Western Region NewsFALL 2009

Western Region NewsFall 2014

Program Report:Conservation and Collections at Art Conservation

de Rigueur et Anoxia Abatement SolutionsBy Sheryl Birkner

CSA’s Western Region sponsored a rare look behind the scenes of a San Francisco conservator’s studio in July. Two sets of lucky guests were guided through the studio by Elise Rousseau, owner and principal conservator. Costume collector Lynn Meinhardt displayed items from her

of which have been conserved by Elise and her ‘pre-program’ and graduate student interns.

The studio tour included examples of various

objects, as well as an exclusive look at some of the pieces the studio is currently conserving, and stories

According to the

reversible. Someone with a learned eye should be able to delineate what is original and what is a later

in Europe.)

needs to decide if previous repairs are historic and

treatment reports and photography.

Elise has been conserving or restoring many of them by cleaning, stabilizing, and carefully applying

2 Western Region News

The Western Region of the Costume Society of America is made up of

Columbia, California, Guam, Hawaii,

Territories, Oregon, Saskatchewan, Washington, Wyoming, and the Yukon

Territories.

Mary Gibson, PresidentVacant, President-Elect

Cathy Roy, SecretaryMeghan Hansen, Treasurer

Heather Vaughan, Past President & Historian ArchivistClarissa Esguerra

Abra FloresMelinda Kerstein

Genna Reeves-DeArmondCelia Sedwick Rogus

Elise RousseauKendra Van Cleave

Brenna Barks, Publicity ChairKelly Lynn Reddy-Best, Website Liaison

Awards ChairMary LaVenture, Mail Manager

Address editorial correspondence to Editor Rachel Harris at

welcome submissions as WORD documents via email for the Spring

email. Author is required to obtain all rights and permissions for images.

author and CSA-Western Region

Sheryl Birkner, Mary Gibson, Meghan G. Hansen, Rachel Harris

President’s Message

happy and thrilled to be your new President.

curator at a major museum.

To review our year: 2014 has had three programs since January. The latest was on July 19th in San Francisco at . Member, Sheryl

Coming up is the last event of the 2014 year: at

these programs and will let us know if you have any ideas for future programs

On July 1, 2014 we installed four new Western Region Board members: Brenna

Leigh Wishner and Elise Rousseau will now serve as co-Chairs for Programs.

already planned and many possible programs to choose from. The choices

South same day programs! The full schedule will be announced shortly.

and fashion.

Mary GibsonWestern Region Presidentmarysabb@yahoo.com

Fall 2014 3

CSA-WR Symposium-From the Street to the Catwalk

Costume Society of America Western RegionSymposium 2014

October 10-12, 1014Portland, Oregon

Register now via the CSA website: .

by Assistant Curator Sarah Margolis-Pineo. Mixer at 5pm with hors d’oeuvres and a wine bar.

.

Explore the wonders of Portland with casual tours. A trip to Maryhill Museum of Art and the world-

Emporium & Ribbonry.

4 Western Region News

Reflections on “Reflecting Forward: Forty Years of CSA”

By Mary Gibson

and eat those Maryland crab cakes!

t at the Maryland Historical Museum, headed by Dr. Margaret Ordonez. We cleaned, labeled, documented and photographed items in their

opportunity, it also serves as a great social enterprise,

included three workshops. June Bovè and Gail Alterman expertly demonstrated “Dressing the

Era dresses. Karin Bohleke taught “The Crowning

how to create period hairstyles using this malleable

and were able to take them home. All of these

members.

The other was a tour to the .

These included the 1801 Mansion

and glass and a Leon Bakst designed theatre).

the Symposium began in earnest. Over the course of three days, there were 25 papers and 11

development sessions, the Milia Davenport Award

the Abstracts electronically through the members

Fall 2014 5

correct storage techniques. The costumes include several vintage Hollywood ensembles, including a heavily beaded silk velvet body suit designed by

. Elise miraculously cleaned motor oil and water stains from the train of a gown designed by Academy

to opera outreach programs, such as open houses,

displayed gown from at an Opera America event and notes that opera costumes are perfect for such events because they are durable.

sketches. Works on display were headdresses from and male and female costumes

from , including golden robes designed for Julia Roberts and Sean Bean and eighteenth-

and Human Chess scenes.

Elise showed us through her studio, lit completely

shared several current projects that demonstrate

us understand how much training, hand skills,

can go into each project.

