Past Annual Meetings – 2021
Abstracts
Keynote Speaker
Tory Schendel, The Virginia G. Schroeder Curator of Art, Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science, IN
This presentation will be divided into two parts. The first section will focus on the Evansville African American Museum and discuss the future display of murals produced during the George Floyd protests inside the Museum’s Porter House. The second portion discusses how the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science has used new technologies to redefine traditional conservation practices that allow for improved community engagement and cultural significance within the institution.
Non-invasive Technical Analysis of Illuminated Manuscript Leaves from the W.D. Jordan Rare Book and Special Collections, Queen’s University: A Collaborative Project
Marissa Bartz (speaker), Mellon Fellow in Photograph Conservation, Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Gabriela Rosas, Preventive Conservation Assistant, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec
Jerome Paquet, Conservation Intern, National Gallery of Canada, Ontario
Grace McLean, Conservation Intern, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Fredericton
In recent years there has been a surge of technical analyses applied to the understanding and evaluation of illuminated manuscripts. Illuminated manuscripts are complex objects made from multiple materials that include the support, binder, dyes as well as pigments. Due to the sheer volume and lack of exposure to the elements or human intervention, illuminated manuscripts make excellent sources of artists’ materials and techniques.
This research was a collaboration with the other second-year paper conservation students at Queen’s University to examine eight manuscript leaves from the W.D Jordan Rare Book and Special Collections at Queen’s University. The manuscript leaves were donated to the Special Collections in 2016 from one donor. Although part of the same collection, these double-sided delicate leaves, created between the 13th and 16th centuries, originate from different manuscript sources. As these richly decorated miniatures are often consulted and may be the only surviving remains of the manuscripts they were once part of, and thus highly valuable objects, the maintenance of their original structural integrity during scientific examination is of most importance. One of the main questions that this study answers is whether the pigments, binders, and techniques used are consistent with the time frame to which they are attributed.
The leaves were analyzed using only non-invasive techniques including x-ray fluorescence (XRF), external reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ER-IR), and multi-spectral imaging with the VSC 8000. These analytical techniques complement one another well with XRF providing elemental data, ER-IR giving more information on functional groups and organic materials, and finally multispectral imaging showcasing underdrawings as well as the overall distribution of pigments. Instrumental analysis was supplemented with historical research into materials and methods of application that were commonly used for manuscripts during the medieval period, and the art historical context of illuminated manuscript. In addition, standards were prepared using materials and techniques consistent with the Late Medieval period for comparison during analysis and bolstered the existing ER-IR library. This project not only expanded the understanding of manuscript materials and techniques, but also gave the Jordan Special Collections valuable information about the objects in their collections that they can now share with future researchers. The artists’ materials identified were vermillion, azurite, iron gall ink, malachite, verdigris, lead tin yellow, lead white and perhaps some organic colorants, which are all consistent with the late medieval period.
Keywords: illuminated manuscripts, medieval, pigments, reflectance FTIR, x-ray fluorescence, multispectral imaging
A Survey of Asian Painting Materials at the DIA
Christina Bisulca (speaker), Andrew W. Mellon Conservation Scientist, Conservation Department, Detroit Institute of Arts, MI
Aaron Steele, Imaging Specialist, Conservation Department, Detroit Institute of Arts
Jinah Kim, George P. Bickford Professor of Indian and South Asian Art, Department of History of Art & Architecture, Harvard University, MA
Christopher Foster, Paper Conservator, Conservation Department, Detroit Institute of Arts
Katherine Kasdorf, Associate Curator, Arts of Asia and the Islamic World, Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) has initiated a broad survey of the pigments and dyes used in the Asian paintings in its collections. The DIA has a comprehensive collection of Asian art, which was recently reinstalled in renovated galleries featuring Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian and Southeast Asian art, and Buddhist art across Asia. For analysis we are using a multi-analytical approach with primarily noninvasive methods, including X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, vis-NIR spectroscopy, and various imaging techniques. A major goal of this study is to determine accessible and reliable protocols for characterization of materials more commonly encountered in Asian paintings, notably lac dye, copper chloride greens, indigo and organic yellows like gamboge and Indian yellow. Conservation examination was undertaken for a detailed analysis of painting techniques, as well as condition and deterioration mechanisms specific to each colorant. This is most significant for green pigments which are often associated with deterioration of the substrate.
