Daly Conservation

A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from the head of graduate studies at the University of Delaware about an upcoming Fulbright scholarship information session.  The Fulbright scholarship sponsors American students to study abroad and foreign students to study in America. The purpose of the scholarship is to develop mutual understanding between countries by developing understanding between people.

I thought I would look into the scholarship some more and consider whether my research interests and professional experience could be applicable to art conservation in another country.  After discussions with colleagues I focused on India as a country that has an active contemporary art market, a long history that includes archeaological and historic structures and artifacts, and the field of art conservation is developing rapidly to take care of cultural property. Organizations like The Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) are based throughout the country to address conservation issues in a variety of settings like museums, palaces, and sites.  I was also impressed by the variety of climates in the country, from the Himalayan mountains, the Thar desert in Rajasthan, tropical monsoon climates, and marine environments. 

I am particularly interested in continuing my research about art conservation, museum environmental controls, and sustainability in India.  In the Western museum world the museum environment has been controlled by installing large HVAC systems, which are expensive and unsustainable and now museum building managers and conservators are running these systems less to try to be more sustainable.  Perhaps India could find solutions to creating a more favorable museum environment without installing these huge systems? Perhaps the museum professionals in India already have found these solutions?

I have been contacting professionals who work or have worked in India to see if they can put me in contact with museums or universities there that would be willing to affiliate themselves with a Fulbright fellow.   I am excited to see where this path will take me, and who I will meet along the way.

I was thrilled to see my classmates and have our Oral Presentations this past Tuesday.  Renee Wolcott’s presentation was one of the most memorable, because the projector began shaking part way through and someone in the audience shouted out ‘it’s an Earthquake!’ and then 10 seconds later everything was calm again, and Renee continued with her presentation.

Of course this would be my class, natural disaster - ha! we just keep going, I am hugely proud of all of my classmates and watching all of them present about the work they have done has reminded me of how far we have all come in the past three years. It is also exciting to hear about where they will be going and what they will be doing, I hope we will stay in touch and keep each other informed.  It is exciting to hear about their research about separating water damaged photographic negatives, protective coatings for murals, coatings and cleaning methods for stone, the paintings of Richard Caton Woodville, and architectural paint analysis.  The whole day was like a miniature AIC meeting, I feel like I contributed and learned many interesting ideas.

I have also been thinking about what makes a student decide to go to Delaware for grad school, there is a lot of bucolic beauty in Delaware and most of my classmates really enjoy the outdoors, a few of us have pets like dogs or cats that we love, and we were all really supportive and helpful of each other while each working very independently. I am

I am going to be sad to leave Delaware, I just went for a walk in Brandywine park, probably for the last time, and tonight I am going to the beach with my friend, Delawarian Josie Albert.  I love the trees here, the way it will slowly rain all day and how that makes staying inside and working seem really cozy and pleasant.

The end is in sight, by the end of August I will have completed all the coursework and evaluations needed for a M.S. in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC).

One of the final requirements is a portfolio showing the work I did over the past year while I was an intern at the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Since portfolios are daunting tasks I want to share my table of contents so others who are creating a portfolio for grad school or for any other professional reason could check it out.  I encourage comments about what I have included.

 

 

Portfolio Contents

Prologue - Nasher Sculpture Center

Introduction to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art 

Treatments

Henry Moore Large Torso: Arch

Louise Nevelson End of Day: Nightscape IV

Persian ceramic bowl

Josef Hoffman Silver Creamer

Maintenance

Examinations

Research

Environmental Monitoring

Analysis of the rate of tarnish on silver in the presence of scavengers

Photography Guidelines

Outreach and Public Relations

Professional Development

References

Monthly Reports

 

My portfolio probably includes more outreach and PR than other students, and it is important to emphasize that everyone has a different portfolio depending on where they worked and their specialization.  It is possible to perform numerous small treatments throughout a year, but treating a sculpture that is 9 feet x 13 feet will take some time.

Good luck to all the students pulling together their work and all the best to the class of 2011 at all conservation programs.