According to an article in the February 24, 2013 issue of The New York Times (“Buddhists, Reconstructing Sacred Tibetan Murals, Wield Their Brushes in Nepal”, by Edward Wong), the American Himalayan Foundation is financing a project to restore the art work in two of the main religious buildings in Lo Manthong, Nepal. While the Project Director is Luigi Fieni, an Italian conservator, it is thirty-five local residents who are doing the work which includes painting new images on sections of the walls from which the original images are missing. Scholars of Tibertan art assert that the new painting alters important historical murals and is jeopardizing scholarship, while people involved in the project argue that local worshippers want to have complete art works and not ruins in their temples. Whose belief should take precedence?
Month: February 2013
Preservation EXPOsed!
National Archives and Records Administration presents Preservation EXPOsed!
March 14, 2013
11:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m.
William G. McGowan Theater and Lobby
National Archives Building
7th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC
Learn about preservation and caring for your personal treasures at the 2013 Preservation EXPO. Hear preservation lectures and bring in a document, book, photograph, artifact, motion picture, photographic film or audio recording for a consultation with a NARA Conservator on how to preserve it. Appointments are required for individual consultations. Please contact Preservation by email at preservation@nara.gov or call Preservation Programs Officer, Allison Olson at 301-837-0678 to schedule one.
Attendees should enter the National Archives Building through the Special Events Entrance on Constitution Avenue between 7th and 9th Streets, NW.
http://www.archives.gov/preservation/exposed-2013.html
27th Annual National Archives Preservation Conference
Hot Trends in Response and Recovery: 40 Years After the Fire
Date: Thursday, June 27, 2013
http://www.archives.gov/preservation/conferences/2013/
A program schedule will be posted when speakers have been confirmed.
Cost: TBA
Location:
National Archives at St. Louis
One Archives Drive
St. Louis, MO 63138
About the Conference
The National Archives will commemorate the 1973 fire that occurred at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) with its 2013 Preservation Conference, Hot Trends in Response and Recovery: 40 Years After the Fire. The conference will be held at the new National Archives in St. Louis facility, dedicated in October, 2011, to mark the 40th anniversary of that devestating event. The June 27th one-day conference is the first time the popular conference has moved outside of the Washington, DC metro area. Sponsored by Preservation Programs at the National Archives, the annual conference attracts a national audience of archivists, librarians, facilities managers and administrators, conservators, preservation specialists and reformatting experts.
The immense 1973 fire and its long-lasting impact on our nation’s records and veterans provide the context for the conference. Speakers will discuss the latest approaches in risk assessment, fire prevention and building design to protect archives and cultural heritage. New trends that enhance emergency response will be explored: models of community collaboration, the impact of social media, and the psychology of disasters. National Archives staff will also describe ongoing efforts to preserve fire-damaged records and join with other experts to share the latest tools and technologies in image recovery.
A complete list of speakers and registration information will be posted in the coming weeks.
Contact
For information please contact the Conference Coordinator: Richard Schneider, 301-837-3617
A very long conservation project
According to The New York Times article, “As One Renaissance Door Closes, Others Open” (by Elisabetta Povoledo, February 23, 2013), thirty years after it was begun the conservation of the rooms in the second floor apartment of the Pontifical Palace (Vatican City) decorated by Raphael has been completed. Many insights into Raphael’s working methods in fresco have come out of the project. Only Professor Arnold Nesselrath of the Vatican Museums was able to stay with the project for the duration. If more members of the original team had been part of the project for all thirty years would long term dedication and study have produced even more insights? Or, was it new team members bringing new outlooks and approaches which led to the important discoveries?
A unique material for a study of damage and aging
According to Allan Kozinn’s February 23, 2013 article in The New York Times, “A Plain White Square and Yet So Fascinating“, the exhibit, “We Buy White Albums” (on view at Recess Gallery, 41 Grand Street, New York City through March 9, 2013), is an installation of several hundred examples of the Beatles’ “The White Album” which were collected by Rutherford Chang. For those who are too young to know the record firsthand, the one color album cover was embossed with the title and each album carried a unique serial number. In the article, Chang is quoted as saying, “I was interested in the different ways that covers aged. Being an all white cover, the changes are apparent.” Back in 1968 when the album was first released, who would have thought of its cover as material for the study of damage and aging of paper.
An abundance of College Art Association meeting sessions on conservation, technical art history, and the material aspects of works of art
In a typical year, one or two sessions at the annual meeting of the College Art Association focus on conservation or the material aspects of works of art. The 2013 meeting which took place in New York City on February 13-16 included seven sessions on these subjects– “The Proof is in the Print: Avant-Garde Approaches to the Historical Materials of Photography’s Avant Garde”, “Destruction of Cultural Heritage in European Countries in Transition, 1990- 2011”, “Collaborative Understanding through Technical Investigations: Art Scholar, Conservators and Scientists Research in Tandem”, “Between Maker, Agent, Collector, Curator and Conservator: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Islamic Tilework”, “Technical Art History and the University Curriculum”, “The New Connoisseurship: A Conversation among Scholars, Curators and Conservators”, “Artists and the Manufacturing of Art Materials”– with a number of them stressing collaboration. Some day in the future will we look back to this meeting and see it as the beginning of a golden age of conservator-art historian collaboration?
