CONSERVATION
NOW
Interim Meeting of the
ICOM cc Working Groups
for ‘Education & Training’
and ‘Preventive
Conservation’
Thursday 5th and Friday
6th September 2013
International
Committee for
Conservation
INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS
ICOM-CC
1
CONTENTS
Introduction
3
Venues
4
Agenda
5- 6
Abstracts
7 - 12
ICOM cc
13
The 17th Triennial Conference Melbourne 2014
14
Education & Training Working Group
15
Preventive Conservation Working Group
16 - 17
Delegates List
18 – 21
Maps
22 - 23
2
CONSERVATION NOW
Introduction
The ICOM cc Working Groups for 'Education & Training' and 'Preventive
Conservation' have co-ordinated their combined interim meeting 'CONSERVATION
NOW' at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne on Thursday 5th and Friday
6th September 2013. The meeting should be of interest to conservation
practitioners, recent conservation graduates, conservation educators as well as
those who employ conservators.
The meeting seeks to understand the current and future demands on conservation
practice in order that conservation programmes can maximise the employability of
their graduates. In advance of the meeting we have been gathering data on the
experiences of conservation graduates, the conservation programmes, practising
conservators as well as those employing conservators. The data gathered will be
presented at the interim meeting alongside related papers.
The presentations and outcomes will be made available to members on the
respective ICOM cc webpages after the meeting
Jean Brown
Co-Ordinator
Education & Training Working Group
Boris Pretzel
Co-Ordinator
Preventive Conservation Working Group
3
VENUES
Registration
Sutherland Building Reception
Main Sessions
Boardroom 2
Breakout Sessions
Thursday 5th September Sutherland 207 & 208
Friday 6th September Sutherland 205, 206, 207
& 208
4
AGENDA
DAY ONE Thursday 5th September 2013
09.00 – 10.00
Register
10.100 – 10.15
Welcome
10.15 – 11.00
CONSERVATION NOW
11.00 – 11.45
Coffee Break
11.45 – 12.45
Break Out Groups
12.45 - 14.00
Lunch Break
14.00 – 16.00
Feedback from Break Out Groups
16.00 – 17.00
Summing Up
5
DAY TWO Friday 6th September 2013
09.30 – 10.00
Jaap van der Burg – Dutch Collections Care Programmes
10.00 – 10.30
Rene Hoppenbrouwers – Encore
10.30 – 11.00
Boris Pretzel – Preventive Conservation
11.00 – 11.45
Coffee Break
11.45 – 12.15
Susan Bradshaw – Joining up the Dots
12.15 – 12.45
Susan Sandford – The UK National Strategy for Outward
Student Mobility
12.45 – 14.15
Lunch Break
14.15 – 14.45
Mary Elizabeth Williams – When Things Go Wrong
14.45 – 15.15
Maria Garcia Morales & Ruth Azcarate Miguel
– Conserving Objects
15.15 – 15.45
Sara Brown - Relationships with Museums
15.45 – 16.15
E Pye & I Narkiss – The View Beyond the ~Bench
16.15 – 16.30
Closing
6
ABSTRACTS
DUTCH COLLECTIONS CARE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME
Jaap van der Burg
In The Netherlands we have just established an official education for Collection
Management on a lower educational level. The complete course will run three years
and is focused solely on Preventive Conservation (in all its aspects). The aim is to get
17 year olds who have finished their secondary schooling as well as people who
happen to have ended up in a career in, or with, preventive conservation.
The outcome will be MBO 4 (in Dutch terms) which will be comparable with EQF 5.
So it should be possible for a student to continue to level 6 (HBO for us) and
university.
ENCORE
Rene Hoppenbrouwers
PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION
Boris Pretzel
JOINING UP THE DOTS
Susan Bradshaw
An opportunity to reach out and share the developments that continue to take place
in terms of the professional Standards for conservation, which were designed by the
conservation profession, for the profession to use. How they can provide structure
7
to the career development, and continuing professional development of
conservators, and support employer’s recruitment and appraisals.
