Buffalo State College Garman Art Conservation Department

01/30/2023

Buffalo State College Garman Art Conservation Department updated their business hours.

Buffalo State College Garman Art Conservation Department updated their business hours.

01/23/2023

The Garman Art Conservation Department will present a virtual panel discussion on grassroots efforts to conserve cultural material created to commemorate and protest violence rooted in racism and social injustice on February 24, 2023 from 2-4pm EST.

Our distinguished panelists include:
Janelle Austin, executive director and co-founder of the George Floyd Global Memorial and lead caretaker of the memorials at George Floyd Square.
Valinda Carroll, Buffalo State alumna, class of 1999, professional conservator of works of art on paper and historical documents, principal of Infinity Art Conservation
Frederick Wallace, Buffalo State alumnus, class of 1991, chief conservator at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Indianapolis, Indiana

The virtual panel discussion will cover conservation, collection management, organizational structure, administration, and funding of the George Floyd Global Memorial. The story of the GFGM will be the start of an ongoing dialogue on community-centered conservation.

We enthusiastically invite you to participate in this virtual conversation. Please register by going to: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYkceCtqjItGtFMVmc1QUIR--L1H-NiTppQ

01/19/2023

Buffalo State Art Conservation Professor Serves as Adviser to TFA Alumna’s Film

https://suny.buffalostate.edu/news/buffalo-state-art-conservation-professor-serves-adviser-tfa-alumnas-film

Buffalo State Art Conservation Professor Serves as Adviser to TFA Alumna’s Film January 18, 2023 By Laurie Kaiser When Grace Philips, ’16, started making a film for her master of fine arts (M.F.A.) thesis at Columbia University, she drew on the skills she honed in Buffalo State University’s te...

01/12/2023

Buffalo State Formally Recognized as a University

Exciting news to share!
https://suny.buffalostate.edu/news/buffalo-state-formally-recognized-university?fbclid=IwAR04jhj2OWcUg5scD-8uV2St7Jxp7fpVEuHHoHVgc-0_9JIT0jo0zYeK4vw

Buffalo State Formally Recognized as a University Campus Celebration of Name Change Taking Place January 31 January 10, 2023 SUNY Buffalo State today announced that it will formally change its name from Buffalo State College to Buffalo State University, effective January 15, 2023. The institution’...

12/22/2022

Historic Conservation Technician 2

A great job opportunity at the New York State Education Department: http://www.nysed.gov/hr/employment/historic-conservation-technician-2-1671227300

The New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) Office of Cultural Education is seeking candidates for a Historic Conservation Technician 2 position in the New York State Archives. The incumbent in this position will be responsible for the digitization of selected records and performing conserva...

12/18/2022

Thank you to the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation for featuring the work of paintings fellows Daniela González-Pruitt (’24) and Grace Garrity (’23) in their December newsletter. The subjects of both students’ master’s projects are paintings from the Foundation’s Art of the Spanish Americas collection. We are grateful for the Thoma Foundation’s ongoing collaboration and support of our students’ education. Read the full newsletter here: https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?u=c75de283d0624ecb797b09730&id=1b88b9f04a

12/09/2022

As part of their paintings coursework, the class of 2025 spent the past semester creating gilded egg tempera panel paintings following historic recipes and processes! We held a candlelit viewing to celebrate their hard work and experience a traditional illumination of the gold leaf gilding 🕯️✨

11/23/2022

“The ideas we cherish are worth preserving” — William Morris. A wonderful quote to keep in mind, and selected by the class of 2025 to letterpress print during their visit to the ! Swipe to see their results ✨📖🎨

11/19/2022

Thank you for your donation of historic parchments! Our paper & book conservation faculty and students look forward to using them in their future curricula. 📜

11/16/2022

REMINDER‼️ Our virtual Portfolio Day is happening this Thursday from 8-9:30pm ET! Registration form in the link in our bio. See you there!

11/12/2022

Welcome to the Conservation Café! Every now and then our program director Patrick Ravines brings over his espresso machine and selection of beans to serve up some nice coffee drinks. It was a great start to our Friday ☕️

11/11/2022

Please join the Buffalo State College Garman Art Conservation Department for our Portfolio Day, which will be held virtually over Zoom on Thursday, November 17 from 8-9:30 pm EST! The Class of 2025 fellows will be presenting their pre-program materials and answering questions after.

Register for the event by filling out this Google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdci4uf8gAVCuzTSiavZMPZ-NpRFtm37myhAt4nFhGdDyy5ZA/viewform

The Zoom link will be sent out 1-2 days before the event. Email any questions to: [email protected]. We look forward to seeing you there!

