn Japanese as I went along, and picked up a lot of technique from watching, but the ability to communicate effectively would have certainly made things go more smoothly. ECPN: Please share any last thoughts or reflections. SR: I would just like to say that anyone who is interested in becoming an Asian paintings conservator should go for it and not let themselves be discouraged. It is, of course, a lot of work, and living in a different country is challenging–but I would say that all of the students emerging from programs throughout the US are very capable of facing challenges. It is an incredible experience and will add to their skills no matter what they end up choosing.
Sandy West’s family bought Ossabaw Island, a barrier island off the coast of Georgia, in 1924. For almost a century, she inhabited the “Main House,” one of the few buildings on the island, and worked to protect the island and share its beauty with others. In 2010, FAIC joined furniture conservator David Bayne in a program to bring emerging conservation students to the island to gain hands-on training in historic home housekeeping and preventive conservation. The culmination of four summer workshops on the island resulted in a 40-page guide to caring for West’s home, prepared in 2015 for the State of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources, which will gain control of the house after West’s death.
As a result of West’s eventual financial instability, the 25,000-acre island was sold in 1978 to the State of Georgia for a discounted price in hopes of preserving the sacred place. As a result, Ossabaw became Georgia’s first Heritage Preserve. The deal with the state allowed for West to remain in the colonial revival mansion on the island until her death (at the time, a state-hired actuary predicted she’d live to be 78). Now at the age of 103, West recently relocated to Savannah to access more affordable full-time care. 2013 Team – Ossabaw Island Preventive Conservation Workshop
The FAIC workshops (see the plan for the 2015 course) taught the basics of preventive conservation in the pink 1920’s Main House. Ossabaw’s remoteness and climate presented a unique medley of housekeeping problems for the groups to consider. These workshops explored the relationship between objects, their history of use, and their long-term preservation in a historic house setting.
During each day of the two-week program, participants learned about different materials and how to care for them. The activities ranged from pest management to furniture handling; textile cleaning to taxidermy examination; and maintenance of book and paper collections. Participants gained experience in assessing and prioritizing issues with limited time and resources. The site contextualized objects in poor condition with their environment and acted as a counterpoint to the experience of working in a museum lab. The living room in the Main House on Ossabaw Island, GA.
FAIC’s Ossabaw Housekeeping Guide provides yearly, quarterly, monthly, and weekly care recommendations specific to the main rooms of the house based on the objects and materials in the room. Pests, light levels, temperature, and relative humidity were monitored, with recordings included in the guide. Suggestions for crisis housekeeping are also included, and may be incorporated in a full disaster plan in the future.
For several reasons, including difficulty in getting to the island, FAIC had to find a new location for the historic house training workshop. The 2016 workshop is currently taking place with eight participants and five instructors at Staatsburgh State Historic Site, a property owned by the New York State Bureau of Historic Preservation. Keep an eye out for blog posts by the participants coming soon.
As West’s time on Ossabaw Island ends and the state prepares to take over the Main House, they are equipped with a solid resource for implementing a standard of practice and recommendations to be considered for the future care of the historic home.
You can find a review of the program from a 2012 participant on the blog: http://www.conservators-converse.org/2012/10/review-of-faic-preventive-conservation-workshop-ossabaw-island-ga-january-7-20-2012/ and an article on a workshop presented as a talk at our annual meeting in San Francisco (from which the above photographs have been reposted): http://www.conservators-converse.org/2014/06/42nd-annual-meeting-collection-care-session-may-29-the-ossabaw-island-workshops-preventive-conservation-training-in-a-real-life-setting-by-david-bayne/
–Article by Sarah Saetren (FAIC Education Coordinator) with Bonnie Naugle
The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) is pleased to announce that our next webinar “Pathways into Conservation Science” will take place on Friday,April 22nd from 12-1pm (EST).
The program will feature three speakers: Dr. Tom Learner, Head of Science at the Getty Conservation Institute; Dr. Gregory Smith, the Otto N. Frenzel III Senior Conservation Scientist at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; and Dr. Robyn Hodgkins, the Charles E. Culpeper Fellow in the Scientific Research Department at the National Gallery of Art. The presenters will share their own diverse training experiences, touching on the history of education in conservation science and the current pathways into the field. ECPN hopes that the webinar will provide guidance to individuals considering careers in conservation science, current students and post-doctorates entering the field, as well as inform emerging conservators.
The format of this webinar will be Q&A style. ECPN is seeking question submissions prior to the webinar broadcast. Please submit your questions as comments to this post, or contact ECPN’s Professional Education and Training co-Officer, Elyse Driscoll at elysedriscoll@gmail.com. Questions will be accepted until the morning of the webinar. Selected unanswered questions may be addressed in an AIC blog post following the webinar.
This webinar is free and open to all AIC members but you must register! To register, please click here. You will receive an email with information on how to connect to the webinar shortly before April 22nd.
If you miss “Pathways into Conservation Science” or wish to watch it again later, it will be recorded and uploaded onto the AIC YouTube channel. For a listing of past ECPN webinars, please visit our archive on AIC’s blog Conservators Converse, our Wiki page, or AIC’s YouTube channel. About the Presenters: Tom Learner is head of the Science Department at the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI); he oversees all of the Institute’s scientific research, developing and implementing projects that advance conservation practice in the visual arts. As a GCI senior scientist from 2007 to 2013, he oversaw the Modern and Contemporary Art Research initiative, during which time he developed an international research agenda related to the conservation of modern paints, plastics, and contemporary outdoor sculpture. Before this, he served as a senior conservation scientist at Tate, London, where he developed Tate’s analytical and research strategies for modern materials and led the Modern Paints project in collaboration with the GCI and National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Dr. Learner holds a PhD in chemistry from Birkbeck College, University of London, and a diploma in the conservation of easel paintings from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Dr. Gregory Dale Smith received a B.S. degree from Centre College of Kentucky in anthropology/sociology and chemistry before pursuing graduate studies at Duke University, where he was as a National Science Foundation graduate fellow in time-domain vibrational spectroscopy and archaeological fieldwork. He held postgraduate positions at the British Library, the V & A Museum, the National Synchrotron Light Source, and the National Gallery of Art. In 2004, Dr. Smith joined the faculty of the conservation training program at Buffalo State College as the Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Conservation Science. In 2010, Dr. Smith was hired as the Otto N. Frenzel III Senior Conservation Scientist at the Indianapolis Museum of Art where he established and now operates a state-of-the-art research facility to study and preserve the museum’s encyclopedic collection. Dr. Smith’s research interests include undergraduate education at the Arts-Science interface, assessing pollution off-gassing of museum construction materials, and understanding the chemical degradation of artists’ materials. Greg is a Professional Associate of the AIC and has served as an associate editor of JAIC for the past 10 years. Dr. Robyn Hodgkins is the Charles E. Culpeper Fellow in the Scientific Research Department at the National Gallery of Art (NGA), Washington, DC. She received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before starting at the NGA, Dr. Hodgkins completed a conservation science internship at Tate Britain, and conservation science fellowships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute. Dr. Hodgkins’ interests include understanding the effect of environmental conditions and pollutants on museum objects and artists’ materials using corrosion studies and environmental monitoring, and developing methods for the identification of paint constituents.
Are you an emerging conservator who wants to advocate for the interests of other emerging conservators? If so, then please consider one of the open officer positions on AIC’s Emerging Conservation Professionals Network Committee:
-Vice Chair
-Professional Education and Training Officer
-Communications Officer
-Outreach Officer
All positions will serve for a one year term, beginning in June 2016 just after AIC’s 44th Annual Meeting. New officers will have the option of renewal for a second year, except for the Vice Chair who will be expected to move into the Chair position after the first year, for a one year term.
To learn more about ECPN, please visit: conservation-us.org/emerging
Position descriptions should be requested and any questions directed to Michelle Sullivan at michellerosesullivan@gmail.com. To apply, please submit a brief statement of interest and your resume to Michelle Sullivan, ECPN Vice Chair, by April 15, 2016.
