Photographic print identification is challenging as several print types are difficult to distinguish from one another. This workshop will focus on identification of perennially difficult to identify processes, including matte albumen, matte collodion, early and toned silver gelatin, platinum, and photogravure. Additional viewing will include gum bichromate, bromoil, bromoil transfer, and combination processes, such as gum over platinum. Workshop participants will strengthen and develop new identification skills through workshop demonstrations and hands-on examination exercises using the Image Permanence Institute’s study collection. In coordination with the George Eastman Museum, participants will also learn how analytical techniques such as microscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy can aid in print identification. Two days of the workshop will be held at the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) utilizing IPI’s research collection and the third day will take place at the George Eastman Museum viewing and analyzing objects from the museum’s photography collection with conservation professionals.

The workshop will be limited to a maximum of 12 attendees. Registration per individual is $650 and participants are responsible for their own travel, meals, and lodging costs. Registration ends September 20, 2022. With the safety of our staff and attendees foremost in mind, COVID-related safety guidelines and precautions will be followed and participants must agree to meet the RIT Safety Plan. In the event that circumstances change, and health and safety guidelines require cancellation of the in-person sessions, the workshop will be rescheduled.

Audience

Collection professionals who possess fundamental print identification skills and are looking for an opportunity for concentrated looking and learning about difficult to identify processes, including matte albumen, matte collodion, early and toned silver gelatin, platinum, photogravure, gum bichromate, bromoil, bromoil transfer, and combination processes, such as gum over platinum.

Instructors

Al Carver-Kubik
Preservation Researcher, Image Permanence Institute
Al Carver-Kubik joined IPI in 2012 and teaches and conducts preservation research with expertise in print and photographic processes. Al has served as a photographs reviewer for the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Save Our African American Treasures program since 2009. He has a MA in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University in coordination with the George Eastman Museum. Before joining IPI, he worked in museums and galleries as a conservation technician, researcher, object preparator, and archival consultant.

Taina Meller
Conservator in Charge, George Eastman Museum
Taina Meller is Conservator in Charge at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York. After graduating in 2000 from the EVTEK Institute of Art and Design in Vantaa, Finland, she worked as a photograph conservator for a number of major institutions in Helsinki, Finland, including The Finnish Museum of Photography and the Finnish National Gallery. In 2003, Ms. Meller became an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the 3rd cycle of the Advanced Residency Program in Photograph Conservation at the George Eastman Museum and the Image Permanence Institute in Rochester, New York. During her two-year fellowship she focused on the conservation and preservation of daguerreotypes. In 2005, Ms. Meller became the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Sherman Fairchild Center for Works on Paper and Photographic Conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where she continued her research on daguerreotypes, specifically those by the Boston partnership of Southworth & Hawes. In 2007, Ms. Meller returned to the George Eastman Museum as Associate Conservator, and has held her current position since 2009.

Sarah Casto
Assistant Conservator, George Eastman Museum
Sarah Casto is Assistant Conservator at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, where she specializes in the preservation and treatment of photographic materials. Prior to joining the Eastman Museum in 2020, she held the position of Photograph Conservation Fellow at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, and completed internships at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Better Image, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. She received her M.A./C.A.S. in Art Conservation from Buffalo State College and BFA in Photography from Bowling Green State University.