"Galleries, museums and exhibition halls vary enormously too but most botanic gardens, however small, generally have at least some s.p.a.ce to display exhibitions on environmental issues or the work of local artists. The bigger gardens have a range of facilities run by full-time professional staff. At the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, for instance, there are two main s.p.a.ces for exhibiting art and exhibitions plus smaller facilities at each of its three Regional Gardens. Inverleith House has a full-time curator and stages a series of world cla.s.s contemporary art exhibitions plus a smaller number of outstanding exhibitions on botanic art or the garden"s archives. The recently opened John Hope Gateway has two exhibition s.p.a.ces: one of which is an area for a permanent exhibition on the Garden, its work and current environmental issues such as climate change; and the other a smaller area for temporary exhibitions on a variety of themes such as nature-inspired sculpture, contemporary botanic art, environmental topics or ethn.o.botanical themes such as chocolate, coffee or natural medicines.
"In the 19th century it was quite common for botanic gardens to have museums that displayed all sorts of information about plants, but these are less common now. Those gardens that still have museums, such as Kew, frequently use them to house exhibitions on plant uses such as dyes, fibres, poisons, food, fragrances and spices.
"Few botanic gardens are large enough to employ full-time exhibition and gallery staff and most exhibitions are mounted by education staff. The work undertaken by those that do employ full-time staff ranges from arranging, designing and mounting exhibitions to liaising with professional designers, undertaking research and actually fabricating the exhibition. Many gardens contract out design work or arrange for exhibitions designed by others to be displayed at their gardens."
Case Study: Collections as part of a long-term career Interview with Malcolm Chapman, Head of Collections Development at the Manchester Museum "I was always fascinated by history as a child and was probably rather annoying in the process (or so my brothers have a.s.sured me). During guided tours around castles I would be standing at the front of the group, asking questions; I remember one such around Edinburgh Castle when by the end of the tour there was only me and the guide left, in animated conversation.
"I did a degree in history and social sciences at Exeter and was considering being either a history teacher or working more widely in education, although I had little idea of what that meant. I got the chance to test this out with some voluntary work at the National Maritime Museum in Exeter. The role was basic and unpaid I was sweeping the boats and reorganising the library but I got totally hooked on museums and started thinking about how best to present information and try to engage visitors in the experience.
"To earn some money (my partner was in the final year of her education degree at Exeter) I spent six months working for BT, cataloguing in their technical library. This was in the infancy of computers and database compilation, but I took to the role and found it absorbing.
"After six months we moved to London and I got a job in the British Museum, working on database management and cataloguing the collection using the very same skills I had garnered at BT. I worked in the Mediaeval and Later Antiquities Department, and this included work on the Sutton Hoo collection. We had to catalogue all the department"s record cards, publications catalogues and so on, print out and check them against the accession registers, and then check all the doc.u.mentation against the actual objects to ensure they had the correct accession numbers on them. Some of the work was very long (e.g. counting rivets from the Sutton Hoo ship), but it was a revelation to find that the cla.s.sification skills I had learnt at BT put me in a first-hand relationship with the objects in the museum.
"We worked in a small team of three. Six months later, the team leader left and I took over. I stayed for six years, involved in database design and management but always in the context of a museum. We worked on developing the electronic catalogues a pale version of what is possible now (and held on much physically larger equipment) but important in the realisation of what technology can do to make a museum"s holdings more accessible. I also got involved in standardising what is held within museums, and how it is tracked and organised, both within the British Museum and in museums in general; it is important that as a publicly funded service we offer an approach that is consistent and ethical and so the public know what to expect from us. Within the British Museum there were a variety of different departments, all operating fairly independently at that time, and so ensuring a consistency of service was a prototype for the wider standardisation initiatives I have since been involved with.1 I became the museum"s training and development manager, involved with setting up systems to support the ideas we were developing. This included establishing a network of computers within the museum, moving away from standalone PCs, to make the collection as a whole more accessible to both colleagues and visitors. Along the way I learnt computer programming I had done a basic course in Propo-sitional Logic at Exeter, which turned out to be a very effective starting point. When you consider how important computers are now to museum holdings and the spread of information it"s interesting to think how casually this began: what is now a large department of Web designers, working at the very heart of widening access, was begun with weekend voluntary support. I became the museum"s training and development manager, involved with setting up systems to support the ideas we were developing. This included establishing a network of computers within the museum, moving away from standalone PCs, to make the collection as a whole more accessible to both colleagues and visitors. Along the way I learnt computer programming I had done a basic course in Propo-sitional Logic at Exeter, which turned out to be a very effective starting point. When you consider how important computers are now to museum holdings and the spread of information it"s interesting to think how casually this began: what is now a large department of Web designers, working at the very heart of widening access, was begun with weekend voluntary support.
"I came to Manchester in 2000 as museum registrar and since then my role has expanded into head of collections development. While here, I took an MA in Museum Studies, part time over three years, and have widened my understanding. I do think being a university museum liberates us from short-term political decision-making: our main terms of reference are whether or not what we are doing creates knowledge that can be disseminated more widely; we are actively moving from exhibitions being "books on the wall" to the presentation of ideas that probe and challenge our understanding of ourselves and society in general.
