New Conservation Science Course

All students admitted to the University of Delaware master’s program in art conservation must excel in general and organic chemistry—a requirement often associated with medical school or a career in the pharmaceutical industry. A new conservation science course takes the extra step of ensuring that Winterthur’s first-year students are prepared to adapt their extensive scientific training and critical thinking skills to the practice of art conservation. The course—offered in summer, before the fall term begins—reviews much of the material covered in undergraduate chemistry courses and explains its function in the art conservation laboratory.

Instructors Dr. Joe Weber and Dr. Chris Petersen emphasize acid-base chemistry, oxidation-reduction reactions, the properties of matter and the analysis of functional groups, as well as other concepts important to conservation science. “The organic chemistry will be daunting: Five lectures covering all the organic chemistry presented in two undergraduate semesters,” Weber says. “We have tried to pull out all the topics that will be of the most use in art conservation.”

During the three-week course, students meet for six hours each day, attending lectures on chemistry, physics and statistics and participating in laboratory activities and problem-solving sessions. “The science review is designed to make sure that all our first-year students are prepared to benefit from Winterthur’s rigorous conservation science courses,” says Debra H. Norris, Chair of the University of Delaware art conservation department. “Each year, some new students have spent the previous two years fulfilling their chemistry prerequisites, while others finished their science classes years before. We hope the review will be a valuable means of reintroducing the material and explaining its importance to the field.”

Written by Renee Wolcott