James Druzik

Conservation Scientist, The GCI Scientific Program

Photo: Dennis Keeley

Mr. Druzik studied chemistry at Santa Clara University, and it was there that he first became drawn to art. Art was, as he says, more exotic than chemistry. Though he continued his studies in science, he also found time for several art history courses, as well as a part-time job at the university's gallery.

After graduation, he was hired to do exhibition design at the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art. When industrialist and art collector Norton Simon took over the museum in 1974, Mr. Druzik became the sole in-house technical assistant to conservators employed on a contractual basis. In subsequent years he developed an expertise in the conservation of paper, and in 1980 was hired by the paper conservation department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Two years later he began working in conservation research for Dr. Pieter Meyers at LACMA. Prior to and during his tenure at LACMA, Mr. Druzik worked on his first major research project, a contract study with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. The study used digital image processing to do textural analysis of paintings, drawings, and bronzes.

In 1985 he joined the GCI with responsibilities for coordinating the outside research contracts of the Scientific Program. One important involvement since coming to the Institute has been his work with the Materials Research Society. In conjunction with the Society's annual spring conferences, he has helped organize three meetings concentrating on the materials science aspects of conservation. The papers produced by these meetings and the dialogue that has been established between materials research and conservation have made, he believes, a real contribution to conservation science.

This activity reflects a personal and professional passion of Mr. Druzik's—to help those in conservation reach out to the larger research community and the public at large.

Julie Radoyce

Librarian, The GCI Documentation Program

Photo: Dennis Keeley

The daughter of an Air Force officer, Ms. Radoyce had lived in four U.S. states before she was six. The frequent moving and varied environments became a source of inner strength that matured into a love of travel, a respect for different cultures, and a desire for new experiences. Working at the GCI in many ways satisfies these needs.

Ms. Radoyce earned her undergraduate degrees in art history and psychology from the University of California, Riverside, and later completed a master's degree in library and information science from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a focus on emerging information technologies. During and after her university education, she worked in a variety of libraries. She spent a year studying Italian art and architecture at the University of Padua, and a year in Paris working for the International Herald Tribune.

Ms. Radoyce was first hired by the GCI in 1989 as a user services coordinator for the Conservation Information Network, which disseminates information to the conservation community electronically. The work combined her interest in art and cultural heritage with her information science skills.

Early this year, Ms. Radoyce became head of the GCI Library. She is both excited by the possibilities this new role offers and challenged by the interdisciplinary nature of the field. A self-described library user advocate, Ms. Radoyce sees tremendous potential in new technologies such as CD-ROM, CDI, and electronic networks such as the Internet, and is particularly interested in making electronic databases more available to patrons. She plans to continue the work of her predecessors—creating a world-class conservation library—while further cultivating relations with other conservation libraries in an effort to provide greater international access to conservation literature.

For Ms. Radoyce, it is the mission of the Institute—to help preserve the world's cultural heritage—that makes it such an exciting and gratifying place to work.