Category: Topics

ECPN’s Follow-Up to the Fall Webinar on Preparing and Maintaining a Conservation Portfolio—Q&A and Other Resources

ECPN’s webinar “Showcasing Your Work: Preparing and Maintaining a Conservation Portfolio,” took place on November 14, 2017 and featured presentations by Susan Heald and Gwen Manthey. Please see the previous blog post announcing the webinar for more extensive biographies of our speakers, and visit AIC’s YouTube Channel for the full recording of the webinar.

Several questions from viewers could not be addressed during the webinar due to time constraints; however, the panelists have generously answered them here.

Q&A

Should you adapt portfolios for your audience—for example, academic institutions, nonprofits, museums, private practice?

Susan Heald: I would keep a full portfolio of your work for yourself in whatever method you chose to save it, but I would adapt the portfolio for a target audience when you’re submitting an application for an internship/fellowship/job.

Gwen Manthey: Absolutely. Doing research about the collections will help you in choosing what projects to share. For museums and academic institutions (interviews or even a lab visit), I tend to review three to five past annual reports  to see the size of the conservation department, who is working there, if conservation is promoted in the report, and what is actively being conserved. Annual reports provide information on what they are actively acquiring, and this research helps me develop my portfolio. In addition to related artists, time periods, and materials, I like to make sure my portfolio represents every facet of conservation: research, technical analysis, innovative treatments, and the strengths of my hand skills. If I’m lucky, these facets overlap on selected projects, even if the object itself isn’t a direct reflection of their collection. When it comes to my private work and from my experience working with other private conservators and regional centers, it’s about time-management, problem-solving, flexibility in working on-site, effective communication when working solo or on a team, and efficient report-writing.

Is there an ‘expiration date’ on your previous work? For example, is there a certain point at which you would recommend excluding pre-program or program course work to feature more recent but perhaps less-relevant work? 

Susan Heald: That’s a good question. I don’t think there should be an expiration date—sometimes earlier work can still be advantageous to include, especially if it is more relevant to a project than more recent work that’s not relevant.

Gwen Manthey: For things that are several years in the past, I might still include the treatment reports and the critical images, but not focus on them when preparing a presentation or guiding someone through your portfolio. If a past project comes up in the conversation, I find it can be useful to discuss what I might do differently at this stage in my career or inquire how my colleagues and mentors may have approached it. Big projects, even many years past, have developed your knowledge and skills.

If you are seeking to showcase your experiences in a digital format, would you recommend building an online presence through platforms such as LinkedIn or Academia.edu in addition to a digital portfolio, or do you find it’s more worthwhile to focus efforts on one comprehensive website? Gwen, do you have thoughts on the logistics of potentially maintaining and coordinating multiple online profiles? And Susan, what is your perspective on this as a reviewer?

Susan Heald: As a reviewer, I would just want the portfolio to be easily accessible in whichever format was chosen, and a password-protected site would be just fine—as long as the password is provided.

Gwen Manthey: Yes. The benefit of the LinkedIn profile is that the end-user does not necessarily need to have their own account to view your profile, as it is free; if you ever let your paid website expire, the LinkedIn profile can live on. It may be easier for someone early in their conservation career to develop a LinkedIn profile and have a digital portfolio at hand and ready to share in a cloud-based service, rather than creating and maintaining a paid website. My LinkedIn profile serves as a digital master C.V. It is directly accessible from my website; in fact, this question prompted me to make sure it was also accessible from the “Conservator” page, where my background information lives. I feel it is prudent to have at least one profile that is dedicated to my entire conservation career, independent of the website, developed with my private practice in mind. If my website served solely as an e-portfolio, I might have the entire C.V. accessible. I want to make it clear that museums where I have been employed were not “clients,” but naturally, my private work has benefited from the exposure to skilled colleagues at those museums. Conservation is a big part of my life, so it naturally leaks into my other social media presences. Some of my peers have accounts dedicated to their private practices and I salute that initiative; I do not myself, since my professional career is still quite fluid. I do not have an Academia.edu profile.

What makes a bad online portfolio? Are there any specific things to avoid like too much information, too many images, poor organization, difficult navigation, etc.? Do potential supervisors prefer brief summaries or lengthy text entries with detail?

Susan Heald: As a reviewer, I just need to be able to find the information easily—so difficult navigation and poor organization would drive me nuts. I like the idea of having summaries with overall images up front (as Gwen showed in one example during the Webinar), with the longer, complete report format and additional detail images available for review if desired.

Gwen Manthey: I think the biggest concern is poor organization. You can put nearly an unlimited amount of information on your personal website, constrained only by the file size imposed on the specific plan you select from your provider. You should think about your intended audience, who may not have the same technological savvy you do. Clear tabs, a legible font, and smart navigation through text and images are key. I don’t even like scrolling down through long entries myself, so those preferences influenced the design of my website.

On average, how long would a potential supervisor spend looking at an online portfolio before an interview?

Susan Heald: That’s a really hard question to answer because it depends on how many applicants are in the pool, how many interviews are conducted, and how much time the reviewer might have in addition to other work responsibilities. I try to spend a minimum of 30 minutes looking at a portfolio submission containing 3-4 examples of work, and that is after I have reviewed that candidate’s letter of introduction, CV, writing samples, and the 3 letters of recommendation. I always take notes as I do this. Sometimes as a panel of 3-5 reviewers, we might divide the portfolio into sections with each reviewer taking a particular section most relevant to their area of expertise, reading that section thoroughly, and then briefing the other panelists on the review committee. Good organization of the text, images, and supporting materials within the portfolio is crucial—it must be easy to review and consume.

One of my concerns as I start making my own website is having a design that is both easy to use and distinguishable from my peers who may be using similar templates. How customizable is the platform that you’ve used, and how easy did you find it to make those changes?

Gwen Manthey: Squarespace is a very, VERY smart website builder. Even if you select one of their templates, the customization is virtually unlimited. The first website I ever had a hand in building was my own, so it was a trial by fire, since I personally found the breadth of customization and its design tools were not intuitive to me. It was quickly overwhelming until I forced myself to be patient and practice. It might have been more difficult than Wix or Weebly, both of which I had also considered at the time, but a graphic design friend strongly suggested it, as it was more customizable at the time. I like using gray backgrounds, big images, and limited text when developing PowerPoint presentations, so my website is an extension of that design preference. While it may look similar to the websites of my colleagues, my experiences are pretty singular and that is what tends to stick out.

What is the best iPad or MacBook program that can be used to set up a digital portfolio? 

Gwen Manthey:  As always, “best” is subjective. Best will depend on how you want to prepare and present your digital portfolio, so spend some time thinking that. I believe I left out one key format in presenting a digital portfolio in my presentation: compiling your documents into a single PDF package. Doing that can be accomplished through a variety of software applications. Your digital portfolio does not need to live scattered across multiple apps in a tablet, as mine did (and still does). I use an iPad because I am familiar with it, and that ease works to my benefit during its presentation. I prefer to use some of the heavier-hitting and integrated applications (such as Dropbox, Adobe-based programs, iBooks, and the iPhotos apps) since I trust they will be continually updated as time progresses. As such, I can only confidently speak about Mac-based software and iPads, and lack experiences with other platforms and operating systems.

Thank you to Susan and Gwen! ECPN is grateful to the speakers for their participation in the webinar and for sharing their expertise on this topic. Thank you also to my fellow ECPN officers, and the AIC board and staff who made this program possible. If you have additional comments or questions on this subject, please email ECPN.aic.webinar@gmail.com.

Here are links to a few key AIC resources that our speakers mentioned during their presentations:

And here are other ECPN resources on the topic of portfolios in the conservation field:

 

ECPN Interviews: Electronic Media Conservation with Yasmin Dessem

To promote awareness and a clearer understanding of different pathways into specializations that require particular training, the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) is conducting a series of interviews with conservation professionals in these specialties. We kicked off the series with Chinese and Japanese painting conservation, and now we are focusing on practitioners in AIC’s Electronic Media Group (EMG). These conservators work with time-based media, which can include moving components, performance, light or sound elements, film and video, analog or born-digital materials. We’ve asked our interviewees to share some thoughts about their career paths, which we hope will inspire new conservation professionals and provide valuable insight into these areas of our professional field.

This is the third post from ECPN’s EMG blog series, for which we first interview Nick Kaplan and more recently, Alex Nichols. For our third interview from the EMG series, we spoke with Yasmin Dessem, currently Head of the Audiovisual Preservation Studio at UCLA Library where she serves as the technical lead as the library continues to develop its program of preservation, digitization and access of its moving image and sound holdings. Previously she managed archive deliverables for new feature releases at Paramount Pictures. She has experience working with a wide variety of moving image and sound formats, as well as pre-film animation devices, silent-era cameras, costumes and paper collections. Yasmin holds Master’s degrees in Art History and Moving Image Archive Studies from UCLA.

Yasmin Dessem (left) and Allie Whalen (right) cleaning and relubricating a Betacam deck. [Photo: Walter Urie]
Yasmin Dessem (left) and Allie Whalen (right) cleaning and relubricating a Betacam deck. [Photo: Walter Urie]
ECPN: Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your current position.