An example is the PACR Pathway, a new Icon initiative to encourage individuals
whether they are employed, between posts or unemployed, a recent conservation
graduate, or someone with conservation work experience to prepare for PACRi
accreditation while developing professionally. PACR accreditation is a recognised
standard of professional expertise beyond qualifications gained from training
courses. Therefore, it is never too soon to start working towards PACR accreditation!
Icons ‘Conservation Labour Market Intelligence 2012-13’ report noted that the
overwhelming majority of organisations identify training needs for individual
members of staff, with nearly as many identifying organisational needs. However,
most organisations in conservation did not have a training plan, or a training budget,
although responses about PACR accreditation were very positive, showing that PACR
accreditation was demonstrably highly valued by employers in conservation.
THE UK NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR OUTWARD STUDENT MOBILITY: A PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE
Susan Sandford
On July 2013 I returned from a 4 week placement at the Museum of Byzantine
Culture at Thessaloniki, Greece. During this time I was able to work with a wide
range of materials and link the theory I had learned at university to practical
projects. However I returned to the UK with far more than just conservation skills.
Through my experiences the presentation will show the personal development that
takes place as a result of outward mobility, such as learning the importance and
application of modern languages in conservation and making contacts in other
countries.
8
This presentation will use the National strategy for outward student mobility as a
framework to describe these experiences, seeking to link the benefits and skills
gained from an international placement, to the potential for increased future
employability in the heritage sector. It will also attempt to address the obstacles of
language and finance, that are often perceived as insurmountable when students are
considering studying abroad.
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG: UNDERSTANDING LEGAL LIABILITIES IN
CONSERVATION
Mary Elizabeth Williams
In our increasingly litigious society, conservators are open to new legal
liabilities. Although a conservator has not been a party in recent litigation, it is only
a matter of time. An examination of legal precedent, law review, and the American
Institute of Conservation guidelines, show seven basic steps that conservators can
use to protect themselves from claims of negligence. These include: (1)
understanding the scope of risk; (2) understanding the legal concept of negligence;
(3) discussing the balance of risk and reward with clients and creating proactive
contracts; (4) contacting the artist if they are living to discuss your process, notifying
them that you are proceeding with conservation, and the extent of conservation; (5)
maintaining accurate records of any contact, testing, analysis, etc. both electronically
and physically; (6) sticking to the American Institute for Conservation guidelines and
ICOM Code of Ethics; (7) knowing resources for help when something does go
wrong. This information is imperative to conservation practice today.
CONSERVING OBJECTS, CARING FOR PEOPLE SELF-ESTEEM
María García Morales & Ruth Azcarate Miguel
Volunteer programs in Spanish museums were initiated within the last 20 years.
From the beginning, these programs engaged only retirees and had a limited focus
9
on providing guided visits of permanent and temporary exhibitions and assisting
museum education departments in activities for school children, which could not
have been maintained otherwise due to chronic museum staff shortages.
Two
years
ago
the
conservation
unit
of
Tenerife
Museums
(www.museosdetenerife.org) incorporated middle-age female volunteers into a
project for upgrading the storage conditions of our archaeological and natural
history collections, which had been brought close to a standstill due to staff cut-offs
caused by the current economical crisis.
At the beginning, our main concerns were how to incorporate in a beneficial way to
the collections these volunteers who lack specialized training in conservation and
how to protect the role of the actual conservators who possess professional skills
and commitment. However we quickly realized the positive effects that work with
museum objects in a highly cooperative environment can have on people. Handling
delicate pieces (touching, smelling, scrutinizing) while caring for them encourages
creativity, self-confidence, healing talking and a greater sense of personal and
community identity rooted in the past. This paper intends to explore new ways
conservation is useful to the community
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CONSERVATION PROGRAMMES AND SMALL
MUSEUMS
Sara Brown
Conservation programmes can maximise the employability of their graduates by
building partnerships between students and local museums. It is hoped that this
paper will inspire conservation practitioners, employers and educators to build
relationships for the benefit of all. Via a work placement in the Cynon Valley
Museum & Gallery, Wales undertaken as part of my course I was introduced to the
museum and got to see the challenges that they face. Due to difficulties in funding
many museums are understaffed and although the remaining staff do their best less
than ideal conditions may result in inaccessibility and deterioration. During my
10
placement I worked in a store with environmental and organisational problems
limiting access to parts of the collection: a situation not unique to this museum.
