Cotsen Institute Open House 2010

Interested in learning what conservators and archaeologists do? Want to learn more about graduate programs in these fields? Want to spend a day visiting labs, learning about cool projects or talking to interesting people?  Well don’t miss the annual Open House at UCLA’s Cotsen Institute of Archaeology held on Sat. May 8th, from 1-4pm.

The Open House gives the public the opportunity to have a glimpse into the world of archaeologists and conservators to find out what exactly they do and to learn about the various projects they are currently involved.  Lectures, weaving demonstrations and visits to various labs (including our small analytical lab at the Cotsen) are available.

If you’re interested in conservation and want to learn more about our program, stop by room A410 of the Cotsen Institute to talk to UCLA/Getty Program students and faculty.  You’ll learn about what conservators do, what graduate conservation training programs are like and the types of projects we work on.

More information about the Open House can be found on the flyer below or by visiting the Cotsen Institute’s event calendar.  You can check out some pictures from last year’s Open House in this Facebook album.

ANAGPIC is coming, ANAGPIC is coming!

The ANAGPIC conference is fast approaching and UCLA/Getty students are finalizing their papers and posters. Here’s what they’ll be presenting at this year’s conference:

Papers:

• Treatment and Technical Study of a Lakota Beaded Hide
  Nicole Ledoux
• The Chemical Characterization and Removal of Lac Dye Staining on White-Ground Ceramics
  Cindy Lee Scott and Elizabeth Drolet (UCLA/Getty), Rita Blaik, (UCLA Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering)

Posters:

• A Comparison of Block Lifting Materials and Techniques
  Lily Doan, Nicole Ledoux, and Robin O’Hern
• Technical Study and Conservation of an Apache Coiled Basket
  Linda Lin
• The Conservation and Reburial of a Greco-Roman Wall Painting: The Site of Karanis, Fayum, Egypt
  Suzanne Morris

Come back and visit the blog after the conference for more posts and pictures!

Project News: A comparison of block lifting materials and techniques

For the course “Science of Conservation Materials and Methods” offered in the Winter quarter of the 1st year, 3 students worked on a project which compared different block lifting materials and techniques. After a review of the literature on block lifting, they evaluated traditional and new approaches for block lifting fragile archaeological objects. For the first stage of the project they decided to test out different consolidants and facing materials for the objects they were going to lift, which were facsimiles of basketry, a corroded copper bracelet and a painted ceramic. After evaluating a group of eight consolidants and several facing materials, they decided on two consolidants (Paraloid B72 and cyclododecane) and two facing materials (Japanese tissue and cheese cloth) to try out during actual block lifts of the facsimiles. For the block wrapping materials, they tested a traditional wrapping material (plaster bandages) and two newer materials (Altraform and Varaform) to determine which was more effective at holding the block of soil together while lifting.

Area at the Getty Villa, behind the Ranch House, where the students did their block lifting experiments.

Robin O'Hern and Lily Doan excavate around the object to be lifted creating a block, or pedestal, of soil the artifacts sits on.

Lily Doan faces a metal facsimile in preparation for block lifting.

Nicole Ledoux and Robin O'Hern lift the now wrapped and supported block of soil out of the ground.

The block of soil has been lifted, flipped over on a board, and ready to be transported back to the lab. (In this photo: Lily Doan and Robin O'Hern)

Robin O'Hern and Nicole Ledoux excavate one of the block lifted objects back in the lab.

A summary of their project and findings will be presented at the poster session of this year’s ANAGPIC conference, hosted by Queen’s University Art Conservation Dept. (Kingston, Ontario) May 22-24th. Stay tuned after the conference when their poster will be available on this site. You can see more images from this project at the UCLA/Getty Program’s Facebook page.