Yasmin Dessem (YD): I oversee the preservation of moving image and recorded sound materials at the UCLA Library’s Preservation Department. For nearly 90 years, the UCLA Library has collected audiovisual materials with content such as home movies, oral histories, and radio broadcasts. Examples are home movies of Susan Sontag’s parents sailing to China in the 1920s and field interviews with Watts residents after the 1965 riots. Audiovisual preservation (AV) at the library is a relatively young unit—a dedicated AV preservationist first came on board in 2011. We offer a number of in-house digitization and preservation services and are currently focusing on increasing our capacity and launching a survey.

ECPN: How were you first introduced to conservation, and why did you decide to pursue conservation?

YD: The 1996 re-release of the restored version of Vertigo first made me aware of film restoration and preservation as an actual practice. Later, as I was finishing my Masters in Art History at UCLA, I took a wonderful class on restoration, preservation, and conservation with Professor David A. Scott. The course covered the material care issues and decision-making ethics for a wide breadth of cultural heritage materials. The class struck a deep chord with me, but I was eager to graduate and start working. After graduation, I ended up working in the film industry for about six years. I was tracking down historic stock footage at one job when my mind circled back to the preservation field as I considered how the films were stored and made available. I had entertained the idea of potentially returning to graduate school to study art conservation some day, but around that time the idea of film preservation as a possible career path began to fully materialize for me. As a result, I began exploring potential graduate programs.

ECPN: Of all specializations, what contributed to your decision to pursue electronic media conservation?

YD: My longtime love for film and music intersected with my curiosity for all things historical and technology-related. These were topics that in one form or another always interested me, but I don’t think I had a full grasp on how to combine them meaningfully into a profession. Preservation was the missing key. My exposure to preservation and conservation while studying art history and my later experience working at film studios both helped direct me towards the specialization.

ECPN: What has been your training pathway?  Please list any universities, apprenticeships, technical experience, and any related jobs or hobbies.

YD: I pursued my studies in the Moving Image Archive Studies (MIAS) Program at UCLA—which persists today as a Master of Library and Information Science (M.L.I.S.) with a Media Archival Studies specialization. While in the program, I completed internships with Universal Pictures and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and volunteered at the Hugh Hefner Moving Image Archive at the University of Southern California. Throughout the two-year MIAS program, I also worked as a fellow at the Center for Primary Research and Training program at UCLA Library Special Collections, where I learned archival processing. My experiences weren’t limited to preserving moving image and sound media, but included paper-based collections, costumes, and film technology. After graduating I attended the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) Film Restoration Summer School hosted by the Cineteca di Bologna and L’Immagine Ritrovata.

ECPN: Are there any particular skills that you feel are important or unique to your discipline?

YD: Digital preservation will continue to be a key area of expertise that’s needed in museums and archives. Preserving the original source material and digitizing content is not enough. There are more resources than ever for strategies and tools for digital preservation, and it’s important to seek them out. Another valuable skill is developing a level of comfort with handling and understanding the unique characteristics of a wide variety of physical analog formats  such as film, videotape, audiotape, and grooved media (LP, 78s, lacquer discs, wax cylinders, etc.). Similarly, it’s helpful to have a familiarity with playback devices for these obsolete media formats (equipment like open-reel decks or video decks.) Lastly, metadata can be an unsung hero in media preservation. Often, we’re the first to see or hear a recording in decades, so capturing metadata around the point of transfer is critical. Metadata standards can be a rabbit hole of complexities, especially when it comes to describing audiovisual media, but understanding their application is an essential skill.

Lacquer disc cleaning and transfer workshop at the Instituto de Historia de Cuba in Havana, Cuba [Photo: Yasmin Dessem]
Lacquer disc cleaning and transfer workshop at the Instituto de Historia de Cuba in Havana, Cuba [Photo: Yasmin Dessem]
ECPN: What are some of your current projects, research, or interests?

YD: We’re just wrapping up digitization of materials from the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company (GSM), an African American-owned and operated insurance firm established in Los Angeles in 1925 in response to discriminatory practices that restricted the ability of African American residents to purchase insurance. GSM operated for 85 years and their collection is a vibrant resource documenting Los Angeles and the empowerment of a community. We received grants from the National Film Preservation Foundation and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation to support this work. The digitized collection is now available on Calisphere. We’ve just started a crowd sourcing project working with former GSM staffers to describe any unidentified content. It’s been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career, hearing everyone’s stories and seeing how much it means to everyone involved to have this collection preserved and made available.

We’ve also been in preparation to launch a large-scale survey that will help us gather data on the Library’s audiovisual collections that can be used for long term-planning. Outside of UCLA, we’ve been involved with ongoing work with cultural heritage institutions in Cuba. Last February, I set up equipment and held a workshop on the digitization of radio transcription discs held at the Instituto de Historia de Cuba (IHC) in Havana. I’m heading back there next week to begin a project to transfer IHC’s open reel audio collections.

