Category: Emerging Conservation Professionals

As incoming Chair, I am pleased to introduce the officers of the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network for the 2018-2019 term.

ECPN is grateful for the dedication and service of our outgoing officers Alyssa Rina and Emma Schmitt; our Regional, Graduate Program, Specialty Group, and Committee liaisons; and our outgoing Chair, Rebecca Gridley. We wish you all the best and hope to see you involved in future AIC and ECPN initiatives!

Meet the 2018-19 Officers:

Kari Rayner, Chair

Kari graduated with a BA in Art History and a second major in Art Theory and Practice from Northwestern University. She holds an MA in Art History and Advanced Certificate in Art Conservation with a specialization in paintings conservation from the Conservation Center, the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Kari interned during her graduate studies at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne, Germany; and Modern Art Conservation in New York, NY. She completed a post-graduate internship at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, Cambridge University from 2015-2016 and has since returned to the National Gallery of Art as a Mellon Fellow in Paintings Conservation. Kari previously served ECPN as Vice Chair (2017-18) and Webinar Coordinator (2016-17).

Evelyn (Eve) Mayberger, Vice Chair

Eve holds a B.A. in Art History with a concentration in Asian Art from Wesleyan University (2010). In 2016, Eve graduated with a M.A. and M.S. degrees in art history and conservation at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University where she specialized in objects conservation. She has worked in the conservation departments of the Olin Library at Wesleyan University, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Historic Odessa Foundation, Small Collections Library at the University of Virginia, National Museum of the American Indian, Worcester Art Museum, and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (fourth-year internship). In addition to museum work, Eve has participated in excavations at Sardis (Turkey), Selinunte (Sicily), Abydos (Egypt), and el Kurru (Sudan). Currently, Eve is the Mellon Fellow at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She previously served for ECPN as Outreach Co-Officer (2016-18).

Kat Fanning, Professional Education and Training Co-Officer

Kat is currently a Preservation Associate and Archivist at the Center for Jewish History. She holds a BA in Art History with a minor in Chemistry from Southern Connecticut State University. Kat completed her MSLIS with certification in Conservation and Digital Curation from Pratt Institute’s School of Information in December of 2017, and was awarded the Pratt Circle and Outstanding Merit awards. This will be Kat’s second year serving ECPN.

Quinn Morgan Ferris, Professional Education and Training Co-Officer

Quinn is the Senior Conservator for Special Collections at the University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign. She started there as the Rare Book Conservator in 2016, where she continues to be responsible for the conservation treatment of rare and unique bound library materials. She is also an adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois School of Information Sciences. Quinn was an Andrew W. Mellon Graduate Fellow in Library and Archives Conservation, and graduated with a MA in Arts History and an Advanced Certificate in the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center. Quinn has been a member of AIC as well as the Guild of Book Workers since 2011. This will be her first year serving ECPN.

Jen Munch, Webinar Coordinator

Jen holds a BFA in Fine Art, awarded jointly by the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University. Jen is currently a graduate fellow in the Buffalo State program in Art Conservation, specializing in the conservation of paintings. Jen has interned or worked in the conservation departments of The Phillips Collection, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, the private practice Rika Smith-McNally and Associates, and the Conservation & Maintenance Program of the Cambridge, MA Arts Council.

This summer, Jen is conserving easel paintings and John LaFarge murals within the private practice Gianfranco Pocobene Studios. In the Fall, Jen will begin a year-long graduate internship at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. This is Jen’s second year serving as ECPN’s Webinar Coordinator. Previously, Jen served as an ECPN Regional Liaison to Boston (2015-16).

Caitlin Richeson, Outreach Co-Officer

Caitlin holds a BFA in Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the Maryland Institute College of Art (2012). She is currently a graduate fellow in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, majoring in objects conservation with a minor in preventive conservation. She has completed internships or contracting work with Glenstone, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Navel History and Heritage Command’s Archaeology and Conservation Lab. Currently, she is completing a summer internship with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which will be followed by internships at the Stedelijk Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. This is Caitlin’s second year serving as the Outreach Co-officer.

Marci Jefcoat Burton, Outreach Co-Officer

Marci Jefcoat Burton holds a BA in Forensic Chemistry and a Minor in Art History from California State University, Sacramento, and she graduated with an MA in Conservation from the UCLA/Getty Conservation of Archeological and Ethnographic Materials program in 2018. Marci is currently interning with the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum). Other experience includes the technical analysis of synthetic polymeric materials with the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute (MCI), treatment of polyurethane (PUR) foam with the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM), as well as the research and treatment of painting, textile, paper, photograph, and ethnographic objects with the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, and various private conservators in San Francisco.

