Email digest for the Global Conservation Forum (ConsDistList) egroup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. IAP Virtual seminar: Pigment identification – SEM-EDX, XRF & Raman microscopy 2. Montefiascone Conservation Project 2025 3. Call for applications: Cleaning of Gilded Wood Workshop 2025: Brazil / Workshop de Limpeza de Madeira Dourada 2025: Brasil 4. Best Storage Practices for Eyeglasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.From: James Black Posted: Monday February 24, 2025 1:01 PM Subject: IAP Virtual seminar: Pigment identification – SEM-EDX, XRF & Raman microscopy Message: Date: Thursday, 6th March Tutor: Tracey Chaplin Price: £25.00 Platform: Zoom Time: This seminar will start at 3pm GMT There will be a 55 minute presentation followed by 15 minutes of discussion. Please register on Eventbrite. <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1096075835329?aff=oddtdtcreator> This seminar introduces three of the main instrumental non-destructive techniques routinely used to identify pigments on works of art – scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), X-ray fluorescence and Raman microscopy. The processes, applications and limitations for each method will be described, with case studies used to illustrate each method. Such instrumental methods are often used in combination with visual and polarised light microscopy. Tracey Chaplin is an Independent Scientific Consultant specialising in analysis and identification of artists’ materials and their degradation products on objects such as paintings, sculpture, furniture, manuscripts, wallpaper, textiles and architectural elements. This includes the application of microscopy, cross-sectional analysis, spectroscopies, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, X-ray fluorescence and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Tracey lectures in conservation science at the City and Guilds of London Art School, has published extensively and is one of four authors of The Pigment Compendium. ------------------------------ James Black Co-ordinator International Academic Projects London www.academicprojects.co.uk ------------------------------ 2.From: Scott Devine Posted: Monday February 24, 2025 1:04 PM Subject: Montefiascone Conservation Project 2025 Message: MONTEFIASCONE PROJECT 2025 Montefiascone is a small medieval walled city about 100 k (80 miles) north of Rome, on Lake Bolsena. Since 1988, conservators, curators, art historians, book artists, and others interested in books and their history have come together to work, to learn and to enjoy this special place. Participants come to enjoy the medieval architecture, friendly people, a clean accessible lake, books and scholarship. The Montefiascone Project is a non-profit making organisation, set up to fund the restoration of the Library of the Seminario Barbarigo in Montefiascone. Participants may attend one, two, three or all four weeks. Costs are £630 (UK) for each week and include all lectures (which are in English). For more information and to enrol, contact Cheryl Porter: [email protected] Week 1: 7th-11th July Recreating the colours on the Medieval palette: Western, Hebrew and Islamic Tutor: Cheryl Porter This class will study the colours (made from rocks, minerals, metals, insects and plants) that were processed to produce the paints used by artists throughout the medieval era. The focus will be on manuscript art – Islamic, Hebrew and European. Participants will re-create the colours using original recipes. Illustrated lectures will address history, geography, chemistry, iconography and conservation issues. Practical making and painting sessions will follow these lectures. No previous experience is necessary. Week 2: 14th-18th July Safina bindings Tutors: Kristine Rose-Beers and Fatma Aslanoglu Lecture: Alison Ohta Safina bindings have a long narrow format, characterised by sewing on the short edge. Often, they are delicate structures with limp bindings depicted in portraits of poets and princes. Frequently, Safina hold ornately decorated volumes of poetry or anthologies. This course will look at Safina bindings produced across the Islamic world, using examples drawn from the collections of Cambridge University Library and the Chester Beatty Library. Participants will make two models: the first, a typical Safina with limp leather binding and endbands sewn in a traditional Islamic style. A second soft textile and leather structure, not in the Safina format, but also seemingly designed for small literary collections will be produced. As well as the practical element, this class will explore the historical and cultural significance of Safina bindings within the broader context of Islamic art and literature. Emphasis will be placed on the intricate craftsmanship and artistic expression that characterise these bindings, highlighting the fusion of functionality and aesthetics that define the genre. Week 3: 21st-25th July Girdles, Books and Prayers Tutors: Jim Bloxam and Shaun Thompson This course will enable participants to make a girdle book based on an English fifteenth-century breviary. The model girdle book will include features derived from the small number of known examples of surviving girdle books. Jim first taught this course at Montefiascone in 2003 with the late Dr Nicholas Hadgraft; it will be wonderful to honour Nick as we reprise