Welcome to our blog!!

Hello! On behalf of the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) Class of 2013, I’d like to welcome you to our blog. We have come from all over the world to Wilmington, DE – “A Place to Be Somebody” – to do just that…be the somebodies we’ve all dreamed of for so long. We’ve all worked countless hours and completed years of coursework in fine arts, chemistry, and art history with the goal of becoming art conservators. The first hurdle of getting into the program has been crossed. Now we invite you to follow our class over the next three years and see where our studies take us.

To start things off,  I believe some introductions are in order.  Above is our class photo, taken during our first day of orientation on August 16, 2010. Thankfully, I think we all managed to look cool, calm and collected (due in large part to the talents of Winterthur conservation photographer Jim Schneck). Not easy, considering it was our first day at Winterthur (speaking for myself -I had major butterflies that day) AND it was about 160° F and a billion % humidity. I’m sure Weather Underground will back me up on this.

But, without further ado – clockwise  from left, center: Emily Schuetz, Carrie McNeal, Bartosz Dajnowski, Sara Lapham, Sara Levin, Greta Glaser, Elena Torok, Laura Hartman, Morgan Hayes, and myself – Crista Pack.

You’ll likely see most of us blogging on here over the next 3 years as we share our experiences with you. Through this process, we hope to give our family and friends, colleagues, and people interested in the field of conservation an idea of what the program is like… and you’ll get to watch us evolve from newbies to full-fledged conservators.

So sit back, grab a snack – it’s going to be a long, intense, but ultimately thrilling ride! We’d love for you to not only read about our journey, but comment and ask questions as we go along. There are no promises that we’ll answer right away (we are in school, after all)…but we’ll do the best we can! Enjoy!!