Montefiascone Project

The following is posted on behalf of Cheryl Porter, Director of the
Montefiascone Project.

Montefiascone Project
Summer 2005

Montefiascone is a small medieval walled city about 100 k (80 miles)
north of Rome, on Lake Bolsena. Since 1988, conservators and others
interested in books and their history have come together to work, to
learn and to enjoy this special place.  Participants come to enjoy
the medieval architecture, friendly people, a clean accessible lake,
books and scholarship.  The Montefiascone Project is a non-profit
making organisation, set up to fund the restoration of the Library
of the Seminario Barbarigo in Montefiascone.

Courses for summer 2005:

Week I   25-29 July
Re-creating the Medieval Palette

    Through illustrated lectures, participants will examine the
    story of colour in medieval times. The course will address the
    history, geography, chemistry, iconographic importance and the
    actual techniques of colour manufacture, with special reference
    to manuscript painting. Using original recipes, each participant
    will make and paint out the colours.  No previous experience is
    necessary.

    Course tutor: Cheryl Porter

Week 2-1-5 August
Historic Album Structures

    Throughout history the construction of photo albums has
    presented interesting challenges to book binders. Albums draw on
    basic book structures for construction, but must be altered to
    accommodate the photographs. The addition of photographs can set
    up complex mechanical interactions between the parts of an album
    and its photographs as the pages are being turned. Examination
    of structures used in nineteenth and twentieth century albums
    offers inspiration and insight for the construction of
    contemporary albums. The way the paper flexes, the way the
    photos or other additions are attached to a page, and the
    technique used for the leaf attachment influence how well an
    album works to display its contents. Participants will study
    various components and structures used in historic photo albums
    to inspire contemporary methods for adding materials to the book
    format. Participants will make models of the guarded leaf
    structure used for carte-de-visites and cabinet card albums.

    Course tutor: Olivia Primanis

Week 3-8-12 August
The Conservation and Repair and binding of Parchment Manuscripts

    This week's practical course will cover the selection and
    preparation of materials for the flange repair of degraded
    membrane. Teaching will include slides of work undertaken by
    Antony Cains on the Ellesmere Chaucer (at the Huntington
    Library) and other manuscripts.

    Course tutor: Tony Cains
    Maximum class number:10

Week 4-15-19 August
The Stonyhurst Gospel

    This course will enable participants to make their own book,
    based on the St Cuthbert Gospel of St John, known as the
    Stonyhurst Gospel and ascribed to the end of the seventh
    century. It miraculously retained its original binding, being
    buried in the coffin of the Bishop of Lindisfarne, Northumbria.

    Through a series of lectures with slides, PowerPoint
    presentations and practical demonstrations, it is hoped that the
    student will gain an initial understanding of the construction
    of this remarkable little book. The binding process will include
    sewing, board preparation, endbanding, covering and surface
    decoration. All of the necessary materials required for making
    the book will be provided. Participants will be required to
    bring some basic bookbinding hand tools. Some knowledge of
    bookbinding is desirable, but not essential. The course will be
    of interest to bookbinders, conservators, design binders and
    those interested in the history of the book

    Course tutors: Jim Bloxam and Kristine Rose
    Maximum class number: 10

Biographies

    Cheryl Porter was trained in conservation of books and archives
    at Camberwell College of Arts and Crafts. After graduating, she
    worked with the Paintings Analysis Unit at University College
    London, and it was here she began to work with a
    Leverhulme-funded project using Laser Raman Spectroscopy to
    analyse pigments in manuscripts. From 1992 she has worked as a
    freelance conservator, until recently, with Dr Nicholas
    Hadgraft.  She has published many articles on pigments and
    manuscripts and has taught and lectured in the USA, Australia
    and many countries in Europe. Since 1988, in conjunction with
    Nicolas Barker and the local priests, she has organised and
    co-ordinated the restoration of the Cardinal Barbarigo Seminary
    Library in Montefiascone.

    Olivia Primanis was apprentice-trained in bookbinding and
    conservation by Jean Gunner at Hunt institute, Carnegie Mellon
    University in Pittsburgh Pa., where, in 1975, she opened "The
    Bookbinder" an art and bookbinding supply shop. When she moved
    to Los Angeles, she continued a private practice in book
    conservation and teaching bookbinding. Since 1990, she has
    worked as a book conservator at the Harry ransom Humanities
    Research Centre, Austin Texas.

    Anthony Cains was apprenticed to the London trade bookbinder EA
    Neale Ltd (1954) and studied at the London School of Printing
    and Graphic Arts. He was awarded various prizes, including the
    Harrison Memorial Prize in 1957. He studied under many
    distinguished bookbinders including Bernard Middleton and the
    late William Matthews, who subsequently recommended him to Dr
    Sidney Cockerell at Lechworth (1961-5). He worked for a short
    time in the HMSO British Museum Bindery (1965) before
    establishing his own workshop at St Albans. He volunteered for
    salvage work in Florence following the flood in November 1966
    and was later appointed Technical Director of the conservation
    system set up at the Biblioteca Nationale Centrale and to the
    Committee to rescue Italian Art (USA) 1967-72. In 1972 he was
    invited to design and establish a workshop and laboratory in the
    Library of Trinity College Dublin. He has contributed articles
    to The Paper Conservator and the New Bookbinder, and taught and
    lectured in Ireland and the UK, the USA and Australia.

    Jim Bloxam is Senior Book Conservator in the Conservation
    Department at the Cambridge University Library, working on early
    printed books, manuscripts and archives. He is an Accredited
    Conservator/Restorer of the Institute of Paper Conservation and
    has an Honours degree (First Class) in Art History. His
    particular research interest lies mainly in the history of
    books; their structural qualities and cultural context.

    Kristine Rose graduated from Camberwell College of Arts and
    Crafts BA (Hons) Conservation course in 2002. Since graduating
    she has been employed by Cambridge University Library, where she
    has worked on a variety of manuscript material. She has also
    worked as a volunteer on the Montefiascone Library Project for
    the past five years.

Costs: UKP345 UKP ($640 US. 495 euros) per week for all tuition
(which is in English)

Scholarship: The Nicholas Hadgraft Montefiascone Scholarship is a
new award from Conservation-by-Design. The successful applicant will
be offered UKP1000 (UKP) towards tuition and accommodation for the
Montefiascone course(s). For further information see Conservation-by
Design website.

Accommodation: Participants may stay in our centrally-located house,
with up to three persons per room. There are three bedrooms,
kitchen, two bathrooms and a large sitting room. Prices are UKP12
($22 US) per person per night.

There are also three centrally-located hotels, with special rates
for participants on the Montefiascone Project.

For further information, contact

    Cheryl Porter
    7 Venice Lodge
    55 Maida Vale
    London W9 1SD
    England
    +44 7899856314
    +44 207-266 0505
    chezzaporter<-a t->yahoo< . >com
    <URL:http://www.monteproject.com>


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:33
                 Distributed: Sunday, January 23, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-18-33-019
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