One example was a set of six 14-foot-long window

Historic Trust located south of San Francisco. The silk chenille velvet and gold metallic brocade with double

progress since the end of May, with treatment steps

in this order:-

three-point pleats

Hepa-micro vacuuming to remove acid dust and

of insect carcasses with tweezers

-ing hand sewn to the reverse side

-

Art Conservation de Rigueur-Cont’d From Page 1

6 Western Region News

Art Conservation De Rigueur-Cont’d From Page 5

framed in a scrolling composite of Chinese silk brocade called a Tibetan Thankga wanted to have the object

reverse is lined with a canvas for long-term mounted hanging integrity, with Velcro sleeves hand sewn along the top and the lower corners. This is the same technique used in museums to hang large tapestries to evenly disperse the weight and hanging stresses.

as performed

fronds. She uses isopropyl alcohol and Orvus paste because it leaves no residue, has a near-neutral pH, and contains no

magazine.

raglan sleeves, collar and neckline shapes, vented gussets under the arms, and specialty patches or lack of

most famous plays in the history of the game, making that uniform especially valuable. Thomson wore the

direct result of extreme heat from professional steam pressing and dry cleaning. This caused shrinking and

power of careful scholarship.

Fall 2014 7

Regional Events Announcements

program ideas or register for programs, contact

majority of the garments on display are made from a

sen). Produced of machine-reeled silk, stencil dyed

Western art movements.

Sharon S. Takeda, Senior Curator and Head of the

a fully illustrated lecture followed by a self-guided

Art.

Register via the CSA website: .

Friday evening with a private tour of MCC’s exhibit

-

casual tours of Portland.

Register via the CSA website: .

The will be held in Los Angeles, CA from

September 10-14, 2014. The program includes two

awards ceremony, and a series of dynamic pre- and post-conference workshops and study tours to local

studios. Presenters include members of CSA-WR.

.

co-authored

co-authored with curator Julia Pennington Cronin.

recently self-published

help readers create historically accurate hairstyles of the 18th century. The book includes a detailed

techniques for styling hair and wigs that will be useful to anyone who wants to learn more about historical hairstyling, from beginners to advanced

Read more about the book and order it online: .

8 Western Region News

Regional Exhibitions

. Featuring the

other costume designers and costume illustrators,

Golden Age of Hollywood costume design.

October 2, 2014-March 2, 2015

costumes.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

designers, many of whom were painters, were

of the fauves, the angular forms of cubism, and

designers ascribed to the modernist concept of

is an

of the period featuring diversity of color, form, and

Museum of VancouverSeptember 18, 2014-March 8, 2015

will feature rare examples of haute couture and Vancouver-made clothing and accessories that

and Claus Jahnke, and the vaults of the Museum of Vancouver, will present

wedding dresses, Boeing Vancouver overalls, cocktail dresses, and fashions designed by renowned

include features that engage families, including an

opportunity to try on period garments.

o

Legion of HonorMarch 14-July 19, 2014

of fashion from 1910 to 1980, reveals the

pieces by some of the 20th century’s most important American and European fashion designers, including

such as hats and shoes, and related fashion sketches.

will include 25 objects.

Fall 2014 9

Regional Exhibitions

Los Angeles County Museum of Art July 5-October 19, 2014

characterized life and dress during Japan’s Meiji

art movements and important current events, such

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

provides a broader view of the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

clues and tell stories about the past. An excerpt

mysterious and tantalizingly incomplete segments

fragment reveals much about its purpose, method

10 Western Region News

Regional Exhibitions

cloths, including many from the Fowler Museum, which maintains one of the world’s most complete

Mapula Embroidery Project, founded in 1991 in the Winterveldt area outside Pretoria, and Kaross Workers, founded in 1989 on a citrus farm in Limpopo Province—have for several decades used the art of embroidery to express views on diverse

May 9, 2014-October 11, 2014

technically, materially, and conceptually in the

produced—the physical garments, whereas fashion is viewed as the cultural zeitgeist that fashion

collapses clothing and fashion,

Cascadian region.

August 24-December 14, 2014

with printed cloth. With some vendors selling just a few cloths and others featuring enormous stacks

urban and rural Africa as garments and head wraps, African-print cloths are also popping up on fashion show runways and in retail fashion catalogs in the

Women on the island of Timor weave some of

Asia. These cloths are primary vehicles of cultural

and exchanged in ways that reveal deep social,

Fall 2014 11

Reflections-Cont’d From Page 4

The began with a panel of CSA Founding Members: Elizabeth Ann Coleman, Elizabeth

The recognizes excellence in scholarship in the study of costume

The assists the research of a current undergraduate or graduate

researching . She examines how women living in

new homes in America.

On Friday we headed for the where we enjoyed an exhibit called:

While at the Museum we were treated to from Project Runway. They were Jay McCarroll

and bad. Both stated that winning was great, but did not bring instant fame and fortune.

The 2014 broke all records by raising almost $9,000! The included booksellers,

Student Membership Support Continues Through 2014

available!