AIC's 53rd Annual Meeting

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This workshop is primarily targeted towards private practice conservators and provides training on courier activities to those who may not have supplied these services in the past, or have not done so recently. The workshop is based on the Courier Training Program Framework, developed by several European registrars groups to promote best practices in the museum and gallery sector. This curriculum – adapted for a US-audience – provides participants with a comprehensive courier manual including training presentations, real-world scenario exercises, and practical checklists.

Through the combination of a taught syllabus, tabletop exercises, group discussion, Q&A period, a bibliography of online resources and take-home worksheets, participants will learn:

• The responsibilities of working as a contract courier
• Best practices and responsibilities for local travel with a loan
• On-site expectations of the borrower and lender for unpacking/packing and installation/de-installation
• How to establish trust with the lender
• Considerations for determining courier fees
• The tools and equipment needed as a courier
• Questions to ask the lender and borrower
• Courier-specific contract and insurance needs
• How to market courier services

By drawing inspiration from the traditional practice of amending earthen plaster with natural organic additives, this study explores innovative possibilities of biological amendments inspired by other disciplines for the conservation of earthen built heritage. 

Psyllium husk, a plant-based polysaccharide, is traditionally harnessed for medicinal purposes and has recently gained attention in civil engineering and agronomy as a natural soil stabilizer. This research studies psyllium husk as a cross-disciplinary biological amendment for soil-based shelter coats on earthen structures. Through laboratory testing, we examined the physico-mechanical properties of soils amended with psyllium husk and evaluated its potential as a sustainable alternative to modern synthetic amendments.

Earthen heritage represents a global building tradition that has remained viable for millennia. Key advantages of earthen construction include local availability, low cost, and minimal environmental impact; however, earth is highly sensitive to climatic factors, especially moisture. The increasing intensity of rain events due to Climate Change threatens the stability of earthen heritage in traditionally arid regions. For over five decades, synthetic organic polymers have been used as amendment for the conservation of earthen materials. However, the effectiveness of such materials depends on soil composition and low moisture levels. With clean soil being a dwindling non-renewable resource, they also present issues such as incompatibility, irreversibility, and low sustainability. These limitations have prompted a search for alternative solutions that better address diminishing resources and a changing climate.

Biological materials, rooted in traditional building practices, offer promising alternatives. Historical examples, such as the use of animal blood and cactus pulp by indigenous and Hispano builders in earthen construction, demonstrate the potential of biological materials in enhancing soil stability. Modern lab-engineered materials like nanocellulose offer controlled quality and environmental benefits. Recently, fields like agronomy and civil engineering have developed commercial products that are readily available, cost-effective, and easy to use. Literature research identifies psyllium husk as a promising candidate.

Further evaluation focused on water erosion resistance and compatibility with raw-earth structures. Three stages of laboratory testing were conducted: soil characterization, shelter coat formulation, and performance testing of the amended soil. Testing procedures were designed based on various industry standards, while analytical techniques like X-ray diffraction and SEM-EDS provided deeper insights into the mechanisms of psyllium husk as an amendment and its effects on soil mineralogy and other critical properties.

Results show that psyllium husk performs comparably to synthetic amendments in enhancing the water erosion resistance of soil-based shelter coats. It also demonstrates improved compatibility and potentials of reusability. These findings suggest that psyllium husk could be a viable, sustainable alternative to synthetic materials in the conservation of earthen structures. The study also opens avenues for further research, including field testing, exploring diverse application methods, and investigating synergies with other amendment materials.

Beyond specific findings on psyllium husk, this research highlights the promising implication of applying biological material to conservation. By integrating materials and techniques from other fields, we can develop more feasible, sustainable, and adaptive strategies to address contemporary challenges such as Climate Change and diminishing resources.

In October 2023, conservators from Jablonski Building Conservation (JBC) performed a uniquely challenging paint stabilization treatment to preserve prisoner graffiti on thickly layered, severely distorted architectural paint applied to the brick and plaster walls of the Burlington County Prison Museum in Mt. Holly, New Jersey. The prison was completed around 1811 and was in continual use until 1965, with cell walls covered in 50-100+ layers of accumulated whitewash, distemper, and oil paints. Temperature and humidity fluctuations, water infiltration, changes in use, and structural repairs have culminated in the loss, deterioration, and distortion of much of the site’s intriguing and extensive prisoner graffiti on the dense paint finishes.

Guidance and research on flattening is widely available for other media such as paper, painted artworks, and decorative arts, but is almost nonexistent for architectural paint – particularly in a vernacular and arrested decay setting such as at the Burlington County Prison Museum. So, to improve legibility and increase surface area for securing paint fragments to the walls, JBC drew on techniques used in paper, paintings, and objects conservation by using heat, humidity and pressure to relax the most severely curled paint fragments. This unconventional treatment approach devised by JBC for the Burlington County Prison Museum exemplifies the value of leveraging techniques and knowledge from other disciplines, while amplifying the unique challenges of performing conservation treatments on architectural finishes in an uncontrolled environment.   

This presentation will elaborate on JBC’s approach, techniques, challenges, and results of the paint and graffiti preservation campaign at Burlington County Prison Museum and invite a broader discussion across disciplines about existing research, techniques, and case studies that could help inform similar architectural finishes conservation projects and research in the future.

