Donors help fund attendees to METAL 2010 conference

Published: September 29, 2010

Clemson Conservation Center image by: Clemson University

NORTH CHARLESTON — Two donations totaling $15,000 will help a group of people from around the world attend METAL 2010, the triennial conference of the International Council of Museums Committee for Conservation Metal Working Group. 

Thanks to a $10,000 donation by Warren Lasch, past chairman of Friends of the Hunley, and $5,000 by Robert Armentano, president and chief executive of Total Energy, 20 people from as near as North Carolina and as far as New Zealand will attend the conference. They will receive financial assistance based on the distance they will travel.

This is the first time the conference has been held in North America. It is scheduled for Oct. 11-15 at the Francis Marion Hotel in downtown Charleston.

The event is hosted by the Clemson Conservation Center and the Clemson University Restoration Institute.

Clemson’s Paul Mardikian, conference chairman and head conservator for the Conservation Center’s H.L. Hunley submarine project, said the conference is an opportunity that should not be missed for anyone who works in metals conservation.

“These generous donations will give conservators and scientists a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to present their research and discuss pressing issues in metals conservation,” Mardikian said. 

Speakers and attendees from at least 22 countries will spend the week in Charleston.

The Charleston area was chosen for the conference, in large part, because of its walkable “living museum” downtown and proximity to significant sites, such and the Hunley, Fort Sumter, historic plantations and other important landmarks.

Delegates at the prior conference — METAL 2007, held in Amsterdam, Holland — chose the location of METAL 2010 based on presentations made by prospective hosts. Mike Drews, director of the Conservation Center, gave the presentation for Charleston, which was chosen ahead of Ghent, Belgium and Berlin. 

It’s unlikely the metals conference, held every three years, will return to North America for many years, Mardikian said. Attendees in Charleston will represent museums, universities, national research laboratories, conservators in private practice and many other cultural institutions worldwide.

The conference will balance practical conservation and research. The program features a wide array of topics, including engineering and three-dimensional technology in conservation, treatment of archaeological iron and caring for outdoor cultural heritage. 

Artifacts discussed will include Ghiberti’s “Gates of Paradise,” Rodin’s “The Thinker” and the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor.

Forty-eight papers chosen from more than 100 peer-reviewed submissions will be presented during the five days of the conference. The edited proceedings from the conference, provided in digital format to all registered attendees, constitute a major reference in the field of materials conservation, and will be available online by the end of the year.

The conference will feature a technical evening at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston and a closing reception on the deck of the USS Yorktown at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant.

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