First Year

Practicing wet recovery of cellulose acetate film with Debbie Hess Norris during photo block (credit: Yan Ling Choi)

Melissa’s first year (2017-2018) at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation provided an excellent grounding in core conservation philosophy and techniques, as well as an exhaustive overview of material specialties. The coursework included:

  • General and applied science courses taught by Richard Wolbers
  • Microscopy (fiber analysis, pigment identification, cross-section analysis, and fluorescence microscopy)
  • Photodocumentation (visible, UV Innovations, infrared reflectography, x-radiography)
  • Field trips to museums, allied businesses, and artist studios
  • Three-to-four week “blocks” of intensive training in the following specialties:
    • textiles
    • paper
    • organic objects
    • wooden artifacts
    • photographs
    • library & archives
    • paintings
    • inorganic objects
    • preventive conservation
  • Textile technology projects (photo credit: Joy Gardner)
  • Learning about plant fibers (photo credit: Karissa Muratore)
  • Studying tree growth patterns for wooden artifacts (photo credit: Jennifer Myers)
  • Paper bathing (photo credit: Lindsey Zachman)
  • Silver gelatin DOP prior to cleaning
  • Examining medieval book structures at the Walters Art Museum (photo credit: Julianna Ly)
  • Mounted painting cross section in normal light
  • Working with Steve Koob to practice glass fills (photo credit: Natalya Swanson)