On Thursday 4th November 2021, conservators around the world - including School of Conservation students and tutors from West Dean College of Arts and Conservation - participated in Ask a Conservator day via the College's Instagram page, answering questions and sharing their experiences in the Conservation sector. Here's a recap of the day.

We sat down with Building Conservation Masterclass tutor David Farrell to talk about his career and memories of the College ahead of his retirement from the industry and teaching. 

Having worked at West Dean College since 1996 Norbert Gutowski is leaving us at the end of the summer term 2021. His contribution to the College has been huge and he has been ever-present for a quarter of a century. He is the stuff of legends.

MA Conservation Studies student Jurjen writes about a small book from the collection in the Old Library and the remarkable details that lead him from a small local Latin school in Gouda, to Tsar Peter the Great, as well as to the well known art and book collection of the Beckford family.

MA Conservation Studies students recently undertook a virtual five week work placement with The Corning Museum of Glass, developing their understanding of glass conservation and what it means to be a conservator in a museum setting. For this blog post, they have applied that knowledge to examine objects in the West Dean Collection.

MA Collections Care and Conservation Management Alumna and Access and Participation Officer Alex has written about accessibility in the heritage sector, in particular in light of the challenges posed from the past year.

Graduate Diploma Conservation Studies student Sam has been working on the conservation treatment of a model clipper, brought into the furniture workshop back in February 2020 by a private client. Read the blog post to find out more about the project.

This iron casket needed to be treated following an unfortunate incident in water, which caused it to develop a coating of rust. Graduate Diploma Conservation Studies student Carola discusses the condition and treatment of the object in this blog post.

MA Conservation Studies: Ceramics and Related Materials student Rose has recently carried out conservation treatment on two very small elf candle holders, just in time for the festive season. Read more about the project in this blog post.