The Historic Building Materials Collection (HBMC) is a repository of material samples collected from historic buildings and sites around the world. It serves as a resource for architects, historians, conservators, and scholars seeking access to traditional and historic building materials, ranging from the vernacular to high-style structures, including archaeological sites. The collection’s core function is to facilitate direct access to physical material specimens and enable advanced analysis, such as cross-section and thin-section microscopy, providing critical insights into the materials' composition, structure, and history.

However, with the physical collection outgrowing its designated institutional space, the need for a more efficient, user-friendly way to access and manage these materials has become urgent. Handling these historic objects too frequently increases their risk of damage, and traditional archival methods do not provide the discoverability or ease of access required for research. This has driven the need to create a digital interface that offers scholars and visitors the ability to explore the collection by cross-referencing, reduce wear and tear from handling the physical specimens, and boost awareness and engagement with the collection to a larger audience.

The digital interface for the HBMC acts as a searchable and query-able repository, allowing users to navigate the collection through various filters, such as material composition, building or site, object type, or date range. This repository streamlines the process of discovery by enabling users to explore and gather relevant information without physically handling the objects. Each specimen within the collection is assigned a unique object ID that encodes its material composition, site of origin, and date of creation, a redundant step that protects the integrity of the collection against loss of data. In addition, the unique ID links the specimen it to its virtual record, which expands with a narrative of the object, as well as its inherent deterioration conditions, previous research done, and any associated objects.

In addition to making the research process more efficient, the digital interface serves as a preservation tool. By moving the initial task of discovery to a public website, it is expected an increased awareness of the collection while minimizing the frequency of physical handling of the samples. Users can access high-quality images, 3D scans, and detailed metadata of each object, and only request physical access once objects have been identified. This system of controlled access not only protects the specimens from potential damage but also supports long-term conservation efforts.

The digital repository will support embedding analytical data to common constituents found in historic building materials, such as particle size distribution of an aggregate or the molecular spectrum of a known pigment, providing scholars with relevant scientific data immediately.

By combining digital technology with traditional archival methodologies, this interface will not only prolong the physical preservation of the collection but also facilitate research in conservation, enhancing the study and understanding of historic building materials.

In preservation, where recreated historic interiors are a norm, we know nothing tells the story quite like the real thing. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City has recently completed a multi-year, $7 million capital project to make the building more energy efficient, upgrade its HVAC system, restore the exterior masonry, and add strengthening materials to make the building more structurally sound. Although the museum did add a recreated apartment, conservators spent over 12 months preserving the paint, plaster, and wallpaper of the original “ruin” apartments.

The Tenement Museum is a five-story brick building located in a neighborhood densely packed with tenements and factories and was historically a first home for those new to the United States. Between its construction in 1863 and the 1930s, immigrants from over 20 countries lived in the tiny apartments of 97 Orchard Street. Instead of making additional alterations to meet changing housing codes in 1935, the landlord chose to evict all the tenants and sealed off the upper floors, leaving them uninhabited until 1988 when the museum took over the building. As a result, these apartments became a time capsule of immigrant life in America. The museum is unique in both its interpretation of the building and its occupants over time as well as its treatment of the ruin apartments in a state of “arrested decay” with their peeling wallpaper, curled plaster, bare wood, and faded linoleum. In addition to retaining the authenticity of the apartments, retention of these finishes assists in telling the story of the people who lived there, including changes in aesthetic tastes over time.  

Conservation work began prior to construction to install protection around historic fabric in areas of selective demolition. As time and funds were limited, conservation treatments to each room of each apartment could not be performed. The conservator and museum worked together to prioritize rooms and apartments based on location, remaining historic fabric, and future programming needs. This resulted in conservation treatment being performed in ten of the fourteen apartments accessible to the public. The opening of floors, walls, and ceilings was required for the installation of structural I-beams and sistering joists. This required additional collaboration with the contractor to ensure the openings were created in locations that would have the least impact on the historic fabric. 

Visitors often remark that the ruin apartments are their favorite. In these spaces there is a direct visceral connection to the past: people lived in these rooms, walked these floors, and touched these walls. Retaining that connection is vital to the museum’s mission. 

This paper will discuss the importance of the collaboration between all parties involved in the project and will discuss some of the conservation challenges in stabilizing the ruin materials and making them safe for visitors while retaining the look of abandonment at the Tenement Museum.

A National Historic Landmark located in Miami, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens was constructed between 1914 and 1922 and features 14 distinctive structures. Though there are numerous highly decorated and site-specific spaces throughout the estate, the Swimming Pool Grotto is a particularly unique feature. Containing a ceiling mural painted by the distinguished American artist Robert Winthrop Chanler in 1916, it portrays a vibrant “undersea fantasy” that provides an immersive experience. A testament to Chanler’s distinctive, playful style, it is only one of only three publicly accessible Chanler murals in the United States.

