UCLA/Getty Program Welcomes Dr. Caitlin O’Grady, Univ. of Delaware Mellon Fellow in Conservation Education

The UCLA/Getty program welcomes Dr. Caitlin O’Grady, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Conservation Education in the Art Conservation Dept. at the University of Delaware. Caitlin is an objects conservator with a specialty in archaeological materials and a conservation scientist with research interests in nondestructive analytical technologies and technical reconstructions of original manufacturing technologies and artifact deterioration to inform conservation. She received a B.A. with Honors in Art History with minors in Chemistry and Economics from Case Western Reserve University (magna cum laude), an M.A. in Art History and Advanced Certificate in Conservation from New York University, and, a M.S. and Ph.D. in Heritage Conservation Science from the Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Arizona. Her dissertation research focused on the use of portable x-ray fluorescence analysis for the interpretation and preservation of museum artifacts. Caitlin has also worked as a conservator on several excavations and is currently the managing director of conservation for the Kaymakçı Archaeological Project (KAP) in Turkey, which is a project run by Dr. Christopher Roosevelt and Dr. Christina Luke of Boston University.

As part of her Mellon Fellowship, Caitlin will be with us for two weeks learning about the structure of our conservation program and observing the different teaching styles of the faculty. She will also be lecturing and teaching in two classes. One lecture will focus on stone conservation and have students looking at different consolidants and adhesives used for stone. Caitlin will also be teaching about the desalination of ceramics and include a hands on session where students try out different methods for desalinating ceramics. In her first week here, she gave a lunch time talk at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology titled “Lost Walls/Murals Rebuilt: Interdisciplinary approaches to the Conservation of Preclassic Maya Wall Paintings from San Bartolo, Guatemala”. This talk is based on a current collaboration with Dr. Heather Hurst, Skidmore College, on the preservation and analysis of murals from the Maya site of San Bartolo in Guatemala.

We are excited to have Caitlin here and to have her teach in our program. We hopes she enjoys her time with us and her escape from the cold east coast weather (and she says she did)!

The UCLA/Getty Program goes “C.S.I.”: The use of a forensic light source for the examination and documentation of archaeological evidence

Conservators are always looking for new techniques that will aid in the examination and documentation of art. The UCLA/Getty Program purchased a forensic light source, the Mini CrimeScope (from Horiba Scientific), to investigate its application in conservation. The CrimeScope is an alternate light source used by crime scene investigators to look for blood stains, latent fingerprints or any other forensic evidence they could utilize for solving crimes. The wavelength of the emitted light in the CrimeScope is controlled by filter wheels that allow material to be examined from ultraviolet to infrared. Instead of solving crimes, students in the conservation program have been using it to solve archaeological mysteries through the study of ancient and ethnographic objects. Artifacts analyzed include pre-Columbian ceramics and polychrome African wooden masks. They have been using the light source to look for evidence to answer questions about materials, technology and manufacture of artifacts, areas of deterioration and signs of previous conservation interventions. Our CrimeScope has also been used by colleagues at the J. Paul Getty Museum to look at the faint remains of a drawing on a white ground lekythos.

The CrimeScope is being employed to compliment other techniques of analysis and provide a first screening during the examination of materials. With the use of a forensic camera and a series of different camera filters the students have also been able to record the fluorescence and luminescence of materials and to see beneath their surface. The results are remarkable and we are currently exploring other potential applications of our CrimeScope to investigate and document different archaeological and ethnographic treasures.