11/07/2022

We were delighted to have alumna Fran Ritchie (‘13), Objects Conservator at / , return to Buffalo to give our first years a lecture and workshop on the preservation of natural science collections. She covered materials such as taxidermy, leather, skins, furs, and feathers. Students gained experience with mounting insect specimens, handling animal skins, and creating leather fills!

11/02/2022

Many thanks to the students, faculty, and staff for making our 2022 Open House a huge success! We had a great crowd, lots of first-time visitors, and the department looked amazing with thoughtful displays, demos, and interesting projects. A huge thank you to all that made the evening possible!

10/31/2022

Happy Halloween from us and one of our current residents, this 19th c. automaton from the 👻 This object is the subject of time-based media specialist Elisse Brautigam’s master’s project. Don’t let these haunting images scare you away—the first 2 are just what she looks like under ultraviolet (UV) radiation! The green fluorescence of her leg may help ID what material or coating is present, and the bright green on her shoe decoration indicates uranium glass beads. Swipe to the end for a “skeletal” pic, aka an X-ray revealing her inner mechanism. 🩻⚙️

10/28/2022

Open House 2022

10/25/2022

We are excited to have an in-person Open House after a 2-year hiatus. Please join us this Friday, October 28 from 4-7pm for our annual Fall Open House on the 2nd floor of Rockwell Hall. Come see what students and faculty have been conserving and take a tour of our studios and labs. This is a great opportunity for potential program applicants, art enthusiasts, or anyone in the community that is interested in learning more about our program. The event is free and open to the public. We will also be live-streaming the event via Facebook Live from 5-6pm, where we will provide a walk-through of our spaces and answer any questions. Visit the Linktree in our bio to access our page. See you there!

10/22/2022

Open House: Garman Art Conservation - Buffalo Rising

A huge thank you to Buffalo Rising for covering our upcoming Open House this Friday! https://www.buffalorising.com/2022/10/open-house-garman-art-conservation/

On Friday October 28 from, 4-7pm, an in-person Open House will be held at the Garman Art Conservation department at Buffalo State (in Rockwell Hall #230). This is the first

10/21/2022

Fellows Elisse Brautigam (objects) and Khanh Nguyen (paintings) performed maintenance dusting on “Dawn’s Image, Night” (1968) by Louise Nevelson and are writing a routine examination report on the artwork’s condition. The sculpture is installed in our building and is an example of the monochromatic painted wood assemblages that Nevelson is known for. This piece was previously documented, studied, and treated by former objects fellows Stephanie Guidera (‘21), Allison Slenker (‘21), and Kaela Nurmi (‘22).

10/19/2022

Last week we were fortunate to have Dr. Erich Uffelman visit Buffalo to give the 2nd years a full day lecture and workshop on hyperspectral and multispectral imaging. Dr. Uffelman is the Head of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Washington and Lee University and a specialist in technical imaging of art and cultural objects. Together with Buffalo professors Jiuan Jiuan Chen (imaging) and Dr. Aaron Shugar (science), Dr. Uffelman guided students in performing advanced imaging techniques and data interpretation in order to retrieve more information about various works of art—for example, seeing underlying compositions in paintings.

10/13/2022

Mark your calendars for our 2022 Fall Open House! We are excited to be back after a 2-year hiatus. Join us from 4-7pm on Friday, October 28th. It is the perfect opportunity for potential students to learn more about our program and a fun chance for the public to see what goes on behind those mysterious double doors in Rockwell Hall. What have we been conserving and researching for the past few years? Come and find out!

10/03/2022

Last week the department hosted its Annual Conservation Clinic! Members of the public are invited to make appointments to have their artistic and historic works assessed for potential conservation treatment. Students are assigned these treatment projects as part of their graduate curriculum. We are grateful to community members for furthering our students’ training by entrusting us with their works.

09/29/2022

Every year paper professor Theresa J. Smith leads the 1st-year fellows in a papermaking class! Students practiced each step of the process to produce a Western-style handmade paper 📄

1. Students in various stages of the process
2. Elise and Devon blend paper pulp
3. Sophie dips the mould into the pulp vat
4. Vu distributes the pulp across the screen in the vat
5. Sutton lifts away the deckle from the screen, revealing a pulp sheet
6. Renata about to couch the screen onto felts while Sara drains excess water from another mould
7. Charly couches and lifts away the screen, forming a paper sheet on the felt
8. Sutton and Madison use a hydraulic press to press out water from a stack of paper sheets between felts
9. Professor Theresa Smith demonstrates how to curl pressed sheets over a papermaker’s cross
10. Grace hangs paper sheets to dry using the papermaker’s cross

