What sort of training do most conservators have?
You need training in art history, fine arts–you have to be able to work with your hands very well–and science, mostly chemistry. Most people come to conservation from one of those three avenues. You also need to have good writing skills, or be willing to work on developing them. Documentation–along with photography, drawings, and text–is critical to the performance of the job. It does seem there are a lot of fine artists who do conservation work to support themselves. Do you see a fine arts background as an asset? Ive found that fine artists can come on the job and very quickly understand what has to be done. Ive worked with a lot of people with fine arts backgrounds, and some have gone on to become conservators, and others just work occasionally with me and are terrific. But if you want to become a professional conservator and have a good paying job and be in a position where you can design treatments, you do have to go to a graduate program. It can be done through years of appren