The image above shows how the CrimeScope helped to highlight the decoration on a pre-Columbian vessel that was not as evident when viewed in visible light (left image) or ultraviolet (UV) light (central image). When examined in visible light, the decoration on the vessel is faint and obscured by burial deposits. Examination using a UV light at λexc max=365nm allowed for the decoration to be more visible. However, using the CrimeScope with a filter at λexc max=415nm the decoration was more distinctive and stood out. In particular the "S" shaped design on the upper left side of the vessel, which is slightly visible in the central image under UV, is much clearer in the image taken using the CrimeScope. (Vessel image courtesy of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Photo taken by A. North, 1st year conservation student)

UNESCO mission to assess the condition of wall paintings at Sigiriya (Sri Lanka)

Drs. Ioanna Kakoulli and Christian Fischer were invited as foreign experts on a UNESCO mission to assess the state of preservation of wall paintings at Sigiriya (the Lion Rock), Sri Lanka, a world heritage site. The goal of the mission was to inspect and assess the condition of the 5th century rock paintings and to make recommendations for the appropriate conservation methods and environmental monitoring. Worked focused on examination of the paintings as well as trying to identify the current causes of deterioration. Additionally the history of past treatments and scientific investigations were researched to help assess how effective the treatments were and how they could inform on the present condition and future conservation treatments.

The site of Sigiriya

Area of wall paintings on the site

During this mission, Drs. Kakoulli and Fischer met with experts from the National Fund, the Ministry of National Heritage, the Department of Archaeology and the University of Kelaniya. They visited many important sites that were part of the Cultural Triangle initiative and collaborated closely with local experts, Prof. Jagath Weerasinghe and Dr. Arjuna Thanthilage from the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology (PGIAR) University of Kelaniya, Colombo. They also worked with other conservators from the Department of Archaeology Sri Lanka on issues pertaining to the preservation of the wall paintings at Sigiriya. The trip ended with foreign and local experts presenting their findings to the Minister of National Heritage in the presence of the local press and conservation professionals from Sri Lanka.

Future initiatives have already been planned for a long-term collaboration between UCLA (Material Science and Engineering (MS&E) department and the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program) and the PGIAR on a multidisciplinary platform that will include scientific research and sustainable conservation, archaeology, conservation education, and training. During the mission a pilot project was proposed that would include the following:

• Non-invasive diagnostic investigations and documentation of the paintings (better understanding of the original technique, physical and conservation history of the paintings)
• Environmental monitoring and visitors management (RH, temp. and surface temp., continuously for at least a calendar year/monitor flow of visitors)
• Microanalysis in the Laboratory: Minimally invasive study of the paintings and their condition (analysis of selected microsamples in the laboratory to (1) address questions related to the original constituent materials; (2) environmental causes of deterioration, e.g. salts; (3) effects of previous conservation treatments)
• Conservation education and management (protocol development for assessment, testing, conservation decisions, preventive, passive and remedial treatments)

This proposed pilot project at Sigiriya will be used as a model for an iterative approach to conservation and can be applied to address conservation challenges in other archaeological and historic places in Sri Lanka for long-term sustainable preservation.

Welcome class of 2014!

The fall quarter began last Thursday for this year’s incoming class and everyone is excited and ready to start their conservation courses. They’ve already had a few lectures and started examining pre-Columbian ceramics from the collection of the Fowler Museum at UCLA which they will be treating this quarter. Looks like they’ll be really busy this quarter working on lots of exciting projects. We wish them good luck and success in the graduate program!

The class of 2014. From L to R: Catherine Mallinckrodt, Ayesha Fuentes, Carinne Tzadik, Caitlin Mahony, Britanny Dolph, Alexis North, Geneva Griswold, and Madeleine Neiman

ACCM & UCLA/Getty collaboration in the news

In the recent issue of The Spirit, the newsletter of the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, an article describes the collaboration between the museum and the UCLA/Getty program which began in 2007 and highlights the work the conservation program students have done as part of this partnership.  Images and reports of the objects they have examined and treated over the years will soon be available on the ACCM website as part of an online exhibition.  Stay tuned for more information on that exhibition soon.

 

Announcing the class of 2014

UCLA’s fall quarter starts in a month and we’re excited to welcome a new group of incoming students.  The members of the class of 2014 are:

• Brittany Dolph
• Ayesha Fuentes
• Geneva Griswold
• Caitlin Mahony
• Casey Mallinckrodt
• Madeleine Neiman
• Alexis North
• Carinne Tzadik

We’re looking forward to their arrival on campus and to meeting everyone soon. Stay tuned to our blog to learn more about these students and the exciting projects they will be working on in the upcoming years.

