In the current market the word Intern is now synomonous with abused. There are a lot of issues I face daily with the demands of the field and not just with the irony of the life as a professional intern.
In blogging about my pursuits in conservation I want to focus on my experiences as an intern and the problems and successes in my long journey in this career. But it is also essential to respect the privacy of the projects that I work on which is why, as you may have noticed, I do not show treatments or even give specific names and description of materials. Ethics in conservation is very important and at times subtle, I would not want something that I wrote, especially at such a junior level, be taken differently from its intent.
There of course are publications where this information can be shared. The AIC conference is a few weeks away and all of the conservators are in a buzz to go learn what is new, network and see former classmates and colleagues.
Currently I am scheduling my summer with a branching of opportunities and decisions. I have been applying for other summer internships which are usually unpaid which is fine with me as long as they are educational, but do pose a problem if the company is private for profit. Previously the Internship Director at my school tried to tell me that an internship I had was in violation with labor laws and to be in compliance with this I must register and pay tuition to the school even if it is just for one credit. Yes, there are labor laws, but they are there to protect me not force me to hand over my very limited money to a college that is not providing anything in return for this tuition.
I interviewed last week and was offered a position in a major NY institution that is private, but receives excessive public funding. As a essential government agency they are very focused on insuring that my free employment is not a legal issue and are requiring proof of the credit or possibly a letter from an academic adviser. What is the purpose of having labor laws to protect interns when even a government agency can find loopholes. This abuse of free labor is a growing problem that needs to stop somewhere. I, unfrotunately, will have to decline the position for financial reasons, but mostly because I fear it will not be as education as other opporunties. There are several summer programs that are promising, but unfortunately the one that I am most interested in for its location, impressive staff and educational opportunity in paper, comes with a very generous stippend, making it extremely competitive especially to a pre-program student such as myself.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Public Art Private Studio
In January 2011 I started my internship in the private conservation studio in Chelsea. The owners previously worked under Marco Grassi, a conservator of master paintings ,and started their own company together upon his retirement. I was very excited to have the opportunity for hands on experience in painting under such impressive conservators.
On my first day I walked in and after instruction immediately began working on the fill of a WPA painting. Much of the work in the studio is 20th century painting from galleries and art dealers, but they also receive large contracts for mural projects. The first of which was a WPA mural consisting of several canvas panels that had to be removed from the soon to be demolished public school's walls. The work from the 1930's depicts the evolution of western civilization and has taken the studio over a year to complete.With the various panels I would later come to work on all steps of the conservation treatment.
Waxed paper was removed from the facing and loose pain chips secured first with beeswax. The surfaces later cleaned with xeline, then saturated with BEVA, and lined with a new canvas. We filled the loss with Flugger or Motostuc later sanding and cleaning to be perfectly level for the in-painting. There are several interns and we have created a bit of an army each tackling a panel and making it their own conservation project under the head conservators careful instruction.
Another contract the firm received is for murals from City Hall. The pieces of canvas were removed from the wall and testing showed the presence of lead paint merged with the plaster on the back. A special enclosing structure was built in the studio to contain the lead and attired in body suits, gloved and masked we carefully chipped and scraped away the layers of lead paint. The murals are now being cleaned lined, filled and in painted by the assistant conservators for installation early this summer.
Private Conservation is much different than Museum conservators. There is a balance between the clients budget, time constraint and insuring the financial success of the company. There is also little time for historical research and there is a focus on making treatment time most effective. In all of my internships I have a respect for a sense of confidentiality, which I feel is even more stressed in private practice.
On my first day I walked in and after instruction immediately began working on the fill of a WPA painting. Much of the work in the studio is 20th century painting from galleries and art dealers, but they also receive large contracts for mural projects. The first of which was a WPA mural consisting of several canvas panels that had to be removed from the soon to be demolished public school's walls. The work from the 1930's depicts the evolution of western civilization and has taken the studio over a year to complete.With the various panels I would later come to work on all steps of the conservation treatment.
Waxed paper was removed from the facing and loose pain chips secured first with beeswax. The surfaces later cleaned with xeline, then saturated with BEVA, and lined with a new canvas. We filled the loss with Flugger or Motostuc later sanding and cleaning to be perfectly level for the in-painting. There are several interns and we have created a bit of an army each tackling a panel and making it their own conservation project under the head conservators careful instruction.
Another contract the firm received is for murals from City Hall. The pieces of canvas were removed from the wall and testing showed the presence of lead paint merged with the plaster on the back. A special enclosing structure was built in the studio to contain the lead and attired in body suits, gloved and masked we carefully chipped and scraped away the layers of lead paint. The murals are now being cleaned lined, filled and in painted by the assistant conservators for installation early this summer.
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| Me dressing in protective gear in preparation to entering the Lead Chamber seen in the background. |
Private Conservation is much different than Museum conservators. There is a balance between the clients budget, time constraint and insuring the financial success of the company. There is also little time for historical research and there is a focus on making treatment time most effective. In all of my internships I have a respect for a sense of confidentiality, which I feel is even more stressed in private practice.
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