For all of us who care about salaries in conservation and museums, here is a great post on the Art Museum Teaching blog. I missed it in Feb. because I was working in the field with little internet access, but just read it in my review of the 700+ emails that accumulated while I was gone. It’s worth it, especially for the re-posted salary agenda from authors on the Leadership Matters blog.
Amber Kerr interviewing Richard Wolbers, Associate Professor, Coordinator of Science, and Affiliated Paintings Conservator for the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation Diana Hartman interviewing Joy Gardiner, Assistant Director of Conservation and Textile Conservator at the Winterthur Museum, and Affiliated Assistant Professor for the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation
Since 1975 the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC) has supported an initiative to chronicle the history of the field of conservation. The FAIC Oral History Project has resulted in a growing database of transcripts and audio recordings of interviews with conservators, conservation scientists, and individuals in related disciplines. This archive constitutes an invaluable professional resource.
I became involved in the project a little over a year ago, contributing to the archive by conducting interviews. I can testify that my involvement has been both immensely rewarding and unexpectedly challenging. It’s reasonable to feel pressure to do justice to someone’s legacy. Before even arriving at the interview, however, the greatest obstacle I’ve encountered has been to simply schedule a meeting.
Though some individuals firmly decline an interview, the most common response has been agreement to interview — but in a few months. These few months usually turn into several additional months, which may turn into a year or more. In many cases, this is understandable: I’ve found that the timing of my request and the career trajectory of the potential interviewee are crucial. Conservation professionals close to retirement but still working are generally difficult to pin down, while those who have just retired are in a transitional period and may have equal difficulty scheduling a meeting. A commitment to periodically following up is critical to securing an interview.
I’ve found thus far that conservators and conservation professionals generally tend to be modest individuals who would otherwise be inclined to downplay their achievements. Those who have agreed to interview seem to have done so with reluctance. It is in these instances that it is most important to advocate for the value of recording both professional and personal experiences, and to attest that a request for an interview reflects the richness of an individual’s career rather than age. Many members of the generation of conservators in question were fundamental to shaping training programs, treatment methodologies, and the field of conservation as it has emerged in its own right.
As for the interview itself, I admit that it can be a humbling experience. For one, it can be embarrassing to hear yourself on tape! Yet, on the whole, leading interviews has constituted a beneficial learning process for me. Through doing so, I’ve been developing a tangential set of skills to endeavor to employ in each interview: I research my subject thoroughly beforehand to develop meaningful questions; try to listen patiently and actively with minimal interjections; and attempt to direct the conversation organically in a way which puts the interviewee at ease. These are valuable abilities to be nurtured.
An interview I conducted last month confirmed for me how personally insightful it can be to speak with colleagues for the Oral History Project. Interviewing Ann Massing, Paintings Conservator and Assistant to the Director at the Hamilton Kerr Institute (Emeritus), provided insights into the formation and teaching philosophies of the Hamilton Kerr Institute at Cambridge University, where I am currently a Post-Graduate Intern. I was amazed to hear about how international the cohort at the Institute was from the get-go, a characteristic that is still cultivated today. I was exposed to the history of the Institute and its major players over the years, foremost being the first director Herbert Lank, whose influence has been lasting. This has enriched my understanding of working at the Institute. Through Ann’s interview, I also received a sense of how incredibly interconnected the field is, and I am grateful to her for having shared her personal history with me.
As an emerging conservator, it has been fascinating and rewarding to learn about the history of conservation through the Oral History Project. It is a unique way to discover more about institutions of interest or to become better acquainted with colleagues in your vicinity. Interviews provide a window into how the discipline has developed, as well as into current trends in the field and prevailing research questions. Speaking with such accomplished and influential professionals is a privilege, as is being an agent for preserving their memories and legacy, and I would highly recommend the experience.
If you’d like to become involved with the Oral History Project, contact Joyce Hill Stoner at jhstoner@udel.edu or visit the AIC page for more information.
