Intro To An Introduction To The Gels Conference

Last October in London there was a conference on gels used in conservation aptly named Gels In Conservation Conference. This three day event was so popular that even after moving to a larger venue with 500 seats there were still conservators trying to sneak past the guards to get inside.

Fortunately a few Texas conservators were in attendance, among them Jodie Utter, Senior Paper Conservator at the Amon Carter Museum, Laura Hartman Painting Conservator at the Dallas Museum of Art, and Kimberly Kwan Paper Conservator at the Harry Ransom Center. Each of them  recapped their experience at the conference during a recent gathering at the Dallas Museum of Art.

NTAAC is very happy to be re-posting Jodie's presentation here on the NTAAC blog. There will be six postings in all, spread out over the next six days.

July Lunch and Broken Stuff Review

Come join NTAAC as we  enjoy a Mediterranean buffet and make plans for summer/fall/winter NTAAC events.

Would you like to host a tour or workshop? Have you been working on a project that you would like to talk about?

Have you or a colleague recently given a presentation that you think the NTAAC community would like to see as well?

Are there events coming up that NTAAC should know about?

Wednesday, July 23rd at 12noon
Ali Baba Mediterranean Grill
1901 Abrams rd
Dallas TX 75214

Cheers,
Brad

Tour of the Book Conservation Lad at the Bridwell Library

Clear your calendar for February 19th NTAAC meeting, because you won't want to miss this rare opportunity to visit the book conservation lab at the Bridwell Library.

Bridwell Library is a branch of the Perkins School of Theology on the campus of Southern Methodist University.  The Conservation Lab was originally added as part of a building expansion in 1988, in large part, to accommodate celebrated bookbinder and conservator Jan Sobota, who ran the lab until the late 90’s, and to service the expansive special collections housed within the library vault.  Highlights from the collection include the Triple Crown of Modern Typography (The Kelmscott Chaucer, The Doves Press Bible, and The Ashendene Dante).

Jesse Hunt moved to TX, and Bridwell Library, nearly two years ago in March of 2012 and gave new life to the conservation lab, which had been mothballed through most of the last decade.  Previous to that, he worked as Assistant Conservator to Richard Baker at the Richard Baker Book and Paper Conservation Studio in St.Louis, Missouri.  He studied printmaking and chemistry at the University of Missouri, St.Louis and has an extensive knowledge of fine art paper. 

We will discuss bookbinding and book conservation techniques and see some of the tools and materials used in the process.  Followed by a brief viewing of some items from our special collections library which will better illustrate how the tools and techniques discussed in the lab can be put to good use.

The Bridwell Library is located on the campus of Southern Methodist University, opposite the Meadows Museum, and just north of the Chapel.  

The tour  begins at 10:30am, on Wednesday, February 19th.  Due to space, the tour will be limited to  15 guests.  Please RSVP to NTAAC@yahoo.com ASAP.

After the tour we'll continue the conversation over lunch at DIGGS Taco Shop  

Stay tuned for more information...

Furniture Conservation Presentation at next NTAAC Event

Recent Conservation Projects By Alton Bowman

The North Texas Association for Art Conservation and the Dallas Museum of Art are happy to host a lecture by Alton Bowman; Recent Projects: Frames, Chairs and a Desk.  

Mr. Bowman is an art conservator who specializes in French, English and American furniture. He has a long history of working with museums and private collectors on some very important pieces of furniture, such as the Rosedown American Goth Bed on exhibit at the DMA. 

In this presentation he will highlight several new projects, and discuss the various conservation treatments he used on them. For those who work with fine antique furniture and those who work in wood this is a must attend event.

After the lecture we'll continue the discussion over lunch at the Klyde Warren Park food trucks.

Monday, September 9th at 12:00pm noon 

Dallas Museum of Art

1717 N. Harwood st

Dallas TX. 75201 

The DMA auditorium is open special just for this event, so please RSVP by September 5^th to Gabriela Truly at GTruly@DallasMuseumofArt.org. 

For more information about this event or future NTAAC events, please contact us at NTAAC@yahoo.com

See you there, 

Brad

Respirator Review And Spicy Lunch

Please join the North Texas Association for Art Conservation and Art Restorations Inc. on Wednesday, July 31, 2013 at 11:00 am for a review of respirator essentials. 

Cher Goodson and Kenn Darity will give us the low down on respirators such as; How to choose the correct respirator for your face, Which filters to choose for the materials you may be using, and How to care for your mask when not in use. Bring your respirators for review and we'll test them with banana oil.


And speaking of food, We'll have lunch across the street at Cafe Istanbul. Yum! This event is open to anyone who uses a respirator or may need to use one in the future. Please RSVP to NTAAC or contacting Cher at Art Restorations Inc.


Respirator Review and Test Fitting
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
11:00 am to after lunch

Art Restorations Inc.
7803 Inwood Road, Dallas, Texas 75209
214-350-0811

Cheers,
Brad

NTAAC Hosts Presentation at the TAM Meeting

For the second year in a row, NTAAC is hosting a presentation at the annual Texas Association of Museums conference. This year Brad Ford Smith and Melanie Sanford will be Co-Chairing the presentation titled Non-renewable Resourses: Collection Care of Natural History, Archeological, and Ethnographic objects.

Our  three panelists have spent the cold winter months researching the best practice for materials associated with natural history, archeology, and ethnographic objects, with a focus on the caring, storing, and handling of these materials.

