UD and Spelman undergrads restore mural

Regina Branch (left), an art history major from Spelman College; Stephanie Oman, an art conservation major and art history minor at UD; and Ericka King, a women’s study major and art history minor from Spelman College; work together at Winterthur on restoring John Biggers’ mural ‘Baptism.’

3:49 p.m., July 6, 2006--Undergraduates from UD and Spelman College are getting hands-on lessons in art conservation in a four-week internship program at Winterthur Museum and Country Estate that blends mural restoration work with independent research projects, museum field trips and lectures by conservation experts.

Overseen by Joyce Hill Stoner, UD professor of art conservation, and Peggy Olley, project coordinator and limited-term researcher at UD, the program, part of UD's Paul R. Jones Initiative, is designed to introduce participants to the prerequisites needed for entrance to graduate school in art conservation while giving them direct experience in paintings conservation. The Paul R. Jones Initiative supports UD's Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art through educational programs, exhibitions, leadership training and scholarly research.

To this end, the six participants are repairing areas on a large, damaged mural owned by Hampton University and painted in 1947 by John Biggers, an African-American artist featured prominently in UD's Paul R. Jones Collection. Additionally, students are studying the life and work of Biggers, as well as paintings by three other artists featured in the Paul R. Jones Collection, and are preparing independent reports to share during the last week of their internships. Workshops and lectures by conservation experts will round out the learning experience, and field trips to local art museums will complement the course and labwork.

Joyce Hill Stoner (right), UD professor of art conservation, and Peggy Olley, project coordinator and limited-term researcher at UD, discuss the conservation work that needs to be done on John Biggers’ 5-foot by 12-foot mural ‘Baptism,’ which was painted in 1947.

“The purpose of the internship is to introduce students to conservation,” Olley said. “There's a treatment portion, where they work on repairing a damaged painting, and there's a research portion where they'll study the materials, techniques and condition of paintings selected from the Paul R. Jones Collection. They'll analyze these, beginning with what they see with their own eyes, and then they'll use tools like microscopes to get closer to the surface and gain more information for their reports. This is typical of what we do in art conservation, so the process is intended to give students an overview of what's required.”

In the process, Olley said, students will learn about canvases, paint layers and long-term storage issues; and, if their research requires, about why the artists chose the techniques and unusual materials they did.

“Part of our interest as conservators is always the artist behind the work,” Olley said, “so two of the paintings students are analyzing are by living artists who could potentially be contacted for more information, if necessary.”

Adding the research and independent-study components to the internship, Olley said, set the Winterthur program apart from other conservation internships offered around the country. And, of particular value, she noted, is the specific focus of the program, which enables students to gain a deeper understanding in a particular area. This year's area of focus is painting and painting surfaces conservation, and because the focus is tight, lessons extend beyond basic concepts.

The Biggers' mural, on which students are working in Winterthur's paintings conservation studio, presents them with unusual conservation issues, and its idiosyncratic nature requires them to dig a little deeper into its history.

“At one point Biggers took this mural off its stretcher, rolled it up and stored it, and because of this it got dented and suffered paint loss where the surface got crinkled,” Stoner said. “Biggers also tried to do restoration work himself that didn't quite match, so students have the interesting problem as well of dealing with the artist's own restorations.”

Valeska Mancilla (left), an art conservation major and chemistry minor at UD; Jill Paschal, an art history major and French minor at Spelman College; and Jessica Keister, a dual major in art conservation and chemistry with a minor in chemistry at UD; examine paintings by Hayward Oubre and Tina Allen, two artists featured in UD’s Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art.

Students, who were chosen based on their academic standing and interest level, include a junior and two recent graduates from UD and two seniors and a junior from Spelman College. All six, who are staying in the Ray Street residence hall and carpooling to Winterthur daily, find that the experience of meeting others with similar interests adds to the learning experience.

“I haven't had a lot of exposure to African-American art, and this program has really opened my eyes to artists I wasn't familiar with before,” Stephanie Oman, a UD junior from Ann Arbor, Mich., double-majoring in art conservation and art history, said. “It's also nice to live in the dorms with students from other parts of the country, because everyone's experiences are so different.”

Regina Branch, a Spelman College senior from Columbia, S.C., majoring in art history, said that the internship has been helping her shape career plans, especially as she investigates possibilities in museum work. “I'm pursuing a career in art no matter what, even if it's not in art conservation,” she said. “But even if I'm working with galleries or museums, this internship is a valuable experience.

“Studying art history in college, we're taught that the paintings are important and the artists are important, but we never really learn what goes into saving these artworks,” Branch said. “I've learned so much in just the past few days about painting--from ground layers to supporting canvases to pigments--that a whole new world of knowledge has opened up.”

For recent UD art conservation graduates Jessica Keister, of Brockway, Pa., and Valeska Mancilla, of Yonkers, N.Y., the internship also offers the opportunity to sample a full-time career in art conservation before entering a formal program or the workforce.

Keister, a 2006 graduate entering UD's graduate art conservation program at the end of July, is using the four-week program as a prelude to her coursework. Mancilla, also a 2006 graduate, is using the program to gain experience before trying her wings in the New York City art world.

“Students with different plans are beautifully represented here,” Stoner said. “We're hoping to lure them into conservation, but they all are strong in art history, which is a wonderful place to start, because the eye and the ability to make connections come first.”

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photos by Kathy Atkinson

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