ECPN: In your opinion, what is an important research area or need in your specialization?

YD: It’s crucial to preserve the expertise related to the operation and repair of playback equipment. Playback equipment will become more and more difficult to source in the future. Engineers, whose entire careers are dedicated to the use and care of this equipment, are some of the best resources for this knowledge. Their knowledge is shared through conversation, YouTube videos, social media, and professional workshops. Documenting the skills required to handle, maintain, calibrate, and service this equipment in a more formalized way and sharing that knowledge widely will ensure that the preservationists can keep their equipment viable for longer.

ECPN: Do you have any advice for prospective emerging conservators who would like to pursue this specialization?

YD: Try everything. Media preservation requires a wide variety of skills from computer coding to soldering decades-old circuit boards. Depending on where your career takes you, it’s good to have at least a passing familiarity with the full range of skills you may need to call upon. Apply for internships or fellowships with organizations, like the National Digital Stewardship Residency. Volunteer at community-based archives that need help getting their collections in order. Join professional organizations, like the Association of Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) or the Association of Moving Image Archivists. Attend conferences like code4lib, the Preservation and Archiving Special Interest Group (PASIG), or the Digital Asset Symposium (DAS). Network with engineers or preservation professionals to continue to grow your own expertise, but also share your own skills when you can. Collaboration and knowledge-sharing are a fundamental part of the profession.

Perforation repair of 16 mm film [Photo: Yasmin Dessem]
Perforation repair of 16 mm film [Photo: Yasmin Dessem]
ECPN: Please share any last thoughts or reflections.

YD: One thing to be aware of, if you’re a woman in the field of audiovisual preservation, is that you may occasionally run into people who are surprised to see a woman working with technology (much less wielding a screwdriver!). This response persists to some degree despite the presence of many successful female professionals in the field. What’s encouraging, however, is seeing the growth of groups like the Women in Recorded Sound collective at ARSC providing support.

Audiovisual preservation is such a gratifying profession. Having the opportunity to make historic content available is incredibly meaningful work that I feel lucky to be a part of everyday. On an even more basic level, figuring out a new workflow or getting a piece of equipment to finally work is just so viscerally satisfying. I’m part of an amazing team whose passion, humor and willingness to try out new things inspires me every day and makes me feel so lucky to be doing this work.

ECPN Interviews: East Asian Art Conservation

This is Part II of the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network interview with Grace Jan, the Yao Wenqing Chinese painting conservator at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art of the Smithsonian (Freer|Sackler).  This post focuses on the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation initiative in Chinese Art Conservation; please read Part I to find out more about her background and reflections on her training!

Continue reading “ECPN Interviews: East Asian Art Conservation”

ECPN Interviews: East Asian Art Conservation

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’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.  We have an ongoing series for East Asian art and recently started covering Electronic Media.

We continue the East Asian art conservation series with Grace Jan, the Yao Wenqing Chinese painting conservator at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art of the Smithsonian Institution (Freer|Sackler).  She graduated from the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, where she studied paper conservation with a specialization in Chinese mounting from 2003 to 2007.  She received a BA in History and Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Continue reading “ECPN Interviews: East Asian Art Conservation”

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – STASH Flash V Storage Tips Session

STASH_logoTo complement AIC’s 46th Annual Meeting conference theme, the 2018 STASH Flash Storage Tips session will focus on the interplay between the material composition of artifacts and the materials chosen for the construction of storage and support solutions. The program covering storage solutions for all collection types has been scheduled as part of the Collection Care session and will be followed by additional talks related to storage rehousing. The program will utilize a lightening round or “Tips” format as well as guided, audience participatory discussion.  We are calling for contributions of short (5 minute) tips on the following themes:

  • An item’s composition will affect the materials chosen for storage as well as the design. How is your storage solution guided by the relationship between collection materials and storage materials?
  • Quality materials appropriate for long-term storage are expensive. How have you adapted economical non-archival materials to make them safe for use in a storage solution?
  • Do you have a tips on a new material that will expand our range of choices for storage?
  • Innovative storage solutions for individual artifacts or collection groups that do not conform to either theme will be accepted if space allows.

Presenters will be asked to show up with their solution in a ready format for uploading to the STASH website after the conference.

To submit your ideas please send a short abstract including the following information to Rachael Arenstein (rarenstein@conservation-us.org) or Lisa Goldberg (lgoldberg@stny.rr.com) by December 22, 2017.