Our panelists:
Dr. Deborah Cowman from the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History will be addressing the care of taxidermy animals.
Jenni Opalinski from the Museum of the Southwest will tap into her knowledge of ethnographic objects to address basketry, pottery and textiles.
Amanda Vance from the Galveston Railroad Museum and independent object conservator will be talking about the things archaeologists dig up.

Bring your note pads and a sharp pencil, you'll be taking lots of notes.

NTAAC Lunch and Studio Tour April 25th

As a bit of a teaser for the NTAAC April 25th lunch, Michael Van Enter sent over a few photos of the Millard Sheets mosaics he has been restoring.

We'll be stopping by his studio for a tour right after we have lunch at Ali Baba's Mediterranean Grill 1901 Abrams rd, Dallas TX. The buffet starts at 12:00 noon this Wednesday, April 25th. Then we'll roll over to see these wonderful mosaics. 

NTAAC Conservation Roundtable TAM 2012

The Conservation Roundtable that NTAAC organized for the 2012 TAM conference played to a full house. With the session broken up into 10 minute time slots all the attendees were able to converse with each of the 5 art conservators. And when that final bell rang, few people were ready to leave.

Perhaps NTAAC will organize another session for the 2013 TAM conference in Waco.

NTAAC hosting Conservation Roundtable

The Texas Association of Museum (TAM) conference starts on Tuesday. This year the 5 day conference is being held down by the River Walk in San Antonio.

NTAAC will be hosting a session on Wednesday called Conservation Roundtable. We'll have 5 art conservators sitting at 5 roundtables. Each conservator will be addressing questions that pertains to their field of expertise:

Paper- Tish Brewer - the Center for Art Conservation, Dallas TX
Paintings- Anne Zanikos - Anne Zanikos Art Conservation, San Antonio TX
Textiles- Melanie Sanford - Textile Preservation Services of Texas, Dallas TX
Photographs- Corinne Dune - DBA Photogragh and Paper Conservation Services, San Marcos TX
Furniture- Brad Ford Smith - Studio Six Art Conservation, Dallas TX

With this line up we should be able to answer most of your questions.

NTAAC Member, Ron Siebler Pounds At The Anvil

Ron Siebler will be joining acclaimed blacksmith Ward Brinegar in presenting “At the Anvil” this Saturday, February 18th at the Dallas Heritage Village.  This two part presentation starts with demonstrations of basic forging techniques and tools, as well as complex production skills used to make elaborate scrollwork and other architectural details. 

The afternoon session will be devoted to a Blacksmith workshop that will provide participants with a hands-on experience at the forge.

For times, tickets and to reserve your anvil check out this event link.

This demonstration and workshop is sponsored by those great historic centric people at Preservation Dallas and Dallas Heritage Village.  

*TO HELL AND BACK!!!

The North Texas Association for Art Conservation is very happy to be teaming up once again with the Nasher Sculpture Center. This time to host a sizzling lecture by Maria Sheets entitled To Hell and Back: Fire Recovery Project at the Museum of Biblical Art.

In 2006 Ms. Sheets was there when the Dallas Fire Department was pouring tons of water on the burning Museum of Biblical Art. And she was there when the museum re-opened their doors in 2010. Between those two dates, she was the art conservator on staff, responsible for the over whelming task of evaluating and treating the museum's badly damaged collection.

At this lecture, Ms. Sheets will be discussing her insights on disaster recovery and touching on topics such as: Prioritizing, Temporary Storage, Public Relations, Conservation in a temporary conservation lab, Museum construction, and  of course developing a new Emergency Disaster Plan.

This event is free and open to the public, so spread the word, bring a friend. Please RSVP to the lecture by emailing events@nashersculpturecenter.org. 

For more info contact NTAAC at NTAAC@yahoo.com or go to www.NTAAC.blogspot.com

Monday, January 30th at 12:00 Noon

Nasher Sculpture Center 

2011 Flora Street

Dallas TX 75228

PS- NTAAC will be meeting for an after lecture lunch at historic downtown El Fenix just down the street. You are welcome to join us.

To Hell and Back: The NTAAC January Meeting

The North Texas Association for Art Conservation is very happy to be starting 2012 with a fiery lecture hosted at the Nasher Sculpture Center.

On Monday, January 30 at 12:00 Noon, Maria Sheets will be presenting To Hell and Back: Fire Recovery Project at the Museum of Biblical Art in Dallas. 


In June 2005, the Museum of Biblical Art experienced a devastating six alarm fire. Six years later, the newly reconstructed facility has re-opened with many of the once soot covered/water damaged objects professionally treated and now on exhibit.

Ms. Sheets documented this precess from the beginning. She will be discussing her insights and touching on topics such as:

-- Prioritizing

-- Temporary storage and transportation

-- Public relations

-- Issues with a temporary lab

-- Treatment

-- Building construction

-- Creating an on-view conservation lab/classroom

-- Developing a new Emergency Disaster Plan

This is an important lecture not only for people involved with museum and corporate collections, but also anyone who is passionate about collecting and preserving history.

Monday, January 30 at 12:00 noon

Nasher Sculpture Center

2011 Flora Street

Dallas TX 75201

This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP at events@nashersculpturecenter.org


NTAAC will meet for an after lecture lunch at the historic El Fenix just down the street. So make your calendars, and spread the word.