Material Evidence Virtual Symposium

Ann Coppinger has directed the conservation department of the Museum at FIT for more than sixteen years. She has a MA in Museum Studies with a specialty in costume and textile conservation from FIT. She was the 2001–02 NEA Master Apprentice at the Textile Conservation Workshop in South Salem, NY, where she continued as a staff conservator for four years. Prior to taking her museum studies degree, she worked for 22 years in the fashion industry in New York City. She holds additional degrees in Fashion Design and Patternmaking from FIT as well as a BS in Marketing from Saint John's University.

Jamie Casbon is a textile conservator at the Textile Conservation Lab at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. They graduated from the Fashion and Textile Studies program at FIT in 2012. Additionally, they have worked at the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA, and Museum of the City of New York.

Anna Rose Keefe is passionate about textiles, design, and collaborative conservation work. She works at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum as Assistant Textile Conservator, focusing on facilitating access and caring for the collection.  Recently, Anna Rose co-developed the exhibition and class Inherent Vice at RISD and published "Museum Storage" is Not an Icebox in Museum International (2021).

Sarah Scaturro is the Eric and Jane Nord Chief Conservator at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Previously she was the Head Conservator of the Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Textile Conservator and Assistant Curator of Fashion at the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. She is a doctoral candidate at Bard Graduate Center researching the history of costume conservation.

Cheryl Podsiki trained as an objects conservator and focuses her private practice on analytical testing for heavy metals that may be present in museum collections. Ms. Podsiki  earned a Bachelor of Art degree from SUNY Empire State College in Rochester, NY in Cultural Studies: Native American History and Ethnology. She received a Master of Art Conservation degree in 2002 in Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Ms. Podsiki has 20 plus years of experience using the hand-held X-ray fluorescent analyzer to determine the presence of heavy metals in various art and museum collections. Ms. Podsiki was a 2002-03 Samuel H. Kress post-graduate Fellow at the Arizona State Museum,University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. She is a Professional Associate member of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC).

Dr. Melissa Tedone is head of library materials conservation at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library and Affiliated Associate Professor in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC). She is the lead conservator of the Poison Book Project and founding co-chair of the international Bibliotoxicology Working Group (BibTox), which develops identification techniques and management best practices for potentially toxic historical bookbindings.

Brianna Joy Turner is currently a pre-program objects conservation assistant at the RISD Museum. She received her undergraduate degree in Classical Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Bri is happiest when learning about the museum's collection with conservators, curators, and scientists, especially when there is an XRF analyzer present.

 

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