In the conservation lab

I became the museum’s assistant conservator just a few months before the new conservation lab opened. We have certainly made good use of the extra space! The lab is full with all kinds of glass objects in need of some TLC and that’s what I’m here for.

Sometimes the objects I treat are ones that have shattered into many small pieces and sometimes there are just one or two broken or missing pieces.  A lot of the treatments are re-treatments of old repairs that have failed.

Usually I work on at least 2 or 3 objects at a time because the adhesives and resins we use can take days to completely set. Here are pictures of some of projects I recently finished or am currently working on. Check back for updates as these projects progress!





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Astrid van Giffen is the Museum's associate conservator. In 2007, she completed the conservation training program of the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN) in Amsterdam, with a specialization in glass and ceramics. Her training included internships at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Md, and The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning. Since completing the ICN program, she has worked as a private conservator in Oregon and was the Samuel H. Kress Fellow in Objects Conservation at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies of the Harvard Art Museum (2008-2009). She also holds a BA (2001) in Classical Studies from Willamette University.

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