Black Art Conservators Podcast Series
The UCLA/Getty Conservation Program is proud to collaborate on a new podcast. Preservation for the People is a podcast from The Black Art Conservators, a collective of Black preservation professionals supporting each other, building community, and seeking change in the field of cultural heritage preservation. They’re here to talk about grassroots preservation campaigns in Black communities, their successes, their struggles, and their hopes for the future. Please join hosts Nylah Byrd and Kayla Henry-Griffin as they explore these issues, interview exciting guests, and give their take on shifting attitudes in cultural heritage spaces.
This podcast was produced by Urbanist Media and made possible thanks to funding from a UCLA Racial and Social Justice Seed Grant, as well as support by the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program and UCLA’s Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.
Episode 1: Conservation or Preservation? with Dr. Kwesi Daniels
Guests in this episode include Dr. Kwesi Daniels – Associate Professor and Department Head of Architecture at Tuskegee University – and LaStarsha McGarity (Conservator Spotlight), Conservator and Co-Director of the Legacy Museum at Tuskegee University
Our hosts Kayla Henry-Griffin and Nylah Byrd introduce us to Preservation for the People and what it means to be a Black art conservator. They talk to Dr. Kwesi Daniels about conservation, preservation, the difference between the two, and what the future of the field might look like.
Dr. Kwesi Daniels is the Head of the Architecture Department at Tuskegee University. His professional experience ranges across various disciplines, including historic preservation, architecture, sustainability management, and urban geography. He developed the historic preservation program at Tuskegee University, within the Robert R. Taylor School of Architecture and Construction Science. The goal of the program is to train architecture and construction science management students to handle the nuances of historic properties using technology like laser scanning, photogrammetry, 3D printing, drones, virtual reality and augmented reality. He earned a BArch and MArch in architecture from Tuskegee University and the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MS in sustainability management from Columbia University. In 2020 he earned a Ph.D. in urban geography from Temple University. His doctoral research focused on the positive and negative social impact universities can have on communities around their campuses, particularly communities of color.
https://kwesidaniels.wordpress.com/
LaStarsha McGarity earned her B.A. in Art with a minor in Chemistry at Texas Southern University (HBCU) in 2013. She received her M.A. in Art Conservation in 2019 from Buffalo State University. In 2021, she began a Doctor of Philosophy in Preservation Studies at the University of Delaware with a proposed dissertation on the preservation of collections at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. She held internships at Texas Southern University, Cleveland Museum of Art, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and National Museum of African Art, the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum (2MM), the Brooklyn Museum, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and the St. Louis Art Museum. She most recently was the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Objects Conservation at the National Gallery of Art. She is the Conservator and Co-Director of the Legacy Museum at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama. In free time, she loves to read, drink tea, and hang out with her spouse and pets, Sugar and Sweets.
Episode 2: Archiving Everyday Blackness with Dr. Ayana Omilade Flewellen
Guests in this episode include Dr. Ayana Flewellen—an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University, an archaeologist, a storyteller, and a co-founder of the Society of Black Archaeologists— and Ariana Makau (Conservator Spotlight), President & Founder of Nzilani Glass Conservation.
Our hosts explore how ordinary objects, experiences, and practices hold extraordinary significance in Black culture, challenging the mainstream focus on Black excellence by celebrating Black mediocrity and authenticity. In this episode, Dr. Flewellen discusses their upcoming book and dives further into the self-making practices of African American clothing and adornment.
Dr. Ayana Omilade Flewellen (They/She), Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Co-founder of the Society of Black Archaeologists, Board Member of Diving With A Purpose.
www.societyofblackarchaeologists.com
Watch: “Archaeology in the Time of Black Lives Matter”
Read: Dress and Labor: An Intersectional Interpretation of Clothing and Adornment Artifacts Recovered from the Levi Jordan Plantation https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-022-09443-4
Read: “The Future of Archaeology Is Antiracist”: Archaeology in the Time of Black Lives Matter https://cup.org/32ZkY9k
Ariana Makau is the founder of Nzilani Glass Conservation; their mission, “Be Safe. Have Fun. Do Excellent Work.” focuses on education through information, sharing: processes, health and safety procedures (specifically lead exposure) and the importance of preserving cultural landscapes and the environment. Ariana’s work is most fulfilling when at the intersection of equity, preservation and art. Makau has an MA in Stained Glass Conservation from the V&A/RCA, in London, England; and has worked in preservation for 30 years. She has worked at numerous museums in the States and abroad including the V&A, the Met, SFMoMA and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Ariana has served on the Board of the Stained Glass Association of America (SGAA), is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), and a Board Member of the Western Chapter of the Association of Preservation Technology (APT). Makau currently serves as the Interim Collections Care Director of Destination Crenshaw – the largest public/private Black art program in the U.S with more than 100 public artworks.
Podcast Team
Nylah Byrd, Host
Assistant Conservator of Objects and Programs Assistant at Balboa Art Conservation Center
Nylah (she/her/hers) is an early career conservator with an interest in the intersections of social justice and Art Conservation. She is a founding member of the Black Art Conservators group and is particularly passionate about public engagement and community connections within art conservation and cultural heritage institutions in the United States. Nylah believes in museums as community centers and looks forward to seeing that come to fruition as de-colonization efforts in museums continue. Her research interests include equity and inclusion in conservation, preserving ephemera, and fabrication of inorganic objects. Nylah is a strong advocate for people-centered conservation practice. Nylah earned her M.S. in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/ University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2022 and her B.A. with Honors in Archaeology from Stanford University in 2018.
Kayla Henry-Griffin, Host
Kayla Henry-Griffin (they/them) received their Master’s from New York University’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program, where they studied digital preservation and the philosophy behind community archiving. Kayla wrote their thesis on the ever-changing topics in video game preservation from 2013 to the present and produced plans for a second iteration of Pressing Restart, a 2013 video game preservation conference hosted by New York University. Their preservation and conservation experience spans across a myriad of small and large collections- from cataloging and assessing magnetic media to conducting digital preservation on time-based media artworks. Fun fact- the game, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, is the game that made Kayla want to pursue moving image conservation and preservation.
Urbanist Media, Producer
Urbanist Media is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to preserve place through story. Founded by Deqah Hussein-Wetzel in 2021, Urbanist Media uses storytelling and art-based media to uplift marginalized peoples and actively works to bridge racial divides in historic preservation, architecture, and urban planning. They amplify Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ stories that have been lost to posterity and seek to raise awareness about—and inspire/connect—others doing similar work around the country.
Urbanist Media’s production team members are Deqah Hussein-Wetzel, Andrew Callaway, and Vanessa Quirk.
UCLA Racial & Social Justice (RSJ) Seed Grant Award Co-PI’s:
- Anya Dani, Director of Community Engagement and Inclusive Practice, UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage
- Justin Dunnavant, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, UCLA
Supporting Black Art Conservators Podcast Team Members:
- Valinda Carroll, Contract Conservator, Indiana State Library
- Rita Cofield, Getty/City’s Office of Historic Resources – African American Historic Places, LA Project
- Frederick Wallace, Chief Conservator, Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Student Researchers
- Ariadin Jones, UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
- Makayla Rawlins, UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage
RSJ Grant Advisors:
- Glenn Wharton, Lore and Gerald Cunard Chair, UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage and Professor of Art History and Conservation of Material Culture
- Stacy Williams, Librarian, UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center