09/12/2022

Introducing the Class of 2025! Please join us in welcoming our first-year fellows as they dive into polymers, imaging, and a range of materials ID. Stay tuned for their upcoming activities and treatment projects 🤩

(In order from left to right) Front row: Renata Gumkowska, Charlotte Starnes, Sophie Church
Middle row: Vu Do, Sara Thornburg, Sutton Hastman, Devon Blankenbaker
Back row: Madison Whitesell, Elise Cabral, Grace Wilkins

09/10/2022

✨CONGRATULATIONS to the graduating Class of 2022!!!!✨ Thank you for your incredible final presentations yesterday - we could not be any prouder of everything that you have accomplished these past few years. The field is so lucky to have you as part of our next generation of conservators. Our warmest wishes to you all as you embark on your next exciting adventures! 🎓🎊🍾👏🤩🧡

08/18/2022

Josephine Ren (Buff State ’24) and Brianna Weakley (WUDPAC ’24) spent their summer internships at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) Lunder Conservation Center. They worked in the paintings conservation department under the mentorship of Amber Kerr (Head of Conservation/WUDPAC ‘08), Gwen Manthey (Paintings Conservator/WUDPAC ‘11), and Keara Teeter (Lunder Conservation Fellow/WUDPAC ‘19). Their main project involved the structural treatment of “Beta Upsilon,” a large-scale painting by Morris Louis. Their internships were funded by a project grant SAAM received from the Lannan Foundation. In addition to the Louis project, each of them had the opportunity to conserve two individual paintings by Tito Canepa. Read more below:
 
1. Brianna (left) and Josephine (right) in front of “Beta Upsilon” (Morris Louis, 1960) with their mock-ups of the painting. Image: Amber Kerr 
 
2. Creating mock-ups of Beta Upsilon in order to learn Louis’ technique and edge-line them in preparation for the actual treatment. Image: Keara Teeter 
 
3. Constructing a large-scale working table for the treatment of Beta Upsilon. Image: Keara Teeter 
 
4. Stitching an edge-lining onto Beta Upsilon using a method developed by Amber Kerr. 
 
5. Brianna, Amber, and Josephine after beginning the restretching of Beta Upsilon. The painting is in its initial phase of tensioning the canvas onto a new stretcher. Image: Keara Teeter
 
6. Removing surface grime from “Nude in the Grass” (Tito Canepa, 1939) using an aqueous solution. Image: Mari Otsu 
 
7. Examining “The Jester” (Tito Canepa, 1940) under a microscope. Image: Mari Otsu 
 
8. Making isinglass, a gelatin film derived from sturgeon fish bladders and used as a conservation adhesive. Here the cooked gelatinous mixture is being strained before getting cast out into sheets. Image: Gwen Manthey 
 
9. Dusting a frame during regular gallery maintenance. Image: Mari Otsu 
 
10. The SAAM Lunder Conservation team! Thank you for a fabulous summer!

08/10/2022

Lorna Brundrett is an upcoming 3rd year (Class of 2023) and has spent the summer in the objects conservation lab at the (CMA) under the supervision of Beth Edelstein and Colleen Snyder. Some of Lorna's summer experiences are highlighted here✨

1. A Ming dynasty carved red lacquer chest exhibits losses concentrated at the upper corners. Lorna has been testing materials for an appropriate fill. 1961.420 https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.420

2. This cross section shows the layered lacquer structure of the Ming dynasty chest.

3. The objects conservation team was guided through an anoxia treatment of an infested framed work by Laura Ga***rd Resch, preventive conservator.

4. David Puirek, frame conservation technician, hosted a gilding bootcamp where interns prepared gilded panels.

5. Assisted with the normal illumination and ultraviolet images of a Mimbres ceramic bowl. 1930.36 https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1930.36

6. Atrium of the CMA. Beautiful, isn't it!

7. The conservation team at the CMA went on quite a few field trips this summer, including to the Hall & Gardens in Akron, OH.

07/26/2022

Conservation of art at the Dallas Museum of Art

Fran Baas ('11), Interim Chief Conservator, and Laura Eva Hartman, Paintings Conservator at the Dallas Museum of Art are featured in this news clip describing the conservation department at the museum along with all of its activities to support the collection and collaborate with local experts for scientific research. Second-year student, Daniela González-Pruitt ('24) is also seen working in the paintings lab! A great peek into what conservators do every day to ensure collections are protected, maintained, and cared for properly.