 

 

A second start: A suction table treatment of a basket start affected by mold

As part of our class “Conservation and Ethnography”, each student worked on an object from the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum (Palm Springs, CA).  I worked on a Kumeyaay coiled basketry start owned by a private collector in Palm Springs that had mold growing on both sides of the object.

The Kumeyaay are located at what is now the border between the United States and Mexico, along the Pacific coast. This coiled start has thirteen coils and the beginnings of a spiral pattern, all made out of juncus. The five-part spiral pattern was created through the introduction of the red portion of the juncus stems.

Front of basket start before treatment

Back of basket start before treatment

Mold developed on the object due to a combination of a source of moisture and cycles in temperature. Molds can damage the surface and structure of individual objects and can spread from object to object within a collection. Therefore, this object was treated to remove the mold in order to prevent further damage to the object as well as to prevent the mold from spreading.

The mold was located on both the front and back surface of the object affecting both the epidermis and the cuticle of the fiber and possibly causing darkening of cracks. The presence of mold on both sides of the object suggests that it was also present within the object itself. The mold covered approximately one third to one half of each of the object’s faces.

Preventive Conservation and Vacuuming

The treatment of the object began with preventive conservation measures. The basket start was placed on a tray in two polyethylene bags with a desiccant. The tray was designed to be somewhat rigid to prevent any mechanical damage to the brittle plant material during handling while in cold storage. The silica gel desiccant was placed in polyethylene bags with cheese-cloth windows. The object was then placed in the freezer to prevent new mold growth. The removal of moisture from the object and the reduction of temperature prevented the continued growth of the mold.

The object on its tray in a polyethylene bag with the silica gel and a cobalt RH indicating strip

Dessicant packet

Once the moisture from the mold was removed and the mold could be brushed without smearing, it was removed by vacuuming with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) vacuum. The nozzle of the vacuum was covered with a fine mesh cloth to prevent any loose fragments of the basket from being vacuumed up. A brush was used to dislodge the mold and guide it to the vacuum nozzle.

Vacuuming the basket with a HEPA vacuum and a brush

Detail of the mold

During treatment, to protect against the mold spreading, surfaces were covered with tissue paper. When possible treatment occurred within a fume hood or with a fume extractor nearby, while also wearing goggles, a respirator with a particulate filter, gloves and a lab coat. At the end of each day, the tissue paper was folded up and disposed.  The tools were cleaned and the area wiped down with ethanol with 20% water (Florian, 2000, Guild and MacDonald, 2004:20-21).

The Suction Table Treatment

In order to fully clean the object and reduce the chance that the mold would begin to grow again on the object, the object was cleaned with ethanol with 20% water on a suction table (alt. solvent trap or suction disk). The suction table treatment was chose because it would pull the ethanol solution through the object, guaranteeing that the solution would penetrate the interior of the object and kill any mold present within.

Diagram of the suction table (Image modified from Stiber and O’Loughlin, 1992)

Suction tables are like flat vacuums and exert suction on the materials placed on them. The vacuum creates a pull in the Erlenmeyer flask, which pulls at the air through the filter. The water in the flask traps the mold and prevents it from entering the vacuum. The filter paper helps to pull the solvent down and away from the object (Hackney and Fairbrass, 1980, Michalski, 1984, Varga, 2007, Vitale, 1988, Weidner, 1984).

The suction table created for this treatment had a perforated metal sheet over the funnel opening to provide support to the object and filter paper while still permitting air to pass through (Katz, 1999).  The manufacturer of the Cast-N-Vac pump (vacuum pressure: 26 Hg) used for this suction table was contacted and to confirm that ethanol could be used safely with the machine.

