MA Conservation Studies students recently undertook a virtual five week work placement with The Corning Museum of Glass, developing their understanding of glass conservation and what it means to be a conservator in a museum setting. For this blog post, they have applied that knowledge to examine objects in the West Dean Collection.

Foundation Degree Arts - Metalwork student Finn has written a blog post about a unique object from the West Dean Collection, a silver porringer.

Submissions are now open for artists from Outside In or artists that fit the criteria of the charity, to undertake a residency at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation in 2020. The selected artist will be invited to respond to the College’s Historic House, Collection and Archive as part of Whose Heritage? Rethinking the West Dean Collection.

West Dean College of Arts and Conservation recently acquired a new artwork, adding to its diverse and internationally important Collection. The watercolour shows the interior of the grand entrance hall in 1812; and was painted by Comte de Cely. The significance of the work lies in the new understanding it brings to Wyatt scholarship, the study of historic interiors, and the fascinating story of the College’s past. Read the blog post to find out more.

In late 2019, the Collections Team started working on a project to re-evaluate how the collections are displayed throughout the Historic House. The first phase of this is currently exploring the cultural legacy of colonialism at West Dean. The first stage of the project has included a review of the African collection which comprises a wide range of ethnographic objects, natural history, and archival documents. Read the blog post to find out more about the project and one of the objects involved in the research: a Sudanese drum.