Heather Becker was studying on a scholarship at the International School of Art in Monte Castello di Vibio, Italy. One day, her class took a field trip to another rustic little village whose name, by contrast, comprises a single, gonglike syllable: Rome. “I remember we entered a chapel, and there was a conservator up on scaffolding,” she says. “She was working on something.” Becker was so immediately rapt, her traveling companions began gently nudging her. She asked around and joined the conservator on her scaffold. “I just became completely mesmerized by what she was doing.” 

When we say we treat items of all kinds at The Conservation Center, we truly mean it. Whether a noteworthy painting by a blue-chip artist or a purely sentimental artwork by a client's child, the team at The Conservation Center always provides quotes for treatment based on time and materials, never considering the item's market value. A conservator should never assign value and always refer clients to independent appraisers with appraisal questions. Some wonder why this is, and the answer is the conservator code of ethics.

Have you ever read one of our articles, and wondered, “what does that mean?” In this third installment of this series, we’ll highlight different conservation terms to support education. Happy learning!

President Dwight Eisenhower once said, "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of "emergency" is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning."

The team at The Conservation Center couldn't agree more. Disaster preparedness plans are often modified the moment they are put into action. Still, we know from years of experience that those who plan for likely scenarios are better positioned to respond to the unexpected.