Textile Conservation
Background
Textile conservation is a multi-disciplinary field combining scientific analysis and a knowledge of textile history and techniques with the practical skills necessary to carry out conservation treatments. It offers a fascinating combination of analytical problem-solving and hands-on work as well as the chance to extend and develop knowledge of our rich textile heritage. Through a close study of the textiles they work on, textile conservators can find out more about objects and their stories and contribute to their preservation and interpretation.
The programme combines the development of practical skills with a foundation in theory, including chemistry, and an awareness of the cultural significance of textiles and other objects. It aims to foster the key skills of judgement and decision-making, enabling graduates to select and carry out appropriate conservation treatments for a range of textile objects. The programme is a development of the MA Textile Conservation offered by the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton, from 1999-2009.
MPhil Textile Conservation is part of the Kelvin Centre for Conservation and Cultural Heritage Research, and shares accommodation with students on the MLitt Technical Art History: Making and Meaning. The teaching on some courses is shared with students on other programmes in the College of Arts, particularly the Dress and Textile Histories programme.
Students benefit from the programme’s close links with Glasgow Museums, as well as the University’s own Hunterian Museum, and they are able to draw on the museums’ rich and varied textile collections. The development of practical conservation skills is a core part of the programme and students work on objects from both the Centre’s own Reference Collection and museums in Scotland and further afield. The integral work placement provides another opportunity to develop practical and professional skills. Students have undertaken their placements at the Burrell Collection, National Museums Scotland, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Museum, The National Trust, The Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Abegg-Stiftung in Switzerland, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and many other institutions in the UK and overseas.
The two-year programme provides a comprehensive, career-entry professional education to meet the needs of the heritage sector. It teaches students to understand and apply the Professional Standards in Conservation which are at the core of the Institute of Conservation’s professional accreditation process.
It includes:
- object treatment through professional projects for museums and other clients and a work placement in a museum or other institution
- related practical skills including dyeing and photography
- the science underpinning textile deterioration and conservation treatments
- an understanding of preventive conservation techniques
- the technological, cultural, historic and aesthetic contexts of textile artefacts
- the place of conservation in the wider cultural sector
- an extended research project leading to a dissertation
Facilities
Our Centre is based in Kelvin Hall where our training spaces include workrooms/studios for conservation, study space, chemical, analytical and technical examination labs. It shares space with the MLitt in Technical Art History: Making and Meaning programme and colleagues from the Hunterian Museum and we have close links with students on the Dress and Textile Histories Programme. All staff and students have access to the Hunterian Study Centre at Kelvin Hall, offering an exceptional opportunity for object-based teaching and research.
Our research and training facilities include photography, microscopy, UV imaging, Infra-Red Reflectography, FTIR, pXRF, Fibre Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy, Raman, HPLC, RTI, contact profilometers, uniaxial and biaxial tensile testers, ageing ovens (thermal and light), 3D printing and dyeing
Textile Conservation Blog
Links
- Kelvin Centre for Conservation and Cultural Heritage Research
- Research Network for Textile Conservation, Dress and Textile History and Technical Art History