However, the Swimming Pool Grotto at Vizcaya represents a particularly significant conservation challenge due to its unique design and the environmental pressures it faces, and surface deterioration was visible as early as 1918. The mural’s deterioration is particularly severe due to Chanler’s use of water-soluble paints, Plaster of Paris, aluminum gilding, and glazes ill-suited to the humid, coastal environment. These materials have led to significant paint loss, plaster detachment, and extensive damage. Recent assessments have also revealed corrosion in the underlying structural elements, adding to the urgency of the preservation work needed. Over the past 15 years, Vizcaya has meticulously documented the mural’s declining condition while embarking on a comprehensive conservation survey, undertaking a preliminary assessment in 2012, a structural systems analysis in 2014, a comprehensive condition assessment in 2017, and an environmental survey in 2023. In 2023, Vizcaya engaged an external conservation firm to address flaking throughout the painted surface and undertake a sample treatment area while simultaneously commissioning contractors to analyze the necessary repairs to the ceiling substructure and the Living Room floor above. The findings from these recent evaluations have emphasized the urgent need for more drastic intervention.

In 2024, Vizcaya was awarded a $750,000 Save America’s Treasures grant as administered by the National Park Service, Department of Interior. With a $750,000 match, this will enable us to perform necessary work to the substructure of the Living Room floor above the mural. This marks a transformative step forward in this conservation endeavor. This funding will support critical interventions, including structural repairs to the Living Room floor above the mural, which are essential to stabilizing the Grotto and ensuring the preservation of its artistic and historical integrity.

This presentation will discuss the extensive years-long preparatory work as well as the first phase of the work in the Living Room above that must be undertaken prior to the upcoming mural conservation. It will highlight the interdisciplinary collaboration that has been required to address the Swimming Pool Grotto’s complex conservation issues, encompassing research and analysis, structural engineering, and architectural conservation techniques, specifically cathodic protection. By sharing insights into the challenges faced and the collaborative strategies employed, this presentation will underscores the vital role of multi-disciplinary professional collaboration in the preservation and conservation of environmentally challenging and historically significant sites, showing that it indeed takes a village to save an American treasure like the Swimming Pool Grotto at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) has one of the largest and most important collections of Japanese Buddhist sculpture outside of Japan. For five years (2019-2024), the Conservation in Action: Japanese Buddhist Sculpture in a New Light project focused on the examination and treatment of seven large-scale wooden sculptures from the Heian period (9th-12th centuries). Since 1909, a selection of Buddhist sculptures have been displayed in the Temple Room, a gallery designed to evoke the contemplative atmosphere of a Buddhist temple. During the recent project, conservators worked thousands of hours to examine, document, analyze, and stabilize the seven Temple Room sculptures, uncovering new and exciting discoveries and generating many new technical images.

Although the Temple Room aspires to place the sculptures in an “appropriate” context for viewers, it does not attempt to replicate a complete temple environment. One of the MFA’s goals was to embrace the space’s meditative ambiance by keeping it free of text panels and object placards when the Temple Room was reinstalled. A conservator was invited to join an interdepartmental group with representatives from the curatorial, interpretation, and exhibition media departments to envision what other methods might be employed to better provide contextual information and encourage close-looking of these specific seven Buddhist sculptures. The so-named Temple Room Didactic group partnered with outside collaborator Ideum, a technology company with expertise in creating museum interactives. For a year, the group worked to refine the content of an interactive didactic that was to be placed right outside the central entrance to the Temple Room.

Ideum was responsible for building a custom app that would meet the Museum’s interpretative goals and could technically support the different types of data that were slated for inclusion. For example, an opening choreographed sequence shows visitors what one might experience walking into a Buddhist temple complex in Japan and the main landing page displays 3D models of all seven sculptures in a virtual temple environment. The completed didactic encourages self-led exploration as visitors can choose a specific sculpture or opt to read about the sculptures’ fabrication. The 3D models can be rotated and are tagged with hotspots that prompt viewers to engage with additional information. In-depth conservation stories are available for three of the sculptures. The didactic includes much more information than can be shared on wall labels and gives visitors a more interactive and exploratory experience.

The Temple Room didactic project underwent several iterations as the group sorted through five years of technical data and images to select content that fit within the didactic framework and was illustrative of the interpretative narrative. The separation of complicated technical stories into short clips that fit within the navigation of a yet-unbuilt app was challenging as it was difficult to envision how the completed interactive would function. The final realized interactive didactic successfully presents conservation-derived information in a digestible manner that reinforces the reverence of these Buddhist devotional figures while highlighting the recent conservation efforts.

Since joining the Canadian Conservation Institute, many of my collaborations have taken shape during hallway conversations. When asked the simple question "How do you feel?," I responded off-topic, due to my struggles as a francophone to understand English and my preoccupation with the treatment of a mismatched veneer repair on an 19th century English piano: "I want to fill with wood, but I have several issues..."

The conservation of wooden furniture and objects often requires the integration of new components due to degradation, breakage, or loss. This process becomes particularly complex when filling large areas with an alternate material. Wood is typically the compensation material of choice, but several factors can complicate the filling process, including the availability of specific wood species and the surface characteristics of colour, grain, and finish. Importantly, there is the challenge of a colour difference developing between the object and the fill after subsequent light exposure. But what is responsible for this – the original wood, the wood fill, or both? Eric Hagan, senior conservation scientist, was kind enough to ask how I was feeling one day, and that conversation led to experiments that address this question. Using customized light ageing boxes and fadeometers, we investigated the colour change response of wood to museum lighting conditions, the influence difference light sources have, and the light dose that changes color slowly enough to be acceptable. Results from our experiments showed that all freshly sanded woods, when exposed to light without UV, undergo a rapid colour change (rated Blue Wool 1 to 3) followed by a slowdown. Experiments on mahogany and purpleheart under LED, Halogen, Fluorescent, and Ceramic Metal Halide sources seem to demonstrate that light source does not have a major influence on colour change. Initially very sensitive, all woods shift to Blue Wool 5 at approximately 50 to 60 Mlxh. 