In response I designed and helped seek funding for a project to use conservation
students to reorganise and assess the collection following ICCROM’s Reorg model
and implementing environmental and organisational solutions. The paper will
describe the process of identifying the challenges, the funding bid and the solutions
put in place.
The paper will reflect on the benefits that arose from the project: the Museum
gained an up to date inventory and conservation assessment of the collection;
conditions for the collection were improved and the students gained experience in
object handling, condition reporting, pest management and implementing bespoke
long term storage.
THE VIEW BEYOND THE BENCH: ENGAGING WITH MUSEUM VISITORS
E. Pye and I Narkiss
Many museums now see the merits of allowing the public more direct and
meaningful access to their collections. Recent research shows widespread
agreement amongst conservators and curators that enabling direct encounters with
genuine museum objects is enriching and beneficial (Conservation’s Catch-22,
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/conservation-c-22).
It is also now accepted that engagement is a core part of the job of a conservator. As
well as presenting conservation work to the public, conservators must be able to
judge the delicate balance between use and preservation to enable a more creative
use of collections.
But what skills do conservators need for this part of their remit? Public relations and
communications? An extension of basic problem solving skills to encompass new and
11
creative conservation solutions? Changing their focus to the quality of visitor
experience?
This paper will examine some current practices around access to collections and
engagement with the public in British museums and compare these tasks with the
skills recent graduates have received in their training.
12
BENEFITS OF BECOMING AN ICOM MEMBER
As a member of ICOM, you are already entitled to a number of benefits, an
important one being the ICOM card which grants free entry or entry at a reduced
rate to many museums across the world (for a complete list of benefits see
http://icom.museum/where-we-work/join-us/benefits.html).
By joining the ICOM Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC), one of ICOM’s 30
International Committees, you become part of one of the largest international
networks of conservation professionals, which aims to promote the investigation,
analysis and conservation of culturally and historically significant works of our
cultural past and to further the goals of the conservation profession.
In addition to the benefits for ICOM members, ICOM-CC contributors are entitled to:







The ICOM-CC e-zine On Board.
Participation in Working Group(s) including subscription to Working Group
Newsletters.
Reduced registration fees at the ICOM-CC Triennial Conferences and Interim
Meetings of Working Groups.
Priority to have papers/posters accepted at the ICOM-CC Triennial
Conferences (in case of papers/poster of equal merits).
Restricted-level access to the ICOM-CC website, providing all-time access to
documents such as newsletters and Working Group membership lists, and
participation in discussion lists.
Voting rights for matters such as the election of the Directory Board
members and Working Group Coordinators.
Eligibility to stand for office within the ICOM-CC structure as a Directory
Board member or Working Group Coordinator.
ICOM members who have chosen another International Committee to vote in but
also want to be part of ICOM-CC are entitled to the above benefits, except the last
two.
Becoming a Friend or Student-Friend of ICOM-CC
Individuals who would like to take part in ICOM-CC activities and initiatives while
they are going through the application process for ICOM membership can participate
in ICOM-CC by becoming a Friend or a Student-Friend of ICOM-CC.
Friends are entitled to the above-mentioned benefits for ICOM-CC members, except
the last two. They are not entitled to any of the benefits provided by ICOM to
ICOM members.
The Friend and Student-Friend category participation is limited to one calendar year,
with the goal of becoming a full ICOM and ICOM-CC member.
13
ICOM-CC’s 17th Triennial Conference in Melbourne
The 17th Triennial Conference will be held from 15–19 September 2014 in Melbourne,
Australia. Updated information about the conference can be found at www.icom-cc2014.org.
Building Strong Culture through Conservation
The ICOM-CC Triennial Conference brings together conservation and museum professionals
as well as conservation students from all over the world for an intensive week of activities
exploring current research and initiatives in the field of cultural heritage conservation.
The culmination of ICOM-CC’s three-year cycle of collaboration and research, the
Conference offers technical sessions of the twenty-one specialist Working Groups, keynote
speeches, behind the scenes visits to local conservation laboratories and sites of historic
interest, cultural and social events as well as numerous opportunities to meet and forge ties
with colleagues from every region of the world. Twenty-seven years after its memorable 8th
Triennial Conference in Sydney, ICOM-CC is pleased to return to the Australian continent,
this time to Melbourne.
