The CIPP Specialty Group Board is pleased to announce our program for the AIC 43rd Annual Meeting in Miami on May 13-16, 2015. CIPP will be sponsoring and co-sponsoring three events intended to appeal to the wide spectrum of our membership. Members are also invited to attend the Business Meeting (Wednesday, May 13; 8:30pm) to discuss future programming and meet your CIPP leadership–your feedback and participation is important to us! Register by December 31st to take advantage of Early Bird rates.
CIPP Seminar: Practical Solutions for Running a Successful Business
Wednesday, May 13; 11am-3pm
$39 (CIPP Members); $79 (non-members); Includes boxed lunch
This workshop will focus on three main areas of running a successful private practice: accurate estimating, streamlined documentation and billing, and outreach and marketing. The workshop will include ample time for questions and attendee participation. It is intended for both established and emerging conservation professionals. Future CIPP webinars on all three subjects are planned as a follow-up to enhance the learning process.
CIPP/ECPN Discussion Panel and Happy Hour
Wednesday, May 13; Program: 4 – 6 pm; Happy Hour 6 – 8 pm
This joint event with the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) will feature a panel of speakers, both established and emerging conservators in private practice, who will discuss the benefits, challenges and fine points of establishing a private practice as an emerging conservator. After an initial set of moderated discussion topics, there will be time for questions and comments from the audience. The discussion panel will be followed by the annual ECPN Happy Hour, allowing attendees to continue conversations and network in a less formal setting.
CIPP/H&S Lunchtime Lecture: Studio Design Challenges–Creating a Safe and Practical Space
Thursday, May 14; noon – 2:00 pm
$10 (CIPP Members); $25 (non-members); Includes boxed lunch
Led by architects and engineers from EwingCole, who specialize in designing cultural heritage facilities, this session will review priorities and set realistic goals for improving common, at-hand work spaces ranging from in-home studios to larger rented commercial spaces. Case studies of real-world studios will be reviewed in a candid discussion that identifies what’s working well and what can be changed to improve safety and predictability. Extended Q&A, plus Meet the Expert stations, will allow attendees to actively participate in the discussion and seek advice on mechanical, HVAC and fire protection engineering, building codes and architectural design.
Category: Uncategorized
Job Posting: Paintings or Senior Paintings Conservator – Williamstown Art Conservation Center (Williamstown, MA)
WILLIAMSTOWN ART CONSERVATION CENTER
227 SOUTH STREET
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA 01267
Position: Paintings or Senior Paintings Conservator
Williamstown Art Conservation Center (WACC)
The Williamstown Art Conservation Center is seeking an experienced paintings conservator upon the retirement of one of our Senior Paintings Conservators. This is a full-time position with occasional travel. Applicants must have an advanced degree in art conservation with a specialization in paintings conservation or comparable training. A minimum of ten years post graduate experience is preferred but all applicants will be considered. The position calls for treatments on paintings from all periods, including contemporary works and murals. The position title and responsibilities will be commensurate with experience. WACC provides excellent salaries along with outstanding benefits including medical, dental, 403b contributions, vacations and professional development.
WACC is an independent, nonprofit, regional center providing comprehensive conservation services in Paintings, Furniture, Objects, Paper and Textiles. The staff is collaborative, very collegial and works innovatively with the curatorial and collection professionals of hundreds of Northeast institutions. WACC laboratories are located on the campus of the Clark Art Institute in the Lunder Center at Stone Hill. The architect of the Center is world renowned, Tadao Ando. The Center was completed in 2008. More information on the Center can be found at www.williamstownart.org.
Please send your confidential curriculum vitae and references by December 31, 2014.
Thomas J. Branchick
Director/Head Paintings Conservator
Williamstown Art Conservation Center
227 South Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
tbranchick@williamstownart.org
413-458-5741
CALL EXTENDED – Interventions, Object Lesson: Conservation and Art History
Call Extended – Submissions due October 24, 2014
Fall 2014 CALL FOR CONTENT
Interventions Volume 4, Issue 1
Object Lesson: Conservation and Art History
Interventions is the online journal of Columbia University’s graduate program in Modern Art: Critical and Curatorial Studies. We are seeking content for our next issue, focusing on relationships between art conservation and art historical, curatorial, and artistic practices.
Submissions can be in the form of artist projects or essays. Potential topics include (but are not limited to):
• Works that are open-ended, unfinished, in process, or require replenishment
– Use of organic materials
– Web-based works of art
• Works that are no longer extant
– Installations dismantled and/or dispersed into fragments
– Performances, actions, and events
• Works recycled or re-purposed into new works of art
• Use of untested or volatile materials and processes
• Exhibiting “relics,” ephemera, or documentation in lieu of works of art
• Exhibiting copies, replicas, or facsimiles
• Works of art that thematize physical/material change
• Conservation of time-based media
– Discontinued technologies needed to display or play back encoded media
• Architectural preservation
• Technical art history
• Collaborations between conservators and artists
• Collaborations between conservators and curators
We encourage submissions that approach this topic across artistic, critical, and curatorial frameworks. For this issue, we specifically invite submissions from conservators of modern and contemporary art and architecture.
To submit content, please email an abstract of approximately 300 words, as well as a bio of no more than 100 words, to moda.interventions@gmail.com by Friday, October 24, 2014. Submissions will be reviewed and those whose proposals have been selected will be notified by October 31, 2014. Full texts must not exceed 4,000 words and should follow Chicago Style. Images should be 400 x 600 pixels, 72 dpi, and saved as a .jpg or .gif. Contributors are responsible for copyediting their texts prior to final submission and for attaining rights to all images provided for publication.
