Art Conservation Conversations Event Aug 20th

Curious about who takes care of art and cultural property? Go behind-the-scenes with 8 local art conservators.  An afternoon all about history, conservation treatments and restoration of fine art. Come hear conservators in private practice discuss the care taking of cultural objects from murals, to NASA chairs! It's all about conserving some of the best art and saving it for later.  

Tuesday, August 20, 1:00 PM– 5:00 PM 
Latino Cultural Center 

2600 Live Oak St.

Dallas TX
Sponsored by The City of Dallas & the North Texas Association for Art Conservation

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/381691749156415/

This event is free and open to the public so come join us and invite your colleagues. 

See you there,

Brad

NTAAC Meetup Looks at the Artwork of Tracy Hicks

This NTAAC get together will be at the Sp/n Gallery at UTD and will focus on the artwork of Tracy Hicks. Tracy approached art with a documentation/scientific flair, creating works in many different mediums including works on paper, video, photography, bronze, plastic resin, and taxidermy just to name a few. 

This retrospective exhibit is a great opportunity us to observe and discuss the long term conservation issues surrounding a wide range of modern art mediums. 

In attendance with be Assistant Gallery Director Brian Scott and Ron Siebler. They will be sharing their special insights on the creation and installation of this unusual exhibit.

We'll meet at the gallery on Thursday, Oct 18th at 4:00pm. 

Sp/n Gallery

UTD campus

3020 Stewart Dr

Richardson, TX 75080

We'll follow the conversation with a Happy Hour at the Northside Drafthouse

As always this NTAAC event is open to people, businesses, museums, organizations, societies and students who work with conservation, preservation, display or handling of art or historic artifacts. Please feel free to share this event notice.

Pull yourself away from that work desk and let's talk about broken stuff!

See you in the gallery,
Brad

Salt Cured Proof Of Occupancy

Ron Siebler and Mark Birnbaum keep making great videos about historic preservation. This time the project involves a 155 year old curing shed on the Opel Lawrence Farmstead in Mesquite Texas, a clump of salty newspaper and Tish Brewer, a paper conservator.

A clump of newspaper, bricked by salt and sand, is unearthed from the dirt floor of a 155 year-old curing shed and provides a clue to its history.

Click the video link below to see the video on Vimeo
Video

Do you have a conservation or preservation project you would like to share? NTAAC would love to see it! Contact Brad at info@studiosixartconservation.com

Pilot Grove Church Restoration Event Nov. 20th

NTAAC Board Member Ron Siebler has a long history of architectural preservation. On Wednesday Nov. 20th the Dallas Heritage Village will be showcasing some of his latest work with the event Preserving The Past For The Future.

The program starts with the short film Pilot Grove Church - An Education/Restoration Project by Mark Birnbaum that documents Ron and his crew dressed in period appropriate carpenters garb, using period tools to do restoration work on the Pilot Grove Church. 

The film will be followed by a panel discussion on the importance of historic preservation with Ron Siebler, Mark Birnbaum,  Dallas Morning News Architecture Critic Mark Lamster, Preservation Dallas Executive Director David Preziosi, and with Dallas Heritage Village Curator Evelyn Montgomery as the moderator.

The Pilot Grove Church, which is locate at the Dallas Heritage Village will also be open, so you can walk through and see first hand how the restoration work turned out. 

For those of us who love history and old buildings this is going to be a great opportunity to learn about the process of restoring a bit of yesteryear.

Wednesday Nov. 20th at 6:00pm

Dallas Heritage Village

1515 S. Harwood St

Dallas TX 75215

This event is FREE but Lisa Simpson would love it if you would RSVP at lsimpson@dallasheritagevillage.org or call 214-413-3662

NTAAC Members Doing Good with Hammers and Saws

The members of NTAAC comprise a wide range of skills, interests and activities. Last week Ron Siebler and his team of carpenters started the exterior preservation work on the Pilot Grove Church located on the grounds of the Dallas Heritage Village.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, while working on the south side of the bell tower they donned period clothing and...

...used period tools as well. There was also an area set up in front of the church that allowed the public an opportunity to work with some of the hand tools. Ron says drilling holes with the old bit and brace drill was the most popular tool of the day.

Thanks Ron for sharing, and to Drew Timmons for capturing it on film.

NTAAC loves to know what its member are up to, so if you have an event, project, interview, article... that is artifact centric, let us know about it.

NTAAC goes blacksmithing

Thanks a million to the talented Ron Siebler for such a super demo of blacksmithing yesterday, and for being kind enough to give us some hands-on experience as well. Ron gave us a great introduction to blacksmithing, and taught everyone how to make a decorative S hook. We threw lots of questions his way and he answered all of them, and he's a very encouraging teacher. What a unique way to spend an afternoon! Seeing a craft in action helps us to better understand the materials we work with so closely in the art world, not to mention the inspiration it gives us to go out and make something as soon as possible...it's an appreciated spark, a catalyst for carving out time for a creative outlet! As a conservator who doesn't do that enough, I'm especially grateful for being introduced to an amazing historic craft yesterday. Now, y'all go get your hands dirty!

Cheers, Tish

a partial view of Ron's wood and metal shop

the anvil

the gas forge

working on the curve of an S hook

brushing brass to the twist for extra decoration on this finished S hook

Join NTAAC October 17th, 12:30 at Alfonso's

I wanted to let you know that NTAAC’s last monthly meeting of the year is fast approaching. This month we will be “playing with fire” by visiting Ron Siebler’s workshop here in Dallas on Wednesday, October 17th. Ron is all excited to share with us the history of blacksmithing as well as demonstrate on his forge. Ron wants to let you all know that he has been busy cleaning up his workshop so that there’s enough room for everyone to take a turn on the forge. If you have ever wondered what it is like to stand in front of fire and work with metal this will be a great opportunity to hear and work with someone who has studied this craft.

If you would like to “play with fire” come and join us for lunch at 12:30 at Alfonso's Italian Restaurant at 718 North Buckner Boulevard, Dallas. After lunch we will head over to Ron’s workshop. If you are interested in joining us please send an RSVP to ntaac@yahoo.com so we know how many seats to reserve at Alfonso’s. This is sure to be a unique opportunity. Hope you can join us.


NTAAC’s October Meeting
Wednesday October 17th
12:30pm
Alfonso's Italian Restaurant at 718 North Buckner Boulevard, Dallas.
RSVP to ntaac@yahoo.com

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.