The new centre
MPhil Textile Conservation students, November 2011
MPhil Textile Conservation 2nd year students, October 2011
MPhil Textile Conservation student with Sarah Foskett, Conservation Tutor
*For a blog on the new course by Julie Benner, MPhil Textile Conservation student follow this link..*
The Centre for Textile Conservation, Textile History and Technical Art History began work in September 2010. It focuses on multidisciplinary object-based teaching and research that encompasses conservation and the physical sciences as well as art history, dress and textile history. It is the first time that conservation training has been undertaken in Scotland and, combined with the University’s recent developments in technical art history, the new centre is already having a national and international impact.
The new Centre was officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal on 9th February 2011. For more information about the opening follow this link.
Frances Lennard leads the Textile Conservation strand in the new Centre and convenes the new MPhil Textile Conservation programme which is beginning this month with a full cohort of students from the UK and overseas. Until 2009 she was Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader of the MA Textile Conservation at the Textile Conservation Centre (TCC), University of Southampton. Frances has just completed a major collaborative project on tapestry degradation which was funded by the AHRC and has recently published a new book for Elsevier, Textile Conservation: Advances in Practice, co-edited with Patricia Ewer.
Dr Erma Hermens is the Convenor of the MLitt programme Making and Meaning: Approaches in Technical Art History. Trained as a paintings conservator and with a PhD in the history of art from Leiden University, she has organised several international symposia in this interdisciplinary field. She is chief editor of the new on-line edition of ArtMatters: International Journal for Technical Art History, funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Dr Anita Quye is the Centre's Lecturer in Conservation Science and works with both Textile Conservation and Technical Art History. She was previously Principal Conservation Scientist in the Department of Conservation and Analytical Science at the National Museums Scotland. Anita has a wealth of experience working as a conservation scientist within museums and working collaboratively on research projects with institutions worldwide. Her main area of research to date has been in historic textiles and modern materials analysis.
Karen Thompson is the Centre's University Teacher in Textile Conservation. An accredited conservator, Karen has 20 years' experience. She trained at the Textile Conservation Centre and subsequently worked in the TCC's commercial conservation department of the Textile Conservation Centre for 10 years; she has also worked at National Museums Scotland and Peoples' History Museum. Karen is a qualified teacher.
Sarah Foskett is the Centre's Conservation Tutor. She is from Glasgow Museums where she has been a textile conservator working on the Burrell Collection Tapestry Project. Before that Sarah was a textile conservator at the National Museums Scotland from 1995 to 2008. She trained at the TCC at Hampton Court Palace. Sarah is an accredited member of the Institute of Conservation and a committee member of the June Baker Trust.
Dr Rebecca Quinton leads the MLitt Dress and Textile Histories and works with GlasgowLife and with the University.
Masters Students on all three programmes gain enormously from the involvement of staff from Glasgow Museums, National Museums Scotland and other institutions within Scotland, and the opportunity to work with collections from local museums, including the University’s own Hunterian Museum. There are also opportunities for PhD study in all the subject areas.
The new Centre is already making an impact in reserach through the new International Research Network for Textile Conservation, Dress and Textile History and Technical Art History. Frances Lennard and Erma Hermens launched this international network in March 2011 with the aim of creating new collaborative research projects. Established thanks to a grant from the Getty Foundation, the Nework has already held three meetings, with a fourth taking place in March 2012 and a fifth in May. The Network will hold an international conference in December 2012 - follow this link for the call for papers. The Network's advisory panel members are internationally renowned experts in these subject areas from the UK, USA, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands (see downloadable pdf below for full list)
Students from four countries began the MPhil Textile Conservation course in September 2010 (and in September 2011 they were joined by a further intake of eight students from six countries, including Chile, Singapore and Hungary. Recruitment of the 2012 intake is well underway, with a large and extremely strong field of applicants.
