Real-Life Communication
Communication skills are very important for conservation restoration
technicians, says Janelle Matz.
"Treatment decisions are not made in
a vacuum," she says. "I need to discuss what the owner or curator has in mind
before I decide what is needed. Often I need to convince the curator, owner
or lender that their piece should be treated. This is done in a casual manner,
and is usually verbal, but the underlying factor is that I need to convince
someone that I know what I am talking about."
You are a conservation
restoration technician working in a museum. There are several historical exhibits
in the museum with people wearing clothing from previous eras. Part of your
job is to treat and repair the clothing.
Early in your career, a senior
restoration technician showed you how to treat clothing using a patch and
a type of adhesive material. (Garments are treated both to preserve the item
and to repair any damage that has occurred.) You have been treating garments
in the way he showed you ever since.
Last year, you left the museum
to take an internship in a large conservation laboratory. The most important
thing you learned is that there is no one generic way to treat a piece of
material. In each situation, you need to decide which solution works best.
Now
you realize that the senior technician was taking your inexperience into account
when he trained you in that particular method of treating garments. He wanted
to teach you a method that was both easy to do and easy to reverse
if you made a mistake.
When you return, the opportunity quickly arises
to use your newly acquired skills. You are given a garment to treat. However,
because the garment is going to be fitted on a mannequin, you realize that
your usual treatment method isn't going to work. After doing a bit of
research, you use a different patch and adhesive.
You write up a report
of the treatment. After reading the report, the museum's curator sends
you an e-mail. He wants to know why you switched treatment methods. You need
to write a memo explaining your decision.