Name:
Institution/Affiliation/Title:
Email:
Object/collection type:
And a description of approx. 150 words on the project

Thank you from the session organizers,

  • Lisa Goldberg, STASH Editorial Committee Chair
  • Rachael Arenstein, AIC e-Editor
  • Karen Pavelka, Collection Care Program Chair
  • Gretchen Guidess, Collection Care Program Committee

ECPN Interviews: Electronic Media Conservation with Alexandra Nichols

To promote awareness and a clearer understanding of different pathways into specializations that require particular training, the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) is conducting a series of interviews with conservation professionals in these specialties. We kicked off the series with Chinese and Japanese painting conservation, and now we are focusing on practitioners in AIC’s Electronic Media Group (EMG). These conservators work with time-based media, which can include moving components, performance, light or sound elements, film and video, analog or born-digital materials. We’ve asked our interviewees to share some thoughts about their career paths, which we hope will inspire new conservation professionals and provide valuable insight into these areas of our professional field.

In our first EMG interview, we spoke with Nick Kaplan. Now for our second interview from the EMG series, we turn to with Alexandra Nichols, currently a Sherman Fairchild Foundation Fellow in the conservation of time-based media and installation art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. From 2016-2017, she was a Samuel H. Kress Foundation Fellow in Time-based Media Conservation at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. She earned her Master’s of Art Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (2016) where she concentrated on the conservation of modern and contemporary objects.

ECPN: Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Alexandra Nichols (AN): I received my Master’s of Conservation from Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2016, where I concentrated on the conservation of modern and contemporary objects. I recently completed a one-year fellowship as a Samuel H. Kress Foundation Fellow in Time-based Media Conservation at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, where I was working under Joanna Phillips, the Guggenheim’s Senior Conservator of Time-based Media. Just a few weeks ago, I joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a Sherman Fairchild Foundation Conservation Fellow, where I’ll be working with the Met’s collection of time-based media and installation art.  

ECPN: How were you first introduced to conservation, and why did you decide to pursue conservation?

AN: After obtaining my undergraduate degree in art history, I moved to London and landed a job as an executive assistant at the British Museum. While there, I visited the Hirayama Studio, the British Museum’s conservation lab dedicated to the care and treatment of East Asian paintings and works on paper. It’s a beautiful, peaceful room, with tatami mats and walls lined with brushes and different types of paper. I loved how the conservators could develop such a close, tactile relationship with the artworks, and how the treatments were carried out with respect for the cultures that created the works. This led me to seek out internships where I could gain experience in conservation.

ECPN: Of all specializations, what contributed to your decision to pursue electronic or time-based media conservation?

AN: I’m really fascinated by the wide range of materials and methods utilized by contemporary artists. Something I love about time-based media art is its complexity and variability. An artwork may have multiple channels of video, require a very specific placement in the gallery, or be shown differently based on the size or shape of the room.

My training is in objects conservation, focusing on the conservation of contemporary art. During the course of my graduate studies, none of the North American programs offered coursework in time-based media*. Thus, I was able to explore working with time-based media during my graduate internships at the Hirshhorn and the Museum of Modern Art. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that many of the time-based media pieces I’ve worked on incorporate sculptural elements, so my graduate training has been helpful in ways I didn’t expect. Learning how these objects should be placed in an installation and their relationship to electronic and audiovisual elements is really intriguing.

*The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) at New York University is implementing a curriculum geared towards the conservation of time-based media, and is accepting applications this this year for Fall 2018 matriculation.  http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/conservation/time-based-media.htm

Alexandra and Contract Video Engineer Maurice Schechter conduct a quality check (QC) on a video file. [Photo: Joanna Phillips]
Alexandra and Contract Video Engineer Maurice Schechter conduct a quality check (QC) on a video file. [Photo: Joanna Phillips]
ECPN: What has been your training pathway?  Please list any universities, apprenticeships, technical experience, and any related jobs or hobbies.

AN: I’ve always had an interest in computers and electronics. In middle school and high school, I learned the programming language C, built computers as a hobby, and took courses in video editing and digital photography as part of my undergraduate degree.

I’m originally from the Washington, DC area, and after deciding to pursue conservation, I completed pre-program internships and contracts at various museums in the Smithsonian system, including the Freer and Sackler Galleries, the Museum Conservation Institute, and the National Museum of African-American History and Culture.

In 2013, I began my graduate studies at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, where I specialized in the conservation of modern and contemporary objects. As a graduate student, I completed a summer internship at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, preparing time-based media works in their collection for the 2014 exhibition Days of Endless Time. During my third-year internship at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, I collaborated with Kate Lewis and Amy Brost to treat a pearlescent bead-adorned cathode ray tube television set by Nam June Paik and Otto Piene.

Additionally, the chance to work with Joanna Phillips at the Guggenheim has been thrilling—there aren’t many opportunities to learn about time-based media conservation in the American graduate conservation programs, so emerging conservators must gain expertise through internships and fellowships. However, this is changing soon — The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) at New York University is implementing a curriculum geared towards the conservation of time-based media, and is accepting applications this year for Fall 2018 matriculation (link: https://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/conservation/time-based-media.htm). I’ll be utilizing the skills I’ve developed over the past year at my current fellowship working with the time-based media art collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

ECPN: Are there any particular skills that you feel are important or unique to your discipline?