Interventions Journal is a curatorial platform featuring essays, interviews, web-based art projects, and experimental investigations of the implicit cross-sections between these practices. Flexible in format, the project aims to cultivate dialogue amongst a diverse body of participants including curators, artists, and art and architectural historians in order to establish a common space and archive of exchange.
Launched in 2011 within Columbia University’s graduate program in Modern Art: Critical & Curatorial Studies (MODA) by Ceren Erdem, Jaime Schwartz, and Lisa Hayes Williams, Interventions is currently edited by Béatrice Grenier, Anna Linehan, and Amber Moyles.
Job Posting: Summer Internships – National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC)
Conservation: Frames
The intern will learn about the history, techniques, and craftsmanship of museum-quality fine art framing, as well as the complexities of how frames are chosen by curators, designers, and conservators. He or she will assist frame conservators in making molding and constructing and finishing frames for canvas and panel paintings. Duties may also involve other frame-related work, including computer imaging, sample making, creating wooden sculpture bases, database maintenance, and photographic documentation, as well as organizing workshop and antique frame storage. Basic creative design, woodworking, painting, and color-mixing skills are required.
Conservation: Objects
The intern will assist with the yearly summer maintenance and treatment of the outdoor sculpture collection in the Sculpture Garden and surrounding the East and West Buildings. He or she will work with a team of conservators to clean and protect these large-scale sculptures. The intern will also help maintain the department’s object condition database, including uploading information from the paper files and completing condition examinations on sculpture and medals. As possible, the intern may assist conservators with their research or with other projects including x-radiography and technical study. Current graduate students and 2015 graduates in conservation are invited to apply. Graduate students in museum studies and collection management programs may be considered as well.
Conservation: Paper
The intern will assist paper conservators in organizing and cataloging items in the Paper Sample Collection of historic and contemporary artists’ drawing and printing papers. Other responsibilities will include recording watermarks photographically and researching papermaking companies. Current graduate students and 2015 graduates in conservation, studio art, or archival studies are encouraged to apply. Knowledge of paper and papermaking is essential.
For more information about our summer internship program, including application guidelines and forms, please direct faculty and students to our Web site, http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/opportunities/interns-and-fellows/graduate/summer.html.html. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Calling all creative cooks
The Art Fund of Great Britain organized an “Edible Masterpieces” project (http://www.artfund.org/get-involved/edible-masterpieces/about-edible-masterpieces) as a fundraiser (and fun-raiser). Inspired by this, and knowing how many conservation professionals, curators and artists enjoy being creative in the cuisine, Francesca Bewer (Harvard Art Museums) and I thought it would be great fun to attempt something similar to raise funds for the FAIC in conjunction with the annual AIC meeting in Miami in 2015.
The complex logistics of scheduling, combined with restrictions imposed by hotel food service regulations at the Miami conference venue have led us to reframe this idea. Instead we would like to propose a well-illustrated cookbook that compiles recipes and DIY instructions for inventive, witty, delicious, delightful, healthy, etc… dishes inspired by works of art. These could be a salad inspired by the colors of a Van Gogh painting, a stew composed from the foods in a Dutch still life, or a cake constructed like a cubist sculpture. Submissions would consist of a recipe and/or directions, accompanied by a photo of the finished product and/or visual documentation of the various steps involved, and a short blurb identifying the work of art that inspired the dish.
We are currently looking for feedback on this idea. Should we receive enough positive responses by October 1st (so that we can announce it in the November AIC News) we are sure we can bring this project to fruition. Submissions would be due by February 1, 2015 to allow for the production of some sample pages to show at the meeting — if not produce the entire cookbook!
Please let us know if you would be interested in participating.
Rebecca Rushfield wittert@juno.com
Francesca Bewer francesca_bewer@harvard.edu
ECPN Webinar: 'Beyond the Pre-requisites: Preparing for Graduate Education in Art Conservation': Follow-up Q&A
In order to address some remaining questions from the recent webinar ‘Beyond the Prerequisites: Preparing for Graduate Education in Art Conservation’, ECPN asked our five presenters (Peggy Ellis from NYU, Ellen Pearlstein from UCLA/Getty, Debbie Hess Norris of Winterthur/Univ. of DE, James Hamm of Buffalo State, and Rosaleen HIll from Queen’s) to reply to our audience. Their individual responses have been summarized below. If you have any additional questions or concerns on our webinar topic, remember that you can always contact individual programs or reach out via ECPN officers and our Facebook page.
The recorded webinar is available at http://youtu.be/Rfc-l4iZHAs.
1. If an applicant who has exceeded the required amount of experience takes a break from conservation internships to pursue other academic/artistic endeavors, how will it affect her/his application?
All five respondents reply that because conservation is a multi-faceted field with an interdisciplinary focus, work in other fields is highly encouraged. The development of academic, artistic, research, or other skills is an asset and often helps an applicant if her/his interests can be connected to a topic within conservation. Additional fields of study or experience could be chemistry, biochemistry, art history, anthropology, studio arts, museum studies, environmental science, collections management, or any other number of related fields. Furthermore, one respondent notes that: “Each person’s life path is unique. What appears to be ‘taking a break’ may, in retrospect, be the absolute best possible path to a successful career in art conservation (or something else!).”
2. If an internship with a conservator is not available in my area, are there other kinds of experience that are desirable?
