Western Association for Art Conservation (WAAC) | |
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| Founded | 1975 Email: secretary@waac-us.org |
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| Affiliations | Professional association |
| Website | cool |
The Western Association for Art Conservation (WAAC) is a nonprofit regional membership organization for conservation professionals based in the Western United States, although membership is open to all irrespective of geographical location.
WAAC serves its members, who have a professional responsibility for the preservation of cultural heritage, and disseminates information through its publications and annual meeting/conference. WAAC advances knowledge, practice and standards for the conservation profession.
WAAC's bylaws [1] state that the specific purposes of WAAC are:
WAAC was founded in 1975 to bring together conservators practicing in the western United States to exchange ideas, information and news.
One of the prime forces behind the creation of the Western Association for Art Conservation, or Western Association of Art Conservators as it was initially called, was Benjamin Bishop Johnson, [2] who served as the first President of the organization; and at the time was Chief Conservator at LACMA, as well as a lecturer at UCLA.
The current WAAC Board. [3]
A membership directory is published annually and sent to members. The membership directory is alternatively available to members in electronic format; as a pdf. WAAC's Membership Directory is distributed in March of each year.
The WAAC Newsletter (ISSN 1052-0066) [4] has been published since 1979, and is published three times per year, in January, May and September. Each issue has been 28-32 pages long. Each issue contains several feature articles, many of which are widely cited, and the newsletter is a widely referenced resource for heritage professionals. [5]
Regular columns include:
A 10-Year Cumulative Index of the WAAC Newsletter (1979-1988, Volumes 1-10) has also been produced. Back issues are also available online. [6]
In response to Hurricane Katrina WAAC published a special issue of the WAAC Newsletter, September 2005 (vol 27, no 3), [7] devoted to issue of salvage and emergency response. The issue included information on health and safety for salvage operations, a reprint with a new introduction of Betty Walsh's "Salvage Operations for Water Damaged Archival Collections" and the "Salvage at a Glance" chart [8] (printed on waterproof synthetic paper), as well as a collection of new information and reprinted materials from a number of sources.
The WAAC publication A Guide to Handling Anthropological Museum Collections [9] is available in both English and Spanish (Guía para el manejo de colecciones antropológicas de museos).
The guide has also been translated into Arabic. Although not directly available from WAAC, it is reportedly widely distributed in the Arab speaking world. [10]
This is a humorous guide to the "do's and don'ts" of collections handling, and was written by Nancy Odegaard and illustrated by Grace Katterman. It is soft bound, and runs to 41 pages.
A compilation of the talks comprising the Loss Compensation panel from the 1993 meeting at the Marconi Conference Center, enhanced by a detailed introduction into the history of loss compensation theory written by Patricia Leavengood. [12]
CONTENTS [13]
WAAC holds an annual meeting, also referred to as a conference. [14] Information about past meetings can be found on the WAAC website. [15]
In 2009 rain water entered the Alaska State Archives building, when a storm ripped the roof from the building, WAAC members who "serendipitously happen to be in Juneau for the Western Association for Art Conservation conference" [16] assist with the rescue efforts. The conference went ahead, and included a public lecture by Yosi Pozeilov about pinhole cameras. [17]
The conservation and restoration of cultural property focuses on protection and care of cultural property, including artworks, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections. Conservation activities include preventive conservation, examination, documentation, research, treatment, and education. This field is closely allied with conservation science, curators and registrars.
The Institute of Conservation(Icon) is the professional charitable body, representing and supporting the practice and profession of conservation. It has around 2500 members worldwide, including professional conservators, scientists and teachers involved with the care of heritage objects and buildings.
The Midwest Regional Conservation Guild (MRCG) is a professional conservation association in the Midwestern United States.
A conservator-restorer is a professional responsible for the preservation of artistic and cultural artifacts, also known as cultural heritage. Conservators possess the expertise to preserve cultural heritage in a way that retains the integrity of the object, building or site, including its historical significance, context and aesthetic or visual aspects. This kind of preservation is done by analyzing and assessing the condition of cultural property, understanding processes and evidence of deterioration, planning collections care or site management strategies that prevent damage, carrying out conservation treatments, and conducting research. A conservator's job is to ensure that the objects in a museum's collection are kept in the best possible condition, as well as to serve the museum's mission to bring art before the public.
The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) is a global organisation for conservation and restoration professionals with over two thousand members in over fifty countries. IIC seeks to promote the knowledge, methods and working standards needed to protect and preserve historic and artistic works throughout the world.
A conservation technician is a specialist who conservation methods pertaining to cultural property and may work in museums or public or private conservation organizations. A technician may also work in conjunction with other collection staff, such as a registrar (museum) or collection manager.
Since 1974, the conservation graduate programs have held an annual meeting at one of the member programs in order to give current students the opportunity to present current research to their peers.
