Paintings Specialty Group Achievement Award

Matt Cushman is the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Conservator in Charge at the Worcester Art Museum and Affiliated Assistant Professor at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. Previously, Matt was Conservator of Paintings at Winterthur Museum, Project Conservator at Yale's Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage and Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Worcester Art Museum. His current research interests center on the exploration of new techniques and materials for the cleaning of paintings and painted surfaces, a topic on which he leads workshops internationally. Matt holds B.A.s in Art Conservation and Chemistry from the University of Delaware and he received an M.S. in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2007. In addition to completing internships at the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education, the Frans Hals Museum, and the Worcester Art Museum, Matt was the Assistant Conservator of Paintings and Analytical Science at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center from 2007 to 2010.

Jay Krueger was appointed senior conservator of modern paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in 1992, and has served as head of painting conservation since 2013. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation and has served on governing boards and advisory panels for numerous arts and conservation organizations and government arts agencies, including Heritage Preservation, the AIC (1991-92, 1994-1999), the Morris Louis Conservation Fund, and Hand Print Workshop. He also served as President of the AIC (1997-99). Mr. Krueger has studied and lectured on the painting materials and techniques of many modern and contemporary artists and regularly advises artists on the selection and use of materials.

Michael is a paintings conservator at The Museum of Modern Art where he specializes in the treatment of modern and contemporary paintings. In 2004 he conserved Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” which was featured in the Smithsonian and The New Yorker. He is a professional member of the American Institute for Conservation and a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation.

Rustin "Rusty" Levenson received a B.A. from Wellesley College and a Diploma in Paintings Conservation from the Fogg Art Museum and Harvard University. Her professional career has included positions on the conservation staffs of the Fogg Museum from 1969 to 1973, the Canadian Conservation Institute from 1973 to 1974, the National Gallery of Canada from 1974 to 1977, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1977 to 1980. She co-authored *Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies* with art historian Andrea Kirsh, published by Yale University Press in 2000, and contributed chapters to *The Expert vs. the Object*, published by Oxford University Press in 2004, as well as to a forthcoming book on painting conservation from Butterworth Press. Her published articles include “Emergency Conservation,” “Adhesives for Strip-Lining Twentieth-Century Paintings,” “A New Method for Strip-Lining Easel Paintings,” “Useful Modifications for Current Lining Techniques,” and “Up in Smoke: The Treatment of Fire-Damaged Paintings.” She is a Fellow of both the American Institute for Conservation and the International Institute for Conservation and has served on numerous professional committees. She also chaired the Paintings Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation.

Barbara A. Buckley is a paintings conservator and Senior Director of Conservation and Chief Conservator of Paintings at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, where she has worked since 1992. She oversees the conservation of the Barnes collection and has played a leading role in the technical examination and treatment of works by artists including Paul Cézanne, Amedeo Modigliani, Henri Rousseau, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Horace Pippin. 

Buckley founded Barbara A. Buckley & Associates Painting Conservation in 1987 after earning an M.A. from the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Art Conservation. Before joining the Barnes Foundation, she held conservation positions at the Intermuseum Conservation Association in Oberlin, Ohio, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Chris Stavroudis is a paintings conservator in private practice in West Hollywood, California. Chris obtained undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and Art History from the University of Arizona and his Master’s degree from the Winterthur University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. He wrote and continues to develop the Modular Cleaning Program and has taught over 64 workshops on using the MCP. He is one of the four co-instructors of the Getty Conservation Institute’s Cleaning Acrylic Paint Surfaces (CAPS) workshops.

Richard Wolbers received a B.S. degree in biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego, in 1971. He also received an M.F.A. degree from the same institution in painting in 1977. In 1984, he earned an M.S. degree in art conservation from WUDPAC. His research interests include work in developing cleaning systems for fine art materials, as well as microscopically applied techniques for the characterization of paint binding materials. He has collaborated on research projects with The Getty Conservation Institute, Columbia University, and ICCROM in Rome. He has conducted workshops on his cleaning methods in Australia, England, Canada, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Italy and various locations throughout the United States. In winter, 1991, he was featured on “Infinite Voyage,” and presented an interactive satellite lecture from the University of Pittsburgh campus. In 2000 he published Cleaning Paintings: Aqueous Methods (Archetype Books, London), and has co-authored a chapter in Furniture Conservation (Butterworth-Heinemann, 2003).