Call for proposals: Krill and Fiske Awards 2023

​​John Krill Advanced Research Award in Paper Conservation and Connoisseurship

and

Betty Fiske Professional Development Award in Asian or Contemporary Art Preservation

$1,000 each annually - Proposal due date February 24

These awards recognize the dynamic careers of John Krill and Betty Fiske, paper conservators and Educators. Both awards advance and strengthen scholarship and research opportunities for early career conservation professionals. We honor these two art conservation educators for their combined 48 years of teaching in our graduate program. 

Award Criteria

• The John Krill Advanced Research Award in Paper Conservation and Connoisseurship and The Betty Fiske Professional Development Award in Asian or Contemporary Art Preservation will be made to a current student or a WUDPAC graduate. 
  

• Award recipients will be selected annually, by the Krill-Fiske Scholarship Committee.  Parameters for selection include academic standing, commitment to conservation, project merit, plans for dissemination, service to the field, and financial need.  Recent graduates, within the past five years, will be given preference.
  

• Applicants must submit a detailed statement of intent, one letter of recommendation, a resume, and proposed budget.  All materials must be received as an electronic packet by February 24, 2023.  Late applications or incomplete application packets will not be considered. 
  

• Award recipients will be notified no later than March 30th. 
  

• A total of two $1,000 awards ($1,000 for each award) will be provided annually. Awards are payable to the recipient(s).  These are subject to withholding taxes (30%) for University of Delaware students.  If the recipient is no longer at the University, the University will submit a 1099 Form for tax purposes.
  

• The proposed grant project should be completed within a year of the award announcement. 
  

• Students may only receive this award once.
  

• Award recipient selection(s) will be made without regard to race, age, gender, religion, citizenship, political beliefs, employment status, or any other factor, which could constitute unfair or illegal discrimination. 
  

• Decisions of the Krill-Fiske Scholarship Committee are final in all matters related to the above practices. 
  

• Award recipients must submit a final summary report detailing how the award was used and results disseminated within 3 months after project or travel is completed.
  

• A completed application along with any associated documentation should be sent to: Krill-Fiske Scholarship Committee c/o Joan Irving at jirvin@winterthur.org. Please use Krill-Fiske Scholarship Application in the subject heading.
  

Donations to either fund would be most welcome and should be sent to:
University of Delaware, c/o Susan Behrens, Room 303 Old College, Newark, DE 19716-2515
 

Betty Fiske

Betty Fiske is an accomplished artist as well as paper conservator.  Betty began her career as a printer.  Before she discovered conservation, Betty obtained her Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts degrees, specializing in printmaking.  For a decade she worked in printing studios, taught printmaking, and curated print collections, including work on the catalogue raisonné for Robert Motherwell's prints. Betty was inspired to pursue conservation training by Marilyn Weidner with whom she worked prior to her acceptance in WUDPAC. Betty received her Master's of Science in Art Conservation and specialized in paper under paper conservator Anne Clapp's guidance.  From there she spent 11 years as a paper conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Betty devoted herself to Asian printmaking and paper studies, conducting research and leading many study trips to Japan and Southeast Asia, acquiring expertise that she generously shared with students and fellow conservators.  From 1992 through July 2008 she was paper conservator at Winterthur and an adjunct faculty member for WUDPAC.  According to one of her students "Betty supported, encouraged, inspired, and taken me under her wing from the beginning and essentially helped to shape my entire future.  I feel very humbled to have had the opportunity to have her as my mentor and realize that it would take a lifetime to attain the vast wealth of knowledge and experience that she has."

John Krill

John Krill retired in 2008 after 32 years of teaching and service as paper conservator for Winterthur and an adjunct faculty member for WUDPAC.  John received his Master of Arts in Art History from Penn State and a diploma in Conservation from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.  Before his long and distinguished career at Winterthur, he worked as assistant curator of Prints and Drawings and as paper conservator at the Baltimore Museum of Art (1971-73), and paper conservator at the National Gallery of Art (1973-76).  John has served as guest curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum (1987) for the exhibition English Artists' Paper: Renaissance to Regency; as guest lecturer in Durham, England at the 500th Anniversary of papermaking in Great Britain in 1988; and helped plan the program for the 1999 international conference Looking at Paper: Evidence & Interpretation held in Toronto. He was co-organizer of the international group Training & Education in Paper Conservation that has met annually since 2003. John authored the landmark book, English Artists' Paper, now in its second edition (2002).  John recently received the AIC Sheldon and Caroline Keck Award for teaching excellence.  One of his students, best summarizes that “John Krill epitomizes that rare mixture of talent, passion, and intellect governed by integrity and authentic love for the field." ​