Past Services
Kate Gill worked on a freelance basis in the UK and overseas as a Consultant, Practitioner, Teacher and Lecturer.
Consultant
Condition surveys of collections and individual objects, including treatment proposals and estimate reports; assisting clients in identifying conservation priorities for long term care of collections; providing advice on preventive conservation strategies, exhibition planning, display, storage and handling. Advice provided on pest management and environmental monitoring.
Carrying out a condition survey of of a 19th century gentleman’s outfit
Preparing a conservation strategy for a Chinese ceremonial parasol
A victorian sprung upholstered chair, after conservation
Examples of consultancy work included integrated pest management for an historic house, surveying a collection of upholstered furniture and a collection of 16th and 17th century raised work embroideries; preparing a strategy plan for the display and storage of an oversize textile; advising an art gallery on the display, storage and handling of contemporary textile art and providing information on material properties to artists to assist them in identifying materials for fabrication of art work.
Practitioner
Conservation of all types of textiles, especially complex multi-media objects, including traditional and modern upholstery, and furnishing textiles. Design and fabrication of customised mounts to assist in the support, display and interpretation of objects. Condition and conservation processes on all objects recorded in written reports including photography (digital). Extended examination and documentation services for upholstery structures available. Dyeing of conservation support fabrics.
Extended documentation project, Knole, National Trust
Mandarin Military Dress, Wallace Collection, after conservation supported on customised 3-D form
Conservation Projects included 20thC Suffrage banners; early 20thC embroidered altar frontal; 20thC military flags; a 19thC Sovereign’s throne and footstool; 19thC straw hats and bonnets; a 19thC patchwork coverlet; 19thC hand-knotted carpets; 17thC man’s wool coat; a pair of 17thC upholstered stools; a Victorian sprung upholstered chair; Rajput warrior costume and Mandarin military dress (including customised display mounts); a 17thC raised-work picture; a pair of 17thC shoes and clogs; 16thC linen damask tablecloth; trade union banners; the auto-icon Jeremy Bentham; the last surviving sail from HMS Victory.
Teacher/Lecturer
Short courses (career entry and CPD), lecture series and one-off lectures, workshops in the UK and overseas.
Co-editor: Gill, K. & Eastop, D. (eds) 2001. Upholstery Conservation: Principles and Practice. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
CPD course delivered at West Dean College ‘Issues and Approaches in Upholstery Conservation’
Teaching Upholstery Conservation to final year students on the TCC MA Textile Conservation Specialism Unit
Examples of teaching and lecturing during thirty years teaching textile and upholstery conservation, included supervision of practical projects at MA level on TCC’s MA Textile Conservation. Also delivery of CPD and career entry courses and related events. For example, key organiser and leader of the following short courses, ‘Issues and Approaches in Upholstery Conservation’, to the staff and students at the Heritage Conservation Centre, National Heritage Board, Singapore (2016); Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Vantaa, Finland (2011); Universität Für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria (2010); Abegg-Stiftung, Switzerland (2010 & 2000); co-leader of the short course, ‘Issues and Approaches in Upholstery Conservation’ (29 Aug – 3 Sept. 1999), for professional conservators in practice, collaborations between the TCC and West Dean College, UK; key organiser of the one day Forum, ‘The Conservation and Restoration of Upholstered Furniture: Reviewing the Issues’ (7 Dec. 1998).
Talks to local groups
A ‘behind-the-scenes’ view of conservation presented to a broad range of organisations e.g. historical and costume societies, schools and colleges, museums and art galleries, historic house associations.
