Category: Topics

New Mexico State University Museum Conservation Program

One of Las Cruces’ Beautiful Sunsets

Welcome to Las Cruces, New Mexico! I recently graduated from the Museum Conservation Program at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I am so grateful to have had the experience the program offers and am happy to have the opportunity to present the program to other emerging conservators.
Basically, the program’s requirements are the same as conservation graduate school requirements. Some of the classes can be taken as graduate level classes, but the program is primarily an undergraduate program. Silvia Marinas, the Head of the Museum Conservation Department and a private Conservator herself, engineered the program to fulfill all of the graduate school requirements. This means that you take Art History, Studio Art, Archaeology, Entomology, Museum Studies and Chemistry. In addition, there are four core classes. One of the classes teaches the basics of Collections Care & Management, skills that you later put into practice in an internship with the New Mexico State University Museum. In two other classes, titled Museum Conservation Techniques, you learn the basic restoration techniques for ceramics, paintings on canvas and paintings on metal. Then you put those skills to work on other, real, objects in an Internship class with Silvia Marinas.

New Mexico State University Museum

Overall, the program is structured to be useful in real life. The format in which Silvia Marinas teaches the classes is particularly useful, because she has us create materials that will be useful for us in the future. For instance, from her Collections Care class I have a binder with information on things such as temperature & humidity guidelines, handling, storage, etc., for each kind of museum object. From her Museum Conservation Techniques classes I have condition reports that I created of various types of objects that I can and have referenced when working on similar objects. And overall, the program is structured to fulfill the requirements for graduate schools and Pre-grad internships, so students are well prepared to apply to these places.

Reconstructed Ceramic Vessel from Museum Conservation Techniques Class

The best part of Las Cruces is the people. Las Cruces is primarily a college town but the professors make every effort to let us know what exhibitions, shows or lectures we should attend. There are many cultural events related to the strong Hispanic & American Indian heritage in the area, such as American Indian Week (pictured). The community is tight-knit and friendly. There are farmers’ markets, gallery walks and museumsto explore as well as hiking and outdoor recreation (Las Cruces gets over 350 days of sunshine a year) and great Mexican food.

Dancers at American Indian Week

I would be happy to try and answer questions for other emerging conservators! Here is the link to the Program’s website: http://artdepartment.nmsu.edu/programs/museumcons/index.php?go=home.html

WUDPAC Portfolio Day – September 9, 2011

The deadline for RSVPs has been extended to Sep. 9, 2011 and the program has been expanded. Please pass the word about the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) Portfolio Day and open house on September 14 2011 at the Winterthur Museum.  Current Fellows in the program will share their portfolios and experiences with prospective applicants for WUDPAC. Faculty will be in attendance to answer questions and there will be tours of the labs.

4:00-5:00 pm in the Copeland Lecture Hall, Winterthur Museum, Elena Torok will present her 2011 summer work project at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and our NEH Public Engagement Institute in Material Culture Studies at UD.

5:00-7:00 pm  The WUDPAC Class of 2014 will share their pre-program portfolios outside the Gallery Reception Area at Winterthur Museum.

5:00-7:00 pm  Visitors can tour the conservation laboratories in the Research Building.

Pizza and salad will be available after the tour from 7- 8PM.

Please RSVP for this event by Friday, September 9, 2011 by emailing Susan Behrens at behrens [at] udel__edu.

Emerging Conservators and Outreach

The ECPN is collecting case studies about conservation outreach and we hope those emerging conservators who read this blog would contribute their stories or case studies.

Please include information in the comments section of this post, case studies could include:

  • Public conservation treatments
  • Speaking about conservation to collectors, museum visitors, students, etc.
  • Involving the community in a conservation project
  • Using social media to reach out about conservation including blogging, facebook, twitter, flickr, and how these sites are helpful to stay connected to conservators and non-conservators alike
  • Advocating for conservation by contacting Congressional representatives
  • Reaching out to related museum or arts associations to build networking groups and connect with professionals in related fields

The topics could also include basic ‘How to’ information like:

  • How to write a blog post
  • How to run a Facebook group as an admin
  • How to write a press release for a conservation project
  • How to organize a happy hour (Northern Californian Conservators – I am looking at you)
  • How to explain conservation to a four-year-old, a teenager, a professional in a similar field, a museum visitor

I am looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts and stories/case studies about conservation outreach!

