The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) is very excited to welcome our new officers as of the 41st AIC Annual Meeting. Following is a brief introduction to each new officer.
Eliza Spaulding – Chair
Eliza Spaulding is the current Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Paper Conservation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 2010, she graduated from the Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University with an Advanced Certificate in Conservation and a Master’s Degree in Art History. From 2011-2013, she served as the ECPN Vice Chair, and is thrilled to be serving as the Chair this year. She is passionate about advocacy for conservation and the arts.
Megan Salazar-Walsh – Vice Chair
Megan Salazar-Walsh is a third year student specializing in paintings at the Buffalo State College graduate program in Art Conservation. She will be dividing her third-year internship between the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, in The Hague. Megan served as ECPN’s Co-Outreach Officer from 2011-2013 and as the new Vice Chair she is looking forward to working with both emerging and established conservation professionals to create more resources for career development.
Saira Haqqi – Outreach
Saira Haqqi is a second-year student in the New York University graduate program in Art History and Conservation, where she is an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Library and Archives Conservation. She received her pre-program training at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., and Quarto Conservation of Books and Paper, Maryland. Having served as a student liaison for ECPN over the past year, Saira is excited to begin serving as Co-Outreach Officer.
Carrie McNeal – Outreach
Carrie McNeal will complete her Masters in Conservation of Library and Archival Materials from the Winterhtur/ University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in August 2013. She is currently completing her third year internship at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. After graduation, Carrie will return to her hometown of St. Louis, MO, to serve the area as a private conservator. Carrie is excited to serve as ECPN Co-Outreach Officer.
Michelle Sullivan – Professional Education and Training
Michelle Sullivan is a second-year fellow at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) specializing in the conservation of works on paper. She has completed internships with the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Lunder Conservation Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Prior to her current position as ECPN Professional Education and Training Co-officer, she served as Regional Liaison to Southern California and Graduate Program Liaison to WUDPAC. Michelle is enthusiastic about conservation outreach and working collaboratively with allied fields.
Ayesha Fuentes – Professional Education and Training
Ayesha Fuentes is finishing her second year at the UCLA/Getty MA Program in the Conservation of Archeaological and Ethnographic Materials. Next year she will be working at internships in Bhutan and Cambodia. Ayesha has a BA from Williams College and an MA from Tufts University. Her research interests include the management of cultural heritage in disaster-relief and post-conflict situations, and the conservation of ritual objects from Buddhist and other South Asian traditions. Last year, Ayesha co-founded the Graduate Symposium for Students of Conservation and Preservation (GSSCP) and, in collaboration with Indigo Arts Alliance, established the Denese L. Easterly Conservation Training Pre-Program Grant.
Kendall Trotter – Communications
Kendall Trotter is pre-program with a BA in Art History from Tufts University and a BFA in studio arts from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has completed pre-program training at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, MA and is currently a pre-program intern at the Cincinnati Art Museum in Cincinnati, OH. Kendall is preparing to apply to graduate programs for Fall 2014. She is excited to serve as Co-Communications officer this year.
Fran Ritchie – Communications
Fran Ritchie completes her MA and CAS degree in Art Conservation from Buffalo State College in the fall of 2013. She has been a Third Year Intern at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, and after graduation will be relocating to Washington, D.C. to be an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Objects Conservation at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian. In addition to her focus on Native American objects (especially organic materials), Fran also has a strong interest in natural science and is on the Conservation Committee of the Society for Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC).
Anisha Gupta – Webinars
Anisha Gupta starts her first year at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in the fall of 2013. She has completed her pre-program training at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, University of Illinois Library Conservation Unit, and Indianapolis Museum of Art. She served as ECPN Co-Outreach Officer from 2011-2013. Anisha is passionate about conservation outreach and plans to draw on that enthusiasm as the ECPN Webinar Coordinator.
This post is just a brief introduction to who we are, but you can also follow ECPN’s ongoing projects right here on the AIC blog and on our Facebook page.
Skip to content
AIC Blog Archives: Conservators Converse
Former Blog of the American Institute for Conservation