This study was prompted by Harvard University's Mapping Color in History Project [MCH] which brings together scientific data drawn from existing and on-going material analyses of pigments in Asian painting in a historical perspective. MCH provides a searchable digital platform for participating institutions to share pigment and dye information obtained based on scientific analysis. With MCH, our results can ultimately be used to note temporal, regional, and cultural trends in the materials and methods used in Asian painting. For later paintings, this will also reveal the introduction of Western painting materials across Asia.
Not Your Grandpa’s Basement: Indiana University’s Collections
Heather K. Calloway, Executive Director of University Collections, Indiana University, IN
Imagine having a collection contact you and say they had found mold in their stacks. And, not just mold, but thousands of impacted artifacts. Days later, another collection, on another campus, in another part of the state contacts you because their facilities staff are welding over archival stacks of paper. That’s right! Welding… In my first several weeks on the job, I was contacted to assist and advocate for numerous collections.
Indiana University has over 250 collections found across multiple campuses and multiple venues, such as galleries, museums, centers, and libraries and others within academic and administrative units on each campus. Part of the mission of our department is to develop and implement plans to ensure that all the university’s collections are properly housed, maintained, utilized, and curated. In addition to proper storage and management, University Collections is working to improve digital access and digital storage for collections. This talk will feature highlights of the IU collections and some of the challenges we addressed in setting up this new department over our first three years.
The Lilly Library Then and Now
Jim Canary, Conservator, Lilly Library, Indiana University, IN
The Lilly Library has just reopened after closing for a year and half for a major renovation. This timing coincided with the pandemic and many of us worked at home and or a hybrid work schedule. What would normally have been a stressful undertaking full of challenges became even more so. On the other hand, it was a good time to be closed as many other institutions were closed or providing limited services so expectations were tempered. During this time we had limited access to collections which were stored in several secure locations and managed to continue some digitization work, answer reference questions collaborate with the Eskenazi Art Museum on an Albrecht Durer exhibit Albrecht Dürer: Apocalypse and Other Masterworks from Indiana University Collections which will be up through December 19. We also began the process of preparing an exhibit for our reopening. I will talk about the move out, give you a brief tour of the new library space, talk about the new exhibition cases and the new mural which was commissioned for our reading room and extend an invitation to come and visit. Our current exhibit is The Eye, the Mind, and the Imagination which features a number of our significant collectors.
Mixing Solutions: Combining Paper and Textile Approaches to Treat Iron-mordanted Printed Cotton
Kris Cnossen (speaker), 3rd-year graduate student at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation
Annabelle Camp, 3rd-year graduate student at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation
The use of iron(II) sulfate and tannic acid as a colorant is found in dyes on cellulosic textiles and inks (iron gall) on paper objects. On both substrates, oxidative degradation and acid hydrolysis due to free iron(II) ions may lead to fall out of the dyed/inked areas. Paper conservators have developed and proven the success of treating paper with degraded iron gall ink using phytic acid and calcium bicarbonate.
While it is known that only bathing an iron-mordanted printed textile is a “quick fix,” and an antioxidant treatment is necessary to halt this deterioration mechanism, only one prior use of phytate treatments on historic textiles has been published (Castaneda and O’Connor 2019). There are no published accounts of combining common steps in textile bathing, such as the application of a surfactant, with phytate treatments.
As part of their second-year curriculum the authors were tasked with the treatment of two iron-mordanted printed cotton handkerchiefs commemorating the death of George Washington. One of the handkerchiefs is from the Winterthur Museum, Library & Gardens, while the other, which is a pair of uncut handkerchiefs, is from the collection of the Historical Society of Haddonfield, New Jersey. While the staining and levels of degradation on the two textiles varied, both displayed characteristic iron(II) driven deterioration. Both a cleaning and a phytate treatment were deemed necessary for the treatment of the handkerchiefs.
To determine the efficacy and safety of combining a phytate and a cleaning bathing technique, the authors carried out a variety of tests on a surrogate textile printed with iron-mordanted dyes. The efficacy of these tests was determined using pH, colorimetry, presence of iron II, and qualitative analysis. Based on testing, both a phytate and a cleaning treatment were deemed most effective if the cleaning treatment preceded the phytate treatment.