"Computer access is at the heart of what I do here too we have a long-term goal of making the entire collection accessible virtually. So far we have 250,000 records featuring 1,000,000 items and the museum holds 4,500,000 items overall.2 I feel this is a key part of our mission, that individuals should not only be able to access what we hold through the expert services of a curator, but also gain access independently too. I feel this is a key part of our mission, that individuals should not only be able to access what we hold through the expert services of a curator, but also gain access independently too.
"Museums are changing. Individual collections used to be looked after by subject specialists or curators, who knew where things were, owned the expertise in explaining them, and acted as gatekeepers. Today, while expertise is obviously still vital, we try to use it to engage those who visit (whether online or in person) in a wider appreciation of what they are looking at.
"For example, one of the questions we get asked most often by visitors is why we display a collection of stuffed animals and why we were so cruel as to shoot them in the first place. But this collection can now be discussed in the context of changing social structures and habits, new technology (e.g. the invention of the camera and moving pictures), environmental sustainability and the records kept at the time. We can explain that some of our specimens were stuffed after a natural death at the local zoo, long before the camera or cheaper transportation made it possible for them to be seen in their natural habitat. Other specimens were "commissioned" by the university from expeditions to Africa, and while it is easy to feel antipathy towards this today, in fact Lord Egerton, who shot many of them, kept meticulous records. He recorded how each animal was behaving just before it was shot, and the precise time of day, and so we have a substantial body of significant information about the patterns of a highly localised wildlife population at the time."
Chapter 6
Conservation
Let"s start by getting the name right. Some museums have their own conservation department; others rely on freelance support, either from individuals or specialist (and often family) firms. People who work in this capacity are known as conservators conservators, not conservationists conservationists which is the term more commonly used to refer to those working to conserve the environment, endangered species and habitats, or natural resources. which is the term more commonly used to refer to those working to conserve the environment, endangered species and habitats, or natural resources.
Whether or not an inst.i.tution has a conservation department of its own tends to depend on its size not just how many items are held, but also how many temporary exhibitions are put on and how many items are lent to other organisations.
So while the more common a.s.sumption is that the role of the conservator is to repair and prevent further damage, conservators play a significant part in monitoring the objects under the organisation"s care and, in particular, charting how they both travel and age. It"s common practice today for museums and galleries to put on special exhibitions, either from their own organisation"s wider collection or to receive outside exhibitions that are touring a variety of locations; it is also relatively common to lend items. Every time a special exhibition is put on, a conservator has to make a careful a.s.sessment of the condition of each piece that is to be displayed and note any existing damage or vulnerabilities. The same is done with every exhibition the museum receives and with items that are lent. Each piece arriving comes with a report of its condition, which has to be examined in detail and disparities noted particularly important in today"s litigious culture. If an item arrives with damage that was not noted when it left its place of origin, or previous temporary home, it has to be logged and then the shipper and the previous venue have to sort out who pays. Along the same lines, it is also important that the object is monitored while it is on display or loan to ensure that display materials and conditions do not cause damage. The object should be in the same condition on its return to the lending museum.
People working in conservation tend to have a specialist qualifica-tion, usually an MA, MSc or postgraduate diploma in a relevant subject and a background in science. An understanding of chemistry is particularly important. A chemistry teacher explains why.
Why chemistry is so important "Science, these days, usually appears on the school timetable as one subject, particularly at the lower end of the secondary school. Yet it is generally taught as a series of topics that are recognisably physics, chemistry, biology and earth science. Many schools deliver GCSE as three subjects, taught by different specialists, so it becomes appropriate to try and explain the difference between the sciences. A simplistic view might be that biology is about living things, physics is about how things work and chemistry is about materials. That is problematic as far as chemistry is concerned: "materials" makes people think of cotton, nylon or wool. In science the word "material" means just about anything and everything. Chemistry is about what things are made of and how they behave in different conditions wet, hot, cold, dry, air, absence of air and so on. Chemists are concerned with trying to understand why things behave in certain ways (because they have different properties) and in using their knowledge to try and make new materials or to find alternative uses for familiar ones. A large part of the work of chemists involves a.n.a.lysis trying to find out what substances are present in a mixture and how much of each one there is. All of this is relevant to the work of a conservator or to someone working with ancient objects.
"The chemistry studied at school sometimes seems far removed from real life applications. The emphasis is often on the theoretical principles that underpin the subject. However, an understanding of these principles can be hugely beneficial to the work of people in many disciplines. Learning about chemistry involves learning to think in a particular way. We can"t see atoms and molecules, so much of it has to go on in your head and involves having to work with models. This is why chemistry is seen as the most important A-level when applying for courses in biochemistry, medicine and geology and more important than more obvious subjects like biology and geology or geography: it trains students to think conceptually, which in turn has been shown to lead to success in a huge range of seemingly unconnected disciplines. For example, many chemists go on to make excellent accountants and lawyers. In many respects, chemistry provides a way of thinking about the world and as such it is learned most effectively over time. A crash course in chemistry is notoriously difficult as there is insuf-ficient time to get used to the language and thought processes required. And it is important to have the opportunity to do the practical work that supports the theory.