Why We Assist in Disasters
In a series of posts on the University of Iowa Libraries Preservation Beat blog, Nancy Kraft, AIC-CERT team member and Preservation Librarian, reflects on her work at the Cultural Recovery Center in Brooklyn.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Those of us who volunteer to assist in disaster response are, obviously, not in it for the money. Private conservators are not getting paid while volunteering. Many of us are away from family and friends, work hard and go to bed exhausted during recovery efforts. So what is in it for us?
For me, as for many of us, it is the giving back to our community, assisting in saving our culture, and the joy of helping someone preserve a little bit of his/her history. The piece below is a perfect example. I captured the title “For Matthew, May 14-May 15, 1976″ commemorating the birth of the artist’s son.
Read more of Nancy’s posts here:
Teaching Moments at CRC
Busy Day at the Cultural Recovery Center in Brooklyn
An Artist’s Quandary
Assessment and Cleaning
Assisting Artists After Hurricane Sandy
Salvaging Artists’ Works After Hurricane Sandy
Read the University of Iowa Libraries Preservation Beat blog: http://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/preservation/
With thanks to Nancy Kraft and the University of Iowa Libraries for permission to re-post this information on our blog.
Cultural Recovery Center Update
FAIC Responds to Cultural Disasters
Founded in 2007, the AIC Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC-CERT) is comprised of conservators and other museum professionals trained to respond to disasters affecting cultural institutions. Managed by the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC), AIC-CERT volunteers have provided assistance and advice to dozens of museums, libraries, and archives in the wake of natural disasters including tropical storms, floods, hurricanes, and even the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. In 2007 and again in 2010, FAIC received funding from the Institute of Museum & Library Services to support an advanced training program that resulted in a force of 107 “rapid responders” adept at assessing damage and initiating salvage of cultural collections after a disaster has occurred.
AIC-CERT: the SWAT Team for Art
Hurricane Sandy caused an enormous amount of damage and loss of life. The storm was equally disastrous for the arts and culture community. It struck the Northeast at the end of October, 2012 and combined with other weather patterns and high tides to form a “Super Storm.” Requests for assistance quickly came in through the AIC-CERT hotline and from Alliance for Response New York City (AFRNYC). Many collecting institutions throughout the region were affected, but small galleries and individual artists were especially hard hit in the low-lying neighborhoods of New York City.
By March 1, 23 AIC-CERT members will have contributed 125 days of professional volunteer services in New York and New Jersey.
“If the cultural industry has a SWAT team for visual art, it is the AIC’s Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC-CERT)”
– Pia Catton, Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2012
Before the storm hit, AIC-CERT had already begun preparations. Media releases on October 26 encouraged emergency preparedness and provided institutions with the AIC-CERT hotline number (202-661-8068). As of December 4, 2012, FAIC’s Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC-CERT) hotline had received over 120 requests for assistance, and all have been followed up with appropriate phone, email, and in-person visits by volunteers. Fourteen AIC-CERT members from across the country responded to the initial calls, organized by Beth Antoine (the AIC-CERT Coordinator), who was working overtime to meet the demand. In addition, FAIC contracted with Cynthia Albertson, a conservator at MOMA, to coordinate the many professionals in the New York area who wished to assist. Twenty-eight local volunteers worked with AIC-CERT in the initial response. Some of the larger projects included the Martha Graham collection; individual artists at the Westbeth Artists Residence; and various artists and galleries in Chelsea and Brooklyn. Multi-day power outages in lower Manhattan and other neighborhoods, subway line closures, and area gas rationing complicated the response.
Because of the physical, cultural, and economic geography of the New York region, a disproportionate number of artists and private galleries were the hardest hit by the storm. Four to six feet of surging water caused physical damage as well as water damage. Although volunteers were able to help move and dry materials in the first weeks, it became clear that artists would need a great deal of space, guidance, and equipment in order to remove toxic coatings and prevent mold from destroying works that seemed to be “saved.” A review of the services provided through early December showed that at least 24 collections were in need of further work, and that space, equipment, and expert advice would be needed.
The Cultural Recovery Center
To address the need for further assistance, FAIC opened the Cultural Recovery Center (CRC), an 18,000 square foot space in Brooklyn, to provide space, equipment, supplies, and volunteer expertise to assist artists and owners of damaged works to clean, decontaminate, and stabilize their paintings, works on paper, sculpture, textiles, photographs, and other objects. FAIC took possession of the space on December 10, and begin providing services to its first artist on December 13.