This segment is sponsored by the Dallas Museum of Art.

07/24/2022

Incoming 2nd year fellow Ruthie Rolfsmeyer (Class of 2024) is spending her summer in the conservation department at the in Houston, TX! Ruthie is completing a technical study and treatment of two painted fiberglass-reinforced polyester resin sculptures by French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle. She is also participating in other activities across the department. Read more below (full caption continued in comments):

1) After testing over 42 combinations of different surfactants and application methods, Ruthie found an environmentally-friendly, nonionic surfactant that best cut through the grime on “Camel”. Her treatment involves recovering the vibrant paint layer damaged from an interactive children's exhibition in 1971 so that the artwork can be displayed again!

Courtesy of The Menil Collection. Photo: Sarah Hobson
Niki de Saint Phalle, Camel, ca. 1966-1967. Painted polyester, 58 3/4 × 76 × 24 in. (149.2 × 193 × 61 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston, Gift of the Artist. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

2) X-radiography of “Cat” revealed clues as to how de Saint Phalle constructed these early works. There is no metal armature and the polyester walls are quite thin, suggesting she cast this piece in a multi-part mold. Ruthie tagged along with Conservation Photographer, James Craven, to take the x-rays and digitally stitch them together.

Courtesy of The Menil Collection. Image: James Craven.

3-6) Constructing mock-ups is an important way to learn how an artist worked. Ruthie created Cat and Camel mock-ups by: 1. Carving the forms in Ethafoam, 2. Creating a plaster mold around the forms, 3. Cutting apart the molds for resin casting, 4. Layering polyester resin and fiberglass into the molds, 5. Adhering the parts together with resin, and 6. A tiny sculpture is born!

Photo no. 5: Joy Bloser
Niki de Saint Phalle, Cat, ca. 1966-1967. Painted polyester, 38 × 34 1/2 × 24 in. (96.5 × 87.6 × 61 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston, Gift of the Artist. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

07/12/2022

Buffalo State Art Conservation Department Offers Unique, More Competitive Dual Degree Program

https://suny.buffalostate.edu/news/buffalo-state-art-conservation-department-offers-unique-more-competitive-dual-degree-program

Buffalo State Art Conservation Department Offers Unique, More Competitive Dual Degree Program July 12, 2022 By Laurie Kaiser Graduates of the Patricia H. and Richard E. Garman Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State College have historically found professional positions with esteemed institutio...

07/12/2022

Rising 2nd year fellow and paper specialist Jenni Krchak is spending her summer internship at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia! Read more on her projects below:

1-2. This gouache painting on parchment of a variety of botanical specimens is from the 18th century. Jenni is working to stabilize the white flowers, which were painted with lead white. Working under the stereomicroscope, she converted discolored areas back to white and is consolidating the flaking and friable paint layer. 

3-4. Oh the tape on top of tape! This brittle 19th c. print had been taped many times throughout its life with many different types of tape (at least 3) as indicated by the following UV image. Various methods are being used to remove the tape carrier and reduce the residual adhesive and staining including a heated spatula, solvents, and working with a suction platen. 

5-6. Sadly it’s not margarita time (yet), but it is paper making time! To create a fill material to match the blue paper of a 1789 architectural plan drawing, different historical papers and modern papers were blended up and cast into a tiny sheet of blue paper that can then be adjusted as needed. 

7-8. The 1716-1789 Duhamel du Monceau/ Fougeroux de Bondaroy collection from which Jenni’s projects were selected has proven to be a fun collection to thumb through, with many beautiful botanical illustrations, botanical plates, and collected botanical specimens - like how cute is this fuzzy caterpillar? 🐛🌸

9. It is indeed rather sunny in Philadelphia! Jenni is enjoying exploring the city and all the beautiful architecture throughout ☀️

07/11/2022

Call for Speakers! Has your career in conservation taken an unexpected path? Are you now working in a seemingly unrelated field? Would you be willing to give a short presentation on your path thus far?

The Buffalo Alumni Board is soliciting speakers to discuss their non-traditional career trajectory with current students and other alumni at various phases of their careers. Conservators are masters of adaptation, borrowing both tools and techniques from a wide variety of other specialties. However, conservation often discusses potential career opportunities as though there are only a few options: benchwork, or research in private practice or an institutional setting. For those alumni who have built careers that don’t fit neatly into those confines, the process is often largely self-motivated and self-taught. The Board’s hope is to launch the conversation about other paths to begin building a network within the alumni body.

If you are interested in being a speaker, please send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “Non-Traditional Career Speaker. Thank you!