Rachael Arenstein
A.M. Art Conservation, LLC
917-796-1764
[email protected]
www.amartconservation.com

• Disaster Preparedness Planning
• Environmental Monitoring and Controls
• Integrated Pest Management
• Museum Policies & Procedures
• Decorative Objects
• Archaeological and Ethnographic Objects
• Glass/Ceramics
• Metal
• Collection Storage Solutions
• General Site Assessment
• Experience working with small museums/sites (under $99K/year budget)
• Lighting

Rachael Perkins Arenstein is a Professional Associate member of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) with over 20 years of museum and conservation experience. She has worked at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She completed internships at the British Museum and the Israel Museum as well as other international institutions. Rachael’s degree in art conservation is from the University of London where she studied at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. She was in private practice for four years before co-founding A.M. Art Conservation, LLC in 2009. The practice focuses on conservation treatment, preservation consulting and collection management for institutions of all sizes.  In addition, she is active in several professional organizations including positions as the e-Editor for the AIC and the Co-Chair of the Integrated Pest Management Working Group which manages the museumpests.net website.

​
Donia Conn
Donia Conn Conservation
315-396-3326
[email protected]
Doniaconn.com

• Disaster Preparedness Planning
• Environmental Monitoring and Controls
• Integrated Pest Management
• General Site Assessment
• Collection Storage Assessment
• Experience working with small museums/sites (under $99K/year budget)
• Artwork on paper
• Photographs
• Books

Donia Conn has worked in the field of preservation and conservation for over 20 years. She teaches and consults on the full spectrum of collections care topics for cultural heritage institutions. Donia earned her BA in Mathematics from St. Olaf College and her MLIS with Advanced Certificate in Conservation from the University of Texas-Austin. Past employers include the Northeast Document Conservation Center, Northwestern University, Syracuse University, The Folger Shakespeare Library, and the University of Kentucky. Donia is also a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) and member of AIC’s National Heritage Responders. As an independent consultant, Donia has worked for such institutions as the Saratoga County Historical Society, Lake Placid Olympic Museum, Skidmore College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the Greater Hudson Heritage Network, University of Rochester, the State of Alaska, Henry Whitfield State Museum, Vanderbilt University, The Knights of Columbus Museum, Washington University, and many small and mid-sized institutions of all types.


Carolyn Frisa
Works on Paper, LLC
802-460-1149
[email protected]
www.works-on-paper.net

• Disaster Preparedness Planning
• Environmental Monitoring and Controls
• Integrated Pest Management
• Collection Storage Solutions
• General Site Assessment
• Experience working with small museums/sites (under $99K/year budget)
• Artwork on paper
• Photographs
• Wallpaper

As owner and head conservator at Works on Paper, Carolyn Frisa has worked with museums and other cultural institutions on numerous grant funded projects with a focus on collections care and conservation. She specializes in the conservation of art on paper, historic wallpaper, photographs and archives and has been a Professional Associate of AIC since 2007.


Geneva Ikle
West Lake Art Conservation Center
315-685-8534
[email protected]
www.westlakeconservators.com

• Environmental Monitoring and Controls
• Integrated Pest Management
• Museum Policies & Procedures
• Collection Storage Solutions
• General Site Assessment
• Experience working with small museums/sites (under $99K/year budget)
• Artwork on paper
• Photographs

Geneva earned a Master of Art Conservation (MAC 2016) degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario with a specialization in Works on Paper. Geneva has long been interested in photographs, so while at Queen’s she was able to get hands-on experience with photograph conservation in addition to conservation of works on paper. During her studies, she completed internships at the National Archives and Records Administration and at the Library of Congress. After graduating from Queen’s, Geneva briefly started up her own private practice in Wilmington, NC before being hired at ECS Conservation in Greensboro, NC as a Paper Conservator. Geneva has experience treating a wide variety of objects including documents, art on paper, maps, posters, and photographic materials. She is also an Associate member of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC).


Joanna Jennings 
Independent Museum Professional
315-728-9119
[email protected]​
linkedin.com/in/joannajennings​

• Environmental Monitoring and Controls
• Museum Policies & Procedures
• Decorative Objects 
• Collection Storage Solutions
• General Site Assessment
• Experience working with small museums/sites (under $99K/year budget)
• Lighting
• Curator
• Preventive Conservation

A graduate of the University of Leicester and the University of Northumbria at Newcastle’s (UK) post-graduate certificate programs in Museum Studies and Preventive Conservation, Ms. Jennings has been a tour guide, museum associate, curatorial assistant, administrator, asst. director, and consultant for several small museums and historical societies throughout the Northeast. She also acquired a broader perspective of the field from the temporary government contracts she held reviewing Army Museum regulations and cataloging military artifacts with the National Guard Bureau (NGB) and Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), as well as a senior-level appointment as museum manager for the American Red Cross, an NGO. More recently, she joined the AIC/FAIC Collections Assessment for Preservation (CAP) and AAM Museum Assessment Program (MAP) as a collections assessor conducting preservation assessments and consultations. Her decade of experience working almost exclusively for small museums and historical societies throughout the region uniquely qualifies her for site assessments. She understands the challenges of $50-$150k operating budgets, limited administrative and volunteer-run organizations, as well as those of impoverished and rural communities. Having herself worn every hat as a museum worker, she is very committed to researching innovative cost-saving and cost-sharing solutions.