Disaster Response Resources for Midwest Museums
Charity Counts, Executive Director, Association for Midwest Museums, IN
Seth Irwin, Conservator, Indiana State Library, IN
Museums in the Midwest and across the country are increasingly faced with extraordinary disasters. In the past two years alone, museums have been affected by numerous natural and manmade events – from wildfires in Minnesota to the derecho that swept across Iowa to citywide data breaches in Wisconsin to flooding in Michigan – many of which occurred during a pandemic. While disaster planning is a growing practice in the museum profession, many museums are not prepared for the variety of events they could face in the future. The Association of Midwest Museums and a team of conservators from the Midwest Regional Conservation Guild teamed up in 2021 to begin exploring solutions. Where do these organization’s turn when they are need? What is their first line of defense? How can they better prepare? How can we help? Join us for a conversation about new resources in development.
One Arachnophobe's Quest to Implement a Pragmatic Integrated Pest Management Program
Danielle Creech, Head of Preservation, Digitization & Exhibitions, University Libraries, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Like many of our peers, Washington University Libraries have collections spread across multiple campus locations. Each of these spaces have unique challenges that make them vulnerable to pests, and these challenges range from the prosaic (aging buildings with poor climate control) to the more exotic (a basement vault located under a restaurant/hot yoga studio). With only a small staff dedicated to a wide range of preservation responsibilities, the idea of developing a new integrated pest management program on top of existing environmental monitoring, disaster response, and collection repair activities was very daunting. However, we knew an integrated pest management system would play an important role in improving the overall care of our collections, as it would give us further insights into environmental conditions and help us to prevent larger disasters.
While discussing the whys behind the decision to proceed with an IPM program, this presentation will primarily focus on the practicalities of building a program that is sustainable even with a small staff. Pragmatic tips on equipment, tools and workflow will be discussed alongside the challenges of getting buy-in from colleagues outside the preservation lab and facing one's own deepest, darkest, eight-legged fears.
TIP- A Paper Conservator's Guide to G -10
Rachel Freeman, Paper Conservator, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
This tip introduces Garolite G-10 as a support material for paper conservation applications. In preparation for an exhibition on the origins of the collection at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, a 1930's French architectural model for the Chinese Temple Room required treatment for several issues including repair and partial reconstruction of the facade. During long years in a non-art storage area, heavy wooden staves along the upper edge of the facade caused an edge-to-edge horizontal brake and the wooden framing around the clerestory windows secured the parts of the facade together. 21st century paper boards matching the thickness of the facade proved too weak to support the weight of the staves, and a search for an alternative material led to the use of G-10, a fiberglass and epoxy resin sheet material, adopted by paintings conservation in the 1990's as a reinforcement for stretchers. Tips include not only the basics of working with G -10 (the paintings conservation wiki made it sound easy!), but also outlines health and safety measures, methods for manipulating and covering the material so that it can be effectively used with adhesives common to paper conservation and introduces drilling into the material to set pins or tacks with ease.
The Tale of a Mural: Lost, Rediscovered, and Its Meaning for the Community
Cristiana Acerbi Ginatta (speaker), Paintings Conservator, Arte Viva, LLC, Dallas, TX
Helen A. Houp, Conservator, Helen A. Houp Fine Art Conservation Inc.
Kimberly Crozier-Mitsche, Objects Conservator, Crozier Conservation, LLC
During the summer of 1935 Joe Jones, a Saint Louis artist, painted The Struggle of the South for the Commonwealth College in Mena, Arkansas, a vocational school founded to promote labor education, and especially to educate leaders for the labor movement. In less than a month Joe Jones painted the 8’ tall by 40’ wide mural on 10 Beaver Hardboard panels using oil paint on an artist-applied ground. The mural depicts a struggling family of sharecroppers, miners going on strike, and, at the center, a lynching scene. After the school closed in 1940, the building was dismantled, and its materials used for new construction. The mural was lost. Until 1984, when construction workers that were tearing down a house found painted panels. A local historian contacted the University of Arkansas that acquired the extant artwork, in 29 pieces of various dimensions and shape, with flaking paint underneath heavy engrained grime, significant scattered losses, and partially covered with wall paint and wallpaper.
The conservators at the Saint Louis Museum of Art treated two panels for the 2010-2011 monographic exhibition at the museum. The remaining panels were treated by a team of three conservators headed by Helen Houp. The multi-year process involved stabilization of flaking paint before grime removal; structural intervention to mend and flatten distortions in the damaged panels; loss compensation of large areas; preparation of secondary support for the panels for safe handling and installation. The full conservation/restoration protocol required 25 steps.
The artwork is currently on display in a special designed downtown space built by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In the future it will be at the heart of a new building dedicated to African American Studies.
Painted Or Embroidered Silk In A State Collection For 150 Years
Jennifer Hein, Treatments Preservation Conservator, Indianapolis, IN
This talk describes the steps for preservation, conservation, restoration, and care of the 1862-1865 historic military flags. Twenty percent of the 400 flags cared for by the state were in poor condition since they had been displayed at Men’s Halls & in the State House Rotunda. These 100 McCormick Quilted flags have the strongest historic provenance. General McCormick’s wife organized quilters to stitch these to a linen backing in 1910. This did preserve them during the display in the upright, glass covered flip files and anyone could view them until 1992. The silk quilting threads were stronger than the silk and eventually started causing the silk ground cloth to slit & break. This is what caused concern & merited further work.
‘BONG HiTS 4 JESUS’: CONSERVING A CONTROVERSY
Seth Irwin, Conservator, Indiana State Library, IN
Artwork and historical objects that originate from either cultural or political controversy pose a unique challenge for conservators. Often these types of objects are created for the purpose of political protest, resulting in condition and aesthetic issues linked to a specific event. This can present an ethical dilemma for conservators as we are tasked with repairing damage to objects while at the same time preserve their use history. Conservators can be faced with the difficult questions of what to do when the physical damage to an object is the most inherent part of the object and/or that it is the entire reason for the object’s historical importance? In cases such as these, the conservator becomes a pseudo investigator attempting to ascertain when damage happened, what damage is historically important, what damage should be repaired, and what damage should be left alone. This was the case for a fifteen-foot-long banner that found itself at the center of one of the most important First Amendment U.S. Supreme Court Cases of the last half a century. The banner, made entirely out of butcher paper and duct tape, by high-schooler Joseph Frederick of Juneau Alaska, was hoisted up the on the snow-covered streets in January of 2002, during the 2002 Winter Olympics Torch Relay. Little did he know that this action would result in his suspension and a lawsuit, that would wind its way to the U.S. Supreme Court and become a landmark case in deciding the constitutional rights of students and free speech. While the case made national headlines for years, the banner found itself on its own journey, traversing the U.S. multiple times and eventually finding its way to the First Amendment Museum of Maine in 2021, in very poor condition and required a major intervention to be exhibited. Due to the size, ethical implications, and desire by the museum to exhibit it, the project became a good model for approaching and conserving “protest art”. This talk will discuss the wild and remarkable story of the U.S. Supreme Court Case Morse v. Frederick, and specifically about the ethical implications and treatment of the fifteen-foot-long “BONG HiTS 4 JESUS” banner that was at the center of this important case.
Form, function, and influence: preserving the passage of time through anachronistic bindings
Jen Hunt Johnson, Special Collections Conservator, Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame, IN
Throughout their usable life, books are altered through deliberate means by collectors, binders, and libraries, as well as unintended ones such as deterioration, or damage. Physical attributes of the book tell a story of this passage but much like any mode of fashion, often a specific moment in time dominates. As conservators, we influence the experience of a book through our own treatment. This imposition of our preferences for style and function becomes part of a book’s story.
De Doctrina Christiana, a parchment manuscript from the late 15th century, offers an opportunity to leave such a mark, however undesired or intended. A highly decorative 17th century wooden boards binding currently contains the manuscript, and is jarringly out of sync with its period of production, yet this binding was carefully crafted with deliberate intention. Embossed velvet, bright floral-patterned silk, and delicate metal furniture create a strong first impression, but significant damage to the binding has left the book too vulnerable for use, and a new intervention is required to prolong its accessibility for teaching and research. This presentation describes one of many possible options for treatment, methods for retaining and documenting the present structure, and the factors that were considered in creating the next iteration of binding for this book.
