Seminars and Workshops
Seminars and Workshops
This internship was part time and fully remote.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Summer 2020, Washington DC
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Lunder Conservation Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM)
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This position was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic during the summer of 2020. It was part-time to allow me to finalized treatments in the Winterthur object lab, and fully remote.
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Projects—described below—supported the long-term goals for the department.
SAAM's building, photo by Ken Rahaim. Image c/o https://americanart.si.edu/about/history/saam-architecture
SAAM's building, photo by Ken Rahaim. Image c/o https://americanart.si.edu/about/history/saam-architecture
Planning for Plastic Survey
SAAM's collection includes extensive plastics. However, the museum has never catalogued or surveyed the plastics in the collection, so the condition, storage environment, type, and sheer quantity of plastic is unknown. Without this information, the museum can not adequately care for its collection. SAAM plans to survey all plastics in its collection in the coming years.
On this scale, a successful survey is a massive undertaking, requiring advanced planning and clearly stated goals. SAAM had never conducted a survey on this scale and plastic surveys are doubly complex since the survey must consider so many factors.
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I performed the initial research into survey methodology to help SAAM form their goals for and approach to the project. I conducted a brief review of recent plastic surveys, created a database of plastic search terms, and interviewed conservators who were experts in surveys, plastics, or had recently completed similar projects.
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This culminated in a survey plan targeted to SAAM's needs which included recommendations and a 'to do' outline based on yearly plan (below). Currently, the SAAM conservation department is utilizing this plan to write a grant to fund the project.
Marble Educational Resource
The objects conservation department is committed to conservation education and pre-program training, and very often employs pre-program conservation interns. SAAM's collection includes many marble objects so internships commonly include a marble treatment.
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SAAM had many sources on marble conservation, but they were scattered across different supervisors and files. They requested a single comprehensive, up-to-date, and organized source for pre-program marble projects. This source would be more helpful for interns and a time-saver for mentors.
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The project included updating and augmenting SAAM's bibliography on marble conservation and creating an introductory educational resource on the composition, deterioration, and conservation of marble (below). Ideally, this resource will be a working document that the interns can edit and augment with each project and conservation challenge they encounter. Interns may also create similar resources for other materials they work with at their SAAM internship using this as a template.