Jiuan Jiuan Chen, C.A.S.

Professor Chen’s career focus is in Conservation Imaging / Technical Examination and Documentation which started during her graduate studies at Buffalo State's art conservation program. Her Master’s Project focused on various technical photographic techniques to document photographic materials. Her design for photo documentation targets eventually evolved to become AIC PhD targets which are used widely in the field of conservation. Through this project, Professor Chen developed a strong interest in UV Photography which led to another target design and the award of a US patent “Fluorescent Color Calibrator for Calibrating RGB Pixel Values”, co-authored with Paul Messier. Target UV™ and UV Gray™ were manufactured based on this patent. 

Professor Chen has taught many UV workshops nationally and internationally since 2011. Her recent workshops focused on technical imaging with modified UV-VIS-IR DSLR cameras. She is also involved in education in Taiwan, giving workshops on preserving photograph collections for museum professionals and conservation graduate students in Taiwan. 

Professor Chen enjoys exploring new approaches and testing new tools to streamline the workflow and efficacy of various imaging techniques with the safety of the artifacts and operators in mind. Her most recent study focused on whether the dosage of UVA or x-rays used during the imaging process can affect the long-term preservation of cellulosic materials, with research being conducted at the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (IPCH) at Yale University in the academic year 2019 to 2020.

Before joining the faculty of Buffalo State, she worked as a photograph conservator and then as the Assistant Director for Conservation Education of the Museum’s Advanced Residency Program in Photograph Conservation at the George Eastman House funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She was also a conservator at Paul Messier, LLC in Boston, Massachusetts.

Selected Publications

Conservation Imaging:
Jiuan Jiuan Chen and Theresa Smith, “Documentation of Salted Paper Prints with a Modified Digital Camera,” Journal of American Institute for Conservation, Special Issue, published online on October 3, 2019.  https://doi.org/10.1080/01971360.2019.1643527

James Hamm, Aaron Shugar, Rebecca Ploeger, and Kathryn Harada, “Technical Analysis of the Painting Waterloo Bridge: Veiled Sun by Claude Monet 1903,” in Monet’s Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process, exhibition catalogue, exhibition at Memorial Art Gallery, Oct 7 – Jan. 6, 2019.  https://www.rit.edu/press/monets-waterloo-bridge

Jiuan Jiuan Chen, Aaron Shugar, and Ashley Jehle, “X-Radiography of Cultural Heritage Materials Using Handheld XRF Spectrometers,” X-Ray Spectrometry, Special Issue Article, May/June 2018.  https://doi.org/10.1002/xrs.2947

“Characterization of a Surface Tarnish Found on Daguerreotypes Revealed under Shortwave Ultraviolet Radiation,” co-authored with Aaron Shugar and Krista Lough, Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, vol. 1656, 2014. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/mrs-online-proceedings-library-archive/article/abs/characterization-of-a-surface-tarnish-found-on-daguerreotypes-revealed-under-shortwave-ultraviolet-radiation/DF4CA02F15F9031CC86E429857248B95

Photograph Conservation:
Program Evaluation of Photograph Collection Preservation Workshop (攝影文物保存維護研習營成果專輯), with various authors, published by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan, January 2017

“Recommendations for Conservation of Photographic Materials,” Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts bi-monthly periodical, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Vol. 52, published in October 2013

“Treatment Challenges in Photograph Conservation,” Retrospect and Prospect: Post-Prints Conservation of Cultural Relics Academic Seminar, National Taiwan Museum, 2012

“Preservation System for Housing Bare Plate Daguerreotypes”, co-authored with Mark Beeman, Topics in Photographic Preservation Vol. 14, 2011

“A Remoistenable Adhesive Paper for Binding Daguerreotype Plate Packages”, The Daguerreian Annual 2009/2010

“Reversible Mounting Techniques for the Display of Large-Format Contemporary Photograph”, co-authored with Rosina Herrera, Ralph Wiegandt, Patrick Ravines, Sylvie Pénichon and Marsha Sirven Topics in Photographic Preservation Vol. 12, 2007

“Coating on the Photographs by Ansel Adams”, co-authored with Gary Albright, a paper in the book Coatings on Photographs, 2006

“Treatment of Wax Impregnated Paper Negatives”, co-authored with Kate Jennings and Gary Albright, a paper in the book Coatings on Photographs, 2006

“Management and Preservation Methods of Photographs for Archival Collections”, co-authored with Shu-tze Hou, published by the National Archives in Taiwan, 2004

“The Evaluation of Surface Change of Silver Gelatin Prints Under the Influence of Wetting/Drying/Flattening”, research paper for the fellowship at the Advanced Residency Program in Photograph Conservation at George Eastman House, 2003