NATCC Conference 2000: Summary of Papers

[I Karsten <ikarsten@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

North American Textile Conservation Conference 2000: Conservation
Combinations

The following is a short summary of the papers and posters presented at
the NATCC conference held in Asheville, NC, 29-31 March 2000.  It is based
on the actual presentations in the order that they were given and on the
papers published as preprints.  

I believe that preprints are still available from Conservation Services,
Biltmore Company, 1 North Pack Square, Asheville, NC 28801.  Perhaps
someone from the local organizing committee could post more details
regarding price and method of ordering.

The program began with a keynote address by Dr. Elizabeth Wayland Barber,
author of Prehistoric Textiles (1991), Women's Work (1994), and The
Mummies of Urumchi (1999).  Dr. Barber described the excavations of the
mummies in Chinese Turkistan and the fascinating theories that account for
these mummies' decidedly western-looking features and textiles.  (This
paper is not included in the preprints.) 

Cara Varnell presented the first paper in a session devoted to the theme
of "Costumes".  With an excellent multimedia presentation, Varnell, a
textile conservator in private practice in Los Angeles, described the
conservation/restoration of the costume of the Cowardly Lion from the 1939
film the Wizard of Oz.  Varnell and Irena Calinescu, an objects
conservator in Los Angeles and co-author of the paper, conserved the lion
suit, a coverall made from real lion skins that was in very poor
condition.  The project also called on the talents of Michael Lavitre, a
Hollywood prop and special effects artist, for the fabrication of a
suitable display mannequin and head, as well as those of other specialists
who created the eyes and wig for the head, shoes (one was missing), and a
suitable backdrop for display.  After listening to the sounds of the film
and a discussion of costs for the projects, many of us wondered whether we
had made the correct choice of profession.

Nancy Buenger of the Chicago Historical Society took us back in time with
a detailed description of the characters involved with the assassination
of Abraham Lincoln and the artifacts connected to that crime, including
the cloak that Mary Todd Lincoln allegedly wore to the theatre that night.
The CHS held a conference of historians, forensic scientists, and
preservation staff in order to discuss the usefulness of DNA testing for
the purpose of authenticating artifacts in the museum's collection.
Although the group concluded that testing would not be very useful given
the techniques available and the lack of authenticated DNA profiles of
those involved, the conference was successful in determining the type of
research that would be needed for such analysis to be useful.  The
conference also garnered a lot of public attention.
 
Sylvie Francois, a recent graduate of the Textile Conservation Centre
Postgraduate Diploma Program, described the challenges and constraints
encountered when developing a collection of costumes for an active theatre
company, Cirque du Soleil.  The importance of preserving a material
culture record in addition to an archival record was discussed, along with
the difficulties of dealing with the desire to use collected costume for
such purposes as marketing.  A conservation strategy for the collection
was developed in collaboration with Claude Brault, Art Programme
Coordinator at Cirque du Soleil and Mary M. Brooks of the Textile
Conservation Centre, UK, co-authors of the paper with Francois.

In the first of three papers in the session, "Archeological Textiles",
Barbara Cases Contreras and Ana Maria Rojas Zepeda. both of the
Archeological Museum of Santiago, brought us the fascinating story of the
replication of the mummy of a child from the Chinchorro Tradition of
prehistoric Chile.  The replica was needed so that the mummy could be
included in an exhibition that was travelling to China, Korea, Thailand,
and New Zealand.  The mummy and the process of its reproduction were
described in detail.  A ceramics specialist reproduced the body was in
clay.  The textiles were woven from cotton which best reproduced the
visual effect of the originals made from animal hair.  Raffia was used for
components made of plant fibre.  Malachite and shell were used to
reproduce beads.  One of the most remarkable things about the project was
that much of the reproduction work had to be completed within ten days.

Thomas Braun, a conservator with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Curation
Division, presented a paper co-authored by Nancy Odegaard, Mike Jacobs,
and Marilen Pool, all of the Arizona State Museum, which described work on
a collection of archeological woven sandals from the Southwestern US.
Scholarly research, focus groups, program planning, preventive
conservation and conservation treatment came together to make possible an
exhibition of these sandals, "Walking the Desert: Prehistoric Sandals of
the Southwest".

Olga Negnevitsky of the Museum for Italian Jewish Art in Jerusalem
described the process of treating and studying a bundle of archeological
textiles found in a cave in the Judean Desert in 1993.  The textiles were
carefully humidified in order that they could be opened up, separated,
treated and mounted for storage/display.  The paper gave extensive details
on the treatment procedures, on the collaboration with curator and
co-author Tamar Schick regarding the interpretation of the configuration
of the textiles, and on the design of a storage cabinet for the finds from
this site.

Sara Foskett of the National Museums of Scotland described the challenges
of dealing with architects, designers, engineers, fabricators, installers,
curators, conservation scientists, and other conservators for the purpose
of designing frames for and installing banners in the new Museum of
Scotland building, which opened in 1998.  The paper gives a detailed
description of the process of designing the frames, including the
importance of and limits to the conservator's involvement in such a
project.  Foskett concluded her paper with a suite of ten lessons learned,
an excellent list for any conservator involved with exhibitions, gallery
refurbishment, or museum construction or expansion.

