Summer Work Project at Shelburne Museum

The Shelburne Museum is offering one summer work project in the conservation treatment of polychrome sculpture. The project will either be eight weeks or eleven weeks in duration. The intern will document and treat a carousel horse made by the Gustav Dentzel factory in 1902 over the course of eight weeks. As an optional three week extension, the intern will document and treat a rounding board from the carousel. Each project has been chosen by donors to Shelburne Museum’s Adopt a Carousel Animal Program. The animals are made of carved wood embellished with brass and glass ornaments. The rounding board is a painted flat wood panel. Past treatments of animals from the same carousel have involved removal of maintenance linseed oil coatings from the wood, metal, and glass surfaces and fabricating missing ornaments or portions of ornaments. More information on the history of the carousel and the project can be found in an article by Richard Kerschner and Nancie Ravenel, “Here We Go ‘Round Again: Cleaning Linseed Oil from Carousel Animals at Shelburne Museum” in JAIC 45 (2006): 201-210,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelburnemuseum/collections/72157623324796009/

and

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Shelburne-VT/Shelburne-Museums-Dentzel-Carousel/111828795508

This project would be appropriate for a graduate level student or an advanced undergraduate level student. In return for undertaking this challenging internship nestled between the Adirondack and Green Mountains, we will provide a stipend of $1750 for eight weeks (June 6-August 1, 2011) or $2500 for eleven weeks (June 6-August 22, 2011) and a private room in a house shared with other museum interns. Interested individuals should send a cover letter, CV, and contact information for three references, only two of which may be from academia, to Nancie Ravenel at nravenel@shelburnemuseum.org by January 17, 2011. Applicants should indicate whether the eight week or eleven week option is of interest.

Nancie Ravenel
Objects Conservator
Shelburne Museum
5555 Shelburne Rd.
Shelburne, VT 05482
802-985-3348 x3354
www.shelburnemuseum.org