AIC Blog Archives: Conservators Converse
Former Blog of the American Institute for Conservation
The Buffalo State College Art Conservation Department has changed its application for admission deadline to January 7, 2013. If you are interested in applying for admission or know of someone who may
be, please make a note of this change and visit artconservation.buffalostate.edu/apply for more information and updated application materials.
Meredeth Lavelle
Program Manager
Art Conservation Department
Buffalo State College
Joint Interim Conference of three ICOM-CC working groups:
Wood, Furniture, and Lacquer
Scientific Research
Sculpture, Polychromy, and Architectural Decoration
National Museum in Warsaw, Poland
28-30 October, 2013
Hosted in collaboration with the National Museum in Warsaw, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
The conference entitled “Heritage Wood: Research and Conservation in the 21st Century ” will focus on novel scientific methods and applied research into heritage wooden structures, as well as furniture, wooden sculpture, painted wood, gilded wood, varnished wood, lacquered wood, paintings on wooden supports, and all other heritage wooden objects.
Themes will include:
The meeting will provide a forum for discussion between conservation scientists, researchers, educators and practising conservators. The conference aims to bring together international experts on heritage wood research and to provide a great opportunity for the worldwide conservation community to exchange new research, experiences and expertise.
It is the intention of the organizers to publish all accepted papers in English, however oral presentations at the conference will be allowed in both official languages of the meeting, Polish and English, and simultaneous translation will be provided.
Call for Papers deadline: February 28, 2013
Original papers are invited for submission to focus on case studies and advances in heritage wood research. Authors interested in presenting a paper or poster should submit an abstract (400 – 600 words) by February 28, 2013, to heritagewoodconservation2013 [at] gmail__com
Work should be original and not have been published previously. Contributions of work-in-progress are also welcome. Abstracts should be in English or Polish and include the contact information for the author(s) (affiliation, address, telephone, fax and e-mail). The abstracts will be reviewed by the Conference Organizing Committee and invited experts, and authors will be informed by April 30, 2013.
The Conference Organizing Committee:
Kate Seymour
Coordinator, ICOM-CC Sculpture, Polychromy, and Architectural Decoration Working Group
k.seymour [at] sral__nl
Austin Nevin
Coordinator, ICOM-CC Scientific Research Working Group,
austin.nevin [at] ifn__cnr__it
Dr Malgorzata Sawicki
Coordinator, ICOM-CC Wood, Furniture, and Lacquer Working Group
margaret.sawicki [at] ag__nsw__gov__au
Marcin Draniak
Coordinator–contacts with the Director, Head of Laboratory, National Museum in Warsaw
mdraniak [at] mnw__art__pl
Dr Elzbieta Pietrusinska-Pilecka
Art Science and Conservation Specialist
National Museum in Warsaw
epilecka [at] mnw__art__pl
Dorota Ignatowicz-Wozniakowska
Head of Conservation Department,
National Museum in Warsaw
dignatowicz [at] mnw__art__pl
Prof. Iwona Szmelter
Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
badania [at] asp__waw__pl
This summer Spain has been in the limelight due to an improper intervention on a artistic work of art, executed by a painting amateur in good faith, but without the knowledge to carry out this task.
It has been a long time since we, conservators, have begun struggling for the correct conservation of our cultural heritage and today we are disconcerted as much by the constant loss that e notice everyday (what happened in Borja is not an isolated example), as by the type of news the media have transmitted to the whole world. It is sad that the majority of our society underestimate our profession.
For this reason, we would first like to clarify who we are and what we do.
The conservator:
It is the professional that has the training and the experience to act on cultural heritage with the aim to preserve it for future generations, always according to the guidelines of an international code of deontology. Secondly, we want to report that neither the Spanish law of historical heritage, neither the laws of the different autonomies in Spain, guarantee the correct protection of our heritage. None of these laws recognises the figure of the conservator as the only one professional with the necessary competences to diagnose and take part in all that regards the conservation of cultural heritage.