This post follows up on a previous ECPN blog post from 2012 by Molly Gleeson titled “I’m not a PA, but I want to be” (http://www.conservators-converse.org/2012/01/i%E2%80%99m-not-a-pa-but-i-want-to-be/).
Professional Associate status is granted through a peer review system whereby the applicant submits evidence of their “sustained high-quality professional skills and ethical behavior that adheres to the AIC Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice.” (1) This usually means submitting treatment reports and other conservation documentation, as well as recommendations from other conservators. The AIC Membership Committee is tasked with reviewing the applications, which may be submitted at deadlines throughout the year. PAs make up almost 30% of the AIC membership for 2015 (2). To be eligible you must be 3+ years out of grad school.
In Molly’s original post (3) she pointed out five great reasons why Emerging Conservators might want to achieve Professional Associate status:
1. Inclusion in the “Find a Conservator” tool on the AIC website
2. Voting privileges within AIC
3. Make yourself stand out when applying for jobs, contracts and grants
4. Eligibility to apply for Individual Professional Development Scholarships
5. Recognition among your peers and colleagues
Now that Molly has completed the process of becoming a PA, Jessica Walthew (ECPN Professional Education and Training Co-officer) asks her to reflect on the experience by answering a few questions (4) : JW: What was the most difficult part of the process of becoming a PA? Did you run into any surprises about how difficult or easy it would be? MG: The most difficult part was committing to applying and actually contacting the people that I was asking to support my application, because that meant that I had to follow through with my part. Once I did that, I really do think the rest fell into place pretty easily. Since all application materials can be shared and submitted online now, I think the process is fairly simple and straightforward. JW: What materials did you include demonstrating your skills and abilities? Just treatment reports or documentation of other types (outreach, blog posts)? MG: I submitted 4 examples of work. At the time I applied, my work was not heavily focused on treatment, so I definitely wanted to demonstrate the range of activities that I had been involved in. In addition to submitting two treatment reports, I also submitted materials related to a long-term research project on Native Californian featherwork and from a workshop that I taught for a group of Native Californian basketweavers on the care of baskets, including images from the workshop. I also made sure that my CV was updated and mentioned other outreach I was involved in, publications, presentations, blogging, committee work, etc. JW: Do you see any additional benefits now compared to those you identified in your blog post? MG: Sure. First, I might order the benefits I originally listed in a slightly different order – probably bumping voting privileges within AIC and eligibility to apply for Individual Professional Development Scholarships to the top of the list. Another benefit I now see is that the process of applying for PA status is a great professional development activity. It allowed me to share my work with former mentors who didn’t know all the details of what I had been doing since graduation, and led to some meaningful professional exchanges. It was also a nice way to reconnect with some important people who have provided great support for me. And another benefit that I didn’t think of before is that now I can act as a sponsor for other conservators seeking PA status! JW: For current ECP’s, do you have any advice on preparing for applying for PA status down the road? For example, in the application it states “Professional contributions to the field should be emphasized and must be documented.” (5) MG: If you feel like you’re not as involved as you’d like to be in professional activities, then make an effort to get involved. I was encouraged to apply to be on the ECPN committee the year after I finished graduate school, and I am very happy that I did, because being on an AIC committee is a terrific way to contribute to the field. I recommend looking for ways to be involved on any committee of interest (and not just applying for committee positions, but also volunteering for specific projects, blogging at the AIC meeting, etc.) and also looking beyond AIC to local/regional groups and getting involved in those. There are so many ways to become involved and to contribute to the field, and these don’t have to be big time commitments either. The takeaway is that applying for PA status can allow you to be more involved with AIC and gives you the opportunity to benefit from grants specifically restricted to PAs and Fellows. For those of us not yet eligible to apply, Molly’s advice is to make sure to stay involved. References
(1) AIC, “Who Can join.” (http://www.conservation-us.org/membership/who-can-join#.VcF1_0VEyLo)
(2) Ruth Seyler, Personal communication, via email.
