Date/Time: 26 January, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm GMT
Tutor: Anita Quye
Price: £25.00
Platform: Zoom
More information: https://academicprojects.co.uk/courses/historic-dyes-sources-properties-and-identification/
Dyed textiles are attractive in many senses and historical ones understandably invite curiosity about their colour sources and fastness, especially sensitivity to light. The history of natural and synthetic dyes is rich in technological, artistic, economic and political developments, and one that is encapsulated in the material properties of the dyes themselves. With a diversity of coloured textiles in decorative arts and social history collections as well as archives, it helps to understand what dyes might be present, their significance, and reasonable expectations for their identification. This session introduces some historically important dye sources and dyeing methods, explains the science behind colour creation and fastness, and discusses identification with and without scientific analysis and ethical considerations this raises for dyed textiles as cultural heritage.
This will be a 55-min presentation with a 15min discussion.
Anita Quye is Professor of Heritage Science in History of Art and the Kelvin Centre for Conservation and Cultural Heritage Research at the University of Glasgow, having previously worked at the National Museums Scotland, Department of Conservation and Analytical Research. She has a BSc in chemistry and PhD in forensic toxicology. Her research interest lies in investigating the relationships between material stability and historical making of dyes and synthetic plastics and fibres via lab analysis and archival sources. She has published extensively, on plastics, dyes and tapestries and is a joint author of the Icon Heritage Science Ethical Sampling Guide. She is currently writing a handbook of common synthetic materials in collections of ‘everyday’ decorative artefacts and textiles.