Birch Bark in the U-M Library Collections
Marieka Kaye, Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Head, Conservation & Book Repair, University of Michigan Library, MI
While birch bark is more commonly found in natural history collections, it is less common in libraries. The need to learn more about the history and material technology of birch bark in bookmaking arose when Marieka Kaye, head of conservation and book repair for the University of Michigan Library, received a copy of Simon Pokagon’s The Red Man’s Rebuke, a frequently requested item in the Special Collections Research Center. The fragility of this small booklet made it unsafe to handle and requires repair to continue allowing its use. From there, Kaye delved into further birch bark holdings at U-M, learning much about the significance of the use of birch bark, how birch bark was harvested and processed for this type of use, and the historical context in which Pokagon’s birch bark booklets were created for the Victorian era tourist trade.
Dancing on the head of a Pindell: Developing a preservation plan for a large unstretched canvas painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Daniela Leonard, Paintings Conservator, Reanda Art Conservation, LLC, Chicago, IL
Liz Rudnick, Assistant Registrar for Exhibitions, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL
When Howardena Pindell’s Untitled #20 (Dutch Wives Circled and Squared) was acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2014, there was no formal process in place to determine the artwork’s preservation needs. From storage to transport to handling to display this painting presents particular challenges because of its large size and unusual construction. The work is made from a multitude of canvas squares sewn together by the artist, who also incorporated loosely bound paper and glitter elements into her paints. The piece hangs unstretched directly against the wall with nails when on display. Damage to the delicate mixed media from rolled storage and from handling was evident during installation for the artist’s retrospective at the MCA in 2018, which prompted a conservation assessment and the decision to pull the painting from its planned travel schedule. Liz Rudnick, Assistant Registrar at the MCA, traveled with the rest of the exhibition, which included many other unstretched works by the artist. Taking from this experience, Liz formed an initial plan for the MCA’s painting that would allow the work to both be transported and be stored unrolled in a travel crate set at an angle on an A-frame. The solution required that a strip-lining with vertical tabs be attached along the top edge of the painting, for use with a compression brace. Daniela Leonard, a paintings conservator in private practice in Chicago, was brought in at this stage to further consult and to execute the work. In this presentation, Liz will discuss the condition issues that were noted with the MCA’s painting and the various methods for transporting unstretched canvases she observed that informed her decision-making. Daniela will discuss the considerations that went into her own process, the materials she tested, and how her treatment approach evolved based on the particular needs and challenges presented by this unique artwork.
Experimental Papermaking: Gypsum in Paper from 1787
Ann Lindsey, Head of Conservation, The University of Chicago Library, IL
In 1780 a man named John Bates bought a corn mill in Chepping Wycombe, England and converted it into a paper mill. Bates operated the mill from 1780 until his death in 1816, and the mill was then owned and operated by his nephew until 1837. In 1787, Bates was awarded the gold medal for papermaking, specifically for printmaking, from the Society for Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, later the Royal Society for Art, Manufactures, and Commerce (RSA). In its entire history, the Society awarded only one gold medal for papermaking, to John Bates. Here at the University of Chicago Library, we believe we have either a sample of this paper or an experimental paper made by Bates in preparation to submit to the Society.
The paper is the primary support for a copperplate engraving of a map bound into The Antiquities of England and Wales, v. 7, by Francis Grose, published in 1787. The paper is wove and has a watermark that reads J BATES. The paper is extremely brittle, but not discolored. A small chip of paper was examined under magnification for fiber identification. The paper immediately dissolved in a droplet of water and the small amount of remaining fibers could not be identified. The reasons for this phenomenon were unknown at that time.
In the spring of 2018, the Conservation Department at the University of Chicago Library had the good fortune of working with Dr. Maria Kokkori, a faculty member at the University who is also a Conservation Scientist at the Art Institute of Chicago. Dr. Kokkori taught a class entitled, The Material Science of Art. One of the aims of this class was to introduce students to instrumental analysis. Permission was obtained for the students to test a small sample of the Bates map, an approximately 4 square millimeter fragment that had broken off of the binding edge. The students analyzed the sample using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in the Chemistry Department of the University of Chicago. In addition, Maria Kokkori analyzed the map using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) at the Art Institute of Chicago. The tests showed that the paper contained a large amount of gypsum and a small amount of ultramarine mixed with the paper fibers. Both of these additions would have been unusual at this time. This presentation will show the results of the instrumental analysis as well as suggest some precedents for the addition of gypsum and ultramarine into paper.