this course. The tutors will guide the course participants as they make their own girdle book. Processes will include sewing the text block, shaping and attaching oak boards and covering with alum-tawed skin. A clasp will be fashioned from metal alloy and a secondary covering will extend below the primary cover of the book; this extension will conclude with a Turk's head knot. Week 4: 28th July - 1st August Reconstruction of 16-17th century parchment binding with raised sewing supports covered with alum-tawed leather Tutors: Nadine Dumain and Leila Sauvage This workshop will explore in depth the materials and techniques used for 16th and 17th century European bindings (textblock and endbands). The starting point is a historical binding observed in the French Library of the Jean Monet Faculty in Sceaux, France. Besides its refined sewing, the specificity of this book structure is that the parchment cover has been cut out where the sewing supports are raised. Instead of parchment, alum-tawed leather has been inserted under the parchment and over the sewing supports. Participants will be guided through all the steps of the making of such a book: sewing of the textblock on single raised cords, double endbands, lacing-in the boards, covering of the raised sewing supports with alum-tawed leather, preparation and covering with parchment, and fastening laces in alum-tawed leather. For the more advanced and curious participants, the lecturers can offer variants to explore how this historical bookbinding could be made stronger. Participants can compare the results obtained with the historical reconstructions. The gatherings will be sewn with the packed sewing technique and participants will study the techniques of its making and the advantages for this book. Second, back-bead endbands will enable anchoring of the endbands in each gathering so as to strengthen it considerably. In this way, the aesthetic aspects of this book remain, while the structure is reinforced. BIOGRAPHIES Cheryl Porter is founder and director of the Montefiascone Project. She trained as a book conservator in London and has worked as a conservator, collections manager and consultant for libraries and museums in many countries, including Australia, USA, Egypt and in Europe. She was deputy Director of the Dar al-Kutub (National Library) and Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation Manuscript Project in Egypt from 2008-2011. She has published widely on the topic of colours used to paint in manuscripts and is a Professional Associate in the American Institute for Conservation. Kristine Rose-Beers ACR is Head of Conservation and Heritage for Cambridge University Libraries and an accredited member of the Institute of Conservation. Her research interests include the conservation of Islamic manuscript material, early binding structures and the use of pigments and dyes in medieval manuscripts. Kristine graduated from the Conservation programme at Camberwell College of Arts, London in 2002 before beginning work at Cambridge University Library, where her fascination with Islamic manuscript material was cemented. In 2008 Kristine moved to Ireland to work at the Chester Beatty as book conservator for the Turkish collection, and in 2011 she was appointed Assistant Keeper (Conservator of Manuscripts and Printed Books) at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. After four years in Cambridge, Kristine's passion for the unique Chester Beatty collections brought her back to Dublin where she worked as the Head of Conservation until 2023. Kristine has taught and lectured internationally. She is a member of the Institute of Conservator-Restorers in Ireland (ICRI) and the Kairouan Manuscript Project (KMP). Fatma Aslanoglu is Conservator for Gulf History and Arabic Science at the British Library, where she specialises in preserving rare manuscripts and historical materials. With a decade of experience in book and paper conservation, her expertise is primarily focused on Islamic manuscripts and other significant archival materials. Fatma holds a bachelor's degree in Traditional Turkish Arts (Illumination-Miniature Main Art Branch) from Marmara University and has pursued advanced studies in the same field at Mimar Sinan University. During her studies, she took a conservation module, integrating conservation techniques into her artistic practice, which later shaped her professional career in cultural heritage preservation. Previously, Fatma worked as a project conservator at University College London (UCL) Special Collections and as a freelance conservator at Codex Conservation. In these roles, she gained valuable experience in conserving a diverse range of historical documents, including Islamic manuscripts, medieval parchments, early printed books, and modern archival materials. Earlier in her career, Fatma worked as a book and paper conservator at the Süleymaniye Library, where she made significant contributions to the preservation of numerous Islamic manuscripts. This experience further refined her expertise in manuscript conservation and deepened her commitment to the preservation of cultural heritage. Jim Bloxam is the former Head of Conservation and Collection Care, Cambridge University Library, UK (retired June 2022). He is now Senior Book Tutor at City and Guilds of London Art School on the BA (Hons) Conservation: Book and Paper course. His