In attempting to change this situation, we claim that:
Tourism being one of the main economic dynamics on which our country has bet to get us out of the crisis, we conservators believe that this could and should have to be a sustainable and quality cultural tourism. To preserve a unique cultural heritage, to possess an excellent preventive conservation plan and to have the best specialists to take care of our cultural heritage should have been the headlines in the national and international media. Something does not work when it looks like
a joke and the more lousy the work is, the more rewarded it is when this should inspire shame and indignation. It is essential, for any country with values, to bet for quality in our work, carried out by qualified professionals. As we have understood
that the protection of the environment is of special importance for our quality of life, society also have to be conscious of the importance of culture and the worth of its correct conservation. And it is in this field where the conservator has a great role to play. We have had enough of allowing unqualified people to work indirectly on our cultural heritage, Our heritage is in danger, lot’s save it.
Signed:
Grup Tecnic
Associacio Professional dels Conservadors-Restauradors de bens culturals de Catalunya
ACRE
Associacion de Conservadores-Restauradores de Espana
ARCC
Associacio de Conservadors-Restauradors de Catalunya
GEIIC
Grupo Espanol de Conservacion. International Institute for Conservation
Agnes Gall-Ortlik
President of the Grup Tecnic
Today, the exhibit “Ai Weiwei: According to What?” opens at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. Among the pieces on view are “Dropping a Han Dynasty Vase” and “Coca-Cola Vase” in which Weiwei reinvents ancient Chinese vases by defacing or destroying them.
If a conservator were presented with a neolithic vase that had been painted over with a Coca-Cola logo and knew nothing of the context of the overpainting, would that conservator believe that he or she was dealing with vandalism that must be undone?
Rosa Lowinger & Associates is seeking to hire a conservator of sculpture and objects to be based in our Miami office. RLA provides professional conservation services for a wide range of materials and types of objects, with a longstanding reputation for excellence in conservation of contemporary art and large scale outdoor sculpture.
Preferred candidates will have a graduate level degree in objects or architectural conservation. We are particularly looking for strong candidates who are emerging professionals, however individuals without a conservation degree may also apply if they have at least 6 years of experience in the field of conservation, an MA in a related field and excellent references. We are a close knit group of committed professionals who are looking to expand our team with someone who has good hand skills, excellent writing and verbal communication skills, and the ability to think critically about conservation problems involving new materials and large scale works. The position involves travel, field work, and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
This is a full time permanent position with a competitive salary, vacation and benefits.
Please send a cover letter and resume to: actisue [at] rosalowinger [dot] com
New Students
Marie-Lou Beauchamp (Paper)
Emily Turgeon-Brunet (Paper)
Kelli Piotrowski (Paper)
Emily Ricketts (Artifacts)
Aimée Sims (Artifacts)
Samantha Fisher (Artifacts)
Jessica LaFrance (Artifacts)
Stephanie Barnes (Paintings)
Laurence Gravel-Gagné (Paintings)
Aimee Turcotte (Paintings)
Melanie Cloutier (Paintings)
Internships
Evelyn Ayre, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham UK
Fiona Beckett, Anita Henry Paintings Conservator, Montreal, Quebec, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON, and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa ON
Elizabeth Boyce, UBC Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver BC
Wendy Crawford, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, ON and Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa, ON
Moya Dumville, New England Document Conservation Center, Andover, MA
Timothy Greening, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON
Sonia Kata, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON
Jennifer Morton, Fraser Spafford Ricci Art & Archival Conservation Inc., South Surrey BC
Sarah Mullin, The New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, NB and Tripolis Greece
Kelly O’Neill, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
Katherine Potapova, Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa, ON
Ghazaleh Rabiei, Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa, ON
Jessica Regimbald, Centre Canadien d’ Architecture, Montreal, QC
Corine Soueid, Institute of Nautical Archeology, Bodrum, Turkey and INSTAP Centre for East Crete, Pachia Ammos, Crete
