It is with a sad heart that one of our own has passed ... Frank Zuccari, Head of Art Conservation at the Art Institute of Chicago Museum (retired in 2018).
See article in the Chicago Sun Times:
and from the Chicago Tribune ...
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?pid=196717433
Our Deepest Symphathy to the Zuccari Family.
He made a big impact in the conservation field and we will miss him dearly.
Our next "Zoom Meeting:
Chicago Area Conservation Group
and
Midwest Regional Conservation Guild
Save the Date for a Virtual Meeting on Sept. 17, 2020
Midwestern Cultural Institutions Response to COVID-19
As we move into the 7th month of living with the COVID-19 virus, we are learning how to safely expand our lives outside of our homes, return to work and cautiously begin to make plans for the future.
Join us September 17 at 3:30 PM CST for the first joint meeting of the Chicago Area Conservation Group and the Midwest Regional Conservation Guild as we take stock of how our lives, our jobs, and our work has changed. Panelists will each present information on their situation, followed by discussion.
Seth Irwin at Indiana State History Museum Governmental Institution, Co-Moderator
Julie Reilly at Intermueum Conservation Association Regional Center
Stephanie Spence at Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Art Museum
Ann Lindsey at University of Chicago Academic Library
Anna Weiss-Pfau at Third Coast Conservation Private Practice
Susan Russick at Northwestern University Library – Co-Moderator
Please RSVP to Amber Schabdach amber.s@theconservationcenter.com to be sent a Zoom link.
Also, in the upcoming months, MRCG and CACG will be sponsoring a series of lectures throughout the fall and winter that you will be invited to virtually attend. We look forward to this joint endeavor!
Many Museums have now started to open back up now (to the public):
MSI: August 1, 2020
Field Museum of Chicago: July 24, 2020
Art Institute of Chicago: July 30, 2020
Chicago History Museum: Opened sometime in July.
Adler: closed 'till further notice.
MCA: Open
Northwestern University Libraries continue to be closed; but are around if you need help: contact
Newberry Library is Open; check their website for hours.
Holocaust Museum (Skokie) opened on July 15 --- Go see RGB exhibit! Extended thru Jan. 3rd.
Please stay safe !!
Wear your mask and let us know how you are! We are in this together!
Thank you to everyone who participated in the first virtual CACG zoom meeting on May 27th. It was so nice to see all your faces and hear what your workplaces/institutions are doing in this unprecedented time.
Some helpful sites to get you thorugh this Pandemic:
Association of Industrial Hygienists of America (AIHA) https://www.backtoworksafely.org/
REALM from OCLC and IMLS https://www.webjunction.org/explore-topics/COVID-19-research-project.html
https://www.newyorker.com/science/medical-dispatch/amid-the-coronavirus-crisis-a-regimen-for-reentry
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/environment/coronavirus-risks-know-them-avoid-them/
Sample survey questions https://worktango.com/covid-19-remote-work-free-survey-templates-offer/
Covid-19's visibilty on various surfaces and related handling protocols by National Park Service Center for Preservation Technology and Training.:
For SMSI Members and Friends,
Some helpful sites to get you through this Pandemic:
Those of us who missed Meggan's online presentation on dispersion staining, Here is the link:
http://www.mccroneinstitute.org/v/1430/Online-Learning-Session-Microchemistry-Fundamentals
Meggan's presentation is a great introduction to dispersion staining and is a step-by-step procedure for making your own dispersion staining objective.
Meggan instructs us to make sure that we have adjusted our microscope optics to Kohler illumination.
Instructions for setting up your microscope can be found in "Polarized Light Microscopy" * Check the index for Kohler illumination.
Sebastian Sparenga's presentation on Microchemistry Fundamentals is also on that webpage. Both Meggan's and Sebastian's learning sessions are on
the McCrone YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1PswnW2ehQd9QcSDY5Cnlg/videos
Check out Dr. McCrone's presentation on the Shoud of Turin. There are a lot of educational videos to help us learn more about microscopy during these hunkering down times; opportunity has knocked....
"The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin" with Dr. McCrone talk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZxVQf38N1k
And also don't forget to see Bill Kurtis' interview with Dr. McCrone, dedicated in 2003 "Walter C McCrone: A New Explorer":
Latest Updates:
MIDWEST REGIONAL CONSERVATION GUILD AND CHICAGO AREA CONSERVATION GROUP
JOINT FALL/WINTER 2020-2021 LECTURE SERIES
The Midwest Regional Conservation Guild and Chicago Area Conservation Group are very pleased to join forces this year to offer two programs, a virtual meeting and an online lecture series for this fall and winter. Both programs will be free to all members of either MRCG or CACG. The virtual meeting will consist of a panel discussion from conservators from different areas of the field. The fall/winter lecture series will consist of eight stimulating online lectures representing a wide variety of conservation issues, disciplines, and subject matters. For those wishing to join either MRCG or CACG please see the organizational links below.
September 17th, 2020 3:30 PM CT
Midwestern Cultural Institutions Response to COVID-19 Joint Symposium
Seth Irwin Indiana State Library (Governmental Institution, Co-Moderator)
Julie Reilly Intermuseum Conservation Association (Regional Center)
Stephanie Spence Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Art Museum)
Ann Lindsey University of Chicago (Academic Library)
Anna Weiss-Pfau Third Coast Conservation (Private Practice)
Susan Russick Northwestern University Library (Academic Library, Co-Moderator)
October 7th 2020 12:00-1:00 p.m. CT
‘Planning new spaces for book and paper conservation and audiovisual preservation: Procedures and lessons learned.’