While conservation experience is an important, if not always mandatory, part of one’s pre-program work, our webinar presenters suggested several ways to become involved with conservation and broaden an applicant’s knowledge of collections management and preventive care. These include working with a registrar or archivist; working at smaller and/or local institutions like archives, libraries, or historical societies and museums; gaining laboratory and handling skills by volunteering to process archaeological finds or mount samples for scientific analysis, possibly at a local university; working in an art supply or framing shop. In order to keep yourself informed about the conservation field, be sure to take part in local conferences or workshops. Join AIC as a Student member and take advantage of on-line conservation courses and other resources. Finally, be sure to look into AIC’s (or CAC’s) Mentorship Program to check for local professionals who might be willing to mentor via email or Skype.
3. If someone hasn’t been successfully admitted after a few years of applying, what alternatives do you suggest s/he take to remain in the profession?
Becoming a registrar or collections care manager for an institution, gallery, or contemporary artist is a recommended career path. Other suggestions include working in arts advocacy or pursuing an advanced degree in museum studies, museum education, library sciences, archival studies, or a related field in the sciences.
4. Is it better to have a long internship experience at one institution or short periods of time at several?
Our presenters agree that there is no single answer to this question. They note that it is important to be exposed to a variety of materials and practices, and that the quality of the supervision is a key factor in gaining skills and knowledge. Short-term (e.g. once or twice/week for a few months) projects may be less successful in this respect though they may be valuable in other ways.
5. Is an applicant’s age taken into consideration?
All five programs agree that age is not a factor in admission. However one respondent adds that, at any age, ’applicants must demonstrate an openness to learning, curiosity, initiative, and a passion for the preservation of cultural heritage’.
Welcome 2014-2015 ECPN officers!
The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network recently initiated a new year of activities with our first series of meetings for new and returning officers. The officers of 2014-2015 are very grateful to all the outgoing officers who have worked so hard in their 2013-2014 term: Anisha Gupta, Saira Haqqi, Carrie McNeal, Kendall Trotter, and especially our out-going chair, Eliza Spaulding. We wish you the best and hope to see you involved with future AIC and ECPN activities!
Meet the 2014-2015 ECPN officers:
Megan Salazar-Walsh (ECPN Chair) is specializing in paintings conservation at Buffalo State (Class of 2014). She is completing her 3rd-year internship at two sites, beginning at the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands, and currently at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD. After completing her masters in September she will be joining The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL as an assistant conservator. Megan is passionate about helping emerging professionals navigate the field of conservation and she has previously served as an Outreach officer and as Vice-chair for ECPN.
Michelle Sullivan (ECPN Professional Education and Training Co-officer) is a third-year graduate fellow specializing in the conservation of works on paper with a minor concentration in photographic materials at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC). She is currently a graduate intern at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and will spend her third year at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Michelle has previously served as ECPN Regional Liaison to Southern California and Graduate Liaison to WUDPAC.
Heather Brown (ECPN Vice Chair) is a graduate fellow in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, majoring in photographic materials and minoring in paper. She is currently completing her third-year internship at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and in the fall will begin as Mellon Fellow in Paper Conservation at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Heather has previously served as ECPN Outreach Coordinator (2010-2011), ECPN PMG Liaison (2012-2014), and Health and Safety Committee Student Member (2012-2014).
Amy Hughes (ECPN Outreach Co-Officer) graduated from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center with an MA in Art History and an Advanced Certificate in Art Conservation (Class of 2014). This summer, Amy is a Smithsonian Graduate Fellow at the Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington, D.C. In September, she will begin an Andrew W. Mellon Conservation Fellowship in paper conservation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is Amy’s first year serving ECPN.
Fran Ritchie (ECPN Professional Education and Training Co-Officer, focusing on Webinars) is an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Objects Conservation at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. Fran graduated from Buffalo State College with an MA in Art Conservation in 2013. Specializing in objects with a strong interest in organic materials, she spent her third year graduate internship at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Fran previously served as ECPN Communications Co-Officer (2013-2014).
Anne Schaffer (ECPN Outreach Co-Officer) is a graduate fellow at Buffalo State College, majoring in paintings conservation. She is currently completing a summer internship at the ICA –Art Conservation in Cleveland, Ohio, and will return to Buffalo to begin her second year in the fall. This is Anne’s first year serving ECPN, and she looks forward to the opportunity to learn from and assist other emerging conservators.
Laura Neufeld (ECPN Communications Co-Officer) is an assistant paper conservator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Before joining the MoMA staff she was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in paper conservation. She has worked as a contract conservator at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY and the Field Museum in Chicago, IL. Laura completed internships at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Guggenheim Museum. She graduated with an M.A. in Art Conservation from Buffalo State College in 2013. This is Laura’s first year serving ECPN.
Ayesha Fuentes (ECPN Communications Co-Officer) is a recent graduate of the UCLA/Getty MA Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials, specializing in objects from South and Southeast Asia. She has completed internships in China, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Bhutan as well as the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has previously served as ECPN Professional Education and Training Co-Officer and is also a student member of AIC’s Emergency Committee.
The 2014-2015 ECPN officers look forward to providing ongoing professional development and educational activities. We also hope to increase our initiatives to connect with and meet the needs of our broad constituency. Please contact ECPN Chair, Megan Salazar-Walsh (salazar.walsh@gmail.com) with any thoughts, questions or comments for ECPN.
42nd Annual Meeting – Paintings + Wooden Artifacts Session – Window of Opportunity: The Restoration Project of the Ghent Altarpiece
In his presentation Bart Devolder, Painting Conservator at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Belgium, delved into two major topics: the condition of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (?-1432) -also known as The Ghent Altarpiece- prior to conservation in 2010 and issues with showing the ongoing treatment behind a display window. Painted by brothers Jan and Hubert van Eyck, The Ghent Altarpiece is considered one of Belgium’s most important artworks, and as such it has experienced a troubled history. Due to its prominence, the altarpiece has been pillaged on multiple occasions since its creation. In the last century, it was an object of desire for the Nazi regime, who stole it in 1942. This significant event in the art world was recently featured by Hollywood in the film Monuments Men, indicating an enduring fascination with this artwork.
