Light | Colour | Structure—The 9th AICCM Book, Paper and Photograph Materials Symposium

This exciting event will be held in Canberra at the National Gallery of Australia from 10th-12th October 2016. Accompanying workshops will be held in various Canberra locations from 13th -15th October 2016. 

The elements of light, colour and structure are intrinsic to the physical composition of historical and contemporary art, documents and photographs. These elements are also the key factors which influence how objects are seen and displayed and ultimately impact on their longevity.

A very full program of presentations is planned, spanning the spectrum of book, paper, and photograph conservation, preservation, curatorship and research. Speakers are coming from around Australia, from New Zealand, and even from the UK and Italy!  Talks will cover topics such as new material investigations, treatment case studies, and collection care; from the vintage to the contemporary; from libraries and archives to galleries and private collections.

Days full of workshops follow the symposium, with NINE workshops offering something for everyone, including paper fibre ID, historic photographic techniques, creative mount cutting and framing, glass photograph repair, and book repair and display. You will not be disappointed with the variety on offer! Check the workshop program for more details.

Canberra in October is Canberra at its best, with warm sunny days, blossoming trees, and nights sometimes retain a touch of chilliness, in case that’s your thing. Our city is growing year by year, with plenty of cultural institutions to visit, and eateries and drinkeries to take your fill. Our generous hosts, the National Gallery, are right by Lake Burley Griffin, with lovely views and proximity to the National Library, Portrait Gallery, Questacon, and the National Archives, with the National Museum not far away. There are worse ways to spend a week than to come to the national capital to commune with your colleagues and indulge in some fun professional development! We hope to see you in Canberra this October!

Guest Speaker
Susie Clark, ACR is an accredited paper and photographic conservator with many years of experience. She was formerly the conservator for a collection of approximately 20 million photographs at the BBC Hulton Picture Library (now Getty Images). Since 1990, she has been a freelance paper and photograph conservator and consultant, working throughout Britain and abroad on public and private collections. She has been the conservator for the Collaborative Research Project between the National Media Museum and the Getty Conservation Institute (USA) looking at the characteristics of different photographic processes.

Workshops
Susie Clark will present a three day workshop on Conservation of Glass in Photography. In 2013 she was tutor for the Conservation of Glass in Photography course organised for FAIC and the Andrew W Mellon Foundation at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Other workshops on offer include:

  • Local Repairs on Iron Gall Ink
  • Creative Mounting Techniques
  • Making Historic Photographs – Salt Prints
  • Making Historic Photographs – Albumen Prints
  • Understanding books for storage and display
  • Moving Pictures – The Art of Lending Works on Paper AND Bugs, Mould and Mice, and All Things Nice – Practical pest management methods 
  • Fibre Identification for Paper Conservators, and Reattaching Detached Boards on Leather Bindings and Dyeing Red Rot Leather

Please note the AICCM is managing the Symposium registrations while the workshop registrations are being organised by the National Gallery of Australia, for workshop registrations please visit the NGA website here. For Symposium registrations use the link on this page. 

Download the Symposium Program here