 

Thanks to these key numbers, we concluded that wood used for a fill should be chosen based on its texture and not its colour. Moreover, an object’s original wood, depending on its age, exposure, and treatment history, may remain highly sensitive to colour change; mismatches will arise over the course of a conservator’s career, requiring re-treatment of the object. Indefinitely removing and replacing adhered wood fills is not a viable option, given the potential for damaging the object. Therefore, I had to rethink my approach to matching the colour of wood fills, which led my feet down the hallway to my colleagues in paintings conservation, Marie-Hélène Nadeau and Fiona Rutka. After testing different natural and synthetic resins, we found that Orasol dyes mixed with Aquazol 200 successfully toned the sealed, light-aged wood fill, and it was easily reversible.

Leisure Time is a largescale (320cm x 160cm) four-piece lacquer-on-wood panel painting created by Hawaiian-Vietnamese artist Tim Nguyễn in 2008.  In just 14 years, the painting exhibited unique discoloration on the surface, with bright yellows turning to dull browns, bright greens fading to dark greens, and oranges shifting to browns. While much information on Asian Lacquer exists, there is limited published research on the relationship between the materials and techniques when used as a painting medium and their degradation mechanisms. In 2023, one panel of the painting was transported from the artist’s studio in Hawaii to the Garman Art Conservation Department at SUNY Buffalo State University for research to study the materials, process of painting, and conservation possibilities.

Vietnamese lacquer, known as laccol, is derived from the sap of Toxicodendron succedaneum, a species in the Anacardiaceae family, which also includes the lacquer trees found in Japan, China, Thailand, and Burma. Lacquer is a unique substance that cures only under high humidity conditions through polymerization. While freshly made lacquer is highly durable, aged lacquer films become sensitive to light and sudden changes in humidity. Vietnamese lacquer painting, known as sơn mài, may be described as a form of reverse painting, consisting of as many as 10-20 layers. Lacquer is an art of uncertainty, as each layer can take days or even months to fully cure. By combining the lacquer with various additives, such as oils and resins, artists achieve a wide range of textures. The final image is created by carefully sanding back these layers of paint. In addition to pigments, lacquer artists use playful materials like metal leaves, mother of pearl, and shells to create depth, transparency, and intricate patterns. Traditional restoration techniques often involve using the same type of lacquer; however, these methods are irreversible and tend to age at a different rate than the original lacquer. Moreover, lacquer sap is highly toxic and can cause allergic reactions similar to those triggered by poison ivy.

The current study analyzed the materials and layer structure of the painting, via several analytical techniques. These included multimodal imaging, x-radiography, infrared reflectography, cross-sectional analysis, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. Lacquer samples were further analyzed using THM-Py/GC-MS following Getty’s Recent Advances in Characterizing Asian Lacquer protocol. Mockup lacquer samples were custom-created, light-aged, and subjected to sea salt in an attempt to replicate the discoloration observed in the original artwork. An artist interview with Tim Nguyễn was also conducted.

The results of the research indicated that photodegradation due to light exposure combined with arsenic-containing pigments was the primary cause of the color changes in the painting. Aged samples also showed the migration of silver ions to the lacquer surface when exposed to light, where they reacted with sulfur-containing pigments forming inclusions on the lacquer surface. In examining conservation techniques, the use of traditional transparent lacquer is irreversible and unstable. It is possible that a modern synthetic varnish may be used as a coating on lacquer paintings. While more study is needed, an initial test of several conservation grade varnish formulations, including MS2A, Regalrez 1094, and Paraloid B72 was conducted and exhibited promising results.

Guqin is a Chinese plucked musical instrument with profound symbolic, aesthetic, and socio-cultural meanings. It consists of seven silk strings and a rectangular wooden soundbox painted with multi-layers of Asian lacquer-based coatings. The art of guqin has been inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List since 2003, and the collecting of antique guqin instruments has been an important and active part of Chinese material culture since the eleventh century. Mostly resulting from natural aging processes due to playing and chemical and mechanical deteriorations of the compositional materials, craquelure appears on guqin’s surface coatings with time. Interestingly, instead of being viewed as defects or ugly, these craquelures are highly valued as cultural beauty, a sign of authenticity, and a key criterion for appraisal in the guqin collecting tradition. As the connoisseurship of guqin craquelure developed from the eleventh to the nineteenth century, various craquelure patterns were recognized, named, and associated with specific production periods.

However, these seemingly self-explanatory pattern names, such as snake-belly, ice-cracking, and plum-blossom craquelure, have never been clearly defined or illustrated in historical documents or guqin treatises. Although these terms continue to be widely used in contemporary catalogs, auctions, and museum practices, the lack of clarification and in-depth understanding of guqin craquelure patterns has caused issues like arbitrary naming, miscommunication, controversial dating and valuation, and thus puzzling the decision-making of guqin conservation treatments. 