Suction table

Before applying any solution to the object, spot tests were carried out to ensure that it would not adversely affect the object. Then, the object was placed on the suction table and the ethanol with 20% water solution was applied by pipette to the area over the opening in the table. Enough solvent was applied to pass through the object and appear on the filter paper below. After the vacuum had had a chance to pull most of the solvent through, the object was moved so that another section was over the suction opening and the process began again.

Following treatment, the object was placed in a bag with several packets of a desiccant. The packets of desiccant were refreshed when they changed color, indicating they had reached saturation. The removal of the moisture introduced during treatment was important to prevent the growth of any new or remaining mold spores on the object. Several days after treatment, the object was examined under a microscope to look for any remaining mold spores. None were found and therefore it seems likely that the suction table treatment removed the mold.

Additionally, the filter papers used to test and conduct the suction table treatment were photographed in normal and UV light. These were then compared with an unused blank filter paper and a filter paper that had had the ethanol and water mixture applied to it. The test and treatment filter papers fluoresce and the unused filter papers do not. This suggests that something was removed during the treatment. You can also see that the treatment filter paper is slightly yellowed. This may indicate that some components of the plant materials may have been solubilized by the ethanol-water solution and transferred to the filter paper or the fluorescing material could be related to the mold.

Filter papers viewed with diffuse light and UV induced visible fluorescence

The most effective and efficient method of mold prevention is maintaining good climate conditions. For mold prevention, this means keeping the relative humidity below 65%. For storage collections, increasing air circulation can also help to reduce mold growth by ensuring that no localized areas of high relative humidity develop. For this object, a box was made to facilitate the maintenance of a dry microclimate and prevent future outbreaks of mold.

Basket start after treatment

Treatment Materials
Vac-N-Pump
Buehler Ltd.
41 Waukegan Road, P.O. Box 1
Lake Bluff, Illinois 60044-1699 USA
800-BUEHLER
http://www.buehler.com

Dessicating Silica Gel, Item # MS03/O
Conservation Resources International, LLC
5532 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia, 22151
800-634-6932
www.conservationresources.com

The silica gel used in this treatment maintains a very low relative humidity. It can be refreshed by removing the silica gel from the bag and placing it in the oven until it turns orange. It can then be cooled and placed back inside the packet.

Works Cited

Florian, MLE. 2000. Aseptic technique: a goal to strive for in collection recovery of moldy archival materials and artifacts. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 38 (1):107-15.

Guild, S, and M MacDonald. 2004. Mould Prevention and Collection Recovery: Guidelines for Heritage Collections. Vol. 26, Technical Bulletin. Ottawa: Canadian Conservation Institute.

Hackney, S, and S Fairbrass. 1980. A High Vacuum Suction System for the Removal of Stains on Paper. The Conservator 4:1-4.

Katz, K. 1999. An Inexpensive Mini-Suction Table. AIC Paintings Specialty Group Postprints, edited by F. Wallace. American Institute for Conservation 27th Annual Meeting, St. Louis, Missouri. Washington, D.C.: AIC. 85.

Michalski, S. 1984. The Suction Table: II A Physical Model. AIC Preprints. American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Preprints of the 12th annual meeting, Los Angeles, California. Washington, D.C.: AIC. 102-111

Stiber, Linda and Elissa O’Loughlin. 1992. Hinge, Tape and Adhesive Removal. Chap. 15 in Paper Conservation Catalog. Washington D.C.: American Institute for Conservation Book and Paper Group. www.conservation-wiki.com/index.php?title=BP_Chapter_15_-_Hinge,_Tape_and_Adhesive_Removal (accessed 03/15/2011).

Varga, L. 2007. A Hand-Held Surface Suction Device: Design, Construction and Application. Textile Specialty Group Postprints. American Institute for Conservation 35th Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado. Washington, D.C.: AIC. 93-106

Vitale, T. 1988. Observations on the Theory, Use and Fabrication of the Fritted Glass Bead, Small Suction Disk Device. The Paper Conservator 12:47-67.

