Tuesday, May 14, 2013 Several items from the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections are now a part of the exhibit “Marking Territory, Cartographic Treasures of the Mississippi River and the World Beyond,” March 2- June 16, 2013 at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport. http://www.figgeartmuseum.org/ Curator Rima Girnius from the Figge, worked with MaryContinue reading “University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections Now on the Road”
Category Archives: Community, outreach, education, and events
The Szathmary Digitzation Project
Tuesday, May 7, 2013 The University of Iowa’s Special Collections was fortunate to receive Chef Louis Szathmary’s library of cookbooks throughout the mid-80’s. Among the items were a number of handwritten cookbooks that Szathmary had collected over the years. In the Spring of 2012 conservation and digital preservation students began scanning the manuscripts. The firstContinue reading “The Szathmary Digitzation Project”
Why We Assist in Disasters
Friday, February 15, 2013 Those of us who volunteer to assist in disaster response are, obviously, not in it for the money. Private conservators are not getting paid while volunteering. Many of us are away from family and friends, work hard and go to bed exhausted during recovery efforts. So what is in it forContinue reading “Why We Assist in Disasters”
Teaching Moments at CRC
Thursday, February 14, 2013 All the work on the artwork damaged by Hurrican Sandy is done by volunteers. It’s a great opportunity for an intern to learn about assessing and cleaning paintings while on the job with a volunteer conservator. Today we had a student volunteer who is studying to become a paintings conservator. SheContinue reading “Teaching Moments at CRC”
Busy Day at the Cultural Recovery Center in Brooklyn
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 We had a very busy day at the Cultural Recovery Center in Brooklyn. The volunteer paintings conservator examined a couple of paintings that an artist brought in during the morning, just before noon she removed an artwork from a frame and examined the piece for mold and damage, in the afternoonContinue reading “Busy Day at the Cultural Recovery Center in Brooklyn”
An Artist’s Quandary
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 What does an artist do when his/her artwork is damaged? Throw it away because it has been changed and is no longer the same piece? Re-work it and make it a “new” painting? Repair the damage and try to keep the essence of the original? Or leave it as damaged andContinue reading “An Artist’s Quandary”
Assessment and Cleaning
Monday, February 11, 2013 Today I spent most of the day inspecting close to 150 art works on paper for mold. It’s very time consuming. The front and back of each piece of art needed to be entirely visually inspected — each inch. I only found a handful that I thought a paper conservator shouldContinue reading “Assessment and Cleaning”
Assisting Artists After Hurricane Sandy
Friday, February 8, 2013 When we inspect an artist’s work, we also ask for the story of the piece to learn more about its history and composition. The pieces that this artist brought in were her final project before graduation where she used as pure a blue, red, and yellow that she could get. SheContinue reading “Assisting Artists After Hurricane Sandy”
Salvaging Artists’ Works After Hurricane Sandy
Thursday, February 7, 2013 A couple years ago, I received training so I could become part of a national cultural disaster response team called AIC-CERT (American Institute for Conservation Collections Emergency Response Team). After Hurricane Sandy, AIC (American Institute for Conservation) and the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation established a Cultural Recovery CenterContinue reading “Salvaging Artists’ Works After Hurricane Sandy”
Encapsulating a giant map
Friday, September 28, 2012 Part of our mission at the University of Iowa is community outreach, in the Preservation and Conservation department outreach happens in many different ways. One of our most recent community projects was helping the Davenport Public Library (DPL) with an over-sized map. Amy Groskopf, the Associate Director at the Davenport PublicContinue reading “Encapsulating a giant map”