J. Riley Cruttenden, Communications Co-Officer

Riley holds a B.F.A. in Sculpture from Ohio State University (OSU). After working with Blick Art Materials, Riley returned to OSU as a graduate teaching associate in the history of architecture while pursuing pre-requisites for art conservation. At OSU Riley also worked to coordinate undergraduate research events for the university and contributed to research in mass spectrometry with the Badu Research Group. In 2017 Riley graduated from the University of Glasgow master’s program in Technical Art History, where he was the recipient of a 2016-17 US-UK Fulbright Award. He has completed internships with Ohio State University Libraries, the Glasgow School of Art, the Rijksmuseum, and the National Museum of the American Indian. He is currently a pre-program intern based in Columbus, Ohio.

Candace Kang, Communications Co-Officer

Candace holds a B.A. in the History of Art with a Museums Concentration from Smith College. She is currently a Conservation Technician for Special Collections at the Harvard Library’s Weissman Preservation Center, and has completed internships at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. As an undergraduate, she worked extensively in the frame conservation lab of the Smith College Museum of Art and has treated historic frames from a variety of collections across New England, including the Emily Dickinson Museum and the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. Previously, Candace served as the Boston Regional Liaison for ECPN.

AIC Board and AIC Staff Liaisons:

Molly Gleeson, AIC Board Director for Professional Education

Molly is the Schwartz Project Conservator at the Penn Museum. Since 2012 Molly has worked in the museum’s open conservation lab, “The Artifact Lab: Conservation in Action.” In the Artifact Lab, she treats artifacts in full public view, interacts with museum visitors daily, blogs about the ongoing work in the lab, and regularly gives presentations about conservation. In addition to the outreach in the Artifact Lab, Molly is currently working as a project conservator for the Penn Museum’s Egyptian Galleries reinstallation project. Molly completed her M.A. in 2008 at the UCLA/Getty Master’s Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials. Molly is a Professional Associate member of AIC and has been the Board Director for Professional Education since 2017. She previously served as a co-chair of the Archaeological Discussion Group (ADG) from 2016-2018 and as the Chair of the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) from 2011-2013.

Kate Lee, AIC Outreach Coordinator

Katelin joined the AIC team in May 2015 and after roles in meetings, membership, and marketing, now serves as FAIC’s Outreach Coordinator. She promotes awareness of the conservation field within the public and provides membership with opportunities to reach new audiences. She also manages AIC’s social media presence and assists with content creation, development, advertising sales, and community management. Katelin has experience in a variety of fields, including technology research, textile and garment design, and elementary education. She is a graduate of the College of William and Mary with a BA in History and Theatre and holds a master’s degree from New York University in Visual Culture and Costume Studies. This is her third year serving as ECPN’s staff liaison.

Sincere thanks once again to ECPN’s 2017-18 officers, who have shown great dedication, effort, and teamwork in furthering ECPN’s mission this past term! We have a number of new initiatives we will be pursuing further during the 2018-19 term, and we hope that our ongoing projects will continue to provide valuable resources for pre-program candidates, graduate students, and emerging conservation professionals.

This blog post series will look at United States citizens who trained abroad and are currently practicing conservation in the US. The goal of these interviews is twofold: to provide pre-program students with a starting point for understanding international training through a range of student perspectives and to bring awareness of overseas conservation training programs to conservators practicing in the United States. It is the hope that the discussion of international training will answer questions and start an open dialog of the challenges and benefits of training abroad.

This blog series takes the form of interviews with established and emerging conservators who have trained abroad. Each interviewee offers their personal and professional perspective. So, while themes are apparent throughout these interviews, no single interview can summarize all the challenges and rewards of international training.

These interviews do not reflect the opinions of AIC or the training programs being discussed. The series has been created to reflect a range of experiences, and the personal accounts will not reflect the views of all students from any specific program.

What is Your Name, Specialty and Current position?

 My name is Sean Belair. I am an Assistant Conservator in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Arms and Armor. I am an objects conservator, but I have primarily specialized in the conservation of arms, armor, and related material.

Why did you pick your specialty?

My specialty picked me. Since I was a child, I have always had an interest in the Middle Ages, material history, and archaeology in general. I also loved making things and working with my hands. Until I discovered conservation, I always thought those would be separate pursuits. Arms and armor conservation combines my greatest passions into a single profession.

Can you describe your training pathway?

 I went to college to study Medieval and Renaissance history. While searching for history internships for my sophomore summer, I came across a pre-program internship in the conservation of arms and armor at the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts. On day one of this internship, I knew conservation was the career for me.

The conservator I worked with at the Higgins had started twenty years prior and trained on the job; many people he had worked with during that time had not gone through a conservation program, either. Believing the ‘apprentice’ route was the best way to achieve my goals, I continued to pursue pre-program internships. By the time I realized that you could no longer become a conservator without an MA, I was already into my junior year. As a history major, there was no way I could meet the course requirements for the US programs without essentially getting another BA. Another conservator, who now happens to be the Met’s Armorer and my direct supervisor, recommended I look into programs abroad, as he had received an MSc in archaeological conservation from University College London.

When I was looking at programs in England, the University of Lincoln jumped out. Lincoln focuses on the conservation of historic objects, as opposed to archaeology or fine arts, and they take hands-on training very seriously. Students start treating objects their first week.