The conservation and restoration of books, manuscripts, documents, and ephemera is an activity dedicated to extending the life of items of historical and personal value made primarily from paper, parchment, and leather. When applied to cultural heritage, conservation activities are generally undertaken by a conservator. The primary goal of conservation is to extend the lifespan of the object as well as maintaining its integrity by keeping all additions reversible. Conservation of books and paper involves techniques of bookbinding, restoration, paper chemistry, and other material technologies including preservation and archival techniques.
The Washington Conservation Guild (WCG) is a non-profit organization of conservation and cultural heritage professionals. The WCG serves as a resource for learning about the care of cultural heritage collections.
An Objects conservator is a professional, working in a museum setting or private practice, that specializes in the conservation of three-dimensional works. They undergo specialized education, training, and experience that allows them to formulate and implement preventive strategies and invasive treatment protocols to preserve cultural property for the future. Objects conservators typically specialize in one type of material or class of cultural property, including metals, archaeological artifacts, ethnographic artifacts, glass, and ceramic art. Objects conservation presents many challenges due to their three-dimensional form and composite nature.
A conservation scientist is a museum professional who works in the field of conservation science and whose focus is on the research of cultural heritage through scientific inquiry. Conservation scientists conduct applied scientific research and techniques to determine the material, chemical, and technical aspects of cultural heritage. The technical information conservation scientists gather is then used by conservator and curators to decide the most suitable conservation treatments for the examined object and/or adds to our knowledge about the object by providing answers about the material composition, fabrication, authenticity, and previous restoration treatments.
Disaster preparedness in museums, galleries, libraries, archives and private collections, involves any actions taken to plan for, prevent, respond or recover from natural disasters and other events that can cause damage or loss to cultural property. 'Disasters' in this context may include large-scale natural events such as earthquakes, flooding or bushfire, as well as human-caused events such as theft and vandalism. Increasingly, anthropogenic climate change is a factor in cultural heritage disaster planning, due to rising sea levels, changes in rainfall patterns, warming average temperatures, and more frequent extreme weather events.
Conservation and restoration of objects made from plastics is work dedicated to the conservation of objects of historical and personal value made from plastics. When applied to cultural heritage, this activity is generally undertaken by a conservator-restorer.
The conservation and restoration of musical instruments is performed by conservator-restorers who are professionals, properly trained to preserve or protect historical and current musical instruments from past or future damage or deterioration. Because musical instruments can be made entirely of, or simply contain, a wide variety of materials such as plastics, woods, metals, silks, and skin, to name a few, a conservator should be well-trained in how to properly examine the many types of construction materials used in order to provide the highest level or preventive and restorative conservation.
The conservation and restoration of wooden furniture is an activity dedicated to the preservation and protection of wooden furniture objects of historical and personal value. When applied to cultural heritage this activity is generally undertaken by a conservator-restorer. Furniture conservation and restoration can be divided into two general areas: structure and finish. Structure generally relates to wood and can be divided into solid, joined, and veneered wood. The finish of furniture can be painted or transparent.
A textile conservator is a conservator-restorer charged with the care, treatment, research, and preservation of textiles. Issues addressed by a textile conservator are generally related to the field of textile preservation, and include damage caused to textiles by: light, mold and mildew, insects, cleaning, surface cleaning, washing, mounting for display, and storage. Variations in textile types and “the diversity of the textile conservator’s work makes it a very rewarding profession”. Textiles are among the most fragile artifacts, as they are susceptible to damage from atmospheric pollutants, moisture, biological organisms, and environmental changes and care varies with size, shape, material, and condition issues, all of which a textile conservator must be well versed.
Helen Diana Burgess, was a Canadian conservation scientist. Burgess spent her career at the Canadian Conservation Institute ("CCI"), where she was a Senior Conservation Scientist. She was a researcher in paper and textiles conservation processes and an expert in the areas of cellulose degradation analysis, conservation bleaching, washing, enzyme applications on paper, as well as aqueous and mass deacidification of paper.
The Conservation of South Asian household shrines is an activity dedicated to the preservation of household shrines from South Asia. When applied to cultural heritage, held by either museums or private collectors, this activity is generally undertaken by a conservator-restorer. South Asian shrines held in museum collections around the world are principally shrines relate to Hindu, Jain, or Buddhist households. Due to their original use and sacred nature, these shrines present unique conservation and restoration challenges for those tasked with their care.
The Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials (AICCM) is Australia's national membership organisation for conservation professionals. Its members are mainly professional conservators, conservation students and cultural heritage member organisations in the Australian and Pacific region. It provides services for members and resources for the public and associated cultural heritage organisations and liaises with other professional associations including the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), the Australian Society of Archivists and Australian Museums and Galleries Association.
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