Chiara Kuhns
West Lake Art Conservation Center
315-685-8534
[email protected]
westlakeconservators.com

• Disaster Preparedness Planning
• Environmental Monitoring and Controls
• Museum Policies & Procedures
• Paintings
• General Site Assessment
• Collection Storage Assessment
• Experience working with small museums/sites (under $99K/year budget)

Chiara is an artist, an art historian, and a paintings and fresco conservator. She is an ardent advocate of the arts and believes in the importance of exposing, educating and preserving the primary sources of our world’s history. Born in Florence, Italy, Chiara has taken advantage of the resources that this “mecca” of the art world has to offer. In Florence, she received a BA in Art History and completed a dual Masters degree in Museology and Conservation of Paintings and Frescoes. In 2002 Chiara taught a course on “The History and Art History of Florence” at Gonzaga University in Florence. Chiara has served on conservation teams in Florence, New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. In 1999 she joined the team at West Lake Conservators in Skaneateles. She has been a dynamic member of West Lake Conservators, assisting with the organization and hosting of workshops. She is a liaison to our colleagues in Italy and our resident expert on Italian Renaissance and European paintings.


Emily Phillips
Phillips Art Conservation Studio, LLC
518-963-4555
[email protected]
www.phillipsconservation.com

• Disaster Preparedness Planning
• Environmental Monitoring and Controls
• Integrated Pest Management
• Paintings
• Collection Storage Solutions
• Experience working with small museums/sites (under $99K/year budget)

​

Erin Richardson
Frank and Glory 
518.577.0186
[email protected]
www.frankandglory.com/

• Museum Policies & Procedures
• Collection Storage Solutions
• General Site Assessment
• Curator
• Experience working with small museums/sites (under $99K/year budget)
• Database selection/implementation

Erin has been working in museums since 1992. She’s witty, fun, smart, ethical, and deadly serious about museum collections as educational and cultural assets with high opportunity costs. It is not free to keep an artifact, artwork, manuscript, or publication forever. She challenges museums and libraries to think carefully about investing resources in collections that are relevant for, and representative of, their current and future audiences so that they may support the museum’s mission.


Abi Simkovic
Myriad Consulting
518-727-8123
[email protected]
myriadconsultants.org

• Disaster Preparedness Planning
• Environmental Monitoring and Controls
• Integrated Pest Management
• Textiles
• Furniture
• Archaeological and Ethnographic Objects
• Glass/Ceramics
• Collection Storage Solutions
• General Site Assessment
• Curator
• Experience working with small museums/sites (under $99K/year budget)
• Lighting
• Artwork on Paper
• Digital Preservation

Abi Simkovic is an information professional with diverse experience across cultural, educational, non-profit, and for-profit institutions. Before Myriad, she was a Consultant at GE Research focusing on Business Analysis, Business Process Management, and Knowledge Management. Abi coached GE scientists and engineers on solving their information preservation and business process problems. This position crossed the boundaries of records and information management; enterprise search; knowledge management; traditional library services; archives; information lifecycle management; and taxonomy and ontology creation. A core duty of this role was to empower others to lead a culture change of trust and collaboration. The Knowledge Sharing Team at GE was the recipient of the 2019 Digital Workplace of the Year Leadership award. She Project Managed IT projects using Lean Six Sigma and Agile Scrum. Abi holds an MSIS with a dual focus in Archives and Special Collections and Library and Information Science from the University at Albany, SUNY, and a BA in English Literature from Montana State University.


Gwen Spicer
Spicer Art Conservation, LLC
518-765-2142
[email protected]
www.spicerart.com

• Disaster Preparedness Planning
• Environmental Monitoring and Controls
• Integrated Pest Management
• Textiles, Furniture
• Decorative Objects
• Archaeological and Ethnographic Objects
• Collection Storage Solutions
• General Site Assessment
• Experience working with small museums/sites (under $99K/year budget)
• Lighting
• Artwork on paper
• Upholstered furnishings

Gwen Spicer, principal and owner of Spicer Art Conservation is a Fellow member of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC), and a Flag Research Fellow of the Flag Research Center. She is also a member of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC), the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the Institute of Conservation (ICON), and the Association of Registrars and Collection Specialists (ARCS). In her work at Spicer Art Conservation, LLC Gwen Spicer provides professional, expert, and unparalleled conservation services. She specializes in textile conservation, objects conservation, upholstery conservation and the conservation of works of art on paper. She has been caring for artifacts from museums, institutions, historical societies, state agencies, businesses, collectors and private owners since 1995.


Nathan Sutton
West Lake Art Conservation Center
315-685-8534
[email protected]
westlakeconservators.com

• Paintings

Nathan’s work in paintings conservation has focused primarily on 19th and 20th Century American and European art, ranging from easel paintings, panel paintings, murals and frames, with treatments ranging from in-depth structural processes to cosmetic or aesthetic repairs, and from short, localized projects to multi-month, multi-painting or multi-mural work as a project manager, conservator or as a team member among collaborating conservators. He has worked as a paintings conservator at West Lake Conservators since 2017, providing service for private collectors, museums, universities, religious organizations, historical societies and historical collections. He is a graduate of the Buffalo State College Graduate Program in Art Conservation, specializing in the conservation of paintings and completed internships with Whitten and Proctor Fine Art and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art before owing and operating his own painting conservation business from 2010 to 2016.