For those of you who are not familiar with Scripps' St. Michael, he is a painted and gilded wooden sculpture. He was carved c. 145o, and was part of the façade decoration for an Italian church. Under the guidance of L.A. conservator Donna Williams, I have been conserving our 560-year-old friend for the past nine months.
My work on St. Michael has mostly consisted of gilding consolidation, a process by which I flatten and adhere flaking, cracked gilding back onto the wooden base of the sculpture. The gilding on the body has been entirely consolidated, and thanks to a couple of productive weeks and the helping hands of my fellow intern Tiffany Yau, the wing gilding should be finished within the next several days!
Another integral part of the conservation process is testing. Many people, when picturing an art conservator in action, see them standing before an artwork in a studio, utensil in hand, working diligently away on the piece. Most do not see a scientist sitting before computer screens in the basement of a physics building. But while the hands-on work (called “bench work” among professionals) is inarguably the main part of the conservation process, scientific testing forms the backbone of the field. It provides the conservator with important knowledge about the piece, without which sound bench work would be impossible.
The testing on St. Michael has been exciting and diverse. In April, the RCWG staff, Donna, JSD Prof. Anna Wenzel, and myself took him to Pomona Valley Medical Center for a CAT scan! You will be able to read about the scan and its results in the Fall 2010 Scripps Magazine. In May, I was trained on the scanning electron microscope (SEM) at the Pomona Department of Physics. The SEM examines the topography of a sample with a high-powered electron beam. I took micrographs of fiber samples, and by comparing them to images from the MFA Boston’s Conservation & Art Material Encyclopedia Online (CAMEO), I identified two different fibers present on the piece: linen and hemp. Fifteenth-century painters commonly used these materials to prepare painted surfaces. In the case of St. Michael, the fabric was wrapped around joints and other areas. The wrapping was then covered with gesso, a primer much like plaster.
I have also begun using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS), a technique that is used in tandem with the SEM. This allows me to detect which elements are on the surface of a paint sample. Since different elements make up different pigments, and those pigments were discovered and used at different points in history, I will hopefully be able to approximate the date of any repaints of the blue garments on St. Michael. Although I have already begun testing with EDS, there are no certain conclusions to be drawn at this time. Updates will follow soon!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Culver City
This is our second week interning here at the gallery, and I thought today would be the perfect time for my very first blog entry. One of the perks of this internship is that we all get the opportunity to talk to people who have made careers for themselves in the Art World. Today we went to Culver City to meet with several successful entrepreneurs.
First we met Cliff Benjamin and Erin Kermanikian. They own a gallery called Western Project. It's on La Cienega, and they are showcasing an exhibit by Arne Stevenson at the moment. Here's a link to the website in case you're interested. Cliff and Erin talked to us about feeling out the social climate in the Art World. They also told us how important it can be to have a greater vision motivating you when you come up against hard times. They were really cool people.
Next we met Patricia Hamilton. On Mondays Mary, the Director of the Williamson Gallery, discusses art articles with all of us interns. Sometimes we pick the articles, and sometimes she does. This week we actually discussed an article about Patricia Hamilton. She's had a remarkable career. She worked at the Whitney Museum right after college, and then decided to open up her own gallery in New York. She was only twenty-five years old at the time! Patricia is definitely one of the most entertaining and successful people I've ever met. I was too shy to ask her all of the questions I wanted to, but it was great just hearing her talk about her life. Seriously! She's fascinating.
Mary and Patricia took us to see some galleries. One of them was Taylor De Cordoba. Heather Taylor, a Scripps alumna who graduated in '02, co-owns the gallery. She talked to us about the importance of internships. They're great opportunities to learn and network and get valuable work experience. Talking to Heather was great because she's a recent graduate, but she's also had a lot of success. So many of the job options I have been considering require more education and/or experience than I have right now. I've been stressing out about the fact that I may have to end up at a dead end job after I finish my Getty internship this summer just so that I can earn enough money to live on. Seeing Heather manage her own gallery was proof that it is possible to make a living doing something that I will actually enjoy at a young age. It's just a matter of networking and being motivated.
We also went to lunch with Mary's son and daughter Matt and Amanda MacNaughton. They've started their own public relations business. You can check it out here. They're yet another example of young entrepreneurs who have found success doing something they really enjoy. And they were fun to talk to as well. They had great energy. You could tell just by listening to them talk that they really loved their work.
That was true of everyone we met today. Even though all of these people have found success doing different things, they all seemed to have a common trait: Patricia calls it chutzpa. That's a Yiddish word that basically means having the guts to do something when others might see it as too bold or unnecessarily daring. I'm working on finding my own chutzpa. It's tough, though. I clam up around new people pretty easily, and I've never been much of a risk taker.
Okay, time to sign out. This has been fun! It's therapeutic to write without worrying too much about structure or grammatical errors. I'll write again soon.
First we met Cliff Benjamin and Erin Kermanikian. They own a gallery called Western Project. It's on La Cienega, and they are showcasing an exhibit by Arne Stevenson at the moment. Here's a link to the website in case you're interested. Cliff and Erin talked to us about feeling out the social climate in the Art World. They also told us how important it can be to have a greater vision motivating you when you come up against hard times. They were really cool people.
Next we met Patricia Hamilton. On Mondays Mary, the Director of the Williamson Gallery, discusses art articles with all of us interns. Sometimes we pick the articles, and sometimes she does. This week we actually discussed an article about Patricia Hamilton. She's had a remarkable career. She worked at the Whitney Museum right after college, and then decided to open up her own gallery in New York. She was only twenty-five years old at the time! Patricia is definitely one of the most entertaining and successful people I've ever met. I was too shy to ask her all of the questions I wanted to, but it was great just hearing her talk about her life. Seriously! She's fascinating.