This research used non-destructive imaging techniques, including normal and raking light photography, reflectance transformation imaging (RTI), multi-band imaging, and digital microscopy, for over fifteen historical guqin instruments in both public museums and private collections in China and the US. The goal is to document the cracking surfaces at different magnifications and lighting conditions, and segment the most characteristic visual features to re-define and distinguish those traditional pattern names. From this imaging, four comparable attributes are summarized that best differentiate the guqin craquelure patterns in planar: 1) degree of cross-linking, 2) shape and size of networked islands, 3) direction and distribution of disconnected patterns, and 4) formal features of individual cracks. Additionally, we used micro-CT to scan detached coating samples from five historical guqin to study the depth profile of the cracks and fine crackles, the stratigraphic structure of the coatings, and the distribution of the binder and filler in the ground layers. Although often disturbed by later restoration and re-lacquering layers, the micro-CT analysis proved to help study the more complex areas and distinguish craquelure patterns developing top-down that were potentially initiated by light damage, versus patterns developing bottom-up that were more likely caused by mechanical stress in between the wood substrate and the coating. 

We hope the results of this ongoing project can contribute to building a more scientific classification system of guqin craquelure and clarifying its crack-forming mechanism, which ultimately could improve current restorative and preventive conservation practices and bring more attention to the understudied category of East Asian musical instruments in the context of global collecting and cross-cultural conservation.

Russia’s invasion in February of 2022 of Ukraine dramatically altered the cultural as well as the physical landscape. Numerous Ukrainian conservators scrambled to protect their cultural heritage, while others left the country as refugees. Western conservators and conservation scientists, conservation organizations, non-profits, and foundations responded to this event with fruitful initiatives to assist in these preservation efforts and to prevent a now well-documented existential threat to Ukrainian culture. This presentation will focus on the collaborative efforts of Ukrainian conservators, conservation educators and scientists, art historians, translators, university faculty members, historic preservationists, and their peers and concerned parties outside of Ukraine. The perspective will be of an AIC Wooden Artifacts conservator, Fulbright Specialist, and Scholar to Ukraine before the war. It will illuminate the will and determination of Ukrainians to acquire and implement the conservation knowledge and values of the West under challenging circumstances.

This paper reports on recent conservation and site preservation efforts at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Jebel Barkal, with a focus on how the catastrophic civil war in Sudan has challenged, altered, and expanded our team’s mission. 

Located along the Nile in northern Sudan, the archaeological site of Jebel Barkal preserves one of the most important ancient cityscapes in Africa. Its archaeological remains document two millennia of unique artistic, social, political, and religious achievements by the powerful, ancient African empire of Kush and include temples, palaces, a settlement area, and more than 20 royal pyramid burials. Prior to the recent civil war, the site was a popular attraction for both international and Sudanese tourists. At the same time, it is also an integral part of the nearby modern community of Karima. 

Our team began work at Jebel Barkal in 2018, with a dual emphasis on archaeological research and site conservation and a deliberately collaborative approach that pairs Sudanese and foreign specialists as co-leads in every major project role. In the autumn of 2020, in part because of this collaborative leadership structure, we were fortunate to receive a generous award from the U.S. Department of State’s Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation to support conservation, site management, and community engagement efforts at the site. The COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions delayed our work, and our first full season of field conservation was held in 2023. One month after its conclusion, Sudan was suddenly and unexpectedly at war as two rival military generals battled for control of the country. Since that time, every aspect of our work has changed and, for Sudanese team members, our homes, jobs, financial security, family life, and daily existence have altered radically in stressful and exhausting ways.   

This talk explores our pre-war plans, how the war has affected the site and our project in both predictable and surprising ways—good and bad, and the hard questions we have asked ourselves as the months of war continue. Our project’s design and structure have helped us continue aspects of our work during the war, and we also reflect on why this has been successful for parts of the project but not for others. 

While aspects of our project are unique and site-specific, the challenges we face are similar to and may offer valuable insights for other conflict-prone communities. Key takeaways include an intersectional understanding of how armed conflict, economic fragility, and climate change are combining to devastating effect for cultural heritage sites around the world; the need for special programming for internally displaced people during armed conflicts; and the need for significant, strategic shifts in conservation capacity-building in conflict-prone countries.

The use of wood is an integral part of Ukrainian culture, and the tradition of wooden building technology goes through the whole history of Ukraine, back to the very beginning of architecture. Its diversity and richness may impress even those who are well familiar with the best examples of the world's wooden heritage. Wooden churches are the quintessence of Ukrainian wooden building tradition. There are thousands of historic wooden churches in Ukraine. Many of them are understudied or introduced into scientific discourse in very general terms, the vast majority are completely unknown in the world, and all of them are endangered today, as the most vulnerable and fragile structures under the threat of Russian attacks.

After Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, we face many challenges in addition to those concerning conservation under normal circumstances. Scale of the damage, legislative issues on war damaged landmarks, conservation as a long lasting process while heritage buildings, if damaged and in use, require immediate response, cooperation with emergency services, database of damages and prioritizing sites in terms of conservation potential and even possibility - these are just a few to mention.