The Flemish polyptych has experienced several modifications. The Nazi regime was not the first German government to be fascinated by the artwork. In 1894 the German government purchased the wing panels and severed them in half to exhibit both painted sides simultaneously. This intervention required the removal of the hinge mechanisms, therefore the altar could no longer be opened or closed to resemble its original configuration. In 1934, the panels depicting The Just Judges and Saint John the Baptist were stolen from the Saint Bavo Cathedral. Saint John the Baptist was returned to the cathedral by its captors, but the whereabouts of The Just Judges remains a mystery. Fast forward to 1986, when the altarpiece was moved from the Vijd Chapel to the Villa Chapel, which are both within the Saint Bavo Cathedral. The move consequently changed the lighting in which the van Eyck brothers envisioned their masterpiece. After the artwork’s trouble past, it is not hard to conceive that the panels were in need of attention. In 2010, the altarpiece could be found encapsulated in a cobalt colored safety glass in the cathedral. Inside the box, the painting had accumulated a significant amount of dust. Devolder explained that the most alarming conditions were blind cleavage exacerbated by a thick ketone varnish layer, which was shrinking and pulling the paint. As he described the eventful history and the condition of the altarpiece, Devolder included detailed images, which illustrated the condition of the panels further reinstated the need for conservation.
The Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (IRPA-KIK) along with an international advising committee of conservators and scientists from the University of Ghent are responsible for the treatment. Before work could begin, there were several logistical issues with the project. First, the Ghent altarpiece may never legally leave the city of Ghent. The IRPA-KIK conservation laboratories are established in Brussels, which made the treatment in this location impossible. It was resolved to build a new conservation laboratory with a large viewing window within a gallery of the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent. The treatment of the altarpiece was divided into three phases. In order to provide a holistic experience to visitors of the Saint Bavo Cathedral, the removed panels are temporarily replaced with facsimiles. Treatment of the artwork is conducted through the window with the exception of more delicate tasks, which are done in a space behind a self standing wall not visible to the public. Conservators need high levels of concentration, and in this project there is always the possibility that someone else is watching. Devolder expressed frustration that visitors could leave with erroneous perceptions about the work being done. To mitigate this issue, the Belgian institution uses several didactics and talks are provided with the window to educate the public in the attractive ways.
In Belgium, it is not common to experience conservation treatments in public, yet the conservators are employing public integration strategies that I have not seen used before. I was particularly amazed by the altarpiece reconstruction done by Flemish students from different high schools in Ghent, which hangs next to the viewing window. The reconstruction not only helps to visualize the assembled altarpiece, but it also forges a link between the community and the artwork itself. Programs established for people with vision impairment are also carried out in which swabs and non-toxic cleaning agents are passed around to communicate principles of conservation in a sensorial manner. In addition, a tour is been formulated to include three institutions closely related with the altarpiece: The Museum of Fine Arts Ghent, The Saint Bavo Cathedral, and the Caermersklooster Complex. Bart Devolder concluded his presentation by describing the constant national coverage of the project and his belief that more international press in necessary.
42nd Annual Meeting – Awards
2014 AIC Annual Meeting honors creativity, vision, and experience with awards for professionals
Every year at the Annual Meeting, AIC honors distinguished professionals in conservation practice and education, as well as allied professionals who have contributed to our field. The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network contacted the honorees for this year’s awards and asked them a few questions about their background and ideas on the current state of the conservation profession.
MONONA ROSSOL, INDUSTRIAL HYGIENIST/FOUNDER of ARTS, CRAFTS, AND THEATER SAFETY:
Monona Rossol has been honored this year with the AIC’s Special Recognition for Allied Professionals. This award recognizes the work of valued colleagues from allied fields who have contributed to conservation with their expertise and spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration.
ECPN: In a few sentences, tell us about your professional background.
MR: I have three degrees from the University of Wisconsin: a BS in Chemistry with a minor in Math, and two art degrees, an MS and MFA. I was a co-founder of the first nonprofit dedicated to art safety in 1977, when I began working as an industrial hygienist. In 1984, I was approved for full membership in the American Industrial Hygiene Association. In 1987, I founded another nonprofit called Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety and am currently its president.
ECPN: When did you first become interested or involved in museum professionals’ specific industrial hygiene issues?
MR: I worked as a research chemist to put myself through graduate school for art. It became apparent to me that many of the same hazardous chemicals used in the labs were also used in the Art Department but without any training, ventilation, or safety equipment. My first lectures on this subject were in 1962 in graduate school. When I set up my first art studio near Madison, WI, the State Historical Society was aware of my dual interests and asked me if I could do some conservation for them, especially painted furniture and ceramic conservation. When I moved to New York City, I also did other objects work.
ECPN: What do you feel are the greatest strengths of the conservation profession today?
MR: The strength of the conservation profession today is in the growing number of conservators with strong backgrounds in chemistry and related sciences. For example, when I OSHA-train young people at Winterthur now, I can discuss issues at a vastly higher level than I could have 30 or even 15 years ago.
ECPN: How did you first become involved with AIC?
MR: I’ve been an AIC member since 1981 and had a bit to do with their first Health and Safety Committee. I would have trouble counting all the times I’ve done lectures, workshops and training sessions at AIC conferences and events over those years.
ECPN: Do you have any words of advice for emerging conservation professionals, as an educator, advocate, or professional?
