Professional Conservators in Practice
West Dean College has joined with other institutions to develop a series of short courses designed for professional conservators to refresh their skills and update their knowledge of developments in materials and techniques.
Collaboration with relevant organisations and specialists has resulted in an outstanding range of expertise on each course. Teaching approaches vary according to the demands of the subject matter. Some courses are workshop-based with a high practical content while others are conference-style events.
You will be studying a series of short courses designed for professional conservators to refresh your skills and update your knowledge of developments in materials and techniques. You will be workshop-based or will attend conference-led courses, student to tutor ratio kept low to gain high levels of person tuition. Courses vary but might include Art and Object Handling; Conservation of Leather; Conservation of Wax Objects or of Ship Models. Your leaders and tutors are all practicing conservators including Jane Fawcett, Conservation of Historic Floors tutor who covers mosaic, marble, tile or parquetry, stone paving or boarding, all of which are subject to the daily erosion of visitor traffic that takes its toll on the historic fabric of a building. In an ecclesiastical building, the loss of historical evidence by the destruction of inscriptions on ledger stones adds a further dimension to the loss, Jane’s expertise taking you through conservation practices.
2011 Courses
5-8 December 2011: Conservation Methodology: Exploring the relationship between theory and practice
Course code: PC1110
Course leader: Helen Hughes
2012 Courses
19-24 February: An introduction to the conservation of transport and industrial collections
Course code: PC1201
Course leader: Chris Knapp
Course tutor: A team of acknowledged experts in their respective fields covering materials science, risk assessment, storage and display, and accessing information.
12-15 March: Identification of materials
Course code: PC1202
Course leader: Bob Child
16-20 April: Art and object handling
Course code: PC1203
Course leader: John Bracken
Tutors: A team of acknowledged experts in their respective fields covering works on paper, paintings and sculpture.
23-26 April: Conservation of leather
Course code:PC1204
Course leaders: Yvette Fletcher and Roy Thomson
28-31 May: Integrated pest management workshop
Course code: PC1205
Course leader: David Pinniger
2-5 July: Preventive conservation
Course code: PC1206
Course Leaders: Linda Bullock and Helen Lloyd
1-4 October: Conservation for horologists
Course code: PC1207
Course leader: Trevor Waddington
Principal tutor: Elliott Nixon
15-19 October: Archival documents for conservators
Course code: PC1208
Course leader: Chris Woods
22-25 October: Conservation of historic floors
Course code: PC1209
Course leader: Francesca Scoones
Principal tutor: Jane Fawcett
