{"id":2500,"date":"2012-02-01T14:44:55","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T19:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservators-converse.org\/?p=2500"},"modified":"2012-02-01T14:44:55","modified_gmt":"2012-02-01T19:44:55","slug":"aic-member-research-trip-to-cuba-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/2012\/02\/01\/aic-member-research-trip-to-cuba-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"AIC Member Research Trip to Cuba 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Plaza de San Francisco in Havana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I first heard of AIC\u2019s Members Research trip to Cuba, my initial reaction was \u2018Why Cuba?\u2019\u00a0 Of all the places to experience conservation, what would a Caribbean island that has been isolated from the outside world have to offer? \u00a0\u00a0Not knowing what to expect, and curious to learn more about a place that was restricted for Americans, I along with some 30 other AIC members, signed up and put myself in the hands of our fearless leader Rosa Lowinger.\u00a0 Rosa, a well respected conservator<\/a> (and author<\/a>), was born in Cuba and relocated to the US following the embargo.\u00a0 She was an ideal resource and had planned an ambitious schedule covering museums, conservation labs, local artists, architecture, as well as an Angels Project in Historic Trinidad.<\/p>\n

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A well maintained and adored 1950s Plymouth taxi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To really understand the allure of Cuba for a conservator, look no further than the iconic 50s cars that rumble down the street.\u00a0Despite the embargo and a lack of supplies, the Cubans have managed to keep their beloved American made Buicks, Pontiacs, and Fords in working condition over 50 years since they were produced.\u00a0 As I sat in the back of an electric blue 50s Plymouth taxi, I listened to the driver speak passionately about how his grandfather, father, and now he, had maintained it over the years using only original Plymouth parts.\u00a0 The same holds true for conservation in the country.\u00a0 Although basic supplies like paint brushes and B-72 are difficult to obtain, conservators in Cuba take pride in their history and have managed to preserve it over the years.<\/p>\n

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A paintings student shows us his research project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Conservators are well respected in Cuba.\u00a0 Similar to the American training programs Cuban conservators train at the graduate level with internships\/fellowships along the way.\u00a0 There are also highly skilled craftsmen who attend trade schools with apprenticeships.\u00a0 The Cuban government funds all conservation projects and established National Center for Conservation, Restoration and Museology in Havana (CENCREM)<\/a>.\u00a0We visited the well equipped labs which included Paintings, Paper, Objects, and Book conservation along with Conservation Sciences (for more pictures<\/a>).\u00a0 The most impressive aspect of the labs for me was a Biological Lab, set aside to identify and address two of the biggest problems faced by conservators in Cuba:\u00a0 mold and termites.\u00a0 However as impressive as the CENCREM labs were, not everywhere in Cuba was so well equipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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A Graduate Student shows us the Paper Lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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A ceramics conservator shows us his inpainting media for porcelain.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Rosa Lowinger pictured with Trinidad conservator Nancy Benitez overlooking Valley of the Sugar Mills<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the 5th<\/sup> day of our trip, we hit the road for a four hour bus journey to Trinidad, designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1988, and the site of our Angels Project.\u00a0 Trinidad, located near the Valley of the Sugar mills, was a major center for the sugar trade until the 1850s when it was surpassed by nearby Cienfuegos.\u00a0 From 1850 until the 1950s, Trinidad experienced a period of isolation and incidentally did not experience the growth of hotels and other buildings like Havana.\u00a0 Instead Trinidad is a well preserved testament of Colonial Cuban architecture and art.\u00a0 Conservators in Trinidad were trained like those in Havana and had labs for Paintings, Objects, and\u00a0Archaeological\u00a0conservation (Paper was done elsewhere). However conservators in Trinidad were very limited in resources and supplies in comparison to CENCREM. \u00a0\u00a0The aim of our Angels project in Trinidad was to learn how conservators there dealt with these limited resources and aid them with the donation of supplies and suggestions from our own experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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A typical scene on the cobble stone streets of Trinidad.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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The Plaza Mayor in Trinidad<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Supplies donated by AIC members to Trinidad Conservators.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The conservators in Trinidad received donated books, publications, emergency management tools, inpainting brushes, gilding supplies, dry pigments, small hand tools, a large jar of B-72, along with other helpful supplies.\u00a0 The group divided amongst ourselves into areas of specialties and went to address projects the conservators there were working on.\u00a0 I, as an objects conservator, went to the archeological lab where there were objects labeled in boxes on shelves and large objects in a tub desalinating from burial in distilled water.\u00a0 The conservators were interested in finding ways to reduce the water changes since distilled water was not the easiest to find.\u00a0 Nancy Odegaard took a trip to the chemical room and came back with a simple spot test for chlorides recently presented and published with WAAC.<\/p>\n

Other helpful advice came from the architectural and outdoor sculpture conservators who helped design a mount to elevate a colonial canon that was currently stored on the ground. Paintings conservators examined and suggested treatment procedures for a large canvas with tears, and paper\/book conservators worked together with ethnographic conservators to address a painting on damaged leather. By the end of the day both the Cuban and American conservators felt a lot had been gained from our visit, and are hopeful that future collaboration will be possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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AIC Paintings conservators examine a large oil on canvas in Trinidad.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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The end of a successful Angels Project, and the beginning of collaboration with Cuban conservators.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

For more pictures and video from the our visit to the Guanabacoa Museum,\u00a0 click here<\/a>,\u00a0 and see AIC’s photos.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I first heard of AIC\u2019s Members Research trip to Cuba, my initial reaction was \u2018Why Cuba?\u2019\u00a0 Of all the places to experience conservation, what would a Caribbean island that has been isolated from the outside world have to offer? \u00a0\u00a0Not knowing what to expect, and curious to learn more about a place that was … Continue reading “AIC Member Research Trip to Cuba 2011”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":2501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[322,1028],"class_list":["post-2500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aic-faic","category-ccs","tag-cuba","tag-trip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}