We do make attempts to preserve our heritage though, in particular wooden architecture. Among other initiatives, a project has been launched to digitally document endangered valuable wooden churches. We have defined the heritage value, architectural typology, the threat level and the accessibility (proximity to the frontline and to the border with the enemy, artillery strike risk, liberation of occupied territories etc) as the main criteria of choice of the sites. The first selected 11 oldest wooden churches in Central, Northern and Eastern Ukraine have been scanned with a 3D scanner and photo-documented on three expeditions in November 2023 - February 2024. These were 17th - 18tth century churches in Pechera, Puhachivka, Novomoskovsk, Novy Bilous, Sedniv, Syniavka, Stepanivka, Novhorod Siversky, Pyrohivka, Fastiv and Zhubrovychi. Six of these sites have overlived occupation and still remain under direct threat - a number of neighboring villages have been shelled just while we were scanning churches in Syniavka and Stepanivka. The project is ongoing as we are writing this abstract, and another 25 churches are waiting for their turn.

3D scanning together with photogrammetric surveying is one way to give these churches a chance. It allows us to record very accurately, get the maximum data in the shortest time, explore later and safe structures in detail with the understanding of colors and textures. This is valuable in case of damage or loss of a heritage building. This project is also the first stone laid for further thorough study of Ukrainian wooden churches. Unlike the western region of the country, most of the churches in question happened to be in use of the Russian Orthodox Church, due to the complexity of the Ukrainian situation, which made them inaccessible for Ukrainian scientists and architects. The last time these churches were explored as the phenomenon of Ukrainian wooden architecture was in the 1920s by the famous Ukrainian art historian and professor Stefan Taranushenko.

In 2019-2024, The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) commissioned, exhibited and acquired the artwork Body Sculpture by provocative American artist Jordan Wolfson. Body Sculpture utilizes an industrial robot suspended from a gantry, and a metal animatronic cube form with arms and hands.  Across choreographed phases, the cube performs humanistic behaviors and emotional states: drumming its surface with its hands, being swung and beaten whilst suspended by a chain from the ABB robot, simulating states of playfulness, sexuality, shame, rage and death.  

The technical complexity of the artwork is unparalleled in the NGA’s collecting history. The production of the artwork included Jordan Wolfson Studio collaborating with diverse specialists including choreographers, highly specialized roboticists, software engineers and structural engineers. The extended production phase of the artwork in the US, meant limited access from Australia, and ongoing technical refinements extended beyond the exhibition opening due to both the complex nature of the work and the ongoing artist investment.  

Meeting Australian robotic safety standards, digital security requirements and battery safety regulations were managed in a variety of ways: including contracting a robotic safety robustness report and developing a risk management framework to distribute responsibilities between risk stewards, ensuring ongoing responsibility for public and artwork safety. 

The specialized knowledge required to build the artwork means that critical knowledge of technical properties is distributed between a network of specialists, holding at times proprietary knowledge and resulting in a reliance on contractors. Acquiring Body Sculpture required transfer of a basic level of operational knowledge to the museum, and this was transferred particularly when the 4 person US led technical team moved to an entirely local team, with online support as needed.  

The documentation of operational and maintenance skills was undertaken by technicians and conservators and included extensive manual review and development, the production of facsimile components for future training purposes, video documentation, maintenance logs, performance statistics and iteration specific documentation. The documentation requirements essential for transferring this operational knowledge challenged NGAs internal document management processes. This prompted development of new processes across departments to manage the scope and complexity of produced documentation, leading to the development of a centralized document management system for complex artworks.

Body Sculpture exists at the intersection of materiality and the technological cutting edge. Decisions made during commissioning and exhibition of the work resulted in the ongoing development and evolution of the performative outcome. It is inevitable as technology changes and evolves, so too will the realization of this work. Central to ensuring its continued success is a robust yet flexible documentation approach. Throughout this presentation the authors reflect on the ongoing challenge of ensuring future transfer of knowledge from disparate subject matter experts, operation technicians and internal stakeholders. The role of the conservator throughout this process is discussed, as well as reflections on the realities of relinquishing control over the direct material outcome of the work and instead locating oneself in a stepped back role of mapping and maintaining the interconnecting relationships between disparate subject experts whose experiences combined actualize the work.

Museums and other cultural heritage sites are working hard to attract and welcome more diverse audiences.  This talk will examine ways in which conservators can be a resource for finding and expanding the common ground between best visitor experiences and best practices in caring for collections.  The particular research to be presented is focused on improving access for visitors with blindness and partial blindness but, as in other contexts, an improvement intended for one group often extends well beyond that.

Art conservators are often the ones who have to balance the competing priorities of visitor access and protecting collections.  In museum settings this may translate to stanchions, platforms, vitrines, guards, alarms and “Please do not touch” signs.  But as any museum professional knows, people love to touch and feel things.  For people with visual impairments, being able to touch and feel the art is one of a limited set of options for experiencing the collection.  

Like other museums, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (ISGM) in Boston, offers guided touch tours for visitors with visual impairments; however, these tours are generally limited to a select group of three-dimensional objects.  Unlike sighted visitors, blind visitors do not have the opportunity to engage with two-dimensional works of art that typically hang framed on gallery walls.   

In response to the limitations of touch tours and a mid-career “itch”, in 2024 I applied for and received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award to the University of Dundee in Scotland.  The subject of my work was to research ways of advancing the accessibility of two-dimensional works of art such as paintings, prints, drawings or photographs that have historically been excluded from museum touch tours.  At the university I was situated in an interdisciplinary studio within the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, called Studio Ordinary.  Studio Ordinary is a place where design research and disability studies come together so design can be used as a tool to change the conversation around disability.  

