Cutajar Conservation

10/07/2024

Dear members,

The ICOM-CC Wood, Furniture, and Lacquer Working Group is thrilled to announce the forthcoming edition of its newsletter, slated for release in November 2024. We cordially invite submissions from passionate professionals like you to enrich our community with your insights and achievements.

Submission Deadline: July 30th

📧 Contributions or Inquiries: to make the submission process easier, we have created a Google form, which you can access via the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKSfZa3dlopSrH_olThl0Wh1ZCj5U8ndaBZXBBXTintKYLUw/viewform?usp=sf_link

🌳 Calling All Innovators and Experts! Whether you're actively engaged in documenting, conserving, or researching wood artifacts, or delving into the depths of wood science, your contributions are invaluable to us.

□ We welcome diverse content formats:

Short or Full Articles: Share your recent treatments, innovative techniques, or ongoing projects.

Reviews: Provide insights into conferences, books, workshops, exhibitions, or virtual experiences.

Thesis Abstracts: Showcase recent academic achievements in wood/ furniture/lacquer related disciplines (PhD, Masters, and Bachelor's).

□ Submission Guidelines:

Choose from our flexible formats:
Short: ~100-150 words with 1 image
Medium: ~250-300 words with 1 or 2 images
Long: ~500-600 words with 2 or more images

□ Stay informed, stay engaged: We eagerly welcome tips on upcoming events, professional development opportunities, and noteworthy publications and resources for inclusion in our newsletter.

□ Let your voice be heard! Reach out with your thoughts, requests, or any other content you would like to share through our newsletters.

We await your active participation!

Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).

23/11/2020

🚨 It's been awfully quiet on this page! The weight of the PhD is taking its toll 🤕 but this week is an exciting week of action! 🤸🎬
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As you can see here, I'm carrying out non-invasive analyses of my case study paintings in the UiO Aula 🎨📸 in this shot I'm using a portable FTIR machine to understand more about the makeup of the paintings, to compare that to my mockups and prepare for future hyperspectral scans! ✨
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Keep your eyes peeled for more exciting content about all these parts of my project, all coming soon! 👀💫

19/08/2020

Last-minute rehearsals before presenting my PhD project at the online Paintings Specialty Group session today! Here we go!!!
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06/07/2020

❗GREAT NEWS 🤸🏼 In the winter of 2019, I had the great fortune of working with this stunning team on the tomb of Queen Qalhata at El-Kurru, Sudan.
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We've just published a paper in Studies in Conservation about working collaboratively at this site, you can check it out at this link:
▫️ https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2020.1783165.
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🙌🙌 to the whole team and everyone we worked with from the International Kurru Archaeological Project and all the community in El-Kurru 💛
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29/06/2020

You may have heard about my making mock-ups... 🟢 It's about time I introduced the case study paintings the mock-ups will represent, hosted within the magnificent UiO Aula at the heart of Oslo! 🖼️🎨
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1️⃣ Pictured first, you can see the facade of the Aula, which holds a special place in Norwegian society, as it has hosted countless cultural events - prime among them the Nobel Peace Prize awarding ceremony - and continues to serve the role of auditorium due to its well-renowned acoustics.
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2️⃣ Edvard Munch won the commission to decorate the Aula for the university's centenary, and between 1909-1916 painted 11 eleven monumental unvarnished oil paintings on canvas. Here you can see the three largest ones, "Solen" (centre), "Historien" (left) and "Alma Mater" (right).
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3️⃣ This painting is "Kjemien", or "Chemistry", painted between 1914-1916. As a case study, it presents an easily accessible opportunity to study water-sensitive oil paints and a fragile exposed ground that might promote metal soap formation. Personally, I initially trained as a chemist, so this is quite an intriguing choice too!
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4️⃣ Last but not least is "Kilden", or "The Source", painted between 1914-1916 also. It possibly has a slightly different, water-sensitive ground than that of "Kjemien", and not much is known of its component colours. It will therefore serve as an appropriate comparison and validation of the hyperspectral imaging and cleaning study of "Kjemien".
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The Aula is unfortunately still closed for visitors due to the pandemic, but you can explore these paintings online at: https://www.uio.no/english/about/culture/art/aula/. Munch also made many drafts of these paintings which are owned by the Munch musuem, which shall be re-opening soon at its new premises. Needless to say, it is very humbling to be working with such unique artworks!
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#🏳️‍🌈 @ Universitetets Aula

15/06/2020

It’s all about the colours! 🎨 I've been focusing efforts during the COVID-19 shutdown on preparing oil paint mock-ups of Munch’s UiO Aula paintings.
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Before selecting materials for experimentation, conservators need to characterise them – here, you can see me analysing various chromium oxide green paints (shown in detail on canvas on the next photo) via FT-IR spectroscopy.
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The pandemic may have slowed down works, but once these mock-ups are ready, they’ll prove crucial to study how Munch’s unvarnished oil paints in the Aula can be cleaned safely, and how hyperspectral imaging can help to document this!
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@ Oslo, Norway

17/02/2020

It's time for some outreach! 🎙️ and Early Stage Researchers have been interviewed by NRK, talking about their work! You can catch us on the radio at 14:00, and TV at 18:45, a link to the archived interviews to be posted later 😉
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10/02/2020

// 🚝 time to trundle away to in Gjøvik for two weeks of intensive training school on the interdisciplinarity of cultural heritage imaging 🖥️🎨 - it's going to be a busy time ahead!
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11/11/2019

Just got my abstract on my doctoral research on Munch's Aula paintings accepted for the Paintings Session at the AIC 2020 Annual Meeting! 🥳✨ I hope to see you next May in Salt Lake City ✌️🏔️🏙️ • 📸: Wikimedia Commons
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06/11/2019

🧐 Quo vadis, investigatore? • Snapshots of the kick-off event to the and PhD programmes • from visiting high-calibre research institutions, to meandering through the ample avenues of Paris, down through to savouring culinary cultural wonders, it's been a pleasure to get to know everyone, there's an almighty three years ahead 🤓
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@ Paris, France

04/11/2019

✴️ Super proud to have made the front cover of Eisma's Schildersblad together with for our work at the this summer ✨✨
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@ Teylers Museum