Weidner, Marilyn. 1984. The Suction Table: Ten Year Review of its Development. AIC Preprints. American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Preprints of the 12th annual meeting, Los Angeles, California. Washington, D.C.: AIC. 94-101.


Robin OHern (’12)

Class of 2012 3rd Year Placements

The quarter is over this week and the class of 2012 is getting ready to head off to their internship sites for the summer and 3rd year.  Here are the exciting places they’ll be working for the next year:

• Tessa de Alarcon will be working on finds from the site of El Zotz at the lab in Antigua, Guatemala. She is then off to spend the remaining 9 months at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
• Lily Doan will first head off to work in the conservation lab of the Gordion Archaeology Project and then come back to LA to work in the Objects Conservation Lab of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
• Elizabeth Drolet will also be heading to Turkey but will head south to the Tell Tayinat Archaeological Project followed by an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Dawn Lohnas will spend the summer in Greece working on the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project and then come back to LA to work in the Antiquities Conservation Dept. at the Getty Museum.
• Nicole Ledoux will spend the year at the American Museum of Natural History.
• Robin OHern will be doing a lot of traveling this coming year with 3 internship placements in 3 different countries. First she’ll spend the summer conserving finds from the excavations at the Athenian Agora. She then heads to Oxford to work at the Pitt Rivers Museum,after which she comes back state-side to work at the Corning Museum of Glass.
• Cindy Lee Scott will spend the summer working on the Haiti Cultural Recovery Project and then will head back west to work at the Museums of New Mexico.

The UCLA/Getty Program extends thanks to the NEH Preservation and Access Education and Training Grants, and to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, for internship support.

We wish our students every success in their internships and can’t wait to hear about all their exciting work when they get back next June!

Sustainable Preservation Practices for Managing Storage Environments

What is an optimal sustainable preservation environment and how do you
achieve it? My interest in preventive conservation lead me to attend a two day
workshop organized by the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) and sponsored by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. The first day of this workshop addressed the question of “what you need to know to define an optimal and sustainable preservation environment.” The second day of the workshop provided information for achieving an optimal and sustainable environment.

What is an optimal and sustainable preservation environment?
The definition of an optimal and sustainable preservation environment
developed by the IPI re-frames the process of developing a good museum climate. According to the IPI, “an optimal preservation environment is one that achieves the best possible preservation of collections at the least possible consumption of energy, and is sustainable over time.” This happens when “your unique climate control system consistently produces its own best possible storage environment at the least possible consumption of energy.” Instead of thinking about optimizing as something that requires the purchase of new equipment, the IPI presents optimization as something relevant to what you already have.

Step 1: What is your system?
The first step in achieving your optimal sustainable environment requires
knowing what you’re working with. This necessitates looking into the following
questions:

• What types of collections do you have?

• What is the local environment of your institution?

• What is your building envelope?

• What is your HVAC system capable of and how does it work?

• What HVAC system serves which space(s)?

An example of a diagram created to document and understand an HVAC system

Step 2: What is your system doing?
Documenting and processing the information about the actual climate within
your building requires the completion of Step 1. This documentation of the
temperature and relative humidity of the space can be completed with dataloggers. Only once the building plan is understood can the decisions about where to place dataloggers be made. The data can then be analyzed using software and compared with the expected climate.

Step 3: Compare the expected and the reality
Once the current building and HVAC system are fully documented and the
actual environment has a significant amount of data (preferably a year), comparisons between the two can be made. This is often when surprises are discovered, such as the realization that rooms that were thought to be on one HVAC system were actually served by a different system or that air is being unintentionally blocked from reaching its space. The discrepancies between the
expected and the reality are often areas of learning and/or cost savings.

This image of the data for a storage space suggests that two rooms are on the same HVAC system but the third is not.

Not surprisingly, the workshop speakers emphasized the advantage of using
the IPI’s preservation metrics to interpret and manage climate data. Preservation metrics are helpful because they transform data into meaningful conclusions using standardized and reproducible processes. The metrics can also enable quick comparison of data between different rooms and can help to measure progress towards a better climate.