research interests lie mainly in the history of books, their structural qualities and their cultural context. He has taught historical book structures in the UK, Europe and the US, focusing mainly on European book structures. He has taught courses on the Montefiascone Conservation Project Study Programme since 1998. He seeks to communicate his knowledge, understanding and enthusiasm for the sophisticated technology of the codex structure. Shaun Thompson is the Conservation Manager at Cambridge University Library. He is a dedicated advocate for book and paper conservation in the heritage sector, specialising in the care and repair of manuscripts and printed books. Shaun's research interests include early European book structures, the history of books, their structural characteristics and the materials and innovative mechanisms used to create them. He has presented his work at international conferences and published his research in peer-reviewed journals. He has taught at leading conservation schools such as West Dean College of Arts, City and Guilds of London School of Art, University of Amsterdam, and the Montefiascone Conservation Project in Italy. Shaun has made significant contributions to the field of Conservation, notably through his work as a teacher and mentor to conservation students in the UK and abroad. Nadine Dumain graduated in book binding and gilding from the renowned National Arts and Graphic Art School Estienne (Paris) in 1990. For the last 25 years, she has been practising as a book binder and book conservator at the paper mill Moulin du Verger, France. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with book conservator Christopher Clarkson and papermaker Jacques Bréjoux in the development of professional workshops on paper case bindings. She also teaches book binding to conservators and curators at the mill, at the Estienne School (Paris) and at the University of Amsterdam. Leila Sauvage graduated from the Book and Paper Conservation program of the Paris-Sorbonne University in 2010. Since 2011, she has worked at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. In 2020, she was appointed lecturer and coordinator of the book and paper conservation program at the University of Amsterdam. She continues working part-time at the Rijksmuseum on conservation science projects applied to paper conservation. Alison Ohta is currently Director of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. She completed her thesis at SOAS (London University) on Mamluk bindings and has published and lectured extensively on the subject. ------------------------------ Scott Devine Global Conservation Forum Moderator ------------------------------ 3.From: Anna Duer Posted: Monday February 24, 2025 5:28 PM Subject: Call for applications: Cleaning of Gilded Wood Workshop 2025: Brazil / Workshop de Limpeza de Madeira Dourada 2025: Brasil Message: Workshop Title: Cleaning of Gilded Wood Workshop 2025 <https://www.getty.edu/projects/cleaning-wooden-gilded-surfaces/cleaning-gilded-wood-workshop-2025-brazil/> When: August 25–29, 2025 Where: Belo Horizonte and Catas Altas, Minas Gerais, Brazil Workshop fee: $300 USD (financial assistance may be available for a limited number of participants) Number of participants: 24 maximum Co-organized by the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) and Centro de Conservação e Restauração de Bens Culturais Movéis (CECOR) at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Applications due March 17, 2025 Workshop Content Offered for the first time in Brazil, this workshop will introduce participants to a range of cleaning systems to remove dirt as well as overpaint on water-sensitive gilded surfaces. It will also provide participants a guide into the assessment of surfaces, from their nature to their condition, allowing them to decide what cleaning options can be considered and implemented. Time will also be allocated to discuss strategies to advocate for treatment approaches with the various stakeholders involved in the preservation of these surfaces, such as priests, community members, organizations evaluating treatment proposals. Format The five-day workshop will be in person at the Centro de Conservação e Restauração de Bens Culturais Movéis (CECOR) at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte and the Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição in Catas Altas, Minas Gerais. The first two and a half days will be spent in CECOR's laboratories, discussing, preparing and testing a variety of cleaning systems, including polysaccharide gels and PVOH-borax gels. Participants will be provided with mock-ups prepared for the workshop. The group will travel to Catas Altas where the remaining two days will be spent on site in the Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição. There, participants will be guided through the interpretation and assessment of the various surfaces found in the church, which will inform discussions about treatment approaches. Cleaning tests will be performed on selected objects from the church. A final session will be dedicated to advocacy for the preservation of gilded decorative surfaces through tailored treatment strategies, by engaging with the various stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. Supplementary online components will be made available before and after the workshop to deepen