Studentship at RCA/V&A

Royal College of Art / Victoria and Albert Museum
Conservation Studentship for 2003/2004

RCA/V&A Conservation <URL:http://www.conservation.rca.ac.uk/> has
re-opened applications for an MA place in the Conservation of
Tapestries and Textiles in Historic Interiors (with Historic Royal
Palaces). The deadline for new applications is Monday September 8,
2003 and interviews will be held in that week. Previous applicants
should not re-apply.

MA Conservation of Tapestries and Textiles in Historic Interiors, in
collaboration with Historic Royal Palaces and based at the Textile
Conservation Studio, Hampton Court. 1 place available for 2 or 3
years depending on background and experience.

Entry requirements: Prior training and experience in textile
conservation is essential, with particular knowledge of tapestries
and their conservation a distinct advantage. Note: The scale of
tapestry conservation projects means that a three-year studentship
is most likely and only candidates with substantial relevant
experience could be considered for a 2-year course.

Context: Since RCA/V&A Conservation began in 1989, six MA students
have graduated in Textile Conservation, one of whom is currently
employed by the National Museum of Scotland, following a year as an
intern in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow.  Two graduated with an MA
in Upholstery Conservation. After a period in New York at the
Metropolitan Museum, our first Upholstery graduate returned to take
up a post at the V&A, the only dedicated Upholstery Conservation
post in a UK museum. He in turn supervised an MA student who
graduated in 2001 and is now employed on a one-year internship at
the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, USA.

For 2002/03 we introduced a new collaboration and a new specialist
discipline: Conservation of Tapestries and Textiles in Historic
Interiors with Historic Royal Palaces (HRP). HRP is a Royal Charter
Body with charitable status charged with the care of the five
unoccupied, London-based royal palaces and their contents, including
Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace. HRP has a
well-established Textile Conservation Studio within Hampton Court,
reflecting the richness, scale and importance of the textiles used
in the courts of Henry VIII, George II and William and Mary. This
studentship will focus on the particular needs of tapestries and
other textiles (e.g. bed hangings) held and displayed in the
historic house context. The Studio's conservation scientist
undertakes a rolling programme of applied research on the behaviour
of degraded textile materials on open display which feeds into the
methodology of the Studio. Since the Studio also provides the
textile conservation science element for the MA course, students
will be able to observe this research in progress within the studio
and in the context of a historic building, much of the data being
gathered on site.

First Contact:

    Joanna Baden
    Administrator
    Conservation Department
    School of Humanities
    RCA
    Kensington Gore
    London SW7 2EU
    joanna.baden [at] rca__ac__uk

Deadline for Applications: September 8, 2003

Joanna Baden
Royal College of Art
+44 20 7590 4532
Fax: +44 20 7590 4490


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:20
                 Distributed: Thursday, August 14, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-17-20-021
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