Online Lecture: “Lest We Forget”

Event type: Online (Zoom)

Time and Date: Tuesday, May 31, 7 pm

Speaker: Tanya Richards, Conservator

Cost: Free Admission

Zoom Link to Copy: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81831226200

Tanya Richards is an Art Conservator specializing in the conservation, repair, and housing of works of art on paper, archival documents, and books. After studying general Art Conservation in Florence, Italy, Tanya decided to focus on paper-based objects, earning an MA in Paper Conservation from Camberwell College of Art in London. Her experience includes watercolour, pastel, intaglio, chalk, and mixed media. She has worked on projects for institutions including the British Museum, Strawberry Hill House, Cambridge University, the Courtauld Institute, and Saint Paul’s Cathedral.

“Lest We Forget” is a unique scrapbook created in the 1970’s by Ruth Masters, to commemorate the men from the Comox Valley who died in the First and Second World Wars. Ruth spent years researching each individual and created pages of photographs and clippings pertaining to their lives. It is a massive book: 21 inches high, 13 inches wide and 8 inches thick. Although the book has held up remarkably well, it is a heavily accessed item and there has been accumulated damage over the years. A major problem was that the adhesive had liquified causing pages, and items, to stick together. This presentation discusses the challenges of conserving the original book and the process of creating a facsimile copy for future use.

Learn more about Tanya Richards here.