Early Days: The Conservation of a Monumental Giovanni della Robbia Polychromed Terracotta Relief
Elena Mars, Objects Conservator, Kress Fellow, Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well is a monumental painted terracotta relief measuring over 7 by 5 feet and comprised of approximately 29 sections. Attributed to Giovanni della Robbia, the relief was commissioned in the early sixteenth century for San Vivaldo, a friary and pilgrimage site near the village of Montaione in Tuscany. While most surviving della Robbia masterworks are glazed with bright colors, this sculptural group was cold-painted and gilded. Sixteenth-century ceramics made with this technique are extremely rare due to their susceptibility to damages. Cleveland’s relief underwent numerous restorations during the centuries before its acquisition in 1922. Additionally, between 1911 and 1922 when the relief was on the market, the bust of the Samaritan woman was removed and replaced with a cast replica, enabling it to be sold for additional profit. Once in Cleveland, the relief became a cornerstone of the Renaissance gallery, on display continuously for 83 years until it was moved to storage in 2005 during the museum’s renovation. Its unstable condition, which includes cracked and mobile ceramic fragments and a heavily flaking painted and gilt surface, made reinstallation too hazardous. Featured as a central element of the museum’s 2021 exhibition Stories from Storage, the object underwent a campaign of initial stabilization and investigations to prepare it for its exhibition. After the exhibition, a collaboration with conservation scientists from Northwestern University began as the most recent step in a five-year plan to understand, conserve, and reinstall the sculptural assemblage. This presentation will detail the recent treatment, results of study thus far, and future plans for treating and interpreting the artwork, including using 3D modeling to better understand and reconstruct missing or restored sections.
Balancing Preservation and Accessibility at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Christy O'Grady, Conservation and Exhibition Manager for Collections, Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, IN
Brian Platt, Conservation and Archaeology Lab Technician, Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Josef Renton, Conservation and Archaeology Lab Technician, Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
For nearly 100 years, the Children's Museum of Indianapolis has been a place for children and families to experience the arts, sciences and humanities through real objects, immersive environments and live interpretation. Because our audience is equally intrigued by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Xi’an’s Terra Cotta Warriors, our exhibits incorporate a mixture of modern objects, ancient artifacts and natural specimens to capture their interests and meet their learning needs. Visitor engagement is further fostered through hands-on activities and staff led programs that include accessibility to a large number of objects and specimens in the museum’s permanent collection.
This presentation will highlight the strategies we use to balance preservation planning, safe use and conservation treatment of the museum’s collections with the institutional commitment to accessibility. An initial overview of collections care projects and exhibition practices from around the museum will be followed by a discussion of our Archaeology Lab where visitors can see conservation treatments being performed and talk with staff to learn about the methods, tools and goals of recovering and preserving archaeological material.
TIP- Addressing cadmium corrosion on ICA spring stretchers
Wendy Partridge, Painting Conservator, Intermuseum Conservation Association, Oberlin, OH
In the 1950s Richard Buck, director of the Intermuseum Conservation Association (ICA) in Oberlin, Ohio, designed a new type of constant tensioning stretcher. The stretcher was manufactured by a craftsman based in Oberlin and was used at the ICA in conservation treatments. It was also available for sale to collectors and institutions until 2003 and for this reason has been found on paintings that were never treated at the ICA.
Cadmium corrosion, a metal degradation product harmful to human health that often appears as a white powder, has been found on some springs of ICA stretchers. This tip will introduce a fact sheet that the ICA has produced based on the research of Heidi Sobol at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and Aaron Shugar in the art conservation department at SUNY Buffalo. The fact sheet can help institutions determine whether the springs are exhibiting cadmium corrosion and outlines steps to mitigate health risks if cadmium corrosion is present.
The goal of this public service announcement tip is to get the word out about cadmium corrosion on ICA spring stretchers beyond the paintings conservation community and to collecting institutions in the Midwest.