AN: Strong documentation skills are important in any specialization, but this is especially true for time-based media. The inherent variability of time-based media requires extensive research and documentation to ensure that it can be installed correctly in the future. It’s also important to know about the history of video production, including film history and the development of various formats. Foundational knowledge of video and other technologies is also crucial and has to be updated continuously, since technology is always evolving. Without this knowledge, media conservators cannot seek out and engage external specialists and vendors who can provide specific technical expertise

ECPN: What are some of your current projects, research, or interests?

AN: I am just getting started at The Met, but I am currently working with Nora Kennedy and Meredith Reiss to help document the 250 time-based media artworks in The Met’s collection. This includes updating questionnaires that are sent to artists during the acquisition process, which help us learn more about the production history and intended exhibition of the artwork, and researching past exhibitions to create retroactive iteration reports. The Met has had a Time-based Media Working Group for many years now, and I am looking forward to collaborating with its members as I conduct my research.

Image of a Skype interview with an artist, in which Alexandra and Contract Video Engineer Maurice Schechter discuss the audio channels of an artist-provided video file. [Photo: Alexandra Nichols]
Image of a Skype interview with an artist, in which Alexandra and Contract Video Engineer Maurice Schechter discuss the audio channels of an artist-provided video file. [Photo: Alexandra Nichols]
ECPN: In your opinion, what is an important research area or need in your specialization?

AN: I think the acquisition and display of virtual reality (VR) will pose a number of challenges for conservators in the coming years. Artists are increasingly experimenting with these types of works—Jordan Wolfson exhibited a VR work in the Whitney Biennial this year, for example—but as far as I know, no museums have acquired a VR piece yet. This technology is so new and is still being developed, and as a result, there’s so much potential for the obsolescence of file formats and hardware.

ECPN: Do you have any advice for prospective emerging conservators who would like to pursue this specialization?

AN: Try playing around with how to shoot and edit your own video in Final Cut Pro or Premiere! It will teach you about digital video formats and give you some insight into the artist’s process. And, don’t be afraid to reach out to conservators you admire to learn more about what they do!

ECPN: Please share any last thoughts or reflections.

AN: Supervised training under established media conservators is essential to the development of one’s skills as an emerging time-based media conservator. Fellowships and internships provide practical experience with real-life museum scenarios that is not possible to gain through readings or coursework. I am extremely grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Sherman Fairchild Foundation for providing me with opportunities to hone my expertise at the Guggenheim and The Met.

 

*Featured photograph: Alexandra examines a MiniDV tape containing an artwork while working at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. [Photo: Kris Mckay]

 

ECPN Fall Webinar Announcement – Showcasing Your Work: Preparing and Maintaining a Conservation Portfolio

The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) is pleased to announce our upcoming webinar, “Showcasing Your Work: Preparing and Maintaining a Conservation Portfolio,” taking place on Tuesday, November 14th from 12:30-1:30 pm EST.

A well-conceived and eye-catching portfolio can be crucial for emerging conservation professionals to progress in the field. But when is a digital portfolio appropriate versus a hard-copy portfolio? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? How should your portfolio evolve as you progress in your career? This Webinar will cover the creation and use of digital and hard-copy portfolios in various scenarios and early-career stages, from pre-program candidate to graduate student and post-graduate.

ECPN has invited two speakers to provide different perspectives on this topic. Susan Heald, Textile Conservator at the National Museum of the American Indian, will discuss her experience reviewing portfolios as part of internship and fellowship applications. Gwen Manthey, a paintings conservator who has worked in both private practice and museums, will speak about digital portfolios, including the practicalities of compiling and maintaining one.

ECPN is seeking submissions for the Q&A session following the speakers’ presentations. To submit your questions in advance, please post in the comments section below or send them via email to ecpn.webinar@conservation-us.org. Questions will be accepted until the morning of the webinar, or can be submitted during the presentations via the GoToWebinar platform.

Attendance is free and open to all AIC members. Please register here to watch the webinar. If you are unable to view the program on November 14, or are not a member of AIC, the full video will be recorded and uploaded onto the AIC YouTube Channel following the broadcast.

 

Please see below to learn more about our speakers:

SUSAN HEALD has been the National Museum of the American Indian’s textile conservator since 1994, where she has supervised many pre-program interns and post-graduate fellows. Prior to NMAI, she served as the Minnesota Historical Society’s textile conservator, and was a Smithsonian Conservation Analytical Lab postgraduate fellow. She holds an MS in Art Conservation (textile major/objects minor) from the University of Delaware/Winterthur Museum, and a BA in Chemistry and Anthropology from the George Washington University. She served as chair and vice-chair for the AIC Textile Specialty Group (1997-98), and as a board member for the North American Textile Conservation Conference (2004-09).

