The Bowes Museum Blog

We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting conservation interns on paid placements from October 2014. Thanks to generous funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and with the support of the Institute of Conservation, we will host 3 interns per year, for the next 5 years. One placement will be in paintings conservation, the other two in textiles conservation. The internships will last 12 months, with a bursary of £16,000 for each student.

The paintings intern will work alongside an experienced paintings conservator on items from the Museum’s fantastic collection, preparing paintings for display in the galleries, and loan to other institutions.

Paintings Conservator, Jon Old

The textile interns will work alongside the new Textiles Conservator, in close collaboration with the Textiles and Fashion department on the Museum’s wide ranging collection, including textiles, costume and accessories, tapestry, upholstery, and toys. The long-term project is the complete redisplay of the Fashion & Textiles Gallery, although we will also be working on short-terms loans out of the Museum, small changing displays within the galleries, and maintenance of objects in the stores, and on open display.

Moving the Agra carpet in the Music Room

The interns will be encouraged to further their development with visits to other conservation studios, attending lectures and conferences, and will be encouraged to publish and present their work, while building up their conservation portfolios.

For more information, look at our Jobs page.

Apply directly via the Icon website. The closing date for applications is 6th August 2014.

By Katy Smith, Textiles Conservator