Sean T Portfolio and projects

Education

Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK — MSc Professional Conservation, 2024

University of Delaware, Newark DE — BA Art Conservation, 2021

John Brown University, Siloam Springs AR — BA History, 2015

Conservation Experience

Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, Chantilly, VA  — Conservator

Dec. 2024-Present

Supervisor: Lisa Young

• Oversaw installation processes, including lighting reviews, pre and post-shipping reporting
• Worked with mountmakers and exhibition teams to create safe and stable object mounts.
• Prepared installation and exhibition recommendations for objects.
• Consulted with exhibition, lighting, construction and contract art handler teams on object requirements for safe handing, transportation, and display.
• Prepared condition reports and treatment recommendations for accessioned objects and incoming loans.
• Performed treatments on a wide variety of objects and materials, including 20th and 21st century technology and electronics, intricate models, and clothing and equipment.
• Identified and mitigated hazardous materials on collections objects such as cadmium, asbestos, and pcbs.
• Carried out technical analysis as necessary on accessioned objects including pXRF, FTIR, and UV imaging.

Penn Museum, Bordentown, NJ  — Conservation Technician

Oct. 2022 – Aug. 2023

Supervisor: Molly Gleeson

• Responsible for condition reports, treatment proposals, and treatments in the Egyptian collection.
• Established a method for creating decorative fill panels out of HDPE using CNC machining.
• Cleaned pieces using a variety of solvents and solutions, including gel cleaning of surfaces.
• Readhered break edges, stabilized glue lines with strapping and sandbox methods.
• Planned and created bases for stone pieces.
• Moved large pieces with rigging tools and hardware.

Crozier Fine Arts, DE — Art Handler

Jan. 2022 – June 2023

Supervisor: Sean Wells

• Responsible for condition, inspection, and rapid reports of incoming and outgoing artworks.
• Transportation of artworks.
• Creating enclosures for artworks for storage or transportation
• Installation of artworks

Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library, Pennsbury Township DE — Intern, Furniture Lab

Feb. 2021 – Oct. 2022

Supervisor: Kathy Gillis

Primary projects: Hamilton Chairs, 17th century chest

• Removed 20th century upholstery from set of 18th century chairs
• Designed removable upholstery caps for chair set
• Matched and consolidated loss in wooden chair frames
• Removed brittle hide glue from pieces of chest for reapplication
• Reapplied molding on chest using hide glue
• Researched and assembled large sampling of traditional wood finishes
• Assisted 3 WUDPAC students with their furniture projects

Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library, Pennsbury Township DE — Intern, Objects Lab

Jul. – Aug. 2021

Supervisor: Lara Kaplan and Lauren Fair

Primary projects: Quilled birchbark wall pocket

• Proposed and carried out treatment of wall pocket
• Cleaned with hepa vacuum and brush
• Reattached loose quills using Butvar
• Removed previous repair and replaced with a toned and textured strip of japanese tissue
• Analyzed organic and inorganic objects with UV & XRF

Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library, Pennsbury Township DE — Paintings Intern

Sept-Dec. 2020

Supervisor: Joyce Hill Stoner, PhD

Primary projects: Harlem Hellfighters Diorama, Jimmy Mosely painting on canvas, Thai Panel painting

• Carried out consolidation of loose pieces with BEVA
• Created fills for areas of loss
• Inpainted the foreground and background with PVA
• Performed analysis and research on a painting
• Created textured fills on Mosely painting with Golden matte medium
• Inpainted Thai panel with Qor colors in acetone, including mica additions to match sheen
• Assisted with other projects: removing edge-lining attached with BEVA, performed cleaning tests on study painting, analyzed paintings

University of Delaware, Old College — Conservation Intern

Jan-May 2020

Supervisor: Nina Owczarek

Primary project: Tlingit Basket, Bryn Mawr collection

• Researched materials and methods of construction for Tlingit basketry
• Drew up treatment proposal and carried out vacuum cleaning and cleaning with cosmetic sponges
• Practiced the weaving technique and created several tests for fills of large losses

When this project was cut short due to Covid, another project was begun; repairing a modern basket

• Re-adhered broken warps and wefts with PVA AYAF and japanese tissue
• Created fills with toned board and secured them with the PVA
• Constructed miniature clamps to fit in between the wefts and hold them while the adhesive dried
• Toned the japanese tissue with acrylic paints

Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa OK — Conservation Intern,

May-Aug 2015

Supervisor: Joanna Didik

• Dry cleaned 15th century Spanish documents as part of on-going project
• Cleaned & dusted objects in galleries and art storage room
• Assessed and documented objects for incoming collection
• Assisted with planning and carrying out preventive conservation measures in galleries, storage rooms, and offices.

Additional Experience

Awards:

Presidential Honors, John Brown University, 2015

Hackaday Prize Finalist, 2022; Multispectral Imaging Smartphone

Research:

Multispectral smartphone for technical photography–IRR, UVR, Polarized

3D Technologies in Conservation–Creating tools for conservation labs and treatments

Applying low-cost 3d printed microscope to art conservation–fluorescence, epifluorescence

Reconstructions: 

16th-century oak painting panels: hand planed, thinned, and beveled oak panels, mixed ground with animal glue, hand scraped a smooth painting surface. These will be used for complete reconstructions of 16th century Dutch paintings

Medieval Vielle: 2-part project consisting of 1) research into medieval musical documents and illustrations, and 2) planning and replicating a medieval instrument in the violin family.

• Hand-carved entirety of instrument
• built several planes for specific project uses
• created varnish from frankincense

Professional Associations:

PACA

AIC

Skills:

Analysis:

• Technical photography
• Multispectral Imaging
• Computational imaging
• pXRF
• X-Radiography
• SEM
• FTIR
• PLM
• Optical Microscopy
• Condition reporting

Hand Skills:

• Art handling
• Woodworking
• Metalworking
• Inpainting
• 3d scanning
• Basket weaving techniques

Technology and processing:

• Adobe suite: Photoshop, Lightroom, Bridge, Illustrator
• 3D imaging: photogrammetry and LIDAR
• 3D modeling programs: Autodesk Fusion, Freecad, Blender
• 3D manufacturing techniques: CNC, 3D printing

Presentations and Publications:

Modifying a Smartphone for All-in-One Multispectral Imaging; AIC Annual Meeting 2023

Sculpting Solutions: 3D Technologies for Conservation Problem-Solving; AIC Annual Meeting 2024

Making Project-Specific Tools, UD Student Blog, May 2020

Ancient Glow-in-the-Dark Artifacts, Penn Museum Artifact Lab Blog, March 2023