The McCune Collection Calendar Mobile

The McCune Collection Presents the Spring 2010 Lecture Series

Sunday, March 21st, 2:00PM
Mark Dushkes

Preserving Japanese screens

Join Mark Dushkes for a slide show presentation and special hands-on demonstration of the restoration, repair and preservation of Japanese folding screens. Audience members are welcome to bring screens and/or scrolls for a non-appraisal evaluation by our speaker. Mark Aaron Dushkes, owner of Aaron Studios, studied Japanese history and language in college including a year studying in Tokyo. After many years working with Asian antiques he was fortunate in being offered a traditional apprenticeship in 1986. He trained for 2 years in Ohara, a small town outside of Kyoto Japan, in the studio of a master restorer. After his apprenticeship he returned to California in 1988 to found Aaron Studios. For the past 10 years he has been working in the traditional way repairing and restoring screens (byobu) single panels (gaku) and standing panels (tsuitate). Find more about the history of Japanese Screens at: www.screenrepair.com.

Sunday, April 18th, 2:00PM
Mel Ahlborn

In this richly illustrated 90-minute lecture, manuscript illuminator Mel Ahlborn reviews 'The Red Book' by Carl G. Jung (W. W. Norton, 2009) Ahlborn's talk will highlight the book's history, drawing upon material from Jungian scholar Sonu Shamdasani. She discusses the book designs and page layouts seen in Jung's original manuscript and in the Norton 2009 print edition, and concludes with an analysis of Jung's calligraphic hands, drawing techniques, and major illuminations. An aerospace engineer who became an artist, Mel Ahlborn specializes in historic production techniques for manuscript illumination, from which she draws inspiration for her modern and multimedia fine art. Ahlborn is principle of Illumination Studio, an artists' studio in San Francisco's East Bay serving museums, film companies, academic institutions and private clients since 1989. Her work is shown throughout the United States, including The Getty Center Los Angeles, the Palace of the Legion of Honor San Francisco, and the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Reach Ahlborn at mahlborn@illuminationstudio.org and follow her on Twitter @illumination1.

Sunday, May 23rd, 2:00PM
William A. Porter

Photographer William Porter returns to the McCune to share his vision of the vital role of archival photography in recording and preserving historical building sites. Mr. Porter’s diverse commissions include the Earl Warren Building in San Francisco, Bay Meadows Racetrack, the Oakland and Berkeley public libraries and Agnews State Hospital in Santa Clara County. His archival prints are held by the Library of Congress, the Historic American Building Survey, and by numerous state and municipal historical societies. His remarkable work is showcased in a recently published limited edition soft cover book, Stones and Steel: Restoring the Home of the California Supreme Court, 1989-1998. Reconstructive work that began after the Loma Prieta earthquake was documented by Porter as it progressed during the 10-year hiatus needed for the rebuilding and renovation of the historic State Office Building in San Francisco’s Civic Center, headquarters of the highest court in the state and home of the largest judicial system in the nation. William@williamporter.com