Aaron Shugar
Professor and Bader Chair in Art Conservation
Department of Art History and Art Conservation
Research Interests
Aaron has wide ranging research interests related to the scientific analysis of art and archaeology. He has ongoing research towards the development of non-destructive techniques of analysis including X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), fibre optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), hyperspectral imaging, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Raman spectroscopy. Aaron ongoing research interests include historic artistâs pigments and their degradation pathways, and inorganic material sciences as applied toward the study of ancient metallurgy, ceramics, glazes, glasses. He also is interested in the technical history of artifacts and their manufacturing processes.
Biography
Aaron received his honours H.B.A. in Anthropology and Law & Society from York University and his M.S. in Archaeological Materials from The University of Sheffield. Aaron received his Ph.D. in Archaeometallurgy from University College London. He co-directed the Archaeometallurgy Laboratory at Lehigh University, was a guest scientist at NIST, and a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution. He serves on the Scientific Vetting Committee for TEFAF and as a forensic materials export for the Court of Arbitration for Art. Aaron was the Mellon Foundation Professor in Conservation Science at Buffalo State University, and he is currently the Bader Chair in Art Conservation at Queenâs University.
Selected Publications
2013, Shugar, A. and Simmons, S. Archaeometallurgy in Mesoamerica: Current Approaches and New Perspectives published by University Press of Colorado.
2012, Shugar, A. and Mass, J. Handheld XRF in Art and Archaeology published by Leuven University Press â Studies in Archaeological Sciences Series. Ed. P. Degryse.
2023, Jennifer Mass, Vanessa Sigalas, and Aaron Shugar âScientific Essay on the Shimmerman Collection of Meissen Porcelainsâ in All Walks of Life. A Journey with The Alan Shimmerman Collection - Meissen Porcelain Figures of the Eighteenth Century ed V. Sigalas and M. Chilton. Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt. Pg. 568-599.
2023, Shugar, Aaron N. and Mass, Jennifer âCompositional Analysis of Porcelain Pasteâ in All Walks of Life. A Journey with The Alan Shimmerman Collection - Meissen Porcelain Figures of the Eighteenth Century ed V. Sigalas and M. Chilton. Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt. Pg. 600-617.
2022, Anya Shutova, Adam Finnerfrock, Jennifer Mass, Rebecca Pollack, and Aaron Shugar âTable: Analysis of Pigments on the Barnes Foundationâs Paintings by Amedeo Modiglianiâ in Modigliani Up Close ed. Barbara Buckley, Simonetta Fraquelli, Nancy Ireson and Annette King. Yale University Press pg. 308-311.
2022, Drake, Lee B., Elizabeth Mayer, and Aaron N. Shugar. âUncertainty and pXRF Measurements.â In Advances in Portable X-Ray Spectrometry. Ed. Drake and B. McDonald. Royal Chemical Society. Pg. 447-489
2022, Drake, Lee B., Aaron N. Shugar, and Evan Kipnis. âArtificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and XRF.â InAdvances in Portable X-Ray Spectrometry. Ed. Drake and B. McDonald. Royal Chemical Society. Pg. 490-534.
2022, Jennifer Mass, Rebecca Pollak, Aaron Shugar, Adam C. Finnefrock, Silvia Centeno, and Isabelle Duvernois âScientific Study, Condition Challenges, and Attribution Questions in Yves Tanguyâs Oeuvreâ in Analytical Chemistry for the Investigation of Paintings and the Detection of Forgeries. Chapter 2, Pg. 47-94 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
2019, Lisa Young, Aaron N Shugar, Malcolm Collum, and Christina L. Simms âFinding a Suitable Method for Chloride Removal and Preservation Storage of Spacesuit Gloves at the National Air and Space Museumâ in Aluminum: History, Technology, and Conservation: Proceedings from the 2014 International Conference. (eds) Claudia Chemello, Malcolm Collum, Paul Mardikian, Joseph Sembrat, Lisa Young. Pg 65-70.
2018, Peters, N., Shugar, A., Skinner, L., Ploeger, R., & Ravines, P. âMicroscopic observations to track the behaviour of cyclododecane crystallisation and the effect of crystal formation on fragile porous substratesâ in âSubliming Surfaces: Volatile Binding Media in Heritage Conservationâ, ed. Christina Rozeik pp. 67-78.
2018, Hamm, J., J. J. Chen, A. Shugar, R. Ploeger and K. Harada âTechnical Analysis of the Painting Waterloo Bridge, Veiled Sun, 1903, by Claude Monetâ in Monet's Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process. Edited by N. Norwood. Rochester, RIT Press: 44-65.
2018, Shugar, A.N. âX-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of HM 1953â Chapter 9 in Real Fake: The Story of a Zapotec Urn. Edited by Justin Jennings and Adam T. Sellen. ROM Publications, Toronto. Pg. 176-189.
