Research at the Kelvin Centre
Our research portfolio reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the Kelvin Centre and that of our team of conservators, scientists, technical art historians, and dress and textile historians. The focus of our cultural heritage research is on the act of making, meaning and conserving. Our staff, postgraduate and doctoral students are involved in research that encompasses a wide range of objects including paintings, textiles, works of paper, manuscripts, sculpture, decorative surfaces, modern material artefacts, and contemporary art.
Our research and training facilities include photography, microscopy, UV imaging, Infra-Red Reflectography, FTIR, pXRF, Raman, HPLC, RTI, contact profilometers, uniaxial and biaxial tensile testers, ageing ovens (thermal and light), 3D printing and dyeing.
Current Projects
![Using microscopy to examine the pastel drawing, Study in Grey and Pink (James McNeill Whistler / National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1905.151a-b)](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_1092171_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Whistler Pastels
![Visible and UV imaging of a Sisley painting from the Hunterian collection](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788272_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
PISTACHIO
![A selection of knitting equipment and knitted pattern samples](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788273_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Fleece to Fashion
![Group discussion at a session of the Conserving Canvas Initiative](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788270_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Conserving Canvas Initiative
![Examples of fracture on panel paintings from Knole House](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788278_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
IMPASTOW
![Researcher at work on conservation treatment of barkcloth](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788266_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Situating Pacific Barkcloth
![Scene painting room at the Citizens Theatre](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788267_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Power to Transform
![ESEM image of a gecko-inspired adhesive prototype](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788275_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Gecko-Inspired Adhesives
![Researchers discussing an x-ray of a painting](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788268_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Unwrapping an Icon
![Tapestry and strain map showing strain recorded for damaged fabric samples with different stitching](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788269_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Tapestry Modelling and Monitoring
![Detail from a dye manual page in the Crutchley Archive](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788280_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Crutchley Archive
![Group examining dye manuals in the University Archive and Special Collections](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788271_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Dye-versity
![Detail showing the range of colours on a painted banner](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788274_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Painted Banners
![Researchers inspecting Scottish Colourist paintings in the Hunterian](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788277_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Scottish Colourists
![A plaster cast gestation model together with a plate and red chalk drawing by Jan van Rymsdyk from the Hunterian Collection](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788279_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Gravid Uteri
Learn more
![Paint layers in a sample from a polychrome choir screen](https://cfmnsugzia.cloudimg.io/www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_788276_smxx.jpg?width=1400&force_format=webp)
Romanesque Polychrome Choir Screens
Previous Projects
- Artificial Arsenic Sulphide Pigments used in 16th and 17th Century Italian and Spanish Paintings of the Museo del Prado
- Does this make SERS to you?
- Dirty Stories - What dirt from historic textiles can tell
- John Scougall Hunterian Paintings
- ReINVENT
- ReCREATE
- Reynolds Research Project: The Hunterian’s Portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds under examination
- Research Network for Textile Conservation, Dress and Textile History, and Technical Art History
- Tapestry in the Round
Projects at former Textile Conservation Centre