Conservation In Action: Courier trip to USA with items from the Wellcome Library’s Asian Collection

Since 2011, as part of the Preservation and Conservation team, I have been focusing on the preparation of items from the Wellcome Library for internal exhibitions in the Wellcome Collection temporary exhibition space or for external loans, which have seen borrowers from the UK, Europe and overseas.

As an Exhibition Conservator, I work closely with the Library Exhibition Liaison Officer, discussing condition environmental parameters and display requirements for every single item going to be displayed. The Library receives numerous loan requests per year with peaks of workload during the two months before openings, which fall mostly during Spring and Autumn.

After the first approach from the borrowing institution and confirmation of the list of objects, I start with assessment of the physical condition of each item. Following verification that the items are stable enough to travel and to be exhibited, I continue with their documentation on the Conservation Database and if necessary, I proceed with conservation treatment in order to stabilise their physical condition and improve manual handling. I also arrange the framing and display mounting of items with the valuable help of some external art technicians.


Conservation of Islamic Call. 90, “A saying of the Prophet Muhammad”.



Tear repairing and flattening of object from the back.

Part of my role as Exhibits Conservator is also to accompany the items and install them at the borrowing venue. Last February, I accompanied nine items from our Asian Collection to the Brigham Young University Museum in Provo, Utah, USA.


Items documented and mounted at the Conservation studio before despatch

My journey started on a Tuesday morning, coincidentally on St. Valentine’s Day. Myself and the other two girls couriering from the British Museum and the Ashmolean, Oxford were hoping that as a consolation for the 3.45 am start that morning, we would be given a red rose... but that sadly did not happen. Exhausted, we were instead promptly driven down to a Heathrow Airport warehouse following the climate-controlled, AirRide vehicle that was transporting objects to Utah from four UK institutions (Wellcome Library, British Museum, V&A and Ashmolean).

Two empty crates arrived at the Wellcome Library. The Library material was individually soft- wrapped, carefully placed inside the crate and surrounded with layers of Polyurethane foam

The pallet containing the crates was loaded onto the cargo plane ready to travel to Los Angeles

Brigham Young Museum of Art (BYU) was hosting an exhibition of Islamic Art for the first time, following a long tradition of exhibitions relating to Christianity. The exhibition “Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture” at BYU is the first venue of a touring show that will also exhibit at Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Newark Museum and the Portland Art Museum. It showcases more than 250 objects from various lenders in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Curated by the art historian and artist Sabiha Al Khemir, the show spans the entire main floor of the Brigham Museum.

After an incredibly long journey of thirty hours, we finally arrived at Provo at 1 am. The next morning my day at the Museum was spent checking the condition of the items after all that travelling, noting any possible changes and working together with the local Museum art technician on the display, which had been discussed and agreed previously between the two institutions. Materials such as oil paintings, drawings and prints are often displayed framed and hung on wall using security fixings whereas archival flat items, manuscripts and books are usually placed carefully into showcases and either laid flat (sometimes on a barrier sheet of archival board or Mylar®/ Melinex® polyester film) or laid on custom made Perspex supports.

One of the highlights from the Wellcome Library was Arabic MS 1011, “Scroll of Prayers signed by Zayn al-'Abidin”, which was beautifully displayed on its own, exhibiting a meter and a half of its length.

Marking the base of the showcase with tape in preparation for the display of Arabic MS 1011, “Scroll of Prayers signed by Zayn al-'Abidin”.

Detail of the mounting system which prevents the item rolling back on itself.

Other Wellcome Library items were sharing cases with objects from other lending institutions. The curator and couriers were all working together to make sure that the objects were placed perfectly inside the case. When the final display was refined, the showcases were secured in place, locked and witnessed before our departure.

After returning to London, the Library Exhibition Liaison Officer and I received an email from the BYU Museum Registrar, thanking us for all of our helpful support during the preparation and build-up to the loan and for the work on the installation day. The opening day was a great success and the exhibition is still being well attended.

Marking the space on a showcase for the final display solution



Arabic MS 300, “Map of the World”, was placed on a tilted support to facilitate reading.



The Perspex lid of the showcase was carefully lowered before the final locking.



External view of Brigham Young University Museum of Fine Art



 Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture, Brigham Young University Museum of Fine Art, Provo, Utah, 24th February to 29th September 2012
Author: Luana Franceschet

OHC Blog Carnival - May Newsletter Edition

Here we are again at another end of the month Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. This month brought many of us to the real meat of our spring time weather....colors, growing things, new beginnings. Nothing is more encouraging than seeing the season change, knowing soon that summer will be upon us.


The new More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook is ready for you to purchase or you can wait until June 8, 2012 and you can see the first challenge. I wrote this ebook with summer vacations in mind and with some extra ideas for simple summertime nature study right in your own backyard.

Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Spring Peepers from the Beery Family - They discovered and recorded a spring peeper! Pop over and listen to the short video. Do you have spring peepers in your area?

Low Tide Object from Angie at Petra School - This family was determined to find something extraordinary during their low tide adventure. I think they succeeded and were rewarded with learning about something new right in their own local area. 

Ordinary and Extra-Ordinary: Nature's Timing from Kris at On the 8th Day - They had several insect visitors come their way...they used the opportunity to find the extraordinary in their ordinary day during a dog walk. They even followed up with a nature journal entry. Welcome to the carnival!


Extraordinary in the Ordinary from Tricia at Hodgepodge - The Hodgepodge family always does a good job of finding the extraordinary in their own backyard. This entry does not disappoint the reader with its colors and textures found right outside their door.

The Extraordinary in the Ordinary from Shirley Ann at Under An English Sky - They truly had an extraordinary experience and they photos and journals are amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your nature study with the carnival.

Finding Extraordinary in Your Own Backyard by Stephanie of Nature Notebook. They found some really interesting things right in their own yard. Enjoy her images!

Walking to Taughannock Falls, New York. May 2012.

Dogwood

Spring Tree Observations - Maple from Angie at Petra School - What a great substitute for the dogwood study! They even worked in some silent observation time with her older boys as part of their spring tree study. I am impressed.

Vines and Ferns

Vine-How Does Your Tendril Grow from Angie at Petra School -  They have done an excellent job of capturing and observing lots of their own Oregon vines. As always, they are very good at asking questions and finding the answers.

Fern Study (learning how much I still don't know) from Amy at Hope is the Word -This is a great example of how to adjust your nature study to your circumstances, how to apply what you read in the Handbook of Nature Study, and then follow-up with a creative nature journal entry. Thanks for sharing your fern study with the carnival Amy.

Garden Snails

Slug and Snail Study from Crafty Cristy -  They have made an extended study of slugs and have observed and learned a lot. I love the way they are following the interests of the children.

Taughannock Falls, New York. May 2012.

Potpourri

Pretty Petunias from Wendy at Loving Learning - They are joining the carnival with their petunia study using the Handbook of Nature Study. Excellent job and they even followed-up with a nature journal sketch. Thanks for joining us from South Africa!

OHC - The Meadow Buttercup from Shirley Ann at Under An English Sky - What a treat to see their buttecups! Shirley Ann shares her thoughts about the Handbook of Nature Study in this very encouraging entry.

Nature Study - Crows from Jamie at See Jamie Blog - They had a perfect opportunity to learn more about something right in their very own yard. A snake and a crow were the featured attractions! I love the way they seized the opportunity to complete an Outdoor Hour Challenge and some follow-up notebook pages. 

Spring Flower - The Bluebell from Shirley Ann at Under An English Sky - What a treat! This entry is full of beautiful bluebell images and information. Shirley Ann also has created a free Bluebells Notebook Page for you to download and use in your family. Thanks!

Outdoor Hour Challenge Pileated Woodpeckers from Janet at Discovering Nature - They discovered a wood pecker nest back in April and have been watching the progress. Wonderful images of parents and babies! 

Extraordinary in the Ordinary - Leaves

Outdoor Hour Challenge #2 - Using Your Words from Heidi at Starts at Eight - This is a wonderful robin study using the suggestions from Outdoor Hour Challenge #2. Wonderful job finding words for their outdoor time and then doing an exceptionally thorough follow-up. 

May Nature Notes from Amy at Hope is the Word - They have adapted their nature study this month to fit their family's circumstances. What a smart idea to go with color themed scavenger hunts outdoors. Beautiful images!

Nature Study Spiders! from Tristan at Our Busy Homeschool - This family had the opportunity to observe and identify a glorious spider. They posed it perfectly on lavender paper so even I could enjoy it. :)

The Nature Walk With the Spring Scavenger Hunt from Bethany at Little Homeschool Blessings - They had a great time completing their spring scavenger hunt!

May Musings from Barbara at The Schoolhouse on the Prairie -  They have had some rich outdoor time this month in and around the garden.

Jamaica Bay. Long Island, New York. May 2012.

Make sure to subscribe to this blog so you will receive the download link for the monthly newsletter. The Outdoor Hour Challenge June 2012 Newsletter is themed: Ocean Beach. There are so many practical ideas for including a little nature study when you visit the sandy beach this summer!

The newsletter link will be available in tomorrow's post and in every blog entry for the month of June. You need to subscribe using the subscription box on the sidebar of my blog in order to receive the link in your next email blog entry from me.