Bespoke Box-making: Designing and Adapting Standard Boxing Styles for Non-standard Items
Maren Rozumalski, Gladys Brooks Conservation Fellow, Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame, IN
Making enclosures is standard practice for items that come to our lab for conservation treatment. Usually, these are fairly straightforward tuxedo/phase boxes or clamshell/drop-spine boxes (cloth covered or archival corrugated) and are made by our Preventive Conservation Specialist and our Preservation Specialist. However, standardized boxes are not always appropriate when housing items held in specialized collections and creative solutions are called for to keep them safe, while facilitating safe access for classes and research. It is times like this when conservators become engineers and need to think “outside the box” to keep items safe and secure inside the box. This presentation features a few of the custom boxes I have designed and made during my time at Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Libraries, highlighting the collaborative nature of conserving within a research library, as well as some box-making tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way.
Reviving the Silver Splendor: Replicating A Royal Parasol from Dungarpur, India
Stephanie Spence, Assistant Objects Conservator, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
In 2013, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art acquired a set of early 20th century silver thrones and matching foot stools commissioned for the royal family of Dungarpur, India. The silver thrones were accompanied by regalia that included an intricately, hand-embroidered silk parasol embellished with silver threads.
In 2018, conservation of the parasol began, but the treatment took an unusual turn by moving from a project undertaken solely by the Museum’s conservators to a larger replication project spanning three continents and multiple collaborators. Lesage Intérieurs, a Paris-based textile firm with an embroidery workshop in Chennai, India was employed to replicate the parasol’s fabric because the degraded silk and tarnished silver were not suitable for display. But, the project presented an additional challenge because the textile was too fragile to be sent to India for precise replication of the silver embroidery. 3D imaging and digital pattern making were among the techniques experimented with by NAMA conservators as a means of sharing this essential information with the embroiderers. A detailed color map of the embroidered design was created in Adobe Photoshop, identifying each embroidery thread by a specific color. The color map was printed at Hallmark Cards, Inc., and shipped to the Chennai workshop where it took eight embroiderers four weeks to complete the embroidery. When the panels arrived at the Nelson-Atkins, a private textile conservator was brought in to assemble the replica. In the final stage of the project, the parasol was reassembled using the new textile and elements of the original object that were deemed stable for display. This presentation will discuss the conservation challenges faced, and many collaborations that were needed to make this international project a success.
Cataloging in a Digital Age, reflections from the Clowes Collection Catalog
Roxanne Sperber, Paintings Conservator, Indianapolis Museum of Art – Newfields, IN
The Clowes Collection Catalog is an open-source digital catalog featuring paintings from the collection of George Henry Alexander Clowes (1877 – 1958), now housed at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. This catalog, which is slated to launch in March 2022, is the cumulation of years and research and collaboration between conservators, art historians, and conservation scientists at the IMA and beyond. Dr. Clowes was a biomedical research scientist at Eli Lilly and Company and was involved in the production of early forms of insulin. As a scientist, Clowes had an interest in the scientific study of art, a bourgeoning field of study during the mid-twentieth century when he was building his collection. In tribute to Clowes’s fascination with conservation science, technical study, and preventative conservation, this catalog has been designed to devote equal attention to the technical and art historical entries. Through a bespoke interactive platform, designed by software developers at the IMA, researchers and the public will have the opportunity to engage with this robust technical data for free, anytime anywhere.
Using the Follower of Rembrandt Man with a Fur Trimmed Cap as a case study, this talk will explore how the process of researching and building the Clowes Catalog has informed our understanding of the physical history of the objects, helped us offer new attributions, and guided the treatment of the collection. Challenges and pitfalls of creating a large-scale collaborative work will also be addressed. This talk will also discuss how other efforts in the field to make technical information more widely accessible are aiming to combat the exclusionary practices of the past.
Undocumented Worker
Karen Zukor, Paper Conservator, Zukor Art Conservation, Oakland, CA
The role of any conservator, no matter what the specialty, is to do as good a job as possible while providing detailed accurate information about the process. The AIC Code of Ethics stipulates that our work be documented both in writing and in an accessible, visual format so that not only can our clients understand what we have done but that in the future, an owner or conservator can readily access that information. But what do you do when secrecy is the prevailing m.o. for a project? There is discretion and there is secrecy, there is unacknowledged and there is undercover. What does one do when the project must be kept covert?
What does it mean if you’ve NEVER BEEN THERE, and it NEVER HAPPENED?
There have been three projects in my career that have stood out for sheer furtiveness; when seclusion has also meant secrecy. These projects, while some of the most interesting, are also those with the least documentation, and in one case, no documentation at all.
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