Jeanne Beaudry Tardif, Bibliothèque et archives du Quebec, Montreal, QC
Dorcas Tong, City of Vancouver Archives, Vancouver, BC
Jayme Vallieres, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB
Daniela Vogel, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Montreal, Montreal QC
Anna Weiss, Caere Excavation, Caere, Italy and Agora Excavation, Athens, Greece
Brittany Webster, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, QC
New Students
Amy Brost, BA in Art History, BA in Studio Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Interest: Photographs and Electronic/Digital/Time-based Media
Kathryn Brugioni, BA in Art History and Archaeology, Washington University in St. Louis; Interest: Paintings
Annika Finne, BA in Material Art History, Brown University; Interest: Modern and Contemporary Paintings
Saira Haqqi, BA in Russian Studies, Carleton College; Interest: Books
Evelyn Mayberger, BA in Art History, Wesleyan College; Interest: Books and Special Collections
Abigail Teller, BFA Painting, BA in Art History and Archaeology, BA in History, Washington University in St. Louis; Interest: Undecided with an emphasis on Modern and Contemporary
The 2012 – 2013 Leon Levy Visiting Fellow in the Conservation of Archaeological Materials:
Wei Liu, BS in Conservation Science, Northwest University in China; MS in History of Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology, Beijing
Internships
Morgan Adams, Thaw Conservation Center, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY
Kristin Bradley, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Sophie Scully, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Cybele Tom, Bode-Museum, Berlin, Germany
Shauna Young, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
New Students
Shannon Brogdon-Grantham
Emily Brown
Austin Curley
Clara Curran,
Kelly McCauley
Ronel Namde
Nicholas Pedemonti
Michelle Sullivan
Kimi Taira,
Emily Wroczynski
Internships
The program’s third year students, their internship sites and majors are:
Bartosz Dajnowski – (The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Military University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland – Objects Conservation)
Greta Glaser – (Smithsonian Institution Archives and Library of Congress – Photograph Conservation)
Laura Hartman – (Mauritshuis and Yale University Art Gallery – Paintings Conservation)
Morgan Hayes – (Los Angeles County Museum of Art – Paintings Conservation)
Sara Lapham – (Philadelphia Museum of Art – Furniture Conservation)
Sara Levin – (Metropolitan Museum of Art – Objects Conservation)
Carrie McNeal – (Library of Congress – Library and Archive Materials Conservation)
Crista Pack – (Museums of New Mexico – Objects Conservation)
Emily Schuetz – (Philadelphia Museum of Art – Textile Conservation)
Elena Torok – (The British Museum and Yale University Art Gallery – Objects Conservation)
Buffalo State College, Program in Art Conservation
New Students
Zach Long
Jennifer Hunt Johnson
Erica Schuler
Jena Hisrschbein
Amanda Chau
Dawn Planas
Liz Sorokin
Ellen Davis
Colleen O’Shea
Christina Taylor
3rd Year Internships – Class of 2013
Genevieve Bieniosek – Biltmore
Ashleigh Ferguson (Schiezer) – The Huntington Library
James Gleason – The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Ashley Jehle – The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation)
Elizabeth LaDuc – The Walters Art Museum
Dawn Mankowski – Columbia University Libraries
Laura Neufeld – Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (Legion of Honor)
Fran Ritchie – Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University
Lianne Uesato – The Cleveland Museum of Art
Aisha Wahab – The University of Michigan Libraries
Summer Internship placements for 1st year students
Dolph, Brittany – Museum of Volos, Greece and the Southwest Museum of Los Angeles
Fuentes, Ayesha – Shaanxi Archaeological Institute in Xi’an, China and Department of Archaeology in Sri Lanka
Griswold, Geneva – working on the Siqueiros Mural (through the Getty Conservation Institute), working in Varallo, Italy and at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, NY
Mahony, Caitlin – INSTAP, Crete, Greece
Mallinckrodt, Casey – Arizona State Museum
Neiman, Madeleine – Anchorage Museum, Alaska
North, Alexis – Tell Tayinat, Turkey and the Brooklyn Museum
Tzadik, Carinne – Benaki Museum, Athens
Placement of current 3rd year students
de Alarcon, Tessa – U of Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Doan, Lily – Los Angeles County Museum of Art as Andrew W. Mellon Fellow
Ledoux, Nicole – Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art Museums
O’Hern, Robin – National Museum of the American Indian as Andrew W. Mellon Fellow
Scott, Cindy Lee – For the summer 2012, Cindy Lee will be teaching conservation to Archaeologists at Gournia in Greece
Our remaining students, Elizabeth Drolet and Dawn Lohnas, are awaiting outcomes for next years’ positions.
The August minutes have been approved.