Opening the facility not only required physical preparation, but administrative support as well. Policies and procedures for the facility were developed; a job description for the studio manager position was created; phone numbers and email addresses organized, and so on. The Studio Manager, Anna Studebaker, formerly manager of the objects conservation lab at the Metropolitan Museum, began work on December 18. She coordinates the work at the CRC, including scheduling artists, signing volunteers in and out, making sure volunteers are working safely, maintaining records of the work, ensuring supplies are in stock, and keeping in communication with the volunteer coordinators and FAIC staff. The overall project is managed by Eric Pourchot, FAIC Institutional Advancement Director.
In the first month of operations, the CRC worked with seven artists on 555 works, including paintings, works on papers, photographs, textiles, and multi-media works. Twelve conservators volunteered 22 days of time working with artists at the Center.
Several artists are still in the queue to bring their works to the Center, including a painter who has had many of his paintings and works on paper worked on at the Center already, but has more in storage still to be assessed and cleaned; a photographer who is seeking space to rinse and dry approximately 40,000 images; textile artists; sculptors; electronic media creators; and many others whose works are at risk because of toxic deposits and potential mold growth. The Cultural Recovery Center will remain open through March 1st in order to handle the requests for services.
This would not have been possible without …
Initial funding for the response and recovery efforts, including initial costs for the Center, was provided by a leadership gift to FAIC from Sotheby’s. A grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation allowed the Center to remain open through March 1. Industry City at Bush Terminal provided the space rent-free. Rapid Refile set up containment tents and air scrubbers to prevent the spread of mold from incoming objects to cleaned objects. Collector Systems has provided free use of its web-based collection management system. The Smithsonian Institution and a grant to Heritage Preservation from the New York Community Trust, as well as support from TALAS, have enabled purchase of supplies. The Center has also been outfitted with supplies from Materials for the Arts, a creative reuse program managed by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional donations to FAIC have come from PINTA, The Modern & Contemporary Latin American Art Show; Tru Vue; Aon Huntington Block Insurance; Aon Foundation; members of AIC; and others. The American Museum of Natural History and MoMA have also provided key in-kind support for recovery efforts and establishment of the CRC.
AIC-CERT Remains on Alert
Even though the response for SuperStorm Sandy was unprecedented for FAIC, AIC-CERT members continued to be ready to respond to other emergency situations. During December and January, even while staffing the CRC in New York City, AIC-CERT members assisted the Osage Historical Society in Oklahoma, which suffered from soot damage after a fire, and responded to soot damage from a furnace puff-back at the Oakham Historical Museum in Massachusetts.
More information about FAIC, AIC-CERT, and the Cultural Recovery Center can be found at www.conservation-us.org/disaster or by sending an email to info@conservation-us.org
Two summer Internships at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in objects conservation
A summer internship program has been launched at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar Hazy center in the brand new Emil Buehler laboratory located in Chantilly VA. Two, 10-week internship positions are available for students currently enrolled in a recognized training program, and/ or advance pre-program individuals with over 1,000 hrs of documented work experience. The two internships offered have specific research components (see descriptions below), in addition to providing hands-on treatments of modern materials.
Description of research for the first internship:
Research on the Aluminum Alloy Disconnects of Spacesuit gloves in the NASM Collection:
A conservation intern is required to assist NASM Conservation staff with primary research on the corrosion and conservation of aluminum alloy glove disconnects related to the space program. The intern will work in a team with NASM conservator Lisa Young, Malcolm Collum (Chief of Conservation), and the curator of the collection. The research will involve hands-on analysis and testing as well as literature searches, contact with industry experts and collaboration with Smithsonian conservators and scientists when deemed necessary.
Contact Lisa Young: YoungLA [at] si [dot] edu with questions regarding this research.
Description of research for the second internship:
Research consolidants and application methods for deteriorating polyurethane foam in the NASM collection:
A conservation intern is requested to collaborate with NASM Conservation staff in the evaluation of treatment methodologies for deteriorating polyurethane foam. This material is found as a component in many composite artifacts in the NASM collection and recent advances have identified new materials to help preserve polyurethane foam. The selected intern would be responsible for conducting hands-on testing and analysis complimented by literature searches and evaluation methods. The intern will work in a team with NASM conservator Lauren Horelick, Malcolm Collum (Chief of Conservation), curators and materials scientists. The intern will have access to other Smithsonian conservators and scientists when deemed necessary.
Contact Lauren Horelick: Horelickl [at] si [dot] edu with any questions regarding this research.
Start / end dates: Monday, June 3-Friday, August 9, 2013.
Funded amount: $ 5,500.00 available for each intern.
Deadline for application: February, 15 2013
Procedure for application: All applications must be submitted on-line through the Smithsonian’s SOLAA web-site. After creating a username find the link to “Internships” and use the drop down menu for the Air and Space Museum (NASM) for further information about applying. Please specify in your statement of purpose which internship you are applying for. Also, please notify either Lauren Horelick or Lisa Young when you have completed your application so we can be sure it arrives at the correct place.
*Individuals not currently enrolled in school are welcome to apply. Disregard this eligibility requirement on the SOLAA website.
Questions: Application questions should be directed to Myra Banks-Scott: BanksScottM [at] si [dot] edu