participant engagement. Applicant Qualifications Space for this workshop is limited to twenty-four (24) conservators with at least three-to-five years' experience working with wooden gilded and polychrome surfaces. Priority will be given to applicants currently working in Latin America, who can demonstrate a commitment to sharing the knowledge and skills gained during the course with their colleagues and the wider conservation community. TO APPLY: Applicants are required to complete an online application form <https://airtable.com/appylrtC3u8qvR36E/pag8qn1klpmtFqNpL/form> and upload their curriculum vitae (CV) of no more than two pages. Further details available at https://gty.art/40WnJpl <https://gty.art/40WnJpl> Questions? Contact [email protected] <[email protected]> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Workshop de Limpeza de Madeira Dourada 2025: Brasil <https://www.getty.edu/projects/cleaning-wooden-gilded-surfaces/cleaning-gilded-wood-workshop-2025-brazil/> 25 a 29 de agosto de 2025 Belo Horizonte e Catas Altas, Minas Gerais, Brasil Taxa do Workshop: USD $300 (trezentos dólares americanos). Os organizadores do workshop podem oferecer alguma assistência financeira a um número limitado de candidatos selecionados que não conseguem obter financiamento. Conteúdo do Workshop Oferecido pela primeira vez no Brasil, este workshop apresentará aos participantes uma variedade de sistemas de limpeza para remover sujidades e repinturas em superfícies douradas sensíveis à água. Também fornecerá aos participantes um guia para a avaliação de superfícies, desde sua natureza ao seu estado de conservação, permitindo que eles decidam quais opções de limpeza podem ser consideradas e implementadas. Também será alocado tempo para discutir estratégias para defender abordagens de tratamento com as várias partes interessadas na preservação dessas superfícies, como padres, membros da comunidade e organizações que avaliam propostas de tratamento. Formato O workshop de cinco dias será presencial no Centro de Conservação e Restauração de Bens Culturais Móveis (CECOR) da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, em Belo Horizonte, e na Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição, em Catas Altas, Minas Gerais. Os primeiros dois dias e meio serão realizados nos laboratórios do CECOR, discutindo, preparando e testando uma variedade de sistemas de limpeza, incluindo géis de polissacarídeos e géis de PVOH-bórax. Os participantes receberão mock-ups preparados para o workshop. O grupo viajará para Catas Altas, onde os dois dias restantes serão realizados na Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição. Lá, os participantes serão guiados pela interpretação e avaliação das várias superfícies encontradas na igreja, que informarão as discussões sobre as abordagens de tratamento. Testes de limpeza serão realizados em objetos selecionados da igreja. Uma sessão final será dedicada à defesa da preservação de superfícies decorativas douradas por meio de estratégias de tratamento personalizadas, envolvendo as várias partes interessadas no processo de tomada de decisão. Materiais on-line suplementares serão disponibilizados antes e depois do workshop para aprofundar o envolvimento dos participantes. Qualificações do Candidato O espaço para este workshop é limitado a vinte e quatro (24) conservadores com pelo menos três a cinco anos de experiência trabalhando com superfícies em madeira dourada e policromada. Será dada prioridade aos candidatos que atualmente trabalham na América Latina, que podem demonstrar um compromisso em compartilhar o conhecimento e as habilidades adquiridas durante o curso com seus colegas e a comunidade da conservação em geral. Como se inscrever: Os candidatos devem preencher um formulário de inscrição on-line <https://airtable.com/appylrtC3u8qvR36E/pag8qn1klpmtFqNpL/form> e fazer o upload de seu curriculum vitae (CV) de no máximo duas páginas. Mais detalhes estão disponíveis em https://gty.art/40WnJpl. <https://gty.art/40WnJpl> Para mais informações ou esclarecimento de dúvidas, entre em contato com [email protected]. <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Anna Duer Reference Librarian Getty Conservation Institute Los Angeles, CA [email protected] ------------------------------ 4.From: Marcia Bassett Posted: Monday February 24, 2025 5:30 PM Subject: Best Storage Practices for Eyeglasses Message: Dear List Members, We have a collection of eyeglasses that are currently stored in a flat file. I would like to move the collection into our compact shelving and would appreciate recommendations on the best storage practices for eyeglasses. I am considering using a tray system with archival artifact boxes. Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions. Thank you! Best, Marcia Marcia Bassett Head Archivist Studio One, 7th Floor 525 West 20th St New York, NY 10011 212.645.7874 <tel:212.645.7874> [email protected] <[email protected]> You are subscribed to "Global Conservation Forum (ConsDistList)" as [email protected]. To change your subscriptions, go to http://community.culturalheritage.org/preferences?section=Subscriptions. To unsubscribe from this community discussion, go to http://community.culturalheritage.org/HigherLogic/eGroups/Unsubscribe.aspx?UserKey=d16eaa87-0f69-494b-9f2f-303dbc1222e1&sKey=fab9aa4f27a04c5d876e&GroupKey=757a8f16-505f-4323-8e74-e376757aa9f7.
