Last quarter, UCLA/Getty students took the course “Conservation and Ethnography” (CAEM 222) taught by Prof. Ellen Pearlstein. The goal for the class was to acquaint students with the changing emphasis of conservation, from neutral acts based purely on material properties, to a series of humanistic and scientific decisions that consider the heritage source, its specific communities, the current and future roles for heritage, as well as evolving technical developments for both prevention and treatment. Through the examination and treatment of southern California basketry, students learned about these aspects of conservation as well as focused on the processes and properties of California (and neighboring) states’ native basketry, deterioration mechanisms and conservation treatment methods.
In addition to treating southern California baskets from the collection of the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum and the Yosemite Museum, students were asked to imagine that in addition to creating their documentation for the next conservator, that they are creating it to assist Cahuilla weavers, ethnobotanists, revivalists, cultural descendants, or museum board and staff members in using their class project basket to answer questions and to promote culture. You can find links to the documentation they produced below.
- Basket Handling Guidelines – Lindsay Ocal
- Mounting Burden Baskets – Hayley Monroe
- Juncus, Sumac, or Willow? – Michaela Paulson
- Exploring Dye Materials and their Effect on Condition – Morgan Burgess
- Revealing a Hidden Design – Mari Hagemeyer
- NAGPRA and Cahuilla Baskets – Marci Burton
UCLA/Getty Conservation Program 