Conferences
2018
- University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Humanities Conference: 17th seminar on the care and conservation of manuscripts. Copenhagen, Denmark.
11-13 April 2018
52 papers were presented during these three days, including discussions about preservation, conservation case studies, digital imaging and scientific research. The collections and items represented were very diverse, including Western, Middle-Eastern and Eastern subjects.
2016
- The Fitzwilliam Museum conference: Manuscripts in the Making-Art and Science. Cambridge, UK.
8-10 December 2016
Organised by the Fitzwilliam Museum in association with the Departments of Chemistry and History of Art, University of Cambridge, with support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Association for Manuscripts and Archives in Research Collections, the conference took place alongside the Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition COLOUR: The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts (30 July – 30 December 2016). Illuminated manuscripts were at the heart of the conference, with Western materials as a main focus. The conference harmoniously combined papers on art history, conservation, scientific and technical analysis.
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/colour/conference
- The Archives & Records Association UK & Ireland conference: Global Futures. London, UK.
30 August-2 September 2016
Change was in the heart of this ARA 2016 Conference. Lectures covered a broad range of topics, from archives, conservation, scientific analysis but also digital preservation, logistic, and management. Talks also embraced present and future challenges, and discussed globalisation. Hands-on demonstrations completed this busy program.
http://conference.archives.org.uk/
http://www.archives.org.uk/news/647-reflections-on-ara-conference-2016-global-futures.html
- Trinity College Dublin conference: The Wandering Word: the travels of insular manuscripts. Dublin, Ireland.
5-7 May 2016
The conference presented the Trinity College Early Irish Manuscripts Project which focused on four codices: the Codex Usserianus Primus, the Book of Dimma, the Book of Mulling, and the Garland of Howth. Results of the study of the manuscripts history, scripts, material components, and damage were presented alongside their conservation and digitisation procedures.
https://www.tcd.ie/Library/early-irish-mss/conference/
- University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Humanities Conference: 16th seminar on the care and conservation of manuscripts. Copenhagen, Denmark.
April 2016
A large variety of subjects were discussed during the conference; however, the main focus was the care of manuscripts. Western and Islamic book collections on parchment or paper composed the majority of the presentations, from preservation and conservation case studies, to digital imaging, scientific research, and bookbinding history.
2015
- University of Leuven Conference: What do we lose when we lose a library? Leuven, Belgium.
September 2015
The Leuven conference studied and debated the protection of libraries, and their collections from the threat of past and current wars and conflicts. Historical background and case studies were presented, such as the destruction of libraries during WW2, alongside some methodologies and strategic plans for their protection. Digitisation and its challenges were also discussed, and the conservation of rescued manuscripts form Timbuktu was amongst others presented.
https://kuleuvencongres.be/libconf2015/website
- Ligatus Research Centre Conference: The Language of Bindings. London, United Kingdom.
June 2015
The conference presented an update of the Ligatus Research Centre current projects, such as their Language of Bindings online thesaurus and their research on decorative paste papers in bindings.
- Icon Book & Paper Group Conference: Adapt & Evolve. London, United Kingdom.
April 2015
This Icon conference presented the meeting with the East, and more particularly Japan, in Western conservation. The history of Asian materials and techniques was presented in this occasion, alongside several case studies of their application for the conservation of Western objects of art.
https://adaptandevolve2015.wordpress.com/
2014
- University of Leuven: Digital Humanities Summer School. Leuven, Belgium.
September 2014
The conference main focus was on digital technologies and scientific imaging. Their usefulness to art history, research, and conservation was illustrated throughout various case studies.
https://www.kuleuven.be/english/news/agenda/2014/dhss3
- The Tenth Islamic Manuscript Conference: Manuscripts and Conflict. Cambridge, United Kingdom.
August/September 2014
The conference discussed various topics including the conservation, preservation, codicology, cataloguing, digitisation, implementation of disaster prevention and management, research and publishing of Islamic manuscripts, especially in political and social instable contexts or military conflicts.
http://www.islamicmanuscript.org/home.aspx
- The Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) Conference: Inside Illuminations-Art, Technica Research & The Illuminated Manuscript. Brussels, Belgium.
June 2014
Interdisciplinary research, scientific imaging, and non-destructive analyses of illuminated manuscripts were discussed during the conference. This conference occurred to gain more information about their history, provenance, and making techniques and therefore supporting the preservation and conservation of illuminated manuscripts.
http://org.kikirpa.be/illuminations/
- The European Network for Conservation-Restoration Education (ENCoRE) Conference 2014: Teaching Conservation. Liège, Belgium.
March 2014
The conference debated different subjects related to the education in conservation-restoration in Europe, such as the balance between theory and practice in conservation study programs or the use of new technologies or platforms such as Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and blogs.
https://ceroart.revues.org/3886
Courses
2018
- The Montefiascone Conservation Project: An Indo-Persian binding Course. Montefiascone, Italy.
Instructors: Kristine Rose-Beers, Julia Poirier, Dr Alison Ohta
30 July – 3 August 201
This five-day workshop focused on Indo-Persian bindings. The course was first introduced by a lecture which placed Indo-Persian bindings back in their historical context. The practical part of the course included the making of a traditional Indo-Persian structure, based on the Chester Beatty manuscript CBL Is 1550, a Qur’an manuscript of the 17th century.
2017
- Icon Book & Paper Group: 12th century English Limp Tawed Skin Binding. The British Library, London.
Instructor: Jim Bloxam and Shaun Thompson
4-6 October 2017
The course focused on the recreation of Manuscript Pembroke 119 (Alain de Lille, Anticlaudianus), alongside the study of the binding’s historical context. Made of a red-stained alum-tawed skin, the limp-cover was further edged with a separate piece of undyed alum-tawed skin. The book was bound using a complex and unusual sewing structure attaching the text-block to the cover, and was formerly fastened with an alum-tawed wrapping band.
- The Montefiascone Conservation Project: A conservation variation of the Ethiopic binding. Montefiascone, Italy.
Instructors: Marco di Bella and Nikolas Sarris
14-18 August 2017
This five-day workshop focused on the study of the traditional Ethiopic book structure. The course included the creation of two book-models; a traditional Ethiopic structure and a model based on the conservation binding designed for the treatment of a 15th century parchment manuscript. All participants were also able to create a traditional manuscript satchel.
- Icon Book & Paper Group: 3-Day Practical Workshop: Gold Finishing. The British Library, London.
Instructor: Doug Mitchell
23-25 May 2017
During this three-day practical workshop, I was introduced to various traditional gold finishing techniques. The course included demonstrations followed by practical sessions. I could practice gold tooling using gold foil and gold leaf, both on cloth and leather, on flat and round surfaces.
2016
- The Montefiascone Conservation Project: An al-Andalusian Islamic Binding course. Montefiascone, Italy.
Instructors: Ana Beny and Kristine Rose-Beers
8-12 August 2016
During this class, I made an accurate model of an example of the Andalusian binding structure found recently in the village of Hornachos in the southwest of Spain. The book was produced at the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century.
2012
- The Montefiascone Conservation Project: Re-creating the Medieval palette. Montefiascone, Italy.
Instructor: Cheryl Porter
Summer 2012
This class studied the colours (made from rocks, minerals, metals, insects, and plants) that were processed to produce the colours used by artists throughout the medieval era for creating manuscripts.