The Path of Art Conservation and How the Internet Set Me On IT

     When a dark time emerged into my life and the only thing I could to do was move on and continue my education, I opened up the best tool to help me get started: the internet. The internet proved essential to my educational career. I was able to take online courses so that I would be able to work full time while I was pursuing my Associates Degree at the local community college. I needed its' help once again to find a way to continue my education. I wanted to follow a path into something that utilized my artistic talents. In my research, I found a career path that I never thought of pursuing before. A career path that doesn't pay much, requires moving far away from my family upon receiving my BA, but essential for future generations to remember their culture. Without this field, the Mona Lisa wouldn't be around, Michelangelo’s Last Judgment fresco on the Sistine Chapel would waste away, the Pyramids of Giza would be paved for parking lots, and the Reclining Buddha in Thailand rust away with the elements. All of this art and history gone because of the wastefulness of today's world. I found the contact information on the internet of an art adviser from Portland State University. The next step was to use this information to find out how I can become an art conservator. 

     In my internet search, I looked back at the classes I took in the past, and find out what would be able to transfer. The internet allowed me to take classes online so that I would be able to work full time. With the money I received from working, I paid for my books and part of the tuition that I wasn't able to get from financial aid. Paying for school may have taken longer if the internet didn't allow the availability in my schedule. When writing papers, I've not only used the internet to find sources, but how to write better, organize my time, and just be a better student overall. The internet showed me how many art classes I've taken, and I came to the conclusion that art held the fastest route to my BA. I was thinking I would need an Art Practices degree which involved making a lot of studio art.

     Of course, the internet helped me get started. I needed to talk to the adviser at the school to ask the questions I couldn't find on the website; how would continuing my education affect my full-time job? What are employers of conservators looking for? Is it worth possibly getting a minor in Chemistry? My adviser looked to the internet to find art conservator societies, internships, and graduate schools I could go to after getting my degree at Portland State University. She was able to advise me to go to graduate school out of the country. She informed me that I was much closer to obtaining the Art History degree than the Art Practices degree. Employers of art conservators also preferred the Art History degree to an Art Practices degree. Even though she used the internet as a tool to help me build my career path, she was an expert in knowledge of art careers and found the search results I needed much faster than if I was completely on my own. 

     Working together, we found my path. I haven't applied for financial aid for this year, but I would for the Spring term. I still needed one more lower division art history class as well as taking Chemistry classes. For the Fall and Winter term, I would be at the community college doing that, and entering the doors of Portland State University in the spring. 

     Before starting school, I used the internet to apply for scholarships. I looked more into the graduate schools, and what GPA they required, and what classes I would need to take. The internet helped me realize how hard I really need to work. How ready I feel. I saw pictures of famous works of art, videos of art conservators at work on the other side of the country. I can't imagine the internet comparing to the real experience of seeing works like that of Raphael firsthand, and being able to touch it with my own hands and using my knowledge to defy time, pollution, and other forces that seek to destroy such a work of human hands. Seeing the videos gave me an idea, and since I wasn't seeing this work firsthand, I now longed to even more. 

     Lastly, the internet showed me how much the world really needs art conservators. The National Trust of Australia is finding the ancient aboriginal rock art of the Barrup Peninsula fading away due to dangerous emissions. Pollution brought about by a Dixie-cup culture where everything is created only to be thrown away after its' been used is polluting our planet and bulldozing the world's combined cultural heritage. 

     Thanks to the internet, I had what I needed to start following my dreams. The internet helped me in my research as a student in the past, and it helped me research my desires for the future. I had the contact information of the people to help me, make connections, and work to acquire the additional funding I'll need. Most importantly, my forerunners in the world of art conservation gave me a glimpse through their videos of what it meant to be a part of this way of life. Through the internet, I could see firsthand where my career path would lead. I saw what it meant to preserve one's heritage by preserving beautiful works of art made by human hands. I found article after article about pollution and a throw-away society repeatedly thrusts its' knife into the heart of the history and culture of great nations. The heart of civilization is art, and the art conservator is the doctor that keeps it beating through time.

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition, Archivists, Curators, and Museum Workers. Web. (visited July 22, 2014).

Friesen, Hannah. Preserving the Past Behind the Present: The Science Behind Art Conservation. USCience Review. University of Southern California. 8 February 2012. Web. (visited 22 July 2014).

The Graduate College at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Making Connections. Web. (visited 22 July 2014).

The National Trust of Australia. The Dampier Rock Art Precinct. 2006. Web. (visited 27 July 2014).