Have you seen the new bundle? If you are new to the Outdoor Hour Challenge my Four Seasons Bundle and my More Nature Study Bundle will give you lots to work with!Click the buttons and read more about these specially discounted bundles of nature study ebooks.

Strangeworks

As part of the Shakespeare Festival, the Barbican has created a library trail aimed at primary school children.
They are given the following brief:
"Quotes from the Bard's famous works have gone missing from Shakespeare’s Library and are lost in the Barbican’s concrete jungle. Now the Librarians desperately need your help to capture the quotes before they are lost forever!"

I found the quote (pictured) as single words floating in various pools around the courtyard.

The Human Pleasure in Decoration

Illustration: Iranian decorative ceramic, 17th century.

Decoration in its many forms gives instant and gratifying visual pleasure. It is one of our oldest legacies and has been a firm and constant companion throughout our development as a species as well as the more specific creative aspects of our development. However, gratification works very much on a personal level, a pattern that stimulates one individual, leaves another indifferent. Although there are certain forms of decoration that please whole groups of individuals, many of these patterns are culturally linked, and it still does not mean that every individual within that shared culture can appreciate the sentiment of a particular pattern. 

This is perhaps truer today than has ever been the case before. Our contemporary world is going through fundamental changes as far as the development of the individual is concerned. Traditional assumptions and social mores are being tested and questioned as the individual becomes more aware of choices that can be made in their life as independent of the group experience. These choices may well be as fundamental as to that of lifestyle, or as simple as that of choosing an interior environment in which to live. However, what is important is the encouragement of the individual to make choices that are independent of commercial pressure and the tricks of advertisers to coral individuals into specific and limited choices. Ultimately the choice to be an individual is the choice of the individual.

Decoration itself is an art form that seems genetically inherent to all humans. We have always embellished and added to, whether it be the simplest of clay pots and baskets, our interior spaces or indeed that of self-embellishment through elaborate hair styles, makeup and skin art. It seems extraordinary therefore that at least an element of the design world over the last century has consistently tried to disassociate and disentangle the obvious human pleasure in decoration from as many aspects of our lives as humanly possible.

To an extent, at least in the twentieth century Modernist movement, there was an underlying cultural, if not fully racist element in the movement towards the removal of decoration from the design world. Without getting into too many specifics particularly that involving individuals, there was a consistent belief amongst sections of Modernist thought that decoration was linked to what was erroneously termed 'primitive cultures', particularly those of non-European origin. It is perhaps puzzling and certainly hard to justify that a belief in the lack of embellishment and decoration placed a culture on a higher level than one that considered pattern to be an integral part of a finished product.

Most, if not all decoration is a human reflection of the external world. It is a creative interpretation of our relationship with our environment. Whether that is interpreted through realism or abstract geometry, colour or texture, large sweeping compositions or minute detail, it is a long-term personalised relationship between our existence and the experiences that that existence engenders with the world we inhabit. By denying that fundamental, almost visceral connection we rupture the relationship that we have built up over the countless generations with the natural environment. We forget the basic elements and constraints of life and start to create the shiny dissociative structures and cityscapes that have little if any real connection to the world of earth, sea and air, let alone any form of meaningful relationship with the framework of species that make up much of the planet. 

By divorcing ourselves emotionally as well as intellectually from the expression of decoration, we condemn ourselves to an existence of denying our basic function as an animal species with the ability to creatively reflect the complexity of our relationship with our planet. The further we withdraw into our artificial construct of urban living the further we move away from our effect on the planet. Our present vacuum of existence often seems incapable of understanding the fundamental concept of cause and effect, with obvious potentially catastrophic results.

This is not to say that if we suddenly embrace decoration in our lives all human problems will be solved. However, by enjoying decoration on an emotional level and understanding what an important part it should play in our everyday lives and that of our home and work environment, we are allowing ourselves to daily reconnect with the unique relationship we have as a species and as an individual with our life and that of the planet. By removing the human wonder and constant delight in decoration we are emotionally shutting ourselves down and anesthetising our life experience.

 Illustration: The ubiquitous plain white mug, 21st century.

Further reading links:

A Fortean encounter with a Merman

This Thursday (31st May), Ross MacFarlane (Research Engagement Officer, Wellcome Library) and Paolo Viscardi (Curator, Horniman Museum) will again sink beneath the waters to explore the murky worlds of mermen and mermaids.

They'll be speaking at the monthly meeting of the London Fortean Society (from 8pm, The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London, E1). Their talk will be structured around specimens collected by Henry Wellcome, with details of recent research into their construction and provenance carried out at the Horniman and Buxton Museums. They'll discuss the origins and evolution of mermaids and the fakery, misidentification and publicity that has shaped our understanding of these fascinating, if fishy, fabrications.

More information is available from the London Fortean Society website.