"Conservation work and working with ancient artefacts involves understanding how materials deteriorate over time; understanding how they might be preserved either by active conservation treatments or more pa.s.sive methods such as controlling storage conditions; being able to examine objects or a.n.a.lyse tiny fragments in order to determine what they are made of, how they were made and what changes have occurred as a result of their use, as opposed to those that have been caused by deterioration as a result of burial or historical storage.
"A major part of conservation is the control of storage and display conditions. For example the United States Declaration of Independence is kept in a specially designed display case and the environment around the doc.u.ment is maintained at a precise temperature and humidity to stop it from becoming too brittle. The case itself is filled with humidified argon, an inert gas that prevents photo-oxidation causing the writing to fade. Other objects, such as the Mary Rose Warship, may be on display while they are being conserved. In the case of the Mary Rose, this has been sprayed over a number of years with polyethylene glycol (PEG), a chemical used in a variety of cosmetics and other household substances. The PEG is used to replace the water within the cell walls of the wood and to bulk the voids in the weakened wood, thus preserving the molecular structure. This allows the warship to be dried without collapsing and distorting and thus preserving all the information about the ship from the cutting and shaping of the timber during the building of the ship to the stories it can tell of the ship"s and sailors" lives and its eventual sinking.
"So, there are many practical benefits in studying chemistry beyond GCSE when it comes to working with ancient objects, but there are intellectual ones as well; the ability to think logically, to conceptualise and to understand the nature of the materials that you are working with at a molecular level."
KRIS STUTCHBURY, SUBJECT LEADER FOR SCIENCE (OPEN UNIVERSITY, PGCE); EX HEAD OF SCIENCE AND A Pa.s.sIONATE CHEMISTRY TEACHER FOR 20 YEARS For those for whom chemistry is less of a pa.s.sion, another specialist role that is emerging within the general field of conservation is collection care and preventive conservation. A growing number of museums have collection care staff and there are specific training courses in the UK. Collection care staff look after the environment in which objects are held; they monitor heating, air conditioning and light and advise on all these for exhibitions. They also monitor pest control and carry out or commission treatments if necessary. Other duties include housekeeping, condition checking, helping with the installation of some exhibitions, contributing to policies, packing and unpacking objects to move them in and out of storage, advising on storage furniture and display materials, and carrying out training.
Within an organisation, conservators are usually based in Collections and Collections Development, alongside colleagues who handle the doc.u.mentation and registration of holdings, and those providing other specialist services such as photography. As a group of professionals, conservators are careful, precise people. They have to be as they work with substances that are both noxious and flammable, but only in very small quant.i.ties and they do so with care, so accidents are very rare.
Case Studies Interview with Kirsten Suenson-Taylor, archaeological conservator "After taking arts A-levels I did an undergraduate degree in archaeology and worked for a cable television company before taking various part-time jobs in museums. I eventually decided that what I really wanted to do was work in conservation and so studied for chemistry A-level at night school and then embarked on a second undergraduate degree in archaeological conservation. Nowadays there are postgraduate courses, diplomas, MAs and MScs available, but in the early 1990s options were much more limited and, for me, the most convenient way to access the subject was by enrolling on a second undergraduate degree course. It might have been possible to do this without taking the chemistry A-level first, but I think it would have been much more difficult; chemistry is crucial to understanding material science the raw materials from which objects are made, their manufacture and deterioration through use, burial or post-burial changes and this is the basis of all conservation work.
"I emerged with my second degree, undertook various part-time options for English Heritage and some freelance work and then got a job with the Museum of London Archaeology Service as an archaeological conservator responsible for the conservation of objects recovered during excavations in London. One is less likely than one"s curatorial colleagues to have spent a long time volunteering before finding a paid position as a conservator within the world of museums and galleries. However, there are not that many jobs in conservation, especially since many museums have chosen not to prioritise conservation work and may have outsourced their conservation services. Having said that, the role of conservators (or conservation) is clear and highly specialised, and for those with the right qualifications, opportunities for employment do exist.
"The precise meaning of the term "archaeology" is interesting. There is a general a.s.sumption that it refers to the extraction and study of items that have been excavated, but the wider interpretation used by public bodies such as English Heritage is that it involves care and a.n.a.lysis of the material culture of civilisation, as opposed to their doc.u.mentary evidence. So an above-ground monument, or item of clothing, may today be considered potential subjects of archaeology. Archaeological conservation is the preservation of this material culture.