MR: Just keep studying. I never stop taking courses and workshops and reading everything I can get my hands on. I suggest we all do this. Everything you learn about your profession can be useful at some point. Besides, it’s fun. If it’s not, you are in the wrong field.
WALTER HENRY, MANAGER OF CoOL and CONSERVATION DISTLIST:
Walter Henry was awarded an Honorary Membership this year by the AIC Board of Directors in recognition of his exceptional contributions to conservation in his work with online resources like CoOL and the Conservation DistList.
ECPN: In a few sentences, tell us about your professional background.
WH: I started out as a book repairer for the collections at Stanford in the early 70s. In 1978 there was a flood and over 54,000 books got wet. The woman in charge of that program […] was Sally Buchannan, who went on to be one of the finest library preservationists ever. The flood work lasted until about 1980. The money that we got from insurance and law suits funded the nascent conservation/preservation department. There was no budget for conservation staff […] so for the first six months I was the secretary.
I never had formal academic training in conservation. Don Etherington, who is responsible for more book conservators of my generation than anyone else, took me under his wing as my mentor.
I spent a lot of time at the computer center and my son came home one day with something that amazed me: a print out of a Usenet forum. Someone would make an outrageous comment and others would respond, on and on until the subject was dead. Around the same time, work was being done to make searchable texts. The DistList started in 1987 with an announcement on the bulletin board at the AIC annual meeting and grew from there. Managing the software started taking up more of my time, and I had more aptitude for that than for bench-work. Stanford was a wonderful place for me […] and they ended up hosting the DistList and CoOL for many years.
ECPN: What do you feel are the greatest strengths of the conservation profession today? And our biggest challenges?
WH: I want to rephrase that as ‘What’s changed in the last years in the field of conservation?’
I think one thing is the shift to a general expectation that you will go to a formal graduate training program, and finish with a certain base level of knowledge and some skill. Another shift I’ve seen is in conservation technicians. A big part of it was the late Carolyn Rose and her Requisite Competencies for Conservation Technicians and Collection Care Specialists.
The development of the specialty groups within AIC is both a good and bad thing. The first few meetings I went to […] I learned a great deal from attending talks in paintings and objects. Now you can’t afford to miss any talks in your own specialty, but the quality of the talks has increased. The professionalism of the organization has grown, it’s a stronger organization than it was, and I think everyone recognizes that.
ECPN: What about the future, how can the field improve?
WH: I’m not going to answer that […] because my opinions aren’t the ones you should be listening to. I did some stuff I’m half proud of, but my vision for the future of CoOL isn’t where it should go. The advancements in conservation will come from young people rather than from people my age, that’s all I can say.
VICKI CASSMAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT WINTERTHUR/UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE PROGRAM IN ART CONSERVATION
Vicki Cassman has been recognized by AIC this year with the Sheldon and Caroline Keck Award for her career in the education and training of conservation professionals.
ECPN: In a few sentences, tell us about your professional background.
VC: I am a conservation educator, working for the last eight years at the University of Delaware, directing the undergraduate program in art conservation. Prior to this I taught anthropology and museum studies, and practiced as an itinerant textile conservator. My educational background includes a BA in Art History (UC-Davis), MS in both Art Conservation (University of Delaware) and Textile Science (UC-Davis) and a PhD in Anthropology (Arizona State University).
Conservation was a discovery I made while taking a gap year (1977) in college ‘to find myself.’ I was visiting a small museum while taking a traditional weaving course in Sweden and I asked a woman repairing artifacts what her job was called. She said […] I could go to Stockholm and intern at the Nordiska Museum. The director told me I should go back to the US and apply to the University of Delaware/Winterthur program, which he had recently toured and found to be very impressive.
ECPN: What achievements do you believe qualified you for the Keck award?
VC: I support my students and give them room to grow. I believe in their abilities and if they work hard I will help them achieve their goals. I am genuinely interested in teaching techniques and methods, and I am willing to try new things. I especially believe in active learning.
ECPN: How has the conservation field changed since you became a conservator? How do you think the field will evolve in the future?
VC: As I was finishing my conservation degree in 1985, preventive conservation was the new emphasis in the field, and I still believe this is vital and central to undergraduate art conservation education at University of Delaware. Our new preservation challenge is in the digital world. It will take a different set of skills and talents than we require currently for graduate school admissions. Designing a curriculum for digital, electronic, or time-based media preservation is an important challenge our field needs to address.
ECPN: Do you have any words of advice for Emerging Conservation Professionals or others who want to contribute to conservation and heritage preservation?
VC: The field is highly competitive, but we persist because we love the artifacts, and the stories and people associated with them. Pursuing this field requires persistence and dedication.
Undergraduate art conservation programs are popping up around the country, and my advice when considering these programs, is to ask how many professional conservators are on the faculty, who can mentor on a regular basis. In general, it is very possible to prepare yourself (without a program) for graduate admission for art conservation, but it is not easy.
SUZANNE DAVIS, HEAD CONSERVATOR, KELSEY MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Suzanne Davis is the recipient of the AIC’s Conservation Advocacy Award, which recognizes conservation professionals who promote and enrich our field through outreach and advocacy.
ECPN: In a few sentences, tell us about your professional background.
SD: I head the conservation department at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, where I’ve worked for 13 years. I also provide field conservation for the museum’s excavations in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa. Before the Kelsey, I was a conservator for the U.S. Navy’s Underwater Archaeology Branch.
ECPN: What do you feel are the greatest strengths and challenges of the conservation profession today?
SD: A huge strength is that conservators have amazing skill sets. We should be taking the lead in cultural institutions, not only directing collections management and preservation, but guiding development and fundraising efforts, and directly influencing strategic vision and mission.