The general philosophy of the program is that graduates will probably go on to work in, or for, the historic houses of the UK and should be prepared to work on every type of material inside the house, including the building itself. Lincoln has a commercial wing that specializes in historic interiors. While I wanted to focus on metal objects specifically, arms and armor, like many museum objects, are mixed-media. All programs address mixed-media, but I felt that at Lincoln it was a major part of the curriculum.

The Lincoln program was also a two year program. Lincoln has a BA program, so the MA is only one additional year if you have done the undergraduate training. For people who received a BA in other fields, like me, they offer a one year Graduate Diploma course to catch you up with the MA. So, in two years (1 year GD + 1 year MA) I walked away with an MA in objects conservation, whereas similar programs required three years. In my mind, I was able to enter the workforce a year earlier, with a year’s less tuition. As I had hands-on pre-program experience and had taken the “Chemistry for Conservators” correspondence course, I didn’t feel like I would be overwhelmed by the condensed program or unprepared after graduation.

After Lincoln, I worked on outdoor sculpture for the New York City Parks Department, first as a summer intern, then staying on for another major project. It was during this time I applied for a Summer Graduate Internship in Arms and Armor Conservation at the Met, which I was awarded.

After a year of semi-employment and volunteering, I was awarded a Met Fellowship in Arms and Armor Conservation, which was subsequently renewed for another year. Just before the end of my second fellowship, our senior conservator (The Armorer) announced his retirement after 43 years with the museum. His retirement created an opening in the department, which I gratefully filled.

What were the advantages of your program of choice: Personal/Professional

I feel the ‘historic house’ approach, stressing mixed-media objects, has thoroughly prepared me for my career. In my work I have come across some very unusual combinations of materials and conditions, and I have never felt unprepared. I can’t say I’ve always known the right treatment or course of action, but I’ve always known where to start, and more importantly, when to stop.

While Lincoln wants you to be prepared for everything, they are very accommodating of specialties. One student, for example, chose to specialize in restoring ship models, and the lecturers found models for him to treat; another classmate decided she wanted to focus on textiles, so one of the lecturers built her a suction-table out of Cor-X, duct tape, and a vacuum. Both students went on to work in their chosen specialty.

The program did a particularly good job of preparing students to deal with display and storage environments. The course anticipates students will be working in unideal conditions with limited resources and teaches the students to find creative solutions to stabilizing environments. To reinforce the lectures and readings, all MA’s must do a survey of a historic structure in Lincoln including monitoring temperature, humidity, and light-levels through changing seasons, and make recommendations on improving the stability of the environment.

While I attended Lincoln, we were in an 18^th century former hospital turned seminary, turned lab. It was atmospheric, but cramped and poorly laid out. The program has since moved into a brand new building shared with the art department. The lecturers were able to custom design the conservation space before construction even began. I was able to visit a couple of years ago, and it is a beautiful facility. The students also have access to the new art studios and have designated times where they are encouraged to practice manufacturing techniques like jewelry making and carpentry.

The tuition for the program is less than at other universities, and the cost of living in Lincoln is low. Additionally, Lincoln is only a two-year program instead of three, further reducing cost.

What were the disadvantages of your program of choice: Personal/Professional

 I would say that one disadvantage is that Lincoln is a young program. Most conservators have heard of it, but it does not yet carry the cache of University College London or New York University. Being a young program also means there are fewer Lincoln alumni to network with, particularly in the US; where, to my knowledge, I am the only Lincoln alum.

While the two-year program worked for me, it might not be right for everyone. The structure only provides the summer between the GD and the MA to have a placement/internship before graduation. If you do not have any pre-program experience, then you are putting a lot of pressure on that one summer for building your resume and portfolio.

Of course, two years studying in England is two years away from friends and family. I was fortunate to have a very supportive girlfriend, now wife, and things like Skype and FaceTime make the distance easier, but it is still distance. That said, away is away, regardless of the country. I can’t say attending Buffalo, at the opposite end of my home state, would have been much easier than Lincoln.

There is, of course, the financial component. Going to school in England is not free and flights are expensive. It made sense for me because I wouldn’t have been eligible for the endowed American programs without spending significant time and money continuing to take undergraduate classes.

What advice do you have for pre-programmers considering a similar path

Picking a program is an important decision; you will spend several years there, after all, but it will not make or break your career. Your career will be defined by equal of parts hard work and dumb luck – comforting, I know. So my advice isn’t about picking a program, but planning ahead.

Start working on your portfolio as soon as possible. This will be what defines you to a potential employer. Get a good camera if you can and learn to take well-lit, in-focus pictures (though I’ve gotten good pictures with just my iPhone). Take lots of photos of everything you work on, and have other people take photos of every type of activity you perform. A portfolio or website is only as strong as the images it contains, and it is very easy to forget to take them or inadvertently get bad photos; either way, you will be pulling your hair out when you’re trying to put your material together.

A potential employer will Google you, so having a website and/or a ‘curated’ social media feed is a great way to promote yourself. I never made a website, but I believe it will be a must-have going forward.