"I worked for the Museum of London for several years and after leaving to have a family, today do freelance work. It is possible to offer a consultancy service in the maintenance and storage of materials of all kinds, and this I am able to do from home. I can advise on storage and display conditions and likely risks to preservation, and I tend to limit my role to that. Offering a full-blown conservation service for archaeological materials would be more difficult because of the specific equipment required for the job, the s.p.a.ce required in which to use it, and the impact on those you are living with. While simple investigative conservation with a microscope and hand tools is possible to do from home, many objects would need further work with specialist equipment. For example, an air abrasive machine for ironwork operates on compressed air and requires complex dust extraction; in addition any chemicals needed for treatment must be bought under a special licence, stored according to current legislation, and exposure to them limited, for yourself and those who have access to the s.p.a.ce. There is protective legislation to be observed (for example how long you can breathe certain chemicals for and how much exposure you should have to others) and a range of supporting paperwork. I am more likely to find myself advising on storage facilities, store moves, planned renovations and how to monitor or evaluate the condition of the objects within the stores.
"People offering a service like mine tend to promote themselves by word of mouth and via websites, in particular via the Conservation Register which can be found on the Inst.i.tute of Conservation (ICON) website (see www.icon.org.uk and follow links to "Find a conservator"). Sometimes museums and galleries offer conservation as a paid-for service to the public. Most people would not know how to locate a conservation expert and finding one through a museum or gallery is a useful way of accessing a service they know they need. Finders of archaeological materials, such as metal detec-torists, may also find conservators through their local Finds Liaison Officer these officers often have monthly workshops within museums as part of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. and follow links to "Find a conservator"). Sometimes museums and galleries offer conservation as a paid-for service to the public. Most people would not know how to locate a conservation expert and finding one through a museum or gallery is a useful way of accessing a service they know they need. Finders of archaeological materials, such as metal detec-torists, may also find conservators through their local Finds Liaison Officer these officers often have monthly workshops within museums as part of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
"There are also specialist firms where several conservators, finds specialists and researchers group together to offer an independent conservation service to individuals, museums, local authorities, lawyers who need a professional and objective opinion and any other agency requiring their services (again, look on the ICON website for examples).
"Overall the role is intellectually fascinating, rewarding and satisfying but tends not to remunerate on the same scale."
Interview with Jane Thompson-Webb, Collections Services Manager, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery "My job t.i.tle is Collections Services Manager, but a more accurate description might be Head of Conservation. My route to this role has been circuitous.
"After school I took a BSc in Archaeological Conservation at Cardiff University. For me, leaving university coincided with the 1990s" recession in the UK; museums and galleries were required to cut costs and conservation departments were often a casualty the work is behind the scenes, often visible only by its absence, and sometimes considered non-essential (although obviously not by conservators). Many museums closed down their in-house conservation operation, relying instead on external services. Staff who left through this process often became self-employed and I found myself going down this route becoming a self-employed objects conservator.
"Over the next few years I worked on a wide variety of projects, but always on short-term contracts, all the while remaining selfemployed. For example, I worked on preserving silver at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and then on fossil specimens, including fossil fish and mammoth teeth and marine reptiles at Galway University and Whitby Museum. I prepared objects in the Birmingham Museum for exhibition as part of preparations for the G8 summit in 1998 (which was held in Birmingham and the accompanying cultural tours placed a strong emphasis on presenting the quality of the city"s holdings to best advantage). I later worked on the transfer of objects from Birmingham"s Museum of Science and Technology to the city"s new Think Tank1 (a three-month contract that grew into one of 18 months) and I subsequently became the conservator for the move of the remaining collections from the MST to the new Birmingham Museums Collection Centre. So ironically, my first permanent role within a museum, here in Birmingham, was as a head of department. (a three-month contract that grew into one of 18 months) and I subsequently became the conservator for the move of the remaining collections from the MST to the new Birmingham Museums Collection Centre. So ironically, my first permanent role within a museum, here in Birmingham, was as a head of department.
"I became a conservator because I wanted to be able to see what I had produced at the end of the day, rather than just generate paperwork. Although I now mainly do the latter, the privilege of working so closely with the past is one that never fails to delight me. The day-to-day work can sometimes be dull, as in any role, but on balance it"s a great job."
Interview with Gill Ca.s.son, Conservator at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery "After taking my A-levels, I wasn"t sure what I wanted to do, so I went to see a careers adviser allied to what was then the Department of Health and Social Security. The woman interviewing me asked what I was good at and what I liked doing, and from the list I provided (art, history, repairing things, being practical) came up with the suggestion that I should consider a career in conservation in a gallery or museum. She mentioned a course on general conservation at Lincoln that I could take and gave me the details to look up. At the age of 18 this was all news to me I had never thought that jobs like this were open to anyone or that you could train to become a conservator, but the fit seemed perfect and I started working towards this.
"I began with a degree in art history and design and an inclination to make work on paper my speciality, although watercolours, drawings and prints rather than doc.u.ments. I chose a course at Leicester Polytechnic. There was a course in art history at Leicester University too, but the course I chose had a considerable practical element. There was a strong emphasis on experiencing studio-work and developing practical skills in a variety of different areas of art, from sculpture to print-making, under supervision. It was considered essential for an art historian to have a working knowledge of techniques and materials in order to understand the challenges or limitations of different media. I personally feel that the traditional study of art history does not place enough emphasis on this aspect and, as a result, can be too narrow in its interpretation. To be a good fine art conservator one needs to combine the historical knowledge of the art historian with the practical skills and creativity of the painter. Creativity and imagination are also important, as a conservator often has to devise solutions to practical problems.
"As part of my degree I took a course on the history of watercolours (17501850). One of my tutors had an impressive collection of his own and he encouraged me to consider specialising in the conservation of watercolours, prints and drawings. He also told me there were currently (1978) only two colleges in the UK offering training courses. Both courses were two-year diplomas in conservation. Gateshead (which now offers an MA in Conservation Studies at the University of Newcastle) took four students a year, and Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts (also now an MA) took eight students. Both were good courses, but when I was offered places at both, I chose Gateshead as it offered more individual tuition and supplied prints and drawings to work on, whereas at Camberwell you had to find your own and the costs of living in London were much higher. This was an issue, as I could only get a student grant to cover one year.
"The course covered art history; chemistry and physics; the history and technology of artists" materials and methods and, from the beginning, the course allowed you to specialise in either paintings or works on paper, and I already knew that I wanted the latter. I"ve always liked the fluidity and spontaneity of works on paper, which tend to be created more quickly. I am more interested in how a painting came about, and the early stages of its composition, than the final production; it can be fascinating to see the various sketches that precede the much more formal finished work.
"Although I completed the course, gaining a diploma with a distinction, in 1981 work in a museum or art gallery was hard to find and you had to be prepared to go anywhere. After four months I eventually found a part-time job at Bristol City Museum, working for the Area Museum Service for the South West. The service was funded by central government and covered a large geographical area, enabling smaller museums and galleries to have conservation work carried out without this subsidy they would never have been able to afford it. My job was just two days a week and I took on a variety of private conservation work to supplement my income. The director of the museum understood the financial instability of my position and was very helpful in pa.s.sing work my way. I worked on items from No.1, Royal Crescent in Bath2 and other museums in the area. I also had the privilege, in this role, of working with an experienced paper conservator, which is really important when you first qualify. and other museums in the area. I also had the privilege, in this role, of working with an experienced paper conservator, which is really important when you first qualify.
"I had decided fairly early on that conservation work was what mattered to me, and that I did not want to run my own business; I wanted to do conservation work rather than have responsibility for finance or marketing. After three months at Bristol, a full-time job became available at the Area Museums Service for the North West, based in Blackburn, Lancashire. Coincidentally, at the same time, I had been headhunted for a museum post in Sheffield, which was very good for my morale, and so I had a difficult choice to make.
"After three years of varied and challenging work for museums all over the North West of England, I decided I would like to experience work on a static collection, and began to look out for such an opportunity. I wanted to work within a big collection; one that raised a different range of conservation issues and problems. That opportunity came up in Birmingham, near my home town.
"Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has a vast collection of works on paper around 25,000 pieces in the Prints & Drawings collection alone, and over 22,000 in other museum collections. The Conservation Department here was set up about 1975, and at the time was the largest department outside London. I came here in 1985 and have remained here ever since. The collection is the result of local benefactors consciously building a public collection in the 1880s. John Feeney, J. R. Holliday, William Cadbury and others were particularly generous donors in the 19th century. The gallery has one of the largest and most representative collection of Pre-Raphaelite drawings bought by subscription in 1903. There are many works by the major 19th century artist Edward Burne-Jones (18331898), who was born and grew up in Birmingham. The Burne-Jones collection offers a unique range and depth, with over 1200 works, 1138 of which are on paper. One of his largest watercolours on paper, The Star of Bethlehem The Star of Bethlehem (18881891), which measures approximately 8ft 5in x 12ft 8in, was commissioned in 1887 by the Corporation of Birmingham for the museum, and still hangs in the gallery where it was exhibited in 1891 after a brief debut in London. There are two chalk studies for this painting in the collection (18881891), which measures approximately 8ft 5in x 12ft 8in, was commissioned in 1887 by the Corporation of Birmingham for the museum, and still hangs in the gallery where it was exhibited in 1891 after a brief debut in London. There are two chalk studies for this painting in the collection "Given the size of Birmingham"s collection, only a small percentage is actually regularly reviewed and exhibited, and contrary to what you might expect, exhibition and good condition tend to go hand in hand because the works are examined and conserved in order to be exhibited. It is not necessarily the case that the more frequently items are displayed the more they get damaged. The works we display or lend tend to be those in the best condition, and of course while on display they are very carefully monitored. The works are handled and installed by experienced technicians and if they are loaned elsewhere they are transported by specialist art shippers. For the past 30 years, light levels and environmental conditions in the museum galleries have been carefully monitored and controlled. Works on paper should only be exhibited for a maximum of three months in any twelve. Records of exhibition exposure are kept to determine when and how long a work on paper can be displayed, whether it is here in Birmingham, or on loan within the UK or abroad.
"Ideally, one of my responsibilities is to work through the collection as a whole to identify possible problems and spot damage or deterioration, but these days so much time is taken up on condition a.s.sessment, monitoring, administration and paperwork a.s.sociated with the temporary exhibition programme and loans schedules, that there are parts of the collection that have not had condition a.s.sessment or conservation for some time, if at all. This is not necessarily a problem as storage conditions are very good, but it may be a missed opportunity. As there has only ever been one paper conservator directly employed here and no hope of more in the future, this is an unavoidable situation that is unlikely to change.
"What kind of problems are we looking for? Not damp and infestation, which most people imagine to be ongoing issues, as both gallery and storage conditions are very good. By far the most common problem is damage or deterioration of the work of art a.s.sociated with inappropriate or old, acidic mounts, and damage to contemporary frames. Sometimes when you lift a deteriorated mount off an old watercolour you can see that the colours underneath the mount are brighter than in the image. This is the result of irreversible fading, but the damage will have arisen from excessive display before light levels in museums were carefully controlled; it will not be recent. The preservation of prints is less of an issue because the inks used tend to be stable in light, although the paper, being cellulose, can still be affected.
"The conservation materials we work with are of high quality and they stand the test of time so work we carry out now should last for several decades. Detailed conservation treatment records are kept, noting all methods and materials, adhesives (which must be reversible), chemicals and solvents used, which will a.s.sist if the object is to be treated again in the future.
"The world in which I work a local authority museum is flexible. We are valued for our specific skills and I was able to change my contract to a job share, following maternity leave (although as there was no one to share with, I just switched to a half-time contract for four months) and a few years ago I changed from a five-day to a four-day week.
"Conservation work is highly satisfying and utterly engrossing. When I am working on a specific item I am in a studio with two other paper conservators (both of whom are freelance and mostly work on commissions from the public, rather than employed by the museum) and our environment is harmonious our studio has been described by other staff as the museum"s "oasis of calm". We play cla.s.sical music, have the occasional conversation, but mostly get on with our own work. There are several other conservators working on different types of museum objects in our department. Sometimes a different perspective is needed on a conservation problem, and it is useful to discuss it with them as we all share basic principles. Sometimes we work as a team, condition checking loans in for a big exhibition, for example.
"Occasionally we act as couriers for works of art that are lent to other museums all over the world. My most adventurous trip was bringing back a large loan of our Pre-Raphaelite paintings and drawings which went on a five-venue tour of the US in 1994/95. I spent a week in Atlanta, condition checking the loans and supervising the packing for return home to Birmingham.
"The work requires a high degree of concentration and we learn to block out distractions the risk is that we get so immersed in our rhythm that we forget to take regular breaks. Our work is also surprisingly physically demanding repeated tiny movements require a great deal of muscle control and manual dexterity, and sometimes I am concentrating so hard that I almost forget to breathe! Bending over a table doing a backing removal for hours on end can result in all sorts of aches and pains. Equally, hours of sitting at a computer updating conservation records on a database is good for neither body nor soul but something most conservators regard as a necessary evil. As a group of individuals we tend to be careful, organised, methodical and calm, although perhaps a little obsessive about keeping things tidy and clean, because damage can occur so easily. Most of us like to hang on to our own equipment simply because these are the tools of our trade and we rely on them. It"s certainly correct that "a good workman looks after his/her tools". I can always tell if someone else has had access to my watercolour box, or hasn"t cleaned the paint brushes properly. However, most of us are very colourful characters, if not to say wacky, with a great sense of fun which is the flip-side of having to be so careful and controlled for most of the time. The subjects discussed by conservators at tea breaks can occasionally range from the sublime to the truly ridiculous all in the s.p.a.ce of half an hour.
"What are the frustrations? Too much administrative paperwork when I would like to be doing the hands-on conservation. There are also side effects. Having had so many years of quiet, contemplative, almost private access to all these wonderful works, whether in the studio, or in our galleries when closed to the public, I find it hard when I have to share exhibitions with others. If I go to an exhibition elsewhere, I tend to try to go when I know the gallery will not be crowded. And before I go in, I have to remind myself that I must simply enjoy the paintings as paintings and stop myself from peering at their physical condition, criticising the mount or the frame or musing about all the other many and varied mechanisms connected to storage and display an almost impossible task after so many years as a paper conservator. Maybe when I retire..."
Interview with Sophia Plender, Senior Paintings Conservator and Senior Research Conservator (Tudor Project), National Portrait Gallery "One of the really interesting things about working in conservation is that the role forms a bridge between the arts and sciences. Conservators of fine art start with a love of paintings but they must also be interested in the science behind their work. There is no one path to becoming a conservator; they come with a range of first degrees and include art historians, students of languages and literature, historians, art school graduates, chemists (who are interested in organic films and the how paint behaves) and engineers (who are interested in how canvases respond to tension when they are stretched and the effects of this on the painted surface). As a group we are, in general, artistic, meticulous, focused and like working with our hands, but our varied backgrounds make for interesting and useful discussions and debates. Opportunities to meet each other come through contact between the different inst.i.tutions, inter-museum projects, clients we work for and through professional lectures and conferences.