ECPN MEETING MINUTES
Monday, August 20, 2012
Conference Call Attendees:
Molly Gleeson (Chair)
Eliza Spaulding (Vice Chair)
Angela Curmi (Communications Coordinator)
Gwen Manthey (co-Professional Education and Training)
Carrie Roberts (co-Professional Education and Training)
Anisha Gupta (co-Outreach Coordinator)
Avigail Charnov (Architectural Specialty Group Liaison)
Stephanie Lussier (Board Liaison)
Ruth Seyler (AIC Staff Liaison)
Robin O’Hern (Committee on Sustainable Conservation Practice)
Genevieve Bieniosek (Student Liaison, ETC)
1. Minutes Approval – July meeting minutes were approved
2. Webinar Series – discussion about schedule and topics, general vision
3. Newsletter/ e-blast schedule
4. 2013 AIC Annual Meeting
a. Portfolio Session
b. Poster
5. Liaisons Program
a. Graduate program liaisons
6. Student Research Resource
7. Mentoring Program – update on matches
8. Tony Smith Wikipedia Project
9. The next conference call will be Monday, September 17th, 2012 at 1pm EST. Megan will be travelling so she will not be able to make it. If anyone has a schedule conflict, let Molly know.
Next call: Monday, September 17th, 2012 at 1pm EST
Respectfully submitted,
Angela Curmi
Read the letter from Meg Craft, AIC President, to Governor Deal:
“Dear Governor Deal:
As the board president of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works (AI C), the national membership organization supporting conservation professionals in preserving cultural heritage, I write to ask you to reverse the decision made by Secretary of State Brian Kemp to close the Georgia Archives. Public access to the critically important records held by the Georgia Archives is a right of your citizens, while the loss of open access will have long-term negative consequences for both your state and the nation.
The Georgia Archives serves a multitude of constituents, including genealogists, historians, teachers, students, lawyers, and governmental employees. It supports legal arguments, settles disputes, documents “historical events,. and helps us all better understand our past. While I echo the dismay of others, as expressed in letters such as those from the presidents of the American Library Association and Society of American Archivists, I want to make sure that you are aware of other critical losses that will result from closing your state archives.
The conservation lab at the Archives is a comprehensive and well-equipped facility that has provided much needed space for conservation and preservation educational programs, workshops, and meetings for state and national conservation professionals. The Prese.rvation staff hosts graduate students from the Clayton State University’s Master of Archival Studies Program, and works with”numerous interns, providing valuable hands-on experience in a conservation lab working on archival records, from land grant maps to chain gang records. The Preservation Services Division also provides training for a steady stream of scanning interns, who are funded by a “Friends of the Archives” grant. All of these initiatives help ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of Georgia’s legal and cultural history…”
The Georgia Archives are slated to be closed to the public as of November 1. Georgia will then be the only state not to have archives for the public. The citizens of Georgia will no longer have access to these primary, historical resources unless action is taken now.
Please sign the online petition and like and share their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GeorgiansAgainstClosingStateArchives.
This story came to the AIC office from Brian Clark at Roger Williams University.
BRISTOL, R.I., Sept. 14, 2012 – How the next generation of historic preservationists is educated has profound implications across the preservation world, especially given that effective education means a greater likelihood of qualified professionals. But while the U.S. is home to an array of quality preservation programs at colleges and universities, there has been surprisingly little conversation among educators about how best to teach those who will comprise the preservation workforce in the future.
On Sept. 8 and 9, more than 75 educators from not just the U.S. – but from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and more – convened in Providence, R.I., to discuss best practices at a conference titled “Preservation Education: Sharing Best Practices and Finding Common Ground.” The conference was hosted by the School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation at Roger Williams University with support from Clemson University, the College of Charleston, the University of Florida and the University of Georgia.
After two days of discussion and debate, a set of key ideas emerged. Jeremy C. Wells, assistant professor of historic preservation at Roger Williams and the conference chair, says the ideas focused on everything from embracing technology and encouraging innovation to linking the built and natural environments, integrating with other disciplines and building partnerships with K-12 education, real estate professionals and more.
Wells also noted that the attendees agreed that without a more concise definition of what the “discipline” of historic preservation is, there would continue to be difficulty in defining what students should be accountable for as far as skill sets and knowledge are concerned.
“We need better understanding and consensus around our view of the world,” he said. “There is even some discomfort with the term historic preservation itself. Does preservation imply stasis – that things never change? Would conservation more accurately represent our approach? We need to envision a future in which we build consensus on these questions, among preservation practitioners and educators alike.”
