SPEAKERS
Soledad Abarca
Conservator specialized in Photographs, working since 1996 in different institutions in Chile. In 2008 obtained her Master’s degree in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management at Ryerson University (Toronto, Canada) and Museum of Photography and Film at the George Eastman House (Rochester, NY. USA). Ms. Abarca’s most relevant experience has been in the field of photographic collections management, working on storage and housing planning for large photo collections as well as other special materials as well as digitization and cataloging processes for the collections access. She has also been involved in numerous projects for the safeguarding and dissemination of documentary heritage. Since 2001 she has been teaching in several undergraduate and diploma programs of her area of expertise. From 1993 to 2006 she participated in several photographic conservation projects in the Centro Nacional del Patrimonio Fotográfico. Since 2008 she works at the National Library of Chile as the Head of the Photographic and AudiovisualCollection. Since 2013, she is a member of the Chilean Committee for the Memory of the World Program and Director of IFLA Pac Centre in Chile.
Jessica Betz Abel
Jessica Betz Abel (she/her) is a Project Conservator at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. She was previously the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University specializing in objects conservation. She has worked as a conservator at the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Jessica earned her M.S. from Columbia University in architectural conservation. Additionally, she has participated in archeological excavations at Gordion, Turkey and Samothrace, Greece.
Lisa Ackerman
Lisa Ackerman was brought on as Associate Conservator at The Art Institute of Chicago in 2020 specifically for the treatment of the Grinling Gibbons Overmantel from the house at Cassiobury Park, Hertfordshire, England ca 1675-80. Lisa received her MA/CAS from the Garmin Art Conservation Department at SUNY Buffalo State College in 2017. In 2016 she also completed the ICCROM International Course on Wood Conservation Technology in Oslo, Norway; and the Examination of Transparent Coatings on Furniture and Wooden Objects course given through HAWK HHG and the Hornemann Institute in Hildesheim, Germany. She has worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, as well as private furniture conservation firms Period Furniture Conservation, and Fine Wood Conservation. Her experience includes internships at the Brooklyn Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and The Met.
Shirin Afra
After graduating with a thesis in History of Contemporary Art in 2001 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, she earns her master’s degree in 2004 in Restoration and Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the School of Higher Education of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, with a thesis in Restoration of Ceramic and Vitreous Materials concerning Madonna and Child, a sculpture by Luca della Robbia the Younger realized in painted and glazed ceramic. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with important museums, institutions and foundations throughout the country, working as restorer, courier and registrar in the setting up of exhibitions. Since 2018, she has been the Senior Conservator of the Department of Restoration of Ceramic, Plastic and Vitreous Materials at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, where she also lectures. Shirin lives and works in Florence (Italy).
Nicky Agate
Nicky Agate is Snyder-Granader Assistant University Librarian for Research Data & Digital Scholarship and leads the University of Pennsylvania Libraries team supporting faculty and students whose research makes intensive use of digital methods and tools, including research data across the disciplines. She is developing the Libraries' future Center for Research Data and Digital Scholarship--a hub for textual and data analysis, data curation, data visualization, geographic information systems, software creation and management, and web platform design. Nicky holds a doctorate in French literature from New York University; a Master of Fine Arts in literary translation from the University of Iowa; and a Bachelor’s degree in English and French literatures from the University of Glasgow, and she has completed professional courses in UX design and methods in the digital humanities.
Tessa de Alarcon
Tessa de Alarcon has been a Project Conservator at the Penn Museum since 2012. She received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2004 where she majored in studio art and minored in archaeology, and her M.A. from the UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials in 2012. She has done fieldwork in Turkey, Guatemala, and Azerbaijan, and she has also taught workshops in Guatemala on documentation and archaeological conservation.
Austin Anderson
Austin is the current Conservation Fellow at Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland. He is a 2020 graduate of the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program and specializes in objects conservation. Some of Austin’s previous conservation internships were held at the Africa Museum in Brussels, Belgium, at the Watts Towers project with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California, and The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
Sasha Arden
Sasha Arden is the Rachel and Jonathan Wilf & Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Time-Based Media Conservation at NYU’s Conservation Center, completing their fourth year internship with the Museum of Modern Art and Tate Modern. Having been involved in arts production, installation, and management throughout their career, sasha embraces the long-term thinking and development of appropriate stewardship practices in conservation while being informed by practical experience. Their ongoing research examines the intersection of technical capabilities and the philosophical and ethical questions arising through the conservation process, often questioning conventional approaches in pursuit of a holistic approach to the integrity of cultural assets.
