A common concern expressed by incoming art conservation graduate students is the disconnect they felt between their traditional undergraduate chemistry courses and the field of art conservation, and how this would be addressed in the science curriculum. All art conservation graduate programs in the United States require chemistry prerequisites; the program at Buffalo State requires both organic and inorganic chemistry I and II (including lab) coursework for chemistry majors. All programs have their own strategies for dealing with this disconnect, and this paper will focus on how this issue has been tackled at Buffalo State, in specific reference to the Polymers in Art and Conservation course.<br/><br/>Although the Buffalo State graduate program does not have a specialization in conservation science or imaging and documentation, both underpin and run parallel to all conservation training disciplines throughout the entire program. Polymers in Art and Conservation is their first science class, and is a fast-paced introduction to polymers, including nomenclature, chemistry, physics, degradation, identification, and characterization of polymers used to create and treat works of art. Conservation students are often tactile learners, so whenever possible, hands-on demonstrations are incorporated in the lectures, and concepts are further solidified in the lab. There is also a term-project – the “mystery polymer project” where in the first week students select a degraded polymeric object and carry it with them over the term, and link  lecture topics to the state of the object. By the end, they will have identified the polymer using scientific analysis, analyzed the type of degradation (and why it occurred), and suggest conservation treatment options. The mystery polymer project has been successful in making the visual and tangible connections between chemistry and cultural heritage that the students were lacking in their pre-program coursework, and every year has generated positive feedback from the students.

Teaching polymer chemistry to art conservation graduate students

256th National Meeting (2018)

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