~Rose Cull

Make Sure IMLS Includes Conservation Priorities in their Five-Year Strategic Plan

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is working to create a five-year strategic plan, and would like ideas from museum and library professionals on how best to carry out its responsibility to support these institutions. Please take the time to share your ideas and help IMLS realize how important conservation is to the museum and library fields. Go to imls.ideascale.com.

AIC Releases Statement on the 10th Anniversary of the Adoption of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

August 26, 2011

Mr. John L. Nua, III, Chairman
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Old Post Office Building
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 809
Washington, DC 20004

Dear Mr. Nau,

The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage was adopted by the 31st general conference of UNESCO in November 2001. The Convention provides a guideline for managing activities related to underwater cultural heritage.  Included in the Convention are the Annex Rules that outline best practices for responsible underwater archaeology and provide guides for research, documentation and responsible artifact care.  The National Park Service and NOAA participated in the development of the Convention and Annex Rules.  While there was not complete agreement about the Convention, all parties agreed that the Annex Rules provide an excellent international standard for the practice of underwater archaeology and stewardship of submerges sites.

The Board of the American Institute for Conservation of Artistic and Historic Works (AIC) urges you to endorse the Annex Rules as a requirement for the practice of underwater archaeology and submerged heritage management.  Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2011, AIC supports historic preservation and the 3500 professional conservators practicing in the US.  Preservation does not just mean saving the physical object for display in a museum but, in many cases more importantly, preservation means saving information about the object – where it came from, who owned and used it, when it was made or used, and how it came to be in an underwater site.  This information tells the story of our past; the story brings history to life for the public.  Preserving and making the stories accessible to the public provides an educational resource and heritage tourism venue.  Conservators of archaeological artifacts can preserve the individual objects but need your assistance to encourage responsible and professional excavation, documentation, research and management of underwater cultural heritage sites.  Please support and incorporate the Annex Rules, some of which are already practiced by Federal agency archaeologists, into the Council’s guidelines and strategies.

The Convention and Annex Rules are available on the UNESCO web site at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001260/126065e.pdf.  Please let me know if you would like additional information or have questions about the Annex Rules or AIC conservators.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Meg Loew Craft
AIC, President
Senior Objects Conservator
Walters Art Museum
600 North Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
mcraft@thewalters.org
410-547-9000 x629

For Hurricanes Season, Remember AIC-CERT is Here to Help

WASHINGTON, D.C.— With the peak of hurricane season approaching, museums, historic sites, libraries, and archives in coastal regions will be at risk.  The American Institute for Conservation (AIC), the national association of conservation professionals, is offering free emergency response assistance to cultural organizations.  Please help make sure that staff members of collecting institutions know to contact AIC-CERT when a disaster—flooding, hurricane, earthquake, fire—has damaged collections.

•    Call AIC’s 24-hour assistance number at 202.661.8068 for advice by phone.

•    Call 202.661.8068 to arrange for a team to come to the site to complete damage assessments and help with salvage organization.

AIC-CERT volunteers have provided advice to dozens of museums, libraries, and archives, most recently to sites in Minot, North Dakota affected by flooding.  AIC-CERT teams were on the ground following the Midwest floods in 2008 and in the Galveston area following Hurricane Ike later that year. AIC-CERT members and other AIC conservators are currently in Haiti assisting with recovery of cultural materials damaged in the 2010 earthquake.

AIC-CERT is supported and managed by the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC).  In 2007 and again in 2010, FAIC received funding from the Institute of Museum & Library Services to support an advanced training program for conservators and other museum professionals that resulted in a force of 107 “rapid responders” trained to assess damage and initiate salvage of cultural collections after a disaster has occurred.  They are ready to assist.

Resources and information on disaster recovery and salvage can be found on AIC’s website at www.conservation-us.org/disaster .  The public can also call AIC-CERT at 202.661.8068.

Join the ECPN Committee

EXTENDED SUBMISSION DEADLINE, please see details below…

The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network seeks three new committee members:

Chair, Vice-Chair, and Outreach Coordinator

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

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

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

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

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

Please submit a brief statement of interest and your resume to Rose Cull, Chair, AIC-ECPN, (roseemilycull@gmail.com) by September 1, 2011.

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

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

5 Reasons to Take an Online Course from the FAIC Online Education Program

Many face-to-face and online courses, and many books, describe how to organize and manage a small business. The FAIC Online series is the only information source designed specifically for the community of art and artifact preservation specialists. The courses are led by experienced online teachers who have an intimate knowledge of conservation as well as their subject matter, and are able to provide advice and solutions based in the reality of a conservation practice today.

Not convinced? Here are five reasons to take an online course offered by the FAIC Online Education Program.

Availability and Timeliness

At present, the FAIC Online Education program includes eight courses:

Five different courses are offered each calendar year. You are never more than about eighteen months from the next offering of the course(s) you want to take. (Desperate to know now? Ask about minimum fees and participant numbers for a special offering of the course you want to take.)

Convenience

It’s easy to fit an FAIC Online Education course into your schedule. You have 24/7 access while the course is taking place. You can be anywhere, as long as you have a computer or smartphone and an internet connection. Check into the site when you have a minute or two. Respond to requests or comments as the mood strikes you.

Build Your Skills

Each week of every course introduces new activities for all skill levels. Learn what you need to know now. Use the basic activities as a review. Reserve more advanced assignments for later. Don’t find what you need on the site? Ask the leader: He or she has the expertise to help you with the questions you’re facing. Don’t forget that you can also ask questions of your colleagues in the course. You’ll find them a source of real-world experience and you can be confident that they understand what a conservator does.
The online environment accommodates your learning style, too. Whether you’re someone who constantly asks and answers questions or the one at the back of the classroom who watches and learns but prefers to remain silent, there is room for you to learn best what you need to learn the most.

Create a new network

The FAIC Online Education courses provide an opportunity to work with conservators beyond your existing network. Meet with and learn about colleagues in other specialties, who work in different regions of the U.S. or the world. You develop a new node in your network: a cohort of people who know you and your skills, people to whom you can turn for advice—and with whom you can share referrals—even though they are not in your backyard.

Expense. Or Rather, the Lack Thereof.

Each FAIC Online Education course is four weeks long. Each week is the equivalent of a very full, daylong conference. AIC members pay $200 per course. It’s like attending 4 seminars at $50 each.

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Courses remaining in the FAIC Online Education series for 2011:

Want more information? See the FAIC Online Education page on the AIC website. Take the quiz, “Is Online Learning Right for You?” Talk to one one of the more than 500 program participants.

Want to be informed of next year’s schedule when it’s available? Contact Abigail Choudhury, FAIC Development and Education Associate, achoudhury[at]conservation-us.org.

Northern California ECPN Meet & Mingle

When I first emailed Melissa asking if she was interested in meeting up to talk shop about being a pre-program student I was excited to talk with one person. Little did I know, once we both put the word out we would have a group of thirteen!

Our group was so well diversified that all curious questions were answered and if no one knew the answer then there was someone they knew who could help. We made introductions and expressed what we were most interested in. It was amazing to hear the wide variety of backgrounds that brought us all to this career choice. The most important part was that all different levels of interest attended. From the just curious about what this whole art conservation thing is to third year students at Buffalo in their internships and a graduate of the NYU program. We had several who just finished chemistry requirements and are prepping to apply this upcoming winter to others who are working at obtaining lab hours. It was great to meet so many new people and to learn about different programs and internships.

We really encourage others to put the word out in your area and see who responds. It was a great learning experience and a way to meet others who are in the same boat as you. You get to hear stories of others and form a group of associates to reach out to if you ever have questions. We are definitely planning more meetings in the future. In fact, as a result of this meeting many professional conservators have expressed interest in getting to know the emerging conservators of the Bay Area. We will be coordinating a meeting where emerging and professionals can come together in the future.

– Melissa Stone & Jennifer Martinez