Two major challenges I see for our profession right now are that it is insular and exclusive. Few conservators participate in allied disciplines by attending or presenting at allied conferences, or reading or publishing in related journals. Current grad school applicants in the U.S. need a lot of internship hours to be competitive, but museums can’t usually afford to pay interns for their learning experience. They pay with the staff time and resources they commit to training the intern [but] this system excludes anyone who can’t afford to take unpaid internships. The field is exclusive in more subtle ways and our methods for recruiting and fostering potential conservators could be updated to serve us better.
ECPN: What achievements are you most proud of that you feel qualified you for the Conservation Advocacy Award?
SD: I’m proudest of my day-to-day work with students. The Kelsey Museum has a long tradition of conservators who are active in teaching and service. All the advocacy I’ve done is rooted in this belief. We never felt like we were “dumbing down” information, but distilling concepts to their essentials. Writing about them for a general audience was a lot harder than we expected.
ECPN: Do you have any words of advice for ECPs or others who want to contribute to conservation and heritage preservation?
SD: If you can match your skills and interests to an existing need, that’s a good way to contribute in a meaningful way. Think about places you can add value. If you’re at a museum, you could start writing for the blog, give a talk about your work, or collaborate with the education department to develop outreach products like tours or podcasts that focus on conservation. If you’re in private practice, you can use your website to talk about conservation in detail and write about work in the public sphere. All of us should share our work, not just through AIC, but through conferences and publications in allied disciplines. You can also look around your local community for ways to contribute and be an advocate for conservation.
If you’re considering graduate school in conservation, spend time researching other careers in the cultural heritage sector. Conservation isn’t the only way you can contribute, and there might be something you like better.
Conservation and heritage organizations like AIC almost always have open service positions, and some of which focus on outreach and advocacy. Know about opportunities like these and volunteer where you can. You might see a need or gap where others haven’t. If you do, and you believe in it, don’t be afraid to advocate.
***
This year AIC also awarded the Sheldon and Caroline Keck Award for conservation education to Steve Koob (Corning Museum of Glass).
To learn more about AIC’s annual awards for members and allied professionals, visit http://www.conservation-us.org/membership/awards. These interviews were conducted by email and in person by ECPN officers. For questions, contact ayesha.fuentes@gmail.com.
– Ayesha Fuentes, ECPN Communications co-officer
Every year at the Annual Meeting, AIC honors distinguished professionals in conservation practice and education, as well as allied professionals who have contributed to our field. The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network contacted the honorees for this year’s awards and asked them a few questions about their background and ideas on the current state of the conservation profession.
MONONA ROSSOL, INDUSTRIAL HYGIENIST/FOUNDER of ARTS, CRAFTS, AND THEATER SAFETY:
Monona Rossol has been honored this year with the AIC’s Special Recognition for Allied Professionals. This award recognizes the work of valued colleagues from allied fields who have contributed to conservation with their expertise and spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration.
ECPN: In a few sentences, tell us about your professional background.
MR: I have three degrees from the University of Wisconsin: a BS in Chemistry with a minor in Math, and two art degrees, an MS and MFA. I was a co-founder of the first nonprofit dedicated to art safety in 1977, when I began working as an industrial hygienist. In 1984, I was approved for full membership in the American Industrial Hygiene Association. In 1987, I founded another nonprofit called Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety and am currently its president.
ECPN: When did you first become interested or involved in museum professionals’ specific industrial hygiene issues?
MR: I worked as a research chemist to put myself through graduate school for art. It became apparent to me that many of the same hazardous chemicals used in the labs were also used in the Art Department but without any training, ventilation, or safety equipment. My first lectures on this subject were in 1962 in graduate school. When I set up my first art studio near Madison, WI, the State Historical Society was aware of my dual interests and asked me if I could do some conservation for them, especially painted furniture and ceramic conservation. When I moved to New York City, I also did other objects work.
ECPN: What do you feel are the greatest strengths of the conservation profession today?
MR: The strength of the conservation profession today is in the growing number of conservators with strong backgrounds in chemistry and related sciences. For example, when I OSHA-train young people at Winterthur now, I can discuss issues at a vastly higher level than I could have 30 or even 15 years ago.
ECPN: How did you first become involved with AIC?
MR: I’ve been an AIC member since 1981 and had a bit to do with their first Health and Safety Committee. I would have trouble counting all the times I’ve done lectures, workshops and training sessions at AIC conferences and events over those years.
ECPN: Do you have any words of advice for emerging conservation professionals, as an educator, advocate, or professional?
MR: Just keep studying. I never stop taking courses and workshops and reading everything I can get my hands on. I suggest we all do this. Everything you learn about your profession can be useful at some point. Besides, it’s fun. If it’s not, you are in the wrong field.
WALTER HENRY, MANAGER OF CoOL and CONSERVATION DISTLIST:
Walter Henry was awarded an Honorary Membership this year by the AIC Board of Directors in recognition of his exceptional contributions to conservation in his work with online resources like CoOL and the Conservation DistList.
ECPN: In a few sentences, tell us about your professional background.
WH: I started out as a book repairer for the collections at Stanford in the early 70s. In 1978 there was a flood and over 54,000 books got wet. The woman in charge of that program […] was Sally Buchannan, who went on to be one of the finest library preservationists ever. The flood work lasted until about 1980. The money that we got from insurance and law suits funded the nascent conservation/preservation department. There was no budget for conservation staff […] so for the first six months I was the secretary.
I never had formal academic training in conservation. Don Etherington, who is responsible for more book conservators of my generation than anyone else, took me under his wing as my mentor.