Each Triennial Conference is a joint initiative of ICOM-CC and partners in the host country.
The Australian National Organizing Committee for the 17th Triennial Conference is
comprised of the The Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation of the University of
Melbourne and The Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material (AICCM),
Australia’s leaders in conservation training and practice. Together, we are working to
provide an invigorating, productive, and exceptional Australian experience in September
2014.
14
EDUCATION & TRAINING WORKING GROUP
THE COORDINATOR
Jean E. Brown
Preventive Conservation
Burt Hall
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST
UK
Tel: + 44 191 227 3331
Fax: + 44 191 227 3250
E-mail: [email protected]
THE ASSISTANT COORDINATORS
René Hoppenbrouwers
Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg (SRAL) Avenue Ceramique 224 (Wiebengahal)
6221 KX Maastricht
THE NETHERLANDS
Tel.: +31 43 3218 444
Fax: +31 43 3257 568
E-mail: [email protected]
Laura FUSTER-LÓPEZ
Dpt. Conservación y Restauración de Bienes Culturales
UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE VALENCIA
Camino de Vera s/n
46022 Valencia (Spain)
Phone: +34 963877310 (ext. 73106)
Cell: +34 617 739 141
15
PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION WORKING GROUP
THE COORDINATOR
Boris Pretzel
Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 2RL
UK
Tel.: + 44 20 7942 2116
E-mail: [email protected]
THE ASSISTANT COORDINATORS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Simon Cane
Birmingham Museums Trust
Birmingham B3 3DH
UK
Tel: +44 121 3034509
E-mail: [email protected]
Michel Dubus
Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France
Département Conservation Préventive
Palais du Louvre, Porte des Lions
14 quai François Mitterrand
75001 Paris
FRANCE
Tel: + 33 1 40 20 84 38
E-mail: [email protected]
Martina Griesser
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Maria Theresienplatz
1010 Wien
AUSTRIA
E-mail: [email protected]
Kathryn Hallet
Textile Conservation Studio
Historic Royal Palaces
Hampton Court Palace
Surrey KT8 9AU
UK
E-mail: [email protected]
16
John Havermans
TNO: Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research
THE NETHERLAND
E-mail: [email protected]
Jane Henderson
Department of Archaeology and Conservation
SHARE
Cardiff University
Colum Road
Cardiff CF10 3EU
UK
Tel: +44 29 2087 5629
E-mail: [email protected]
Julio M. del Hoyo-Meléndez
National Museum in Krakow
POLAND
E-mail: [email protected]
Feroza Khurshid-Verberne
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Deccaweg 26
1042AD Amsterdam
THE NETHERLANDS
Tel: + 31 20 5732680
Fax: + 31 20 6752716
E-mail: [email protected]
Joel Taylor
St Jørgen's vei 53
Oslo
0662
NORWAY
E-mail: [email protected]
Mary Jan Tsang
Parliamentary Estates Directorate
Houses of Parliament
London SW1H 9NB
UK
E-mail: [email protected]
17
DELEGATES LIST
NAME
INSTITUTION
CONTACT
AREA OF INTEREST
Aguiar, Maria
University of Lisbon
mcaguiar@p
PhD Student
Portugal
Bradshaw,
Susan
orto.ucp.pt
Institute of Conservation
sbradshaw@ An employee of Icon –
(Icon)
icon.org.uk
Conservators
UK
Brown, Carol
ArchCons
Historic Environment
Consultant
a Professional Body for
cbrown@car Conservation Practice
ol-e-
& Education
brown.com
Edinburgh
Scotland
Brown, Jean
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
jean.brown
Teaching Fellow
@northumb
ria.ac.uk
UK
Brown, Sara
Cardiff University
Wales
BrownSV@c
BSc in Conservation of
ardiff.ac.uk
Objects in Museums
and Archaeology
18
Colbourne, Jane
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
jane.colbour
Senior Lecturer
ne@northu
mbria.ac.uk
UK
Ebeid, Hassan
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
hassan.ebei