Joy Gardiner presented the results of a research project on the analysis
of nineteenth century mineral dyes in a paper co-authored by Janice
Carlson, Linda Eaton, and Kate Duffy, all of the Winterthur Museum.  X-ray
fluorescence spectroscopy was used to identify inorganic elements in dyed
fabrics on quilts which were in turn interpreted through the use of
historical information on mineral dyeing from the period.  The analytical
technique is completely non-destructive (no samples have to be taken).
Yellow, red, orange, blue, green, and brown dyes were analyzed in eight
quilts and two nineteenth century dye manuals.   

Sara Reiter of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Virginia Whelan, textile
conservator in private practice, presented a paper describing the
treatment of the Ormerod bedcover, a mid 18th-century printed bedcover.
Reiter, then intern Whelan, and curator Dilys Blum, also a co-author,
devised a treatment in which a full cotton support was painted with PROfab
Textile Inks in such a way as to compensate for extensive losses in the
bedcover.  The project included testing for crocking, washfastness and
lightfastness.  Colour images and a description of the treatment can be
seen on the Philadelphia Museum of Art website at www.philamuseum.org/
resources/ conservation/projects/ormerod/1.shtml.

Jan Vuori of the Canadian Conservation Institute described a stain removal
treatment that was the result of collaboration between herself, and
co-authors Debra Daly Hartin and Season Tse of the Canadian Conservation
Institute and Anne Maheux and Anne Ruggles of the National Gallery of
Canada, among others.  The silk-screen, Oceanie, la mer by Henri Matisse,
was treated using sodium borohydride (a reducing bleach) applied by
ultrasonic mister or brush over a suction disk to remove unsightly stains
and tide lines.  The paper gives a complete description of all the testing
that preceded the treatment and of the treatment tools designed by staff
at the CCI that were used in the treatment.  The colour of the silk-screen
is being monitored over time to determine whether any colour reversion
takes place.

The first paper for the "Textiles in Interiors" session was presented by
Robin Hanson, currently of the Cleveland Museum of Art.  She described a
project undertaken while an intern at the National Parks Service.  The
project entailed the conservation of several presepio figures--Italian
nativity figures--from the collection at the White House which are
displayed each Christmas.  In addition to the treatment of the figures, a
new tableau on which the figures were displayed was designed and produced
in collaboration with collectors of presepio from Louisiana and
fabricators.  Computer aided design technology was used at the design
stage to ensure that the new tableau had sufficient space to support all
figures.  The project also included the design and production of new
storage facilities for the figures and the tableau in the White House.
The completed tableau and conserved figures were on display at the White
House for Christmas 1999. 

Jennifer Barnett of Andelos Textielrestauratie in Amsterdam described a
project done in collaboration with co-author Jan Ruys, an interior
decorator, that involved the reconstruction of the furnishing textiles for
the town hall in Hilversum in the Netherlands.  Substantial research was
done to determine the nature of the original textiles in the building,
which opened in 1930.  Where sufficient evidence existed, the textiles
were accurately reconstructed.  Where evidence was lacking or
insufficient, textiles were chosen that best reflected the aims of the
building's architect, W.M. Dudok.  The project was undertaken in
conjunction with a complete restoration of the building.  Colour images of
the interior of the town hall can be viewed on the Hilversum website at
www.hilversum.nl/dr/drframe.htm.  (Note: text is in Dutch; click on the
rooms in the brackets at the bottom of the page.)

Judith Eisenberg and Harriet Ingang, conservators in private practice in
New York, described the treatment and installation of a large painted
sukkah hanging for the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.  The
textiles were cleaned, flattened, lined and installed using Velcro strips.
The authors also reported the discussions between conservators and museum
personnel concerning the best form of installation for these pieces.  The
usefulness of collaboration between painting and textile conservators on
treatments of unstretched paintings was also discussed.

Susan Matheson presented the last paper of the conference, leaving us with
beautiful images of Italian gardens.  This paper, written by Matheson of
the Conservation Centre, NYU and Constanza Perrone Da Zara, a textile
conservator from Florence, focussed on the collaboration between an
American and a Italian conservator for the purposes of conserving the
Acton textile collection in the Villa La Pietra, recently donated by the
Acton family to NYU.  The authors described their differing approaches to
textile conservation--to the conservation of tapestries in particular--and
the open communication that made mutual decision making possible. 

The preprints also contain summaries of the posters on display during the
conference.  Elizabeth-Anne Haldane described a scientific study to
determine the effect of mannequin pose on the strain sustained by the
metal spigots used to attach mannequins to the floor at the Victoria &
Albert Museum.  Kathleen Kiefer and Jonathan Scheer outlined their
collaborative work between a textile conservator and a dry cleaner.  
Karen Guthertz Lizarraga described a project concerning the preservation
of Peruvian archeological textiles.  Meredith Montague described the
design of a special display case to protect a rare embroidered mantelpiece
from light damage and the related research using micro-fading tests, which
determined the stability of the dyes.  Lorena Roman and Abner Gutierrez
presented two posters which outlined the treatment of an
eighteenth-century Mexican huipil and a seat covering of a Hapsburg
ceremonial carriage.  Ileana Cretu and Mihai Lupu presented a CD-ROM
describing an investigation into the structure and symbolism of a textile
mosaic in the collection of the National Art Museum of Romania, a
collaboration between textile conservator, art historian, and chemist.


Irene F. Karsten
Department of Human Ecology
3-02 Human Ecology Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada   T6G 2N1

phone: 780-492-5385 
fax: 780-492-4821
E-mail: ikarsten@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx