Stewards of the past
Art conservation graduate students describe wide-ranging internships
9:38 a.m., Aug. 30, 2011--From photographs of American Civil War soldiers to 12th century murals in a Chinese temple, the newest graduates of the joint Winterthur-University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) have been making their mark in the world.
The 10 graduates, who just completed the prestigious program and earned their master's degrees in art conservation, returned to Winterthur Museum in late August to share some highlights of their most recent internships, from the Netherlands to Washington, D.C. WUDPAC is a three-year course in which students spend the entire third year working under the supervision and mentoring of conservation professionals at one or more host institutions or private laboratories.
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"In the humanities, we talk about being stewards of the past," said Matthew Kinservik, interim associate dean for the humanities in UD's College of Arts and Sciences, in noting that the new graduates exemplify that stewardship while also doing interdisciplinary work and outreach. "They're out in the field, engaging with other great institution around the country and around the world and with the public."
WUDPAC students specialize in such areas of conservation as objects, paintings, paper, photographs and furniture, and many also choose a concentration in the field of preventive conservation. The program has been a partnership between the University and Winterthur since 1974, and many of its graduates work at some of the world's most prominent museums and cultural sites.
In the new graduates' presentations about their internships, they discussed working with a variety of materials and undertaking a variety of types of projects. Alisha Chipman, for example, worked with photographs at the Library of Congress and at the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
The Library of Congress, she explained, has a collection of some 16 million photographs, including historical photos such as an image of the Wright brothers' first flight and portraits of Lincoln. During her internship, Chipman helped prepare and display more than 700 photos of Union and Confederate soldiers and their families for an exhibition titled "The Last Full Measure," which opened on the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.
Another new graduate, LeeAnn Barnes Gordon, an objects conservator, said she combined her academic background in archaeology with internships in which she worked at an active archaeological dig in Cyprus and at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan. At the Kelsey, she described the painstaking work that went into repairing such items as a corroded pair of metal shears from Egypt in the third or fourth century and a damaged woven basket from the same period.
"The members of the Class of 2011 have already distinguished themselves in a wide range of work," said Gregory J. Landrey, director of the library, collections management and academic programs at Winterthur and an adjunct professor for WUDPAC.
The new graduates and their conservation specialties are Alisha Chipman and Amanda Maloney, photographs; LeeAnn Barnes Gordon, Caroline Roberts and Rose Daly Cull, objects; Renee Wolcott, books Kirsten Travers, painted surfaces; and Gwen Manthey, Lauren Bradley and Emily MacDonald-Korth, paintings.
Article by Ann Manser
Photo by Evan Krape