While the focus of my work was outside of the explicit confines of art conservation, I approached my research by centering on my deep experience as a practicing art conservator and the knowledge of materials that comes with that.  That experience and knowledge opened many doors, making it possible to collaborate with and learn from a range of colleagues including disability scholars, designers, artists, technology experts and members of the blind community.  I will show examples of prototypes we produced in Scotland, share the ways in which my project evolved to include multi-sensory experiences, and how this work is moving forward in Boston.

The research project Precarious Movements: Choreography and the Museum (2021 to 2024) funded by the Australian Research Council brought together artists, researchers and museums to discuss the best ways in which to support the choreographer and the museum. Choreographic artworks within the scope of visual arts and museum contexts considers dance as a contemporary art medium, as distinct from contemporary dance presented on the stage.  Collecting, and therefore conserving, choreographic artworks by museums is relatively new, with the first choreographic work collected into a museum was in 2016 with Dance Constructions by Simone Forte acquired by Museum of Modern Art, New York.  Tate acquired its first choreographic artwork three years later in 2019 and now has three choreographic works in its permanent collection. 

The project placed communities of artists, choreographers and performers at its centre, and engaged with artists to commission six new artworks.  Two of the commissioned artists were core researchers throughout the project enabling the exploration of what is needed to conserve such artworks working in partnership with the communities that create, produce and present such artworks.  The exploratory space of research facilitated a level of autonomy and agility to consider new ways of doing between disciplines, institutions and worlds of practice that might not have come together through the usual institutional pathways of acquisition or display.    The presentation reflects on how moving towards a social model of conservation, that places the community centrally, is required. People have always been at the centre of choreographic artworks, and the need to work collaboratively across our practice, building trust, nurturing relationships is critical.  It is these instances of social connection that have enabled choreographic works to materialise and thrive in their future lives.  

A focus in this presentation, beyond the wider research project, is one the commissioned artworks, A Sun Dance by artist Rochelle Haley, also a core researcher in the project.  This work was co-commissioned and presented with the National Gallery of Australia in February 2024.  At the heart of the work is a relation between sunlight, dancer and architecture.  A Sun Dance is a site-harmonising performance made in relation to sunlight streaming through architectural forms, providing a changing ‘set’ for dance over the course of a day.  Documentation strategies, informed through the relational practices across the conservators, performers, archivists, artists, curators and producers formed a key part of the working process for the authors, with engagement and partnership stimulated by both the commission and associated research shifting into practice.  A performance manual was developed alongside the work and tested in a subsequent presentation of A Sun Dance at Tate St Ives in September 2024, further revealing a collaborative approach to the translation and transmission of choreographic artworks in different spaces and contexts.  It also revealed how A Sun Dance is materialised and mobilised through the social connections surrounding it, what holds the work together, and how to preserve what is valued across the networks and relationships of the communities that sustain such works.

Gu Dexin, a radical pioneer of contemporary Chinese art, retired from the art world after his last solo exhibition in 2009. He is recognized for his large-scale installations that explore decay, transformation, and impermanence. Using perishable materials such as raw animal flesh and adipose tissues, pig brains, fresh flowers, fruit, and plastics, his works evoke strong sensory experiences, characterized by intense odors and continual material degradation.

This contribution presents a two-year conservation project focused on 2000-04-11, an installation created by Gu for the controversial Fuck Off exhibition held in Shanghai in 2000, featuring works by 48 avant-garde artists. The work entered the M+ collection in 2013 without any historical documentation. It consists of a chair filled with visceral pork fat displayed on a vermillion-colored carpet runner, with a framed vermillion-colored wall section opposite the chair. Viewers are invited to sit in the chair, experiencing the decomposing fat while contemplating the framed red plane.

Ephemerality, material transition, and decomposition are central themes in Gu’s practice. His works often deteriorate or transform during exhibitions, sometimes provoking reactions to the smell of rotting substances. Presenting 2000-04-11 in a museum context posed unique challenges due to the lack of artist involvement, limited information about the piece’s creation, and the potential risks of infestation and unpleasant odors in gallery spaces. To address these issues, the conservation team conducted historical and material research and testing and consulted with Gu's assistant and others familiar with the work. We also monitored the microbiota changes in sealed pork fat to faithfully recreate the sensory experience of the piece while ensuring the safe display of the work.

Despite the absence of written instructions for reinstalling the piece, the team's approach honors Gu's conceptual legacy while adapting the work to its new museum setting. The lack of documentation is attributed to the commercialization and exploitation of the artist’s work. This presentation explores the collaborative efforts made to exhibit 2000-04-11 in Gu’s absence, the risks associated with recreating the experience, and the multiple voices that contributed to presenting and documenting this installation.

For various decades, countless natural threats —particularly hurricanes— have assailed Puerto Rican built heritage. Even in recent years, the effects of climate change have increased the intensity of these phenomena. Besides all the havoc, the recurrence of these events threatens the conservation of built heritage. However, climate change is not the sole risk factor for historic properties. Factors such as planning and preservation policy, urban development, and financial stability further exacerbate the vulnerability of historic buildings in Puerto Rico. As a potential step forward, vulnerability assessments are a proper tool to understand the vulnerability of historic sites from climate change vis-à-vis these external factors. Vulnerability assessments (VAs) generally allow exploring how ecosystems, communities, and historic properties are vulnerable to a changing climate. In the long-term process, VAs help identify potential mitigation and adaptation measures that contribute to decreasing vulnerability and protecting resources for long-term resiliency. Nevertheless, most of these existing tools focus on a particular historic resource and its specific conditions. This approach complicates the possibility of applying a protocol on a larger scale to other historic sites and resources because it overlooks the socioeconomic, cultural, and political histories, decisions, and processes that can aggravate the vulnerability of an overall region.