Step 4: Experiment!
After the system as it exists is fully understood, and a documentation
procedure for monitoring the environment has been running for a year, the process of experimentation can begin. Experimentation is only as good as the documentation that accompanies it – if you don’t know what you changed, you won’t know if it worked! The goal for experimentation is to figure how to achieve an optimal environment. As discussed above, an optimal environment is when “your unique climate control system consistently produces its own best possible storage environment at the least possible consumption of energy.” Therefore, when experimenting, one thing to investigate is whether the climate control system is using more energy than necessary. As Peter Herzog said, “excess energy consumption is not self announcing” – you have to look for it. However, the search for energy savings can only occur after understanding the current system and how it is actually performing.

Conclusion
The workshop by the IPI was very informative, well-paced and appropriate for both conservators and facilities managers. If it is offered again in the future, I recommend attending! Alternatively, the PowerPoint’s and resources from the workshop will be available at the website (http://ipisustainability.org).

All the information and images came from the Image Permanence Institute’s Sustainable Preservation Practices for Managing Storage Environments workshop and seminar reference book. The workshop was held at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA from April 26-27, 2011.

Robin OHern (’12)

Collaboration between the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program and ACCM Part 2: A Visit to the Villa

Several weeks after the students visited the museum in Palm Springs, Dawn Wellman and Sean Milanovich came to the Getty Villa to discuss basket-making techniques and the pieces the students were working on. Several other guests, including native basketry expert William Pink, former UCLA/Getty student Molly Gleeson, and independent curator Bryn Potter, also offered their expertise.

The morning began with a talk from Molly regarding her work in Alaska with baskets in museums and with local weavers. Several of the students found this information particularly helpful, as they were working with pieces from the Northwest Coast region. Molly presented a fascinating overview of her work, which included gathering local materials, speaking with local weavers, creating her own twined basket, and treating a variety of pieces at several different institutions. Following the talk, the students and visitors shared lunch, before heading up to the laboratory to discuss the baskets.

Visitors examine some of the pieces to be treated from the ACCM collection

Students talked individually about each of the pieces they were working on, sharing information they had uncovered regarding the technology, condition, and cultural attribution of each of the objects. Dawn Wellman (curator at ACCM), Sean Milanovich (Cultural Specialist, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians), Bryn Potter (Curator and basketry expert), William Pink (Luiseño and native basketry expert), and Molly Gleeson all participated in the discussion, and shared their thoughts with the students regarding each of the pieces. This exchange of information was valuable for all parties involved. The students shared information discovered through technical examination and research, which was then further informed by the knowledge the visitors had to offer.

Current student Nicole Ledoux discusses the basket she will be treating

Following discussion of the pieces from the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, Willie Pink did a variety of presentations for the class, showcasing the use of traditional plant materials from the area.

Here Willie demonstrates how to makes a yucca fiber brush

This was particularly interesting for one of the students, who was working on a pair of fiber sandals that might have been created from processed yucca fiber. Following the presentation, some students also had the chance to create yucca brushes themselves. Again, this provided an important understanding of the processing of elements and the processes involved in constructing objects made of these fiber elements.

Freshly processed yucca fiber (left), held adjacent to a previously-processed, dry yucca fiber brush (right)

After showing the students how dogbane is split, processed, and twined into cordage, Willie showed demonstrated making netting out of dogbane as well.

Dogbane cordage

Current student Robin O’Hern examines unprocessed dogbane

Following Willie’s presentation, students had a chance to use plant materials and try their hand at some of the techniques that Willie had demonstrated. Each of the students was eager to contribute links to the dogbane net!

Lily Doan examines the dogbane net that Willie began

Lily Doan holds the net taught as Tessa de Alarcon adds additional links, using the techniques demonstrated by Willie

Here, Robin splits juncus with her teeth, a technique that can be quite difficult for a first-timer!

Overall, the day provided an incredible opportunity for the students to learn from, and engage in discussions with, all of the visitors, each of whom had much to