"I have been freelance all of my working life, which includes working for Dulwich Picture Gallery during a very interesting and exciting time in the development of the gallery. For the past two and a half years I have had a part-time paid position at the National Portrait Gallery as senior research conservator in the Making Art in Tudor Britain project, which is examining the techniques and methods of the Tudor portraits. My impression is that it is getting harder all the time to secure work, and particularly hard to secure a permanent role within a museum. Most museums are being forced to make cuts, and the work of conservators is behind the scenes effectively invisible. It takes a while before it is evident that a collection has not been looked after. Money is now focused on front of house functions such as widening partic.i.p.ation and increasing accessibility."
Interview with Alice Tate-Harte, easel paintings conservator "It"s hard to say where or when my interest in working as a conservator began, but I became aware of this role as a distinct profession when I was at school, which I think was quite unusual sometimes it is only when studying art history that people realise they can specialise in conserving and restoring objects.
"At school I loved art but was also good at the sciences. I grew up close to Brighton and did my GCSE art project on the Brighton Pavilion while there I saw an exhibition on how it was damaged by fire and subsequently restored. I did A-levels in both the sciences and art.
"When it came to doing work experience, our school left it largely to us to arrange. I wrote to a variety of museums and galleries asking if they could take me on and most wrote back saying that, at the age of 17, this was impossible (insurance and government indemnity schemes mean there are legal limits on the age of those who can be employed in public buildings, even in a voluntary capacity) but I did get a reply from Julian Spencer-Smith, a private conservator of oil paintings, with whom I did my placement. I also did some work experience at Worthing Museum, which was close to the school. I shadowed the curator for a week and also helped in the education department. The curator took me to visit the studio of a private restorer who at that time worked with very traditional methods and this was a useful comparison.
"I chose a degree in art history and material studies at UCL, which offered an introduction to technical art history, conservation and paint a.n.a.lysis, and I graduated in 2001. I wrote to the conservation department at Brighton Museum and The Royal Pavilion and did some work experience with the painting conservator during the university holidays. This was a really valuable experience and I continued to do volunteer work on various projects until 2007. It was very important to get first-hand practical experience to ensure that I really enjoyed it before embarking on a career in conservation. In 2003 I started a postgraduate diploma at the Courtauld Inst.i.tute of Art, where you can specialise in the conservation of paintings. As this is a three-year course, finding adequate funding is a serious consideration. The AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) fund some places and university bursaries are also available.
"Finding paid work after qualifying is difficult, particularly in the UK. There are few paid internships and often you have to be prepared to travel. Conservation work in the US was better funded at the time I graduated. Paid internships can be found, but there are also more courses producing qualified graduates, so compet.i.tion for such places is greater. I found an internship at the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery in Holland, which has an excellent painting collection funded by a European Union grant and by the host museum. As someone starting out in this world it is important to understand the various mechanisms and routes for seeking financial support, many of which are indirect. For example, EU funding is available for a variety of different roles (not just conservation) and there are a number of funding directories you can consult, which may provide monies to support a role that would otherwise have to be unpaid.
"Once you try seeking paid work yourself, you will find it is largely based on reputation and, hence, contacts, whether through individual clients or people you meet in the wider profession. As the conservation world is quite small, networking is perhaps easier but you have to be aware of the need to market yourself and the service you can provide. I now have a regular contract with English Heritage and do freelance work in Sophia Plender"s studio, for Dulwich Picture Gallery and other museums and private clients "I was warned when I first began that, compared with the length and depth of my training, work would be both hard to find and never likely to remunerate in line with either the extent of my qualifica-tions or my developing expertise. This has proved to be the case and it"s important to have realistic expectations. However my job is enormously rewarding. I love doing practical work and get great satisfaction from finishing a treatment. I really enjoy the technical research aspect of conservation and seeing beautiful objects so closely is always a real privilege. I also enjoy working with museum and conservation professionals and am very glad I chose this profession."
General apt.i.tudes that suit conservation work Good manual dexterity skills are essential and generally you need to be a practical person. Remember that conservation is not just the glamorous side of retouching but also involves things like framing, so woodwork skills are also required.
Patience and dedication I once spent three days sc.r.a.ping glue off the back of a lining canvas.
Being careful and mindful of the objects around you.
Resourcefulness and good problem-solving skills if you are working on site you may not have the exact tools or materials you need and so have to be inventive.
The pros and cons of working this world Disadvantages As with many arts fields, the job market is highly compet.i.tive.
In comparison with other professionals, and in particular considering the amount of training required, the work is not highly paid. The private sector may be better paid than museum jobs, but will probably offer less job security.
There are practical health and safety considerations to be borne in mind working with solvents means constant carefulness.
Advantages The work is really interesting and enjoyable: you get to work on unique and beautiful objects and to study them in depth. A very privileged role.
The work is very satisfying as you get to see a project through to completion. You can transform a painting that has been neglected for years into something people engage with again.
You get to make new exciting discoveries. For example, during cleaning you might uncover a landscape which has been over-painted for years. Similarly an X-ray might reveal another painting underneath or infrared light might show you an under-drawing which has not been seen before.
Each painting presents a different conservation problem, so you are constantly challenged.
The role is very hands on you are not usually sitting behind a computer all day.
The profession is international there are opportunities to transfer skills and work abroad.
