Letter from the President

The following is the President's Letter from the Spring 2014 Newsletter.  Renew your membership to receive the entire newsletter, and read about: digital fills for a Japanese kimono, reconstructing Renoir's red lake colors, building your own paper lab from scratch, excavations in Sudan, documenting public art in Columbus, IN and more!  Happy spring! The snow is melting, the birds are chirping, and it is looking a lot like spring in Minneapolis!  While it is hard to look ahead past summer, it is never too early to start planning the Annual Meeting.  This year the Midwest Art Conservation Center and I are very excited to host you at the 2014 MRCG Annual Meeting, October 17-19, in Minneapolis, MN.The call for papers is out (see the Symposium tab), and I hope you will consider sharing your projects or discoveries with us!  This year the meeting will have no specific theme, which allows for a great diversity of information to be presented.  We are excited to announce that Saturday’s session will open with an in-depth presentation from Mark Golden of Golden Artist Colors.  In addition to presentations, museums, receptions, and great conversation we are also planning to include an optional session for advice, mentoring, and portfolio review for our emerging conservation professionals.   So please encourage any pre-program interns or students you know to attend!  And stay tuned for options on how you can get involved!The conference will open with a reception at the Walker Art Center on Friday night and conclude by noon on Sunday, after the business meeting.  Blocks of hotel rooms have been reserved at two downtown Minneapolis hotels: Best Western Normandy Inn & Suites and Hilton Garden Inn Minneapolis Downtown.  Please see the MRCG Website (Symposium tab) for more information on room rates and reservation details and then check back regularly for meeting updates.With all the excitement building about the MRCG annual meeting, I am sure you are thinking it is a shame you have to wait until October to see your MRCG friends.  Ease the pain by joining your fellow MRCG members for an informal gathering at the upcoming AIC meeting in San Francisco.We’ll meet at The Holding Company, a sports bar located a short distance from the conference hotel, on Friday night from 4:30 - 6:00pm.Finally, thank you for renewing your membership!  Membership increased greatly last year and I hope to see the trend continue.  So if you have not yet renewed, do so today and encourage your friends and colleagues to join as well.I look forward to seeing you all this fall in Minneapolis!Warmest regards,Megan EmeryMRCG President