WALTERS ART MUSEUM Assistant Paper Conservator Salary in the United States

Description

The Walters Art Museum, located in the historic Mount Vernon district in Baltimore, offers challenging and creative work opportunities by promoting collaboration and teamwork. Our mission is to bring art and people together for enjoyment, discovery, and learning. We promote and model a culture that celebrates the diversity and inclusion of all our staff, visitors, and members.

The Assistant Paper Conservator works under the direct supervision of the Head of Book and Paper Conservation within the Department of Conservation, Collections and Technical Research, which focuses on treatment, research, preventive care and public outreach with a commitment to participation in professional activities both nationally and internationally. He/she is primarily responsible for the preservation and conservation of the Walters' collections of works of art on paper and other paper-based materials. Strengths of the collection encompass 19th-century drawings and include the world’s largest collection of Léon Bonvin’s landscapes and still lifes. The collection also includes works by Barye, Millet, Rousseau, Daumier, Delacroix and many others. The works on paper in the Asian art collection span the 13th through the 19