At City & Guilds of London Art School, Conservation is the meeting-point of science and art – a fascinating blend of state-of-the-art forensics, aesthetics and traditional craft skills. Originally established after World War II to conserve and preserve London’s bomb-damaged architectural treasures, the Conservation Department has evolved over the last 73 years and runs acclaimed BA, Graduate Diploma and MA courses in Conservation with a very high success rate of graduates going directly into employment in the conservation world on completing their studies with us.
Conservation of cultural objects is a complex, specialist area, that requires a deep understanding of science subjects and humanities, as well as craft and practice-based project management. From our experience of teaching conservation for more than 50 years, and from expert industry feedback, we know that in order to gain the vast amount of specialist knowledge, skills and experience you need to forge a successful career as a conservator, you are best advised to study a three year BA (Hons) Conservation course before tackling MA level study in this subject.
Our MA course focuses on complex advanced level Conservation projects and sets out to equip graduates to go on to become leaders in the field. It is particularly relevant for those planning to work on ambitious, or large-scale conservation projects as specialists or project leaders and for those intending to work as experts in International contexts.
We are excited to announce that we have recently extended our Conservation Department by adding a new study area of Books & Paper Conservation with fully equipped studios and labs.
We can now, therefore, offer two MA Conservation advanced level programmes specialising in either 3D objects made of stone, wood, plaster, terracotta and a variety of decorative surfaces or book and paper conservation.
This one-year, full-time or two-year part-time course is validated by Arts University Bournemouth.
We also offer a one-year full-time or two-years part-time Graduate Diploma Arts: Conservation for students who are interested in taking our MA Conservation but need to enhance or upskill an area of practice or knowledge before embarking on this specialist postgraduate course.
If you are interested in postgraduate level study of Conservation please see the indicative information here and book a meeting or open day with Dr Marina Sokhan, Head of the Conservation Department, by emailing admissions@cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk