Welcome to the Midwest Regional Conservation Guild Wiki

Message from the President 

Due to circumstances beyond our control, four speakers had to cancel their talks. Based on this, Christine Young and I decided that it was best to postpone the MRCG meeting until the spring in order for us to have an exceptional program. During these turbulent economic times when budgets are very tight, we thought this was the most prudent thing to do. We have rescheduled the meeting for March 20, 2010 weekend and it will still be hosted by the Detroit Institute of Arts. We have re-reserved rooms at the newly restored historic Book-Cadillac hotel at the same greatly reduced price. Please see Christine Young’s message from the program chair and the fall newsletter which will be arriving shortly and posted on the wiki site.  

Barbara Heller, MRCG President

Message from the Program Chair

After our SNAFU of the fall, I am trying to get a jump on the program for March 20, 2010.

A portion of the March meeting will be devoted to the topic of acrylic paints, beginning with a half-day workshop by the incomparable Mark Golden. Melinda Keefe (Dow Chemical) and Tom Lerner (GCI) will do an expanded version of their presentation at the 2009 AIC meeting, titled "A High Throughput Approach to Identifying Cleaning Formulations for Acrylic Emulsion Paints". This work is the result of collaboration between The Dow Chemical Company, The Getty Conservation Institute and Tate, London.  

The primary topic, again, is how we define or perceive the ethics of treatment.  

Joyce Hill Stoner will be our keynote speaker, discussing the history of cleaning controversies. We have several other talks on topic, but as always need more.  

Cleaning controversies was selected for the keynote talk because it is recurring, well documented and high profile. Certainly, other fields of conservation have hot-topics with histories of controversy and flip-flopping opinions. 

Treatments done for the public arena or for the private sector are often done a little differently than treatments for objects going into the cloistered museum environment. It might be enlightening to explore these differences and the decision making process behind them.  

Please think over your approach to recent treatments. Did you treat something differently than you would have in previous years because your philosophy has changed? If the change is related to a re-definition of cultural significance, legislation pertaining to access or intellectual property, or similar considerations, please contact me about a presentation. 

I feel we would be remiss to not include talks on the impact of intellectual property laws in the treatment of contemporary art, and the changes in care to Native American artifacts as the result of tribal access. Similarly, heightened sensitivity to religious and cultural concerns have impacted treatment. If you have experience in these areas, we critically need you to step forward.  

Please search your memories and souls, and get in touch about a presentation. I would like to get the program confirmed before the holidays.  

Thanks,

Chris Young, 2009 MRCG Program Chair

Accommodations for Spring Meeting 2010  

A block of rooms has been reserved at the historic Westin Book Cadillac, Detroit, 1114 Washington Blvd., Detroit, MI 48226 for March 19-20, 2010. We have obtained a special group discounted rate of $109 night and $15 overnight parking (with 24/hour in and out priviledges). The cut-off date for guests to book rooms is two weeks in advance--so you will need to book by March 5, 2010. If rooms are available, they may give us additional rooms at the same rate, but there's no guarantee. For reservations, please call 888-627-7150 (toll free) and make sure to tell them that you are attending the Midwest Regional Conservation Guild, in order to get our special group rate. 

Recent News

From Indianapolis: 

Here's a link about the IMA's newly hired Conservation Scientist.

Past Meetings

Thanks to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for hosting the 2008 MRCG Annual Meeting!

If you haven't already, check out Lisa Duncan's review of the meeting in the January issue of AIC News. You can also go back to the 2008 Page here. If you want to know more about past MRCG Annual Meetings, go here.

Membership

Membership to the MRCG is open to conservation professionals in the Midwest area (and beyond). See information on how to join go the How to Join the MRCG page.

Current MRCG Officers