2018, Shugar, A.N. âExtractive metallurgy in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant: Assessment of copper ores from Abu Matarâ, in Ben-Yosef, E. and Goren, Y. (eds.): Mining for Copper: Essays in Honor of Professor Beno Rothenberg. Pg. 276-296.
2023, Jennifer L. Mass, Aaron Shugar, Adam C. Finnefrock, Satoko Tanimoto, Margaret Little, RenĂ©e Stein, and Ellen Archie, âSelenium-based black bronze treatment, as compared to other patination technologies of ancient and historic black bronzesâ in TECHNĂ. La science au service de lâhistoire de lâart et de la prĂ©servation des biens culturels, No 55 pg.64-74
2023, Murray, Alison, Biggs, Kyna, Shugar, Aaron, Ploeger, Rebecca, Uffelman, Erich, Stols-Witlox, Maartje, Gonzales, Patricia, Smith, Gregory D., Loubser, Maggi, LĂłpez, Laura Fuster, Di Pietro, Giovanna, Sah, Anupam, Nevin, Austin, Sardarli, Arzu, Wei, Shuya and Casanova-GonzĂĄlez, Edgar. "Conservation Science Education Online (CSEO) â A heritage science resource" Chemistry Teacher International 5, no. 3 (2023): 331-345.
2022, Beckett, F.; Shugar, A. âFollowing the Light: Use of Multimodal Imaging and Fiber Optic Spectroscopy to Evaluate Aging in Daylight Fluorescent Artistsâ Pigmentsâ. Colorants 2022, 1, 208-225.
2021, Shugar, A.N., Ploeger, R. and Lavelle, M. âA review of 50 years of teaching conservation science at SUNY Buffalo Stateâ in Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, DOI: 10.1080/01971360.2021.1928842.
2021, Shugar, A.N., Drake, B.L. & Kelley, G. Rapid identification of wood species using XRF and neural network machine learning. Sci Rep 11, 17533 .
2019, R. Ploeger, A. Shugar, G.D. Smith, V.J. Chen. âLate 19th century accounts of Indian yellow: The analysis of samples from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.â Dyes and Pigments, Vol. 160, Pages 418-431. ISSN 0143-7208,
2018, Chen, Jiuan Jiuan, Aaron Shugar, and Ashley Jehle. "Xâradiography of cultural heritage materials using handheld XRF spectrometers." XâRay Spectrometry;1-8. .
2017, Stephanie Spence, Takaaki Harada, Athanasios Margiolakis, Skylar Deckoff-Jones, James Hamm, Aaron Shugar, Keshav M. Dani, Anya Dani âApplicability of Femtosecond Lasers in the Cross-section Sampling of Works of Art.â MRS Advances, 2(33-34), 1801-1804. doi:10.1557/adv.2017.242â.
2017, Paige Schmidt, Aaron Shugar, Rebecca Ploeger. âAnalytical Observations Regarding Butvar B98 and Paraloid B72 Blends as a Suitable Adhesive in Hot Climatesâ MRS Advances, 2(35-36), 1927-1941. doi:10.1557/adv.2017.229.
2017, Rebecca Ploeger, Aaron Shugar. âThe story of Indian yellow â excreting a solutionâ Journal of Cultural Heritage. 24 (2017) pp. 197-205.
2017, Takaaki Harada, Stephanie Spence, Athanasios Margiolakis, Skylar Deckoff-Jones, Rebecca Ploeger, Aaron N. Shugar, James F. Hamm, Keshav M. Dani and Anya R. Dani. âObtaining Cross-Sections of Paint Layers in Cultural Artifacts Using Femtosecond Pulsed Lasersâ in Materials 10(2), 107; doi:.
2016 , Ploeger, R. and A. Shugar. "Where science meets art." Science 354(6314): 826-828.
2015, Heginbotham, A., Bassett, J., Bourgarit, D., Eveleigh, C., Glinsman, L., Hook, D., Smith, D., Speakman, R. J.,Shugar, A. and Van Langh, R. âThe Copper CHARM Set: a new set of certified reference materials for the standardization of quantitative X-ray fluorescence analysis of historic copper alloysâ in Archaeometry Vol 57, Issue 5 pg. 856-868.
2008, Porto, S., Shugar, A. âThe Effectiveness of Two Cationic Fixatives in Stabilizing Water-Sensitive Dye-Based Inks on Paperâ in The Book and Paper Group Annual vol 27: pg 63-69.
2005, R.R. Chromik, D.-N. Wang, A. Shugar, M.R. Notis and R.P. Vinci, "Mechanical properties of Au-Sn intermetallics", J. Mater. Res. August, Vol. 20, # 8. pg 2161-2172.