Objects conservator
An objects conservator is a professional, working in a museum setting or private practice, that specializes in the conservation of three-dimensional works. They undergo specialized education, training, and experience that allows them to formulate and implement preventative strategies and invasive treatment protocols to preserve cultural property for the future[1]. Objects conservators typically specialize in one type of material or class of cultural property, including metals, archaeological artifacts, ethnographic artifacts, glass, and ceramic art. Objects conservation presents many challenges due to their three-dimensional form and composite nature.
Responsibilities & duties
Preventative Measures
While not as glamorous or hands-on as the other steps in this process, preventative measures, or preventative conservation, is arguably the most important. To truly preserve cultural heritage for the future, it is imperative to minimize deterioration by developing and implementing procedures to minimize the amount of physical and chemical stress an object encounters. This includes its environmental conditions (relative humidity, temperature, exposure to light), pest management, use of storage containers, strategies for packing and shipping, exhibition conditions, and an emergency preparedness plan. The initial expense of such measures often causes institutions and private collectors to balk, but in comparison to the expense of the invasive treatments that will be needed if one does not take such preventative measures, the benefit outweighs the initial investment.
Preventative conservation is also something that a private collector can implement for their own pieces. Controlling the amount of light an object is exposed to, the ambient temperature of its environment, and protecting it from rapid changes in relative humidity goes a long way towards ensuring that an object will be around to pass down to ones children.
Knowledge, abilities, and skills
Treatment Protocol
While each object is unique, all conservators begin with a similar process, regardless of the artifact being assessed. A conservator may need to stabilize an object at any stage in the process, or, in extreme cases, begin by stabilizing an object before further examination can occur.
Examination
Careful examination of the surface of the object, its structure, and materials takes place at this stage. The conservator often employs different techniques: photographs taken in visible light, raking light, UV fluorescence; x-rays; analysis of a particular type of cross-section, called thin section (Find image and link for this); and use of destructive tests on small samples to better determine the materials involved.
Documentation
A conservator should document every step of the process through photographs and verbal descriptions. The potential documentation opportunities include: original condition, sample sites, different types of damage, areas of significant weakness before and after stabilization (consolidation), and potential infestation sites. It is also important to document the objects condition before and after moving it, especially in the case of off-site transport.
Treatment
Following examination and accompanied by further documentation, this step involves addressing the object itself. As defined by AIC, treatment is "The deliberate alteration of the chemical and/or physical aspects of cultural property, aimed primarily at prolonging its existence.[2]" This can be something as minimal as reinforcing flaking paint, or something as complex as the migration of metals and salts through wood that lead to loss of strength, shrinkage, separation between the wooden support, metal fastenings, and decorative outer surface. *could also use salts in pottery here, may be easier to picture
Education & training
Most museums and prestigious private firms require graduate degrees in Conservation. Without graduate level education, knowledge of chemistry, hands-on experience, and a thorough foundation in documentation, evaluation, and treatment an institution or firm is taking a serious risk. Anyone can call themselves a conservator, but it is the specialized training gained through graduate programs or similar experiences that count.
Gaining admission to a conservation graduate program includes an undergraduate degree, a concentration in chemistry (specifically organic chemistry), and a significant number of hours working under a trained conservator. This ensures that the candidate has a through foundation upon which to build and is already familiar with many aspects of the process.
These programs include University of Delaware, NYU, Buffalo State University, Queens University, University College London, Cardiff University
Areas of Specialty
Due to the diverse nature of this type of cultural heritage, most objects conservators specialize on one type of artifact or material. This is especially true of Ethnographic artifacts.
Archaeological Materials
Ceramics
Ethnographic Artifacts
- Plant-based Materials
- Animal-based Materials
Glass
Metals
Wooden Objects
Professional organizations
AIC, ICOM-CC, CAC, ICC