PhD Student, &
d@northum
Assistant lecturer at
bria.ac.uk
Faculty of
UK
Archaeology, South
Valley University,
Egypt
Foskett, Sarah
Centre for Textile
Conservation & Technical Art
History
Sarah.Fosket Conservation Tutor
[email protected]
c.uk
University of Glasgow,
Scotland
Fuster, Laura
University of Valencia
laufuslo@cr
Conservation
bc.upv.es
Education
hohenstatt
Preventive
@goppion.c
Conservation
om
Technician
Stichting Restauratie Atelier
hoppenbrou
Director Stichting
Limburg, Maastricht
[email protected]
Restauratie Atelier &
l
vice-chair ENCoRE
The Australian Institute for
MaryJo.Lely
Vice President AICCM
the Conservation of Cultural
[email protected]
& Conservator of
Material
c.gov.au
Frames & Furniture
Spain
Hohenstatt,
Peter
Goppion SpA
Italy & USA
Hoppenbrouwe
rs, René
The Netherlands
Lelyveld,
MaryJo
19
Miguel, Ruth
Azcarate
Museos de Tenerife
razcarate@
Museum Technician
museosdete
nerife.org
Morales, María
García
Museos de Tenerife
maria@mus
Head Conservator
eosdetenerif
e.org
Narkiss, Irit
The Manchester Museum,
www.manch
ACR Conservator,
The University of
ester.ac.uk/
Objects and Access
Manchester, Oxford Road,
museum |
Manchester, UK
Pretzel, Boris
Peacock,
Elizabeth E
Victoria & Albert Museum,
boris.pretzel
London UK
@vam.ac.uk
Department of Conservation
elizabeth.pe
University of Gothenburg
acock@cons
Gothenburg, Sweden
ervation.gu.
Conservation Scientist
Conservation Professor
se
Roemich,
Hannelore
Roohi Allison
The Conservation Center
hannelore.r
Professor of
Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
oemich@ny
Conservation Science
New York, USA
u.edu
Northumbria University
a.roohi@nor PhD Student,
Newcastle upon Tyne
thumbria.ac.
Northumbria
uk
University
Susie624@
BSc Conservation
msn.com or
student
UK
Sandford, Susan
Cardiff University
sandfords1
@cardiff.ac.
uk
20
Seymour, Kate
Stichting Restauratie Atelier
k.seymour@
Limburg, Maastricht
sral.nl
Senior Lecturer
The Netherlands
Soltan,
Mohamed
Abdeldayem
Northumbria University
mohamed.a
PhD Student
bdeldayem
@northumb
ria.ac.uk
Theodorakopou
los, Charis
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
Van der Burg
Jaap
Wickens, Joelle
Charis.theod
orakopoulos
@northumb
UK
ria.ac.uk
Helicon Conservation
J.vanderBur
Practitioner, Educator
Support Boerhaaveweg , The
g@helicon-
and Employer
Netherlands
cs.com
Winterthur Museum, Garden
jwickens@w
& Library, Winterthur,
interthur.org Preventive Team
Delaware
Associate Conservator,
Head and Winterthur
Assistant Professor
USA
Williams, Mary
Elizabeth
Senior Lecturer
williams.mar
yelizabeth@
gmail.com
21
LOCAL TRANSPORT INFORMATION
The Metro is Tyne and Wear’s own light rail system with 58 Metro stations serving
Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland North Tyneside and South Tyneside.
Metro stations are conveniently located for easy access around Tyne and Wear and
are situated in the heart of both Newcastle and Sunderland City centres. There are
also Metro stations located near to main University/College campuses and many of
the halls of residences and student areas.
The Metro is fast, frequent and great value for money, especially for students.There
are various ticket options for you as a student, but perhaps the most cost effective is
the Metro Student Card which is available to buy per semester, and entitles you to
unlimited travel either within Newcastle/Sunderland areas or the whole system
depending upon the chosen option.
Metro Student Cards are available from any Nexus Travelshop. For further
information on the Metro click here www.tyneandwearmetro.co.uk. Alternatively
call Traveline on 0870 608 2 608 for all passenger transport information.
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CAMPUS MAP
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