GWEN MANTHEY is the newly-appointed Contract Interim Paintings Conservator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and maintains a private practice outside of Philadelphia. Prior positions include Assistant Paintings Conservator at the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA), National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at the Chrysler Museum of Art (Norfolk, VA), and the Wyeth Fellow for American Art at the Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, MD). A graduate of the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (B.A.S, M.S., C.A.S.), she is serving as Program Chair for the Philadelphia Area Conservation Association and a mentor for ECPN-HBCU Mentor-Pilot Program.

 

— Posted on behalf of ECPN Webinar Coordinator Jen Munch (ecpn.webinar@conservation-us.org).

Update on Disaster Response and Recovery 10/13

During what has been one of the worst hurricane seasons on record, FAIC’s Emergency Programs have been working fervently to connect people to planning and response resources. Through collaboration with our partners on the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, (HENTF) we have been working to gather information about affected institutions and provide support as needed.

In Florida, following Irma, National Heritage Responders visited several affected sites to help assess damage and set up cleaning protocols. Museums from Orlando to Miami received in-person assistance, and many more throughout the region were given advice via the NHR hotline (202.661.8068) and email (nhr@conservation-us.org).

A new outreach project has been developed in collaboration with HENTF in order to make contact with all collecting institutions that may have been affected by recent storms. FAIC worked with partners in Texas and Florida to develop lists of regional institutions. Students at the University of Texas’s iSchool created tools to conduct a calling project with the Texas sites; the model has been adopted by students at the University of Florida who are in the process now of reaching out to Florida sites. The primary goal of this outreach effort is to connect those who suffered damage with the National Heritage Responders if salvage information is needed, and with FEMA if information on the Public Assistance process is needed.

Response to Hurricane Maria in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico has been slow-going but progress is being made. The level of damage in the region has meant that life and safety issues have remained the priority far into the recovery process. FAIC is started to gather information about the institutions in need, and is once again closely collaborating with HENTF and our Federal partners to ensure an effective response. We will notify members about opportunities to support these efforts.

Finally, we recognize that hurricanes are not the only natural disasters wreaking havoc on our shared cultural heritage. The wildfires in Northern California have brought devastation to the region, and can impact not only those in the path of the flames, but those who may suffer from smoke and soot damage. FAIC is working closely with California partners to assess the situation, and the National Heritage Responders are developing lists of resources on smoke and soot damage to help with the recovery process.

The natural disasters that our nation has faced in the past several weeks serve as a reminder of the importance of preparedness – in our institutions, in our private practices, and in our homes.

45th Annual Meeting – Sustainability, May 31, “Students for Sustainability in Conservation” by Caitlin Southwick

This talk was something I was super excited about since I am an emerging conservator myself. Having this type of platform for students and professionals in the field of conservation is something that will strengthen the communication about sustainability within the conservation world. Caitlin Southwick was such an animated speaker and really brought what she wanted to discuss to life. Southwick is a MA Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage student at the University of Amsterdam specializing in glass, ceramics, and stone. Through her many achievements and degrees in her art conservation education, it has spread to the conservation of the world around her.  There are resources for large scale initiatives, but how as a student can she make her practice more sustainable?

The Sustainability in Conservation: Student Ambassador Program (SiC), formerly known as the Students for Sustainability in Conservation (SSiC), will help conservators, conservation treatments and labs become more ecofriendly on a smaller scale. One way Southwick has started this ecofriendly wave is with the recycling of nitrile gloves. The RightCycle Program is on a trial run at the University of Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. This program is a propriety program from Kimberly-Clark Professional, which offers a range of high quality gloves under the KIMTECH brand that meet conservator’s needs. Nitrile gloves cannot be recycled the same way as other plastics due to their chemical makeup. Once nitrile glove recycling bin is full, the bin is picked up through the RightCycle program. The gloves are then broken down to a powder using cryogenic processes that make new ecofriendly products such as patio furniture.

Sustainability in Conservation has a wonderful website and can be found on Facebook as well as Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This is where the conservation community can ask questions about how they can make their practices and labs more environmentally conscious. There are SiC researchers ready to help find the answers you are looking for when you do not have the time to research in depth. Southwick and her team want to help bring these findings to you. As Southwick stated during her presentation, these are the steps “to address the issue of sustainability in a comprehensive and clear way.”

In her bio, she explains how she “hopes to continue conservation and make saving the cultural heritage also about saving the planet.” I definitely know she will be a strong voice in the conservation world about conservation practices as well as how to practice saving the environment through programs like RightCycle. Her discussion at AIC was an eye-opener as to what we as conservators can do to conserve more than just what’s on our benches, but also the environment around us.  These small steps she has introduced have and will create a huge impact. Thank you for sharing your love for the world, Caitlin!