I spent a lot of time at the computer center and my son came home one day with something that amazed me: a print out of a Usenet forum. Someone would make an outrageous comment and others would respond, on and on until the subject was dead. Around the same time, work was being done to make searchable texts. The DistList started in 1987 with an announcement on the bulletin board at the AIC annual meeting and grew from there. Managing the software started taking up more of my time, and I had more aptitude for that than for bench-work. Stanford was a wonderful place for me […] and they ended up hosting the DistList and CoOL for many years.
ECPN: What do you feel are the greatest strengths of the conservation profession today? And our biggest challenges?
WH: I want to rephrase that as ‘What’s changed in the last years in the field of conservation?’
I think one thing is the shift to a general expectation that you will go to a formal graduate training program, and finish with a certain base level of knowledge and some skill. Another shift I’ve seen is in conservation technicians. A big part of it was the late Carolyn Rose and her Requisite Competencies for Conservation Technicians and Collection Care Specialists.
The development of the specialty groups within AIC is both a good and bad thing. The first few meetings I went to […] I learned a great deal from attending talks in paintings and objects. Now you can’t afford to miss any talks in your own specialty, but the quality of the talks has increased. The professionalism of the organization has grown, it’s a stronger organization than it was, and I think everyone recognizes that.
ECPN: What about the future, how can the field improve?
WH: I’m not going to answer that […] because my opinions aren’t the ones you should be listening to. I did some stuff I’m half proud of, but my vision for the future of CoOL isn’t where it should go. The advancements in conservation will come from young people rather than from people my age, that’s all I can say.
VICKI CASSMAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT WINTERTHUR/UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE PROGRAM IN ART CONSERVATION
Vicki Cassman has been recognized by AIC this year with the Sheldon and Caroline Keck Award for her career in the education and training of conservation professionals.
ECPN: In a few sentences, tell us about your professional background.
VC: I am a conservation educator, working for the last eight years at the University of Delaware, directing the undergraduate program in art conservation. Prior to this I taught anthropology and museum studies, and practiced as an itinerant textile conservator. My educational background includes a BA in Art History (UC-Davis), MS in both Art Conservation (University of Delaware) and Textile Science (UC-Davis) and a PhD in Anthropology (Arizona State University).
Conservation was a discovery I made while taking a gap year (1977) in college ‘to find myself.’ I was visiting a small museum while taking a traditional weaving course in Sweden and I asked a woman repairing artifacts what her job was called. She said […] I could go to Stockholm and intern at the Nordiska Museum. The director told me I should go back to the US and apply to the University of Delaware/Winterthur program, which he had recently toured and found to be very impressive.
ECPN: What achievements do you believe qualified you for the Keck award?
VC: I support my students and give them room to grow. I believe in their abilities and if they work hard I will help them achieve their goals. I am genuinely interested in teaching techniques and methods, and I am willing to try new things. I especially believe in active learning.
ECPN: How has the conservation field changed since you became a conservator? How do you think the field will evolve in the future?
VC: As I was finishing my conservation degree in 1985, preventive conservation was the new emphasis in the field, and I still believe this is vital and central to undergraduate art conservation education at University of Delaware. Our new preservation challenge is in the digital world. It will take a different set of skills and talents than we require currently for graduate school admissions. Designing a curriculum for digital, electronic, or time-based media preservation is an important challenge our field needs to address.
ECPN: Do you have any words of advice for Emerging Conservation Professionals or others who want to contribute to conservation and heritage preservation?
VC: The field is highly competitive, but we persist because we love the artifacts, and the stories and people associated with them. Pursuing this field requires persistence and dedication.
Undergraduate art conservation programs are popping up around the country, and my advice when considering these programs, is to ask how many professional conservators are on the faculty, who can mentor on a regular basis. In general, it is very possible to prepare yourself (without a program) for graduate admission for art conservation, but it is not easy.
SUZANNE DAVIS, HEAD CONSERVATOR, KELSEY MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Suzanne Davis is the recipient of the AIC’s Conservation Advocacy Award, which recognizes conservation professionals who promote and enrich our field through outreach and advocacy.
ECPN: In a few sentences, tell us about your professional background.
SD: I head the conservation department at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, where I’ve worked for 13 years. I also provide field conservation for the museum’s excavations in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa. Before the Kelsey, I was a conservator for the U.S. Navy’s Underwater Archaeology Branch.
ECPN: What do you feel are the greatest strengths and challenges of the conservation profession today?
SD: A huge strength is that conservators have amazing skill sets. We should be taking the lead in cultural institutions, not only directing collections management and preservation, but guiding development and fundraising efforts, and directly influencing strategic vision and mission.
Two major challenges I see for our profession right now are that it is insular and exclusive. Few conservators participate in allied disciplines by attending or presenting at allied conferences, or reading or publishing in related journals. Current grad school applicants in the U.S. need a lot of internship hours to be competitive, but museums can’t usually afford to pay interns for their learning experience. They pay with the staff time and resources they commit to training the intern [but] this system excludes anyone who can’t afford to take unpaid internships. The field is exclusive in more subtle ways and our methods for recruiting and fostering potential conservators could be updated to serve us better.
ECPN: What achievements are you most proud of that you feel qualified you for the Conservation Advocacy Award?
SD: I’m proudest of my day-to-day work with students. The Kelsey Museum has a long tradition of conservators who are active in teaching and service. All the advocacy I’ve done is rooted in this belief. We never felt like we were “dumbing down” information, but distilling concepts to their essentials. Writing about them for a general audience was a lot harder than we expected.