Considering the strengths and limitations of the existing heritage-focused tools, this paper proposes an alternative and experimental framework for VAs that addresses how general external factors beyond the particularities of a specific historic site can further influence the vulnerability of historic properties of an overall region. The methodological alternative is based on a multidisciplinary analysis of the geographical and historical complexities of the Central Aguirre Historic District in the southeastern municipality of Salinas in Puerto Rico, a former sugar mill company town that functioned from 1899 to 1990. A set of overarching questions about Puerto Rican history and the historic district’s conditions led to the development of the alternative VA protocol, composed of different indicators and criteria that range from policy, economy, conditions, and social issues. This proposal facilitates the calculation of the climatic vulnerability of Puerto Rican built heritage in general, quantifying the vulnerability of historic properties vis-à-vis environmental, political, sociocultural, and historical conditions in the archipelago. An applied protocol test with twenty properties out of the over four hundred properties of the historic district demonstrated how varied circumstances (such as ownership, current conditions, materials, and use of incentives) can sway the vulnerability of historic properties despite exposure to climatic risks. In the end, this result captures how the proposed framework can respond to the environmental and historical particularities of the archipelago when trying to understand the vulnerability of historic properties regardless of their location.

Esteemed American horticulturist and author of The Architecture of Country Houses, A.J. Downing played a pivotal role in the emergence of the American Picturesque movement of the mid-19th century. His ideals are expressed in the minutiae of material usage and finishes as well as in the pattern books that resulted from his influence. Over time, his work has shaped scholars’ understanding of the architectural colors of the period. Despite A.J. Downing’s well-documented influence on the American Picturesque movement, little empirical research has been conducted on the actual use of color in architecture from this period. Most existing studies are unpublished and largely inaccessible, creating a gap in our understanding of how Downing’s theories were applied in practice. Ivy Lodge, a key example of mid-19th-century Italianate architecture in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood, offers a rare opportunity to analyze original finishes that have remained largely intact. By examining the paint layers and comparing them with Downing’s pattern book prescriptions, this study not only challenges prevailing assumptions about his influence but also provides crucial insight into the material culture of the American Picturesque. The findings contribute to the field of architectural conservation by offering new data on historic color practices, helping to refine our understanding of 19th-century American aesthetics and their practical applications. Using cross-sectional and polarizing light microscopy to analyze paint samples, the paper illuminates the chosen color palette. It offers perspective on the actual influence of pattern books and Downing’s specific prescriptions for color during the American Picturesque Movement.

The analysis of Ivy Lodge's paint layers reveals a dominant early finish of white lead-based paint rather than the anticipated earthen tones displayed in Downing’s pattern books. Later layers introduced colors like gray, brown, and green, aligning with the period's broader palette. Differences in stratigraphy among windows and exterior details suggest varying approaches to trim and cornice paint, with some dark gray paints appearing in isolated areas. These findings challenge the assumption that Ivy Lodge's color scheme followed A.J. Downing’s recommendations for the American Picturesque Movement. While Downing advocated for natural tints and rejected white exteriors, Ivy Lodge's white-painted trim more closely aligns with earlier Colonial and Georgian aesthetics, suggesting that the homeowners may have blended Downing’s ideals with prior influences. Furthermore, the later introduction of Picturesque colors in the 1870s, post-Downing era, implies that his influence may have expanded over time rather than being immediately adopted. This study broadens our understanding of mid-19th-century American architectural finishes, questioning the extent of Downing’s impact on contemporary color choices.

Originally constructed in 1879, the Conservatory of Flowers in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California is a rare example of the wood-and-glass conservatory in the late Victorian style constructed using early techniques of mass production and assembly of simple glass units. Following extensive wood decay and significant windstorm damage, the building underwent extensive restoration and structural upgrades from 1998 to 2002.

Preserving and maintaining an active greenhouse is no easy task, and working around plants that cannot be moved or environmental conditions that cannot be drastically altered calls for careful planning and thorough research and material testing, even for the simplest tasks, such as painting. This presentation aims to review some of the unique challenges that we have come across during our three decades of work at the Conservatory of Flowers and the rigorous planning and research we had to conduct to extend the maintenance window of the building while having minimal impact on its unique aesthetic and the collection of rare and exotic plants. Two projects we aim to discuss are the replacement of failed glazing putty with silicone extrusions and surface preparation and painting mock-ups in the Conservatory’s Aquatic Plants gallery. They provided opportunities to consider and evaluate alternate solutions for longevity, durability, and appropriateness to the unique environment of the Conservatory of Flowers.

Join our second annual examination of practice panel at the 2025 Meeting. This year, we will dive into the topic of laser cleaning on masonry to look at the development and efficacy of treatments both past and current. Panelists will introduce the mechanics of laser ablation before moving into a Q+A session meant to spark conversation on the successes and limitations of this approach for cleaning masonry materials. This is intended to be a collaborative event, gathering colleagues and their valuable insights from all specialty groups. We hope to see you there!