Our Team

I trained at the Textile Conservation Centre at Hampton Court Palace in the 1980s and worked for 15 years at the TCC and as a freelance textile conservator in the south-west of England. I have been teaching textile conservation since 2001, taking on the roles of Convenor of the MA Textile Conservation at the University of Southampton and, since 2010, Convenor of the MPhil Textile Conservation at the University of Glasgow. My research interests focus on gaining a greater understanding of textile artefacts, both in physical terms and in terms of their significance, so that we can make more informed decisions about conservation treatments. I also enjoy interdisciplinary research and bringing together different areas of expertise to focus on research questions from different perspectives, a key aspect of the barkcloth project.

As curator of the Economic Botany Collection (EBC) at Kew, I run a research programme of three strands that integrate history and ethnobotany: colonial botany, materia medica, and materials, especially plant fibres. Kew has worldwide representation of barkcloth – from Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as the Pacific – and this forms an important part of the materials programme. I bring to the project expertise in two areas: provenance and object biography research into Kew’s collections, drawing on a decade using Kew’s archives, and the application of botany to understanding museum objects. This is based in part on my earlier career as an archaeological scientist, and on experience of sampling museum objects with many researchers in the EBC. Having hosted many Pacific visitors at Kew, I am also interested in how we can best share our work with Pacific researchers and makers.

I have been working with Polynesian barkcloth for many years. I first learned to make barkcloth in Tonga when I was a Ph.D. student working with the old ladies who furnished the necessary ngatu for the life events of their families. I had the support of Queen Salote, who kept me informed and helped me to learn about all the cultural traditions and ceremonies during which barkcloth was an important part. In the following years (during my research on Cook’s voyages) I sought out information on barkcloth in museums around the world and continued fieldwork in various island groups. Along the way I learned a great deal about designs, history and uses, as well as the problems of taking care of barkcloth, and I wrote several articles on the subject. In 1970 I curated the exhibition “Bark Cloth of the Pacific,” probably the first exhibition that focused entirely on barkcloth, which was held at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu. My latest project, since 2012, is “Transforming our Understanding of Polynesian Barkcloth through the Integration of History, Culture, Conservation, Community Scholars, and Materials Analysis,” which focuses on the Polynesian barkcloth from the United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842).

I am a Pacific art historian working across universities and museums. My role within the project is to reconstruct the art history and provenance of the barkcloth collections in Glasgow, Kew and Washington. I specialise in the stylistic analysis of Pacific artworks in museum collections, and have a particular love for the art and culture of Western Polynesia. I was previously postdoctoral research associate (2012-2014) on the Fijian Art project at the Sainsbury Research Unit, UEA, where I conducted extensive collections research and produced collaborative exhibitions with UK museums. Since 2006, my curatorial, project and freelance research has allowed me to work on world-class collections of Pacific art throughout the UK and overseas.

I have been a university teacher and research scientist at the Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History, University of Glasgow for the last four years. I am an analytical and materials chemist. At the CTCTAH, my research has focused on both painted textiles and the physical and chemical aspects of tapestry deterioration. Previously, I was a research chemist for 21 years in both academia and industry, where I gained extensive experience in analytical techniques, materials science and coordinating field trials in multidisciplinary projects. My main research expertise lies in studying the degradation rates of materials, the effects of environmental conditions on those rates, and the interaction of different materials at surfaces and interfaces.

I am an object conservator specialising in organic materials, especially those found in the contexts of ethnographic and archaeological collections. Prior to taking on the Research Conservator post for the project, I have worked in institutions such as the Pitt-Rivers Museum and the British Museum, where I worked extensively with a wide range of objects from Oceanic and African collections. My research interests are in the conservation of barkcloth and basketry objects. I also have strong interests in the use and application of Japanese paper in object conservation, as well as the way in which the practice of object conservation can engage with the evidence of object use we find in museum collections.

An Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Glasgow, Hugh brought his experience and skills in analytical chemistry to the project. Hugh developed the methodology for the sequential extraction for the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of barkcloth samples. In addition, he carried out both HPLC analysis and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of samples to support our investigation of barkcloth making.

A graduate of the Masters in Technical Art History at Glasgow, Jennifer carried out analysis on cloths through cross-section embedding and polishing for light microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for molecular identification, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for pigment analysis, and optical microscopy to determine morphology.

A graduate of both the Textile Conservation Masters and the Museum Studies Masters at Glasgow, Marika is a textile conservator with a particular interest in textile production techniques. As a volunteer in 2016, Marika worked on condition assessments and conservation treatments under the supervision of Misa, the project research conservator. Marika also joined the project in its later stages to finalise photography, conservation, and storage of the research artefacts from The Hunterian and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Working alongside Misa, our research conservator, Aisling assisted in the initial stages of the project in packing approximately forty items from the Economic Botany Collection for transport to Glasgow to the Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History for study and conservation. As a volunteer in 2016, Aisling worked on condition assessments and conservation treatments. In the later stages of the project, Aisling finalised photography, conservation, and storage of the research artefacts from The Hunterian and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Aisling is a graduate of the Masters in Textile Conservation at Glasgow.

I am a conservator in private practice with thirty years of experience working in the field of objects conservation. Currently, and for the past decades, I have worked extensively as an exhibition and project conservator, primarily for the Smithsonian Institution’s (SI), National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). I hold a Master of Science in Art Conservation from the University of Delaware/ Winterthur Museum.

I have experience working collaboratively with museum curators and other scholars including source community members to help ensure that important collections are preserved as well as accessible. As one of a team of conservators I participated in a three-year effort by the SI’s NMNH to conserve vulnerable Polynesian tapa (barkcloth) collected by The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838 to 1842. Our project goals included both preservation and access. We worked to conserve the tapa and, at the same time, to put the tapa into the hands of scholars and researchers, who often need to touch and handle the artifacts as a critical part of their research. We worked closely with community scholars from Polynesia who enhanced the project by bringing traditional knowledge, materials and experience to the team’s activities.

Reggie Meredith Fitiao is a Professor of the Arts, both contemporary and traditional. She is a fourth generation Siapo maker and learned from the late great Auntie Mary J. Pritchard. She is honoured to carry on the art form of Siapo making and ensures that it is being perpetuated by continuing to make it, teaching it in the classroom, and providing special workshops. Meredith worked with conservators at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History with the Samoan Tapa collection from the 1800s. Handling Siapo from the past has given her a renewed outlook on the ancestral art form.

My family moved to American Samoa in 1969. I learned our traditional form of painting called Siapo in the late 1970s from the late Mary J. Pritchard, a big inspiration to me. I am now a Tufuga ta Tatau, a traditional Samoan Tattoo master, after working with Suʻa Lafaele Suluape for almost seven years as his apprentice. My ability to work with others is very important to me. I embrace and help to manage the ancestral and sacred art forms of Tatau and Siapo; they are unique and meaningful to our culture and I am honoured to be a part of this work.