Education & Training Committee

Emily Lynch is currently the Conservator for Special Collections at Columbia University Libraries. She has previously held positions at the Morgan Library & Museum and the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, in addition to completing internships at Harvard Library’s Weissman Preservation Center, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the New-York Historical Society, and the American Museum of Natural History. Her treatment experience ranges from medieval manuscripts, early printed books, and Islamic manuscripts to modern and archival collections and architectural drawings. Emily is also actively involved with the Museum Pests Working Group and is currently on the Steering Committee for Art Bio Matters, in addition to serving as Vice Chair for the Education & Training Committee (ETC) of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC). Emily received her B.A. from Dartmouth College with a double major in astronomy/physics and art history. She also earned an MA and Advanced Certificate in art history and conservation from the Conservation Center at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

Jessica Chasen is an associate conservator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where she works on materials from across the museum's encyclopedic collection and on a wide range of traveling exhibitions. She previously worked as an assistant conservator in Decorative Arts and Sculpture Conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum and in Science at the Getty Conservation Institute. Jessica is a 2017 graduate of the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation with a specialization in objects conservation and a minor in painted surfaces. Her graduate training included internships at the Rijksmuseum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Brooklyn Museum after which she spent a post-graduate year as an intern at the Getty. Jessica’s interests include the analysis of Asian lacquer and its European imitations, the treatment of modern sculpture and contemporary design objects, and the use of aqueous cleaning systems.

Livi (Andreini) van de Star is a textile conservator and founder of a private practice based in Utah, specializing in the treatment and preservation of textile and mixed-media cultural heritage. She began her career as an Interdisciplinary Fellow at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and later served as Assistant Textile Conservator at the Autry Museum of the American West. Livi has treated objects and prepared exhibitions for prominent institutions such as the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum of African American Art (Los Angeles), Kunstmuseum Den Haag, the National Holocaust Museum, and other notable museums and cultural institutions across the U.S. and Europe.

She holds a Master of Science in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the University of Amsterdam and a Bachelor’s degree in Art History from Wake Forest University. Livi currently serves on the inaugural Programs Committee for the Textile Specialty Group (TSG) and on the American Institute for Conservation’s Education & Training Committee. She is committed to advancing sustainable conservation practices, innovation, and inclusive mentorship to support conservation professionals at all career levels.

Hsiang-Ting Hung is currently a conservation student at IFA, NYU, specializing in painting. She was inspired to become a painting conservator while researching Frida Kahlo in an art history study. Since then, there has been no looking back! She is also an illustrator, and her favorite thing is to stay in a café and sketch all the details inside.

Ann Kearney is the Coordinator of Preservation Services at the University at Albany. She has held this position since January, 2009. She began her work in the field as the Associate Conservator at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1987, she left this position to expand her private conservation practice. Over the next twenty years, she treated items from private collectors as well as from Cleveland Public Library, Kent State University Libraries and the University of Akron Libraries. She conducted training programs and workshops for these libraries and for other members of the Ohio Preservation Council. She also served as a Continuing Education instructor and, in 2007-2008, as an adjunct faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Art. She holds a Master of Science in Information Science from the University at Albany, and studied bookbinding and paper conservation under a Fulbright Grant at Camberwell College of Art and Crafts in London, England. In addition, she obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing from the Cleveland Institute of Art, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Rosemont College. She is a Professional Member of the American Institute for Conservation and an active member of the American Library Association.

Jacquelyn Peterson-Grace (she/her) is an assistant professor in the fashion and textile studies graduate program at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She was previously the associate conservator of textiles at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. As a graduate fellow, she gained experience at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Peebles Island Resource Center. Her pre-program internship sites included the textile conservation labs at Newfields/Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. She also worked closely with the collections staff at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia, teaching collections care practices and helping to establish textile preservation protocols. She holds a BSc in conservation studies from Marist College and an MSc from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation with concentrations in textile and preventive conservation. Jacquelyn served as the co-coordinator for AIC’s textile conservation group Wiki and as publications chair for the Virginia Conservation Association.

Margaret (Maggie) Wessling is a Senior Photograph Conservator at the National Gallery of Art. Maggie graduated from the Conservation Center at NYU in 2014 with a specialization in photographs. She previously worked at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Northeast Document Conservation Center since completing her conservation degree.

Sarah joined FAIC in 2015 to support the array of professional development and scholarship programming offered by the Foundation. Sarah graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2014 with a MA in Museum Studies. She has worked with a variety of arts organizations including Levine Music, Hillwood Museum, Estate and Gardens, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, and Bay Area Discovery Museum. She holds a BFA in Art Education from the University of Arizona, with a studio emphasis in photography. Sarah currently lives in Oslo, Norway, and enjoys the outdoors.