Whitney Baker - University of Kansas Libraries
October 21st 2020 12:00-1:00 p.m. CT
‘The Dead Christ Resurrected: the conservation treatment of a monumental painting
by Matthew Harris Jouett’
Andrea Chevalier and Wendy Partridge - Intermuseum Conservation Association
November 4th 2020 12:00-1:00 p.m. CT
‘Collaborative Conservation and the Renovation of the Field Museum's 70-Year-Old Hall of Native North America’
Stephanie Hornbeck - Field Museum
November 18th 2020 12:00-1:00 p.m. CT
‘Accepting Ambiguity and Subjectivity in Aesthetic Compensation: Ed Clark untitled 1962 a Case Study.’
Heather Galloway - Galloway Art Conservation
January 6th 2021 12:00-1:00 p.m. CT
‘UBOAT: The U505 Submarine: Conservation Giving Breath to Untold Stories’
Jane Foley - L. Liparini Studio & Third Coast Conservation, LLC
January 20th 2021 12:00-1:00 p.m. CT
‘Exploring Buddhist Manuscript production: Materials and Merit.’
James Canary - Indiana University Lilly Library
February 3rd 2021 12:00-1:00 p.m. CT
‘Collaborative Study of a Roman-Egyptian Mummy Portrait at the Detroit Institute for the Arts’
Christina Bisulca, Kate Aguirre, Ellen Hanspach-Bernal, Aaron Steele - Detroit Institute for the Arts
February 17th 2021 12:00-1:00 p.m. CT
‘Revealing the Splendor of Audubon’s The Birds of America: The Materials, Techniques, and Conservation of a Masterpiece.’
Dr. Cathleen A. Baker -Conservation Librarian Emerita, University of Michigan - Proprietor, The Legacy Press
Chicago Area Conservation Group
https://www.chicagoareaconservation.org/membership
Midwest Regional Conservation Guild
https://themrcg.wordpress.com/membership/
Details will be forthcoming about registering for each lecture to receive the Zoom link.
Upcoming meetings for SMSI group :
September Virtual SMSI Meeting on ZOOM *
Friday, September 25th, 2020
Meet and Greet: 6:30 PM; Presentation 7:00-8:00PM
Microscopy: Art, Literature, Culture and Science
Mr. Tony Havics, pH2, LLC
Also ...
Dr. Nick Petraco, our SMSI 2020 August Kohler award recipient will be joining us on line this Friday.
He has much experience with polarized light microscopy and it will be great to hear some of his stories.
Please join us for the "Meet and Greet" segment of the online meeting at 6:30!
Also
for more info see "SMSI Meeting" in the above tab.
The Institute Needs Your Help!
URGENT: Help McCrone Today
Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), all McCrone Research Institute programs and operations have been temporarily suspended and we have gone to an on-demand course schedule. Revenue has plummeted and for the first time ever we are asking for your help.
In response to this once-in-a-century crisis, McCrone's leaders are revitalizing and reenvisioning ways in which the Institute will continue to deliver microscopy education, research, and publishing.
Please make a gift today and learn about the McCrone Research Institute COVID-19 Preservation and Relief Fund via the GoFundMe Charity platform.
Your support will preserve McCrone Research Institute and the legacy of Walter and Lucy McCrone for current and future generations of microscopists. Your gift, at any level, is greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Gary J. Laughlin, Ph.D.
(for more info click on "SMSI meetings" in the menu bar).
Northwestern University Library has been postponed the two demonstrations ("Synthetic Texture Fills (a.k.a. Cast Composites" and “Rolling Moisture Sandwich for Flattening Rolled Materials”) that was scheduled for March 18th due to the safety of preventing the spread of COVID 19.
A new date for these demos will be announced in the future for a rescheduled date, which could be a few months from now or well into the 2021 year? ...
Renewal time for your CACG membership 2020 is anytime from now until 2021. if you want to renew or make any changes to your membership, please print out your form and mail it to Mary. Form available - "under Membership" of the menu bar above. Or can bring the membership form & payment to the CACG meetings and give to any of the committee officers.
Other related Chicago Conservation News:
Rachel Sabino has an interesting article on
• "It broke: Dispatch from a Homeschooling Conservator".
Other topics of Art Inst. of Chgo articles:
• "The Secrets of a Mummy Emerge" by Arico, McIlvaine, and Tom
• "Nighthawks as Hope" A Curator Muses on Edward Hopper & Crisis" by Oehler
• "Conservation: The Dilemma of Extending Life" by Molina
See all at: www.artic.edu/articles
________________________
"Undergrad explore unique research projects - from art conservation to the sciences" at University of Chicago. See https://news.uchicago.edu/story/research-opportunities-help-undergraduates-embrace-learning-curve?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=UChicago_News_Oct_31_2019
Other interesting Links:
American Institute for Conservation
McCrone Research Institute
www.mcri.org
State Microscopical Society of Illinois
www.smsi.org
International Preservation Studies Center (formerly known as The Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies) in Mt. Carroll, IL.
www.preservationcenter.org
If you have any ideas or suggestions for future meetings, please let us know. Just call or email any of the CACG officers (Susan, Mary, Carol, Inez, Amber or Maria).
Our Past CACG Meetings:
Check out photos from our most recent tour of the Ed Paschke Art Center meeting.
Under Photo Gallery / "Ed Paschke Art Center tour"
To see Frances Willard's Bio or history background ; go to "CACG Meetings" Frances Willard meeting flyer or to their website:
Photos and description of our visit to the Frances Willard House Museum is now available for viewing. Click on "Frances Willard Museum visit" under Photo Gallery.
Photos from our visit to the Field Museum's "Behind the Scenes" meeting. Under Photo Gallery / Field Museum's "Behind the Scenes".
Also you can see a video of "Undressing a Mannequin Timelaspe":