CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES IN IRELAND IV | 2nd October 2014

CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES IN IRELAND IV | 2nd October 2014 | National Library of Ireland
TIME
PROGRAMME
9.15-9.45
Registration. Lobby Area, Seminar Room
9.45-10.00
Opening Address
10.00-10.20
A Sticky Situation – The conservation of a Burmese manuscript on ivory at
the Chester Beatty Library
Julia Poirier, Book and Paper Conservator, Chester Beatty Library.
10.25-10.45
Resurrecting the historic tombs of St. Mary’s church, Kilkenny City
Cóilín Ó Drisceoil, Director of the Saint Mary’s Tombs Restoration project.
10.50-11.10
Painting Conservation and Historical Research:
Daniel O’Connell and Contemporaries by J.P. Haverty
Pearl O’Sullivan, Freelance Painting Conservator, Dublin.
11.15-11.45
Tea and Coffee
Presentation slideshow of the work carried out by the 2013-2014 Heritage
Council Interns.
11.45-12.05
Dealing with large collections: prioritise, optimise and conserve?
Louise O’Connor, Paper conservator, National Library of Ireland.
Élodie Lévêque, Montpellier University Library, France.
Gabrielle Vergnoux, Project Conservator at the National Library of Ireland.
12.10-12.30
Clare Island Wall Paintings – a Gem in County Mayo
Dr. Karena Morton, Objects conservator, National Museum of Ireland,
Country Life, Co Mayo.
12.35-12.55
The Conservation of Greek Papyri from the excavations of Sir W. M. Flinders
Petrie (1835-1942) at Al- Fayyûm, Egypt
Clodagh Neligan, Senior Paper Conservator, Trinity College Library.
1-2
Lunch
Presentation slideshow of Heritage Council Internships projects (2013-2014)
2.15-2.35
The Conservation of Iron and Waterlogged Wooden Axes using Sucrose
Anthony Read, Head of Conservation, National Museum of Ireland.
2.50-3.10
The Conservation of the Time capsule at St Mel’s Cathedral Longford;
remeditating extreme damage.
Joanna Didik, Freelance Paper Conservator, Meath.
3.15-3.40
The Conservation and mounting of an 18th Century Cedar Bark Whaling Hat
from the National Museum of Ireland
Karen Horton, Freelance Textile Conservator.
3.45-4.15
Questions and Answers session
Closing Remarks
ABSTRACTS
• A Sticky Situation-The conservation of a Burmese manuscript
on ivory at the Chester Beatty Library
This presentation will highlight research and conservation treatment
carried out on two 19th Century Burmese manuscripts on ivory,
focusing on tape removal and repair of broken ivory.
Julia Poirier trained as a bookbinder in France before obtaining an MA
in Conservation of Fine Art, Works of Art on Paper from Northumbria
University in 2010. She joined the Chester Beatty Library in 2012
as Heritage Council intern and is now a contract book and paper
conservator at the Library.
• Resurrecting the historic tombs of St. Mary’s church,
Kilkenny City
This presentation will describe and assess the conservation of a series
of vandalised late Medieval and Renaissance funerary monuments at
the parish church of Saint Mary’s, Kilkenny.
Cóilín Ó Drisceoil is the director of the Saint Mary’s Tombs Restoration
project, which was funded by Heritage Council of Ireland and Kilkenny
County Council. He is managing director of Kilkenny Archaeology and
teaches archaeology at NUI Maynooth.
•Painting Conservation and Historical Research: Daniel
O’Connell and His Contemporaries by J.P.Haverty
This presentation will discuss the process of research, technical
examination and conservation carried out on the 19th century oil on
canvas Daniel O’Connell and His Contemporaries by J.P. Haverty in the
National Gallery of Ireland Collection.
Pearl O’Sullivan is a painting conservator based in Ireland. She
graduated from the Courtauld Institute of Art and has recently
completed the BNP Monet Painting Conservation Fellowship at the
National Gallery of Ireland.
•Dealing with large collections:
prioritise, optimise and conserve?
This presentation will introduce various approaches to challenges
across five recent NLI conservation projects. Digitisation and exhibition
schedules, budget, space and staff restrictions limit options for the
conservation treatments of large collections.
Louise O’Connor is a paper conservator at the National Library of
Ireland (NLI) since 2007. Élodie Lévêque is a book conservator at the
Montpellier University Library, France and previously worked as a project
conservator at the NLI. Gabrielle Vergnoux is a graduate of the ParisSorbonne University and she is currently project conservator at the NLI.
•Clare Island Wall Paintings- a Gem in County Mayo
This presentation will highlight the significance of wall paintings in
Clare Island Abbey and the importance of on-going maintenance. It
will also address the question - For whom do we conserve objects?
Dr. Karena Morton is an objects conservator in the National Museum
of Ireland, Country Life. Her background is in archaeological and wall
painting conservation. She has published extensively on Irish Medieval
wall paintings.
• The Conservation of Greek Papyri from the excavations of
Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie (1835-1942) at Al- Fayyûm, Egypt
This presentation will describe the documentation and conservation
of papyri fragments, including the introduction of new housing and
the modification of older pre-existing housing. The project worked
as a case-study, establishing a methodology to be followed for the
conservation of the entire collection of papyri fragments.
Clodagh Neligan received her MA from Northumbria University in
2001. Following graduation she was awarded a Kress internship at
the New York Botanical Garden Library, followed by a placement at the
Municipal Archives in New York City. In 2003, she was appointed paper
conservator at Trinity College Library.
•The Conservation of Iron and Waterlogged Wooden Axes
using Sucrose
This presentation will describe the conservation of three Viking wood
and iron battleaxes found in an Irish lough in 2013. The standard
treatments for waterlogged wood were inappropriate for the axes,
however sucrose successfully stabilised the wood during drying,
without affecting the iron.
Anthony Read is an archaeological conservator with more than 25
years’ experience in the field. He is currently Head of Conservation at the
National Museum of Ireland.
•The Conservation of the Time capsule at St Mel’s Cathedral
Longford; remeditating extreme damage.
This presentation will describe the condition, treatment and decisions
made in course of the conservation of a roll of papers contained within
a metal time capsule, which had been plastered into a statue at the
top of the Cathedrals portico for over 100 years.
Joanna Didik is a paper and leather conservator. After graduating in
2003 from Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland she worked in state
institutions as paper conservator in the role of manager and project
conservator.
•The Conservation and mounting of an 18th Century Cedar
Bark Whaling Hat from the National Museum of Ireland
This presentation will explain the project’s development process and
clearly illustrate the treatment and practical steps taken both in the
structural support and the construction of the display, travel and longterm storage mount.
Karen Horton trained first as an archaeological conservator and then
textile conservator. She is currently undertaking her PhD at the Centre
for Textile Conservation, University of Glasgow and the Shaanxi Institute
of Archaeology, Xi’an China, whilst working as an Independent textile
conservator

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