45th Annual Meeting – Collection Care, May 30, “A Review and Comparison for Anoxic Treatment Methods for Pest Management” by Elena Torok, Laura Mina, and Eric Breitung

This discussion was an area that I had not researched myself, and I was interested to see what types of pest treatments were being practiced. Five professional conservators shared their different techniques when carrying out an anoxic treatment. After the discussion of the different techniques, a comparison was compiled together about the different treatments.

Rachael Perkins Arenstein from A.M. Art Conservation, LLC discussed this type of treatment being used on-site or at home. This type of anoxic treatment uses oxygen scavengers in a completely enclosed chamber to modify the atmosphere to almost entirely of nitrogen. Keeping the oxygen levels below 0.5% for an extended amount of time will eliminate the insects within the enclosure. The object being treated was placed within the barrier film and vacuumed sealed with the oxygen scavenger packets inside. A monitor to read the oxygen levels as well as the RH/temperature was placed inside the chamber. A small window can be cut to allow the viewing of the monitors. Examples of the type of barrier film used were MarvelSeal 360 or MarvelSeal 470, and for the oxygen scavenger packets, Ageless® Z1000 were used for the treatment discussed. The amount of time to keep the object within the chamber depends on the insect, and the amount of oxygen scavenger packets depends on the size of the chamber. Another system called AnoxiBug® also deals with enclosing the object with scavenger packs within a vacuumed sealed chamber. These ready-made chambers are offered in different sizes depending on the type of the object being treated. This chamber should also have an oxygen monitor inside and a window to view during treatment.

William Donnelly from the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library explained the modified atmosphere CO2 treatment within their collection. This type of treatment was carried out in a fixed location where the object was brought to the chamber. The CO2 canisters were attached to the framed enclosure by a hose hookup, as well as an oxygen sensor, gas monitor, vacuum pump, internal data logger, and a computer system to collect the data during the procedure. The CO2 concentration was maintained above 60% and completed on a 21-day cycle. The RH does dip with the introduction of CO2 in the atmosphere inside the chamber. This treatment is carried out on all the textiles coming into the collection.

Julie Wolfe from the Getty Conservation Institute at the J. Paul Getty Museum discussed the nitrogen treatment used on a variety of objects within the collection. This treatment can also be carried out on a variety of scales. The one discussed was on the larger side and took time to construct and prep before the actual treatment with nitrogen started. Instead of taking the object to the chamber, the chamber was built around the object with a Rentokil 6 m3 PVC reusable bubble. A skeletal structure from PVC tubes were constructed around the object so the chamber would not collapse on top of the object during the nitrogen treatment. A Liquid Nitrogen Dewar was used to hookup to the chamber as well as an oxygen monitor, and their home-made “bubbler”. The home-made “bubbler” was constructed to adjust the flow of humidification. To create the “bubbler”, it took about one week to build which included ordering the equipment. The construction of the chamber took about 2 days to build, and the time to flush the atmosphere to the correct percentage took between 2-5 hours.

Bret Headley from Headley Conservation Service, LLC discussed his anoxic treatment using a nitrogen-based system. The object he was treating could not fit into a freezer, so an alternative treatment was constructed. Headley highly recommends the Inert Gases in the Control of Museum Insect Pests by Charles Selwitz and Shin Maekawa (Getty Conservation Institute, 1998) when researching treatments such as the ones discussed during this panel. This treatment was also built around the object using barrier film along with the appropriate hookups for the gases and monitors.

Eric Breitung from the Metropolitan Museum of Art discussed an anoxic treatment using argon and oxygen. The setup also used MarvelSeal 360 for the chamber around the object with a hose hookup to the chamber which included the argon tank with a flow meter, water bubbler as well as an oxygen monitor. The MarvelSeal 360 was heat sealed for the treatment, and this mechanism took about 1-2 hours to setup which does differ with the size of the object. When flushing out the system it took about 1.5-4 hours for a smaller object and 4-20 hours for larger objects. The amount of time to leave the objects in the chamber was about 4 weeks which was based on kill times from the Getty Conservation Institute publications.

What I found most interesting in these types of pest control treatments, is it offered other options instead of using freezing or thermal techniques. The conservators in the panel were able to share and discuss their findings and the supplies they have found most effective. After all the presentations, the conservators were asked two survey questions about their treatments (Tables 1-3). I look forward to hearing and seeing more anoxic treatments and techniques. Thank you to everyone involved with this discussion!

Table 1: Survey Question 1

Table 2: Survery Question 2 Pros

Table 3: Survery Question 2 Cons