The profession is relatively young and has been developing into a more rigorous, scientifically led profession since the 1930s. This is a dynamic field, with changes in techniques and ethics.
You become part of a close-knit professional community.
One top tip before you go any further: Think early about type of objects you are interested in caring for, as most training courses focus on one type of object such as easel paintings, paper, sculpture, textiles, wall paintings or buildings conservation."
Chapter 7
The funding of museums and galleries
All museums and galleries need financial support private inst.i.tutions depend on this to fund their very existence, and state-supported inst.i.tutions require extra funds to bridge the gap between what is given to them by (central or local) government and their running costs. In both cases, financial support is necessary to fund new initiatives that can"t be afforded out of their general maintenance budgets.
"...inst.i.tutions such as the National Gallery and Tate, which until 10 years ago had 100 per cent state funding, now have only 60 per cent. Not only is the state in rapid retreat but the part played by the National Lottery, that decade-long bonanza for the arts, is also in decline, partly because of the diversion of funds to the 2012 Olympics but also because the nation"s lotto-craze has abated.
"It is a sea-change in our way of thinking. Arts, wider cultural inst.i.tutions, even universities all now have to raise enormous sums to keep themselves afloat and functioning at their peak. They all have to fish in the same river of money, much of it new money, flowing through the UK"s finan-cial and business sectors."
JAN DALLEY, WRITING IN THE FINANCIAL TIMES FINANCIAL TIMES IN 2007 IN 2007 Few people planning a career in museums and galleries see involvement in fundraising as their long-term goal, but for a candidate with either the right set of attributes, or the potential to develop them, it can be a highly satisfying career.
Over the past 20 years, what is now generally referred to as the "Development Department" has emerged in its own right and, during that time, it has gradually sloughed off the sense that asking for money is a tacky thing to do. Development staff are increasingly not only relied upon to raise core income, but also trusted to represent the organisation and its significance to the wider world, and their success becomes a source of pride and validation to all involved. But while there has never been a greater need for their role, there remains a dearth of real talent in this area: "Since the US has a respectable culture of giving, it also has a culture of asking: something almost unknown to the awkward Brits, who are often embarra.s.sed to talk about money. The professionalising of asking and thanking, and the skilled cultivation of donors (start "em young; keep "em keen) are tricky concepts here: it is no coincidence that many top fundraisers are American."
(IBID) Development can be an attractive career option for anyone keen to play a central role in the future of museums and galleries.
What kind of support are museums and galleries seeking?
In the UK, state-owned galleries and museums currently have no entrance fee, but most (although not all) charge for entry to special and temporary exhibitions that are put on in addition to the permanent collection. Private museums may charge for entry, with a range of price brackets and concessions according to the economic status of the individual. But in most inst.i.tutions you will find a box somewhere near the exit for (additional) contributions, and a message that makes a link between the experience you have hopefully just enjoyed and what it costs to keep the inst.i.tution open. Not all visitors contribute and this income cannot be relied upon, so most inst.i.tutions encourage their supporters to donate in a planned and sustained way, enabling them to reap maximum financial advantage.
Regular income At the top end of the scale are sustained sponsorship schemes to support significant organisations for instance (at the time of writing) BT sponsors Tate Online and Credit Suisse sponsors the National Gallery. It can be an important endors.e.m.e.nt for an organisation or individual to show themselves to be both deserving of, and able to manage, sponsorship support. There is the opportunity to swap and value each other"s name and/or branding, perhaps in a lasting format if a gallery or wing is named after a sponsor.
Membership schemes (often called "Friends") ask individual patrons to commit to regular contributions for a specific period of time and, in return, they offer benefits and privileges, structured wherever possible to enable the organisation to claim gift aid from HMRC,1 which hopefully a.s.sists both parties. Such membership schemes encourage those who partic.i.p.ate to subscribe via bank direct debit because individuals are much less likely to cancel a direct debit than remember to send in their yearly subscription and in the process to see the donation as a regular, routine expenditure rather than something that requires additional consideration. There are also legacy departments that encourage people to consider remembering an organisation they favour by way of a bequest in their will. which hopefully a.s.sists both parties. Such membership schemes encourage those who partic.i.p.ate to subscribe via bank direct debit because individuals are much less likely to cancel a direct debit than remember to send in their yearly subscription and in the process to see the donation as a regular, routine expenditure rather than something that requires additional consideration. There are also legacy departments that encourage people to consider remembering an organisation they favour by way of a bequest in their will.
Corporate membership schemes allow companies to donate to museums and galleries (and other charitable foundations) and again get tax benefits as well as a range of other perks such as pa.s.ses for their employees, access to corporate hospitality s.p.a.ces either free or at a discount.
Capital projects Most museum directors see it as a key part of their role to lead an organisation forward, with schemes of development, renewal, renovation and perhaps extension and new building. These tend to be expensive and so need special funding. Some money may be accessible from the government, maybe via the Arts Council or the Heritage Lottery Fund, but some will almost certainly need to be raised by the organisation itself. The funding of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia and the extension (the Sainsbury Wing) to the National Gallery in London are good examples of this.