Rachael Perkins Arenstein
Rachael Perkins Arenstein is a partner in A.M. Art Conservation, LLC a private practice in the New York area with a specialization in preventive care. She has implemented and conducted IPM programs in institutions of various sizes in the U.S. and abroad. She worked on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian Move Project and its extensive pest management program from 2001-2004. She is a founding member and current Co-Chair of the Integrated Pest Management Working Group which created and supports the www.museumpests.net website and the PestList listserv. She has held positions at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, NMAI, the Peabody Museum of Art & Archaeology, the American Museum of Natural History amongst others. Her conservation degree is from the Institute of Archaeology, University of London.
Wolfgang Baatz
Wolfgang Baatz MA / conservation-restoration, MSc / chemistry, is professor and head of the Institute for Conservation-Restoration at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Numerous research activities, often in the context of teaching; project consultancy; co-founder (1997) and Chairman (from 2010) of ENCoRE (European Network for Conservation-Restoration Education).
Alessandra Bassi
Alessandra is the co-author for Study and restoration treatment of a collage by Giulio Turcato: from precision mild heat transfer using IMAT nanotechnology to novel sustainable methods and strategies for consolidation and reintegration.
Geert Bauwens
Geert Bauwens, founder and project lead at CHARP Art Care and a post-doc at KU Leuven, is an engineer and architect with a decade of experience in building physics and data science. He completed a Master’s degree in Applied Sciences and Engineering: Architecture. After completing his architecture internship, he did a PhD on measuring and analyzing the actual energy performance of buildings. He was closely involved in several international IEA research projects and wrote a syllabus on indoor air quality for secondary school students. Geert is passionate about building intuitive and effective solutions to monitor and improve indoor climate and energy use.
Elizabeth Beesley
Elizabeth Beesley is an objects conservator and began working at the Museum in 2017. She holds an MEng in Materials Science from the University of Oxford, an MA in Principles of Conservation, and an MSc in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums, both from University College London. As a graduate student, she interned at the Science Museum in London and English Heritage. After completing a post-graduate fellowship in conservation and scientific research at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC, she worked for private conservation firms, focusing on the treatment of sculpture, museum collections, and industrial and aerospace artifacts. At the National Air and Space Museum, Elizabeth carries out conservation treatments and technical analysis on a range of materials and artifact types. She works with curators, conservators, and exhibits and restoration specialists to prepare objects for display and loan.
Vincent Laudato Beltran
Vincent Laudato Beltran is an Associate Scientist at the Getty Conservation Institute. His research and teaching efforts focus on environmental management, advancing microfader testing practice, and assessments of packing crate performance during transit.
Ximena Bernal
I have a MA and a specialization degree in Cultural Studies and a Bachelor degree in Conservation and Restoration of movable cultural heritage. My professional experience refers to areas related to conservation/restoration as well to the development and evaluation of projects, research, exhibitions and editorial coordination of publications related to cultural heritage. As an art conservator, I have always been interested in conservation theory and values in cultural heritage, because I think they are the bases of a critical practice. I think that nowadays (more than ever), conservators must be at their disposal to examine and comprehend social contexts widely, and to approach history from a very critical perspective.
James Bernstein
James Bernstein is a Conservator of Paintings & Mixed-Media in freelance practice in San Francisco, CA. A graduate of the High School of Music & Art (NYC), Brandeis University, and the Cooperstown (now Buffalo) Graduate Program, Jim was Conservator / Co-Director of Conservation for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for fifteen years. With co-instructor Debra Evans and on his own, Jim has lectured extensively and taught color and loss compensation to hundreds of conservators attending the encyclopedic “Mastering Inpainting” workshops. James Bernstein is a recipient of the 2007 Sheldon and Caroline Keck AIC Award, recognizing a sustained record of excellence in the education and training of conservation professionals.
Anikó Bezur
Anikó is the co-author of Application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for micro-sampling-based elemental analysis of cultural heritage objects and the co-author of Pushing the Limits – The Portable Laser Ablation Micro-Sampling Technique and its Application in Cultural Heritage and the co-author Identification of mahogany and look-alike woods in 18th- and 19th-century furniture using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS).
Lorraine Bigrigg
Lorraine Bigrigg is Partner and Senior Conservator at Studio TKM Associates, Inc., a private practice devoted to the conservation of works on paper including fine art, historic works, Asian paintings and prints, and the decorative arts for institutional and private clients. Lorraine is a Professional Associate of AIC. She received her Master in Art Conservation from Queens’s University.
Linda A. Blaser
Linda A. Blaser began work in book conservation by participating in a training program at the Library of Congress from 1973-1978. She worked in private practice from 1978-1992 for many major museums and libraries in the Baltimore/Washington DC area. She was the senior book conservator at the Folger Shakespeare Library from 1993-2003. She was the National Preservation Officer for Regional Records at the National Archives and Records Administration from 2003-2008. And from 2008-2017, she was a National Park Service Associate Manager for Harpers Ferry Center overseeing Museum Conservation Services and the National Park Service History Collection. Since retiring in 2017, Linda A. Blaser works are a volunteer conservation consultant.
