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Abigail Mack – Resume

CONSERVATOR OF OBJECTS AND SCULPTURE

Professional Associate of the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, Member of ICOM-CC, member of INCCA. Member IIC.

Experienced in: The Art Conservation treatment of fine art, outdoor, plus modern & contemporary sculpture. Conducting training workshops plus general and object specific surveys

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Hudson Valley. Red Hook, NY

MACK ART CONSERVATION, LLC

MONUMENTA ART CONSERVATION & FINISHING LLC

2006 present Owner and Senior Objects Conservator

  • Provide conservation treatment and preservation care consultation to artists, artist’s estates, private clients, historical entities, university and college museums, and museums.
  • Monumenta Art Conservation & Finishing, LLC focuses on the treatment and maintenance of large-scale sculpture in 6400 sq/ft facility.
  • Member of the Advisory Board to the Calder Foundation. Consultant for the conservation of specific objects and to develop historically accurate matte coatings for repainting large-scale outdoor sculpture using high performance coatings.
  • Contractor to Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) as part of the Outdoor Painted Sculpture project to develop durable coatings for outdoor sculpture in collaboration with artists or artist’s estates.
  • Co-Instructor of GCI Workshop: Treatment Strategies for Outdoor Painted Sculptures. 2018 at GCI, 2023 at Kroller Muller Netherlands.
  • Head Conservator for the Empire Plaza Art Collection of indoor & outdoor sculpture in Albany, NY.
  • Member of the Advisory Counsel for the Louise Nevelson Foundation.
  • Participant in studies with the Tony Smith Estate to identify suitable coatings for sculpture.
  • Member of the Federal General Services Administration National Peer Registry.

 

Washington, DC  NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

1999 – 2006 Associate Object Conservator

  • Participated in all aspects of conservation for modern, traditional, and outdoor sculpture
  • Led a team of conservators on extensive treatments of monumental sized objects by artists such as Alexander Calder, Tony Smith, Henry Moore, and Isamu Noguchi. Extensive treatments on sculptures by artists such as Jean Houdon, Jean Guillaume Moitte, Antonio Canova, and Andrea del Verrocchio
  • Main research focus: Durability of commercial matte black outdoor paints through artificial aging and real-time aging. Developed new coatings through collaboration with the US Army Research Laboratory.
  • Courier for NGA objects at national and international venues
  • Outstanding Service Awards: NGA Sculpture Garden Installation (May 1999), NGA Sculpture Galleries (September 2002) and treatment of Alexander Calder’s monumental mobile Untitled

 

Accord, NY MACK ART CONSERVATION

1996 – 1998 Objects Conservator

  • SUNY New Paltz taught the conservation component of a Museum Studies course
  • Contract Conservator for Brooklyn Museum of Art

 

Brooklyn, NY BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART

1996 – 1997 Contract Objects Conservator for upcoming Egyptian exhibition.

 

Denver, CO ROCKY MOUNTAIN CONSERVATION CENTER

1995 – 1996 Head of Object Conservation

  • Responsible for all aspects of conservation including treatments and supervision of technicians.
  • Conducted object-specific and general surveys and training workshops for museums in the region.

– General survey of Craig Historical Museum collections, exhibit and storage conditions

– Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) for the University of Denver?s Laboratory of Anthropology

– Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) for Littleton Historical Museum

  • Taught an introductory course on conservation and general preservation in the University of Denver?s Master?s of Museum Studies Program.

 

Denver, CO DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (now Denver Museum of Science and Nature)

1993 – 1995 Associate Object Conservator

  • Conducted object-specific and general surveys of storage and display environments in preparation for storage and exhibition upgrade.? Upgraded storage and exhibit displays to meet conservation standards.
  • Performed stabilization treatments on a wide variety of materials as part of a storage and display upgrade.
  • Participated in integrated pest management for an active and large-scale insect infestation of the DMNH Native American collection.? The infestation was contained and 90% of the objects were treated between 1993 and 1995.

 

Santa Fe, NM MUSEUMS OF NEW MEXICO

Feb 1994 Contract Object Conservator

  • Surveyed condition and designed travel and storage mount for the largest collection of Native American Kachina Dolls in preparation for moving collection to an upgraded storage facility.

 

Dearborn, MI HENRY FORD MUSEUM AND GREENFEILD VILLAGE

1991 -1992 Conservation Technician for the Collections Care Program

  • Condition surveys of historic structures and specific objects.
  • Supervised cleaning staff to dust collection objects and clean historic structures.

 

Chicago, IL FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

1989 – 1991 Anthropology Collections Assistant

  • Retired to storage a large collection of Pacific Island and Oceanic artifacts from long-term display. This included transport, fabricating storage mounts, and registrarial documentation.

 

EDUCATION

Fargo, ND  NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

July 2017 Fundamentals of Coating Science, Short Course

 

Buffalo, NY STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK COLLEGE AT BUFFALO

1994 Master of Arts and Certificate of Advanced Studies in Conservation Graduate Internships

  • Anthropologic Conservation, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University Summer 1993
  • Textile Conservation, Baltimore Museum of Art Summer 1992

 

Chicago, IL THE SCHOOL OF ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

1989 Bachelor of Fine Arts

Paris, France  FARREL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF ART

Exchange Student, Fall Semester 1988