Mary and Patricia took us to see some galleries. One of them was Taylor De Cordoba. Heather Taylor, a Scripps alumna who graduated in '02, co-owns the gallery. She talked to us about the importance of internships. They're great opportunities to learn and network and get valuable work experience. Talking to Heather was great because she's a recent graduate, but she's also had a lot of success. So many of the job options I have been considering require more education and/or experience than I have right now. I've been stressing out about the fact that I may have to end up at a dead end job after I finish my Getty internship this summer just so that I can earn enough money to live on. Seeing Heather manage her own gallery was proof that it is possible to make a living doing something that I will actually enjoy at a young age. It's just a matter of networking and being motivated.
We also went to lunch with Mary's son and daughter Matt and Amanda MacNaughton. They've started their own public relations business. You can check it out here. They're yet another example of young entrepreneurs who have found success doing something they really enjoy. And they were fun to talk to as well. They had great energy. You could tell just by listening to them talk that they really loved their work.
That was true of everyone we met today. Even though all of these people have found success doing different things, they all seemed to have a common trait: Patricia calls it chutzpa. That's a Yiddish word that basically means having the guts to do something when others might see it as too bold or unnecessarily daring. I'm working on finding my own chutzpa. It's tough, though. I clam up around new people pretty easily, and I've never been much of a risk taker.
Okay, time to sign out. This has been fun! It's therapeutic to write without worrying too much about structure or grammatical errors. I'll write again soon.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
2010 Summer Internships
Do YOU want to contribute to this blog? Now's your chance! 2010 summer internships are available at the gallery and one of your many perks will be blogging rights to Art Rambles!
We are offering FIVE internship positions: 2 Wilson internships and 3 Getty Multicultural Summer Undergraduate Internships. All interns will participate in field trips with Mary, our director, to cool L.A. art institutions and get to meet with curators, conservators, and other awesome people in the arts. In previous years, field trips have included the Getty Villa, LACMA, the Museum of Latin American Art, MOCA, UCLA's Fowler Museum, and the Broad Foundation.
If you're interested, please visit the gallery's internship page. Applications are due by 5pm, April 20, so get moving!
The Getty Foundation offers internships at institutions all across LA County, so check out the Getty's website for more internship opportunities. The Williamson is the hub leader for the Claremont/Pomona region, so if you want to hang with us, there are positions available at Pomona College, Pitzer College, First Street Gallery, Claremont Museum of Art, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG), American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), Millard Sheets Center for the Arts at Fairplex (MSCAF).
If you're not a Scripps student, nor of a multicultural background, fear not! The LA County Arts Commission is also offering summer internships in the performing and visual arts. Check it out here.
Participating institutions each have their own application requirements and deadlines, so if you miss out on the Williamson's deadline, please see the above websites for additional opportunities.
We are offering FIVE internship positions: 2 Wilson internships and 3 Getty Multicultural Summer Undergraduate Internships. All interns will participate in field trips with Mary, our director, to cool L.A. art institutions and get to meet with curators, conservators, and other awesome people in the arts. In previous years, field trips have included the Getty Villa, LACMA, the Museum of Latin American Art, MOCA, UCLA's Fowler Museum, and the Broad Foundation.
If you're interested, please visit the gallery's internship page. Applications are due by 5pm, April 20, so get moving!
The Getty Foundation offers internships at institutions all across LA County, so check out the Getty's website for more internship opportunities. The Williamson is the hub leader for the Claremont/Pomona region, so if you want to hang with us, there are positions available at Pomona College, Pitzer College, First Street Gallery, Claremont Museum of Art, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG), American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), Millard Sheets Center for the Arts at Fairplex (MSCAF).
If you're not a Scripps student, nor of a multicultural background, fear not! The LA County Arts Commission is also offering summer internships in the performing and visual arts. Check it out here.
Participating institutions each have their own application requirements and deadlines, so if you miss out on the Williamson's deadline, please see the above websites for additional opportunities.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Muybridge on NPR
Hey look! NPR has a piece on photographer Eadweard Muybridge- Muybridge: The Man Who Made Pictures Move
Apparently, a retrospective of his works will be on exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and will then tour around the country.
Check out the Williamson's collection of Muybridge prints at the Claremont Colleges Digital Library:
Patricia
Apparently, a retrospective of his works will be on exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and will then tour around the country.
Check out the Williamson's collection of Muybridge prints at the Claremont Colleges Digital Library:
Patricia
Monday, August 10, 2009
in defense of art...
Lately I have been really wondering about how to balance indulging a love for beauty and the interesting with a need to meet the average person where they are and change them for the better. How is art connecting with the average person? I was in a conversation with a friend this week who, on hearing my plan to become more involved with the arts, informed me that art seemed so indulgent and that music truly touched and changed people in a more effective and meaningful manner. He went on to say that the average person is touched every single day by music and that art is for the rich who get to sip wine in a hoity toity museum or gallery. He said art makes the rich feel good and happy for like ten minuets and music makes the masses happy for... ever. I love art and I can literally look at piece for hours and feel like my soul is duking out a war inside my chest but how does it really in everyday life touch the masses and does it do it half as effectively as music? When people off the street look at Monogram (above) do they really get anything from it without previous knowledge of the theories and history behind it? Are the musicians winning the war for the public's hearts? How do we change the minds of people who think like this and get more involved with the masses? How does art change peoples' everyday life? IDK quite yet how to most effectively answer these questions, but I'd love to hear some of your responses! So give me your answer: what would you say to my friend?
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