Gwendolyn Boevé-Jones
Gwendolyn Boevé-Jones is the founder and director of Studio Redivivus. She received her Master’s degree in Art History and her degree for the Conservation of Easel Paintings from the Institute of Fine Arts of the New York University, in 1991. The following year, she was awarded a post-graduate Samuel Kress fellowship to further her training at the Van Gogh Museum and the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands. Later, Gwendolyn went on to work for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Netherlands with several long term projects. Since 1995, she has been working as an independent painting conservator for museums and private collectors. In addition, Gwendolyn regularly has interns from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands and other European and International institutions. She also lectures and participates in international conferences on issues concerning conservation, restoration and technical investigation of 20th-century paintings.
Joannie Bottkol
Joannie Bottkol joined the National Park Service as an Objects Conservator in 2013 with a one-year hiatus from 2018-19 to work at the American Academy in Rome, where she studied Italian fascist monuments and the ethical implications of conserving them. At the NPS, she provides Parks with all manner of conservation support and treatments while continuing to pursue research and publications in ethics and the socio-political implications of conservation interventions. She holds an MA in Art History and Conservation Science from the Conservation Center/Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.
Caroline Bourgeois
Caroline Bourgeois, with a strong grasp of clothing construction and materials and training in preventive conservation, has developed an expertise in the design and fabrication of museum quality mannequins for clothing in the Dress Fashion and Textiles and Indigenous Cultures collections at the McCord museum. Early in her career she obtained diplomas from Collège Marie-Victorin in Art Vestimentaire (Fashion Design) and from the École Nationale de Théâtre du Canada in Scénographie (Costume and set design), as well as a Bachelor’s degree from the Université du Québec à Montréal in Art dramatique profil scénographie. After working for more than ten years as costume designer and costume maker for the circus, dance, theatre and marionette theatre, she obtained a diploma in Techniques de muséologie from Collège Montmorency. She joined the McCord Museum team in 2000 as costume display specialist for exhibition, after which she had the opportunity to expand her areas of proficiency in collections management and preventive conservation, before joining the Conservation Department in 2014 in the position of Conservation Assistant. At the McCord Museum, Caroline has collaborated on more than 20 exhibitions, which allowed her to develop her skills in costume mounting particularly for invisible mount-making using buckram. She was fortunate enough to perfect the techniques of making mannequins for the permanent exhibition "Wearing our identity –The first people collection" which required the making of more than 70 "sectionable" mannequins. For several years now, Caroline has been sharing her know-how and recounting her experiences in the context of conferences and workshops.
Kathryn Boodle
Kathryn is affiliated with Northeast Document Conservation Center
Catherine Bouvier
Catherine Bouvier (*1982) holds a Diploma degree in Art History (2007 University of Vienna) and Restoration-Conservation with a focus on Conservation and Restoration of Paper / Photographs / Books / Archive material (2011 Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna). She was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 2012 to 2013. She returned to Austria in 2015 and started working as a freelancer. She is board member of the Austrian Restorers’ Association (ÖRV). Since 2016 she is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Conservation-Restoration at the Academy of Fine Arts, since 2018/19 she’s taking part in the project History of Conservation in Austria: Tacit Knowledge and Disciplinary Professionalization, researching the development of paper conservation in Austria.
Linsly Boyer
Linsly Boyer is an Associate Objects Conservator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She graduated with M.A. and M.S. degrees in art history and conservation from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She has spent time working for the Preservation Society of Newport County, the Central Park Conservancy, the National Park Service, and the Guggenheim Museum. She also spent six years working for Art Conservation Group in NYC, one of the largest private objects conservation studios in the region, where she has treated artworks from world-class private collections, as well as the collections of many smaller institutions.
Caitlin Breare
Caitlin Breare is Conservator of Paintings at the National Gallery of Victoria. She specialises in research and treatment of early modern European easel paintings.
Madison Brockman
Madison Brockman is a graduate of the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (2019), with a major in paper conservation with a minor in library and archive materials conservation. She is currently the Assistant Paper Conservator & Academic Coordinator, Conservation, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Madison graduated in 2011 from the University of California, Berkeley, and held pre-program positions in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. During graduate school, she interned at the UCLA Library, Legion of Honor (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco), and LACMA. Her professional interests include gel and citrate treatments, modern art materials, and outreach and education.
Pilar Brooks
Pilar Brooks is a book and paper conservation intern at the Minnesota History Center and an Orlando Co-Liaison for the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN). As a Summer 2021 object conservation intern at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, she researched contested monuments and assisted with the treatment of outdoor sculpture. She graduated with a B.A. in art history from Rollins College in 2019. As an undergraduate student, she performed research on the conservation of African art, interned with the Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, FL and Snap! Orlando galleries, and worked at the Rollins Museum of Art.