(3) Molly Gleeson for ECPN blog, “I’m not a PA but I want to be” (http://www.conservators-converse.org/2012/01/i%E2%80%99m-not-a-pa-but-i-want-to-be/).
(4) Edited and condensed interview with Molly Gleeson. Personal communication, via email.
(5) AIC. Professional Associate application. http://www.conservation-us.org/membership/peer-reviewed-status/professional-associate-status#.Vd8T7c5EyLp Acknowledgements
Our thanks to Molly Gleeson, Project Conservator, Penn Museum and author of In the Artifact Lab. (http://www.penn.museum/exhibitions/special-exhibitions/in-the-artifact-lab)
About the Author
Jessica Walthew holds a BA in Art History and Biology from Williams College (2009), with an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology with an Advanced Certificate in Conservation from The Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (2015). She has worked in the conservation departments of the American Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Museum, The Frick Collection, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Penn Museum. Her research interests include theory and practice in archaeological and ethnographic conservation, best practices in documentation, and technical research in art history and archaeology. In fall 2015 she will begin an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at The Metropolitan Museum of Art researching the intersection of textiles and objects conservation practices in the Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.
The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) is pleased to announce that our next webinar “Demystifying the Publishing Process in Conservation” will take place on Thursday,November 5TH from 12-1pm (EST).
The program will feature three speakers who will share insights from their own publishing experiences: Curator/Conservator Sanchita Balachandran has published in a variety of venues; Research Scientist Michele Derrick served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation (JAIC); and Conservator Carolyn Riccardelli is AIC’s Director of Communications. The presenters will discuss a range of topics including publishing platforms, the process of writing a peer-reviewed article, collaborative writing, and funding. ECPN hopes that at the conclusion of the webinar, the prospect of publishing will seem less intimidating to conservators at all levels.
ECPN is seeking question submissions for the Q&A session following the presentation. Please submit your questions as comments to this post, or contact ECPN’s Professional Education and Training co-Officer, Elyse Driscoll at elysedriscoll@gmail.com or ECPN’s Chair, Fran Ritchie at franritchie@gmail.com. Questions will be accepted until the morning of the webinar. Unanswered questions will potentially be addressed in an AIC blog post following the webinar.
Attendance is free and open to all AIC members! Registration is required. To register, please visit https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7465914120413258753.You will receive an email with information on how to connect to the webinar shortly before November 5th.
If you miss “Demystifying the Publishing Process in Conservation” or wish to watch it again later, it will be recorded and uploaded onto the AIC Youtube channel. For a listing of past ECPN webinars, please visit our archive on AIC’s blog Conservators Converse, our Wiki page, or AIC’s Youtube channel. About the Presenters: Sanchita Balachandran
Sanchita Balachandran is the Curator/Conservator of the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum and Lecturer in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She teaches courses related to the technical study and analysis of ancient objects, as well as the history, ethics and practice of art conservation. She completed her graduate work in art history and art conservation at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Michele Derrick
Michele Derrick is the Schorr Family Associate Research Scientist at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston where she has worked since 1995. She was instrumental in the development of CAMEO, an online database for information on materials used in conservation and works of art. Prior to 1995, she worked as a scientist at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles for 12 years. A chemist by training, Michele’s expertise is in the area of infrared microspectroscopy and she is the author of Infrared Spectroscopy in Conservation Science (Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 1999). She was also the editor–in–chief of the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation from 2002-2014. Carolyn Riccardelli
Carolyn Riccardelli is a conservator in the Department of Objects Conservation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art where she is responsible for structural issues related to large-scale objects. From 2005-2014 her primary project was Tullio Lombardo’s Adam; she was the principal member of a team of conservators and scientists conducting research on adhesives and pinning materials, as well as developing innovative methods for reassembling the damaged sculpture. She is an active member of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC), and is currently serving on the AIC Board of Directors. Carolyn holds a B.A. in anthropology from Newcomb College, Tulane University and an M.A. from the Art Conservation Program at Buffalo State College.
Posted on behalf of Elyse Driscoll, ECPN Professional Education and Training co-Officer
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