Toledo Museum of Art
In summer and fall 2021 I spent 70 hours volunteering under the guidance of the Museum’s Conservation Fellow. As part of a broader renovation of the cloister, I helped clean the columns and relief carvings using a gel poultice. I mixed the gel, applied it to the columns, and used tools including UV lights, microfiber cloth, and wood skewers to identify and remove the gel when dry.
After volunteering, I earned my place as one of the Toledo Museum of Art’s pre-program interns for the summer of 2022. Over the summer I gained an additional 300 hours of experience. With the guidance of their Textiles Conservator, I helped move and examine the Libbey Glass dress, among other fantastic textiles in their collection, and performed fiber microscopy to see the differences between the microscopic properties of different materials. Under the guidance of their Objects Conservator, I examined the difference between impact damage and other forms of damage on the surface of an oil painting. I also practiced my color-matching skills when I inpainted the fills on my ceramics treatment. The experience taught me more than I thought possible in the limited time.
KBCC Independent Study
In 2018, as part of a self-directed independent study I had the privilege of examining and writing condition reports on the art works in the collection of Kingsborough Community College. After examining works of oil painting and wood sculpture in the College’s collection, I researched the pieces’ artists, time and place of creation, and appropriate methods of restoration and repair.