ECPN: Do you have any words of advice for ECPs or others who want to contribute to conservation and heritage preservation?
SD: If you can match your skills and interests to an existing need, that’s a good way to contribute in a meaningful way. Think about places you can add value. If you’re at a museum, you could start writing for the blog, give a talk about your work, or collaborate with the education department to develop outreach products like tours or podcasts that focus on conservation. If you’re in private practice, you can use your website to talk about conservation in detail and write about work in the public sphere. All of us should share our work, not just through AIC, but through conferences and publications in allied disciplines. You can also look around your local community for ways to contribute and be an advocate for conservation.
If you’re considering graduate school in conservation, spend time researching other careers in the cultural heritage sector. Conservation isn’t the only way you can contribute, and there might be something you like better.
Conservation and heritage organizations like AIC almost always have open service positions, and some of which focus on outreach and advocacy. Know about opportunities like these and volunteer where you can. You might see a need or gap where others haven’t. If you do, and you believe in it, don’t be afraid to advocate.
***
This year AIC also awarded the Sheldon and Caroline Keck Award for conservation education to Steve Koob (Corning Museum of Glass).
To learn more about AIC’s annual awards for members and allied professionals, visit http://www.conservation-us.org/membership/awards. These interviews were conducted by email and in person by ECPN officers. For questions, contact ayesha.fuentes@gmail.com.
– Ayesha Fuentes, ECPN Communications co-officer
(Posted on behalf of Ayesha Fuentes by Fran Ritchie, ECPN Professional Education and Training co-officer)
42nd Annual Meeting – Photographic Materials Group, May 31, “Characterization of a Surface Tarnish Found on Daguerreotypes under Shortwave Ultraviolet Radiation” by Krista Lough
Krista Lough, graduate intern in photograph conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and third-year student in the Buffalo State College (BSC) program in art conservation, presented an interesting talk on the presence and potential sources a particular fluorescent tarnish found on many daguerreotypes when viewed under shortwave ultraviolet radiation. In addition to examination and photodocumentation of a set of daguerreotypes that exhibit this type of fluorescence, Lough also used Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and x-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine that the fluorescent tarnish is copper- and cyanide-based.
The presentation began with a summary of prior research on this subject by Lee Ann Daffner, Dan Kushel, John Messinger, and Claire Buzit Tagni. These studies corroborated Lough’s findings in characterizing the fluorescent tarnish as copper- and cyanide-based. These studies also showed that the tarnish was either removed or its fluorescence quenched when the daguerreotypes were treated with ammonium hydroxide.
Following a brief review of the phenomenon of fluorescence and its causes, Lough presented the photodocumentation of nine daguerreotypes that were examined during this study. The plates came from two sources—a private collection and a study collection at Buffalo State College—and only those from previously opened packages were examined. Lough’s research focused on determining the source of the fluorescent tarnish and its long-term effects. While the plates varied widely in condition, three primary types of fluorescent tarnish were identified: edge tarnish; rings and circles; and continuous film. The characteristic fluorescence was only observed when the plates were viewed under shortwave UV-C and not under longer wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation. Lough also noted that it was not always possible to associate fluorescent areas with tarnish perceived under visible light. Further, the greenish fluorescence was observed on the verso of some of the plates and along the verso and beveled edges and brass mats that accompanied some of the daguerreotypes. No strong connections could be made, however, between the fluorescence observed on the plates and the corresponding components of their once-sealed packages.
As part of her research methodology, Lough created a number of pure copper and silver-coated copper mock-ups. The mock-ups were treated with both potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide in an attempt to produce the same fluorescent tarnish observed in the 19th-century daguerreotypes. Ultimately, the tarnish only formed in the mock-ups treated with sodium cyanide in areas of exposed, pure copper. The fluorescent tarnish did not form on the plates treated with potassium cyanide or where the copper mock-ups were protected by a coating of silver.
To characterize the composition of tarnish, the mock-ups and select 19th-century daguerreotypes were analyzed using Raman spectroscopy, SEM, and XRD. The Raman spectra obtained indicate that the composition of the tarnish was identical in all spots analyzed. SEM was used to create elemental maps of some of the tarnished areas on one of the 19th-century daguerreotypes. A higher concentration of copper, carbon, and nitrogen and a lower concentration of silver were revealed in the areas of tarnish analyzed. Further, a higher concentration of sodium was observed in the areas surrounding the tarnish spots, perhaps an indication of previous treatment with sodium cyanide. Finally, XRD analysis of the fluorescent tarnish on the historic plate produced peaks for silver sulfide and pure silver. Unfortunately, while cyanide was identified on one of the mock-up plates, it was not found on the historic daguerreotype examined and it is thought that the quantities present may be below the detection limits of the XRD instrument.
Lough concluded the presentation with a list of daguerreotype procedures documented in historic literature that could account for the presence of cyanide: electroplating, cleaning, brightening, fixing, gilding, and engraving by galvanism. She also identified avenues for future research including investigation into whether or not the tarnish should be removed, the presence of copper cyanide on brass mats, and potential problems or affects to the daguerreotype that may arise if the tarnish remains untreated. Lough suggested documentation of the fluorescent tarnish could be used to develop a monitoring program for daguerreotype collections and potentially map trends during the examination of larger collections to determine, for instance, if a specific cyanide procedure is common to daguerreotypes from a particular period or location. In closing, Lough summarized the findings of her study in three main points: UV-C examination is a useful tool for understanding the condition of daguerreotypes; the fluorescent tarnish was positively identified as copper cyanide; and the objects exhibiting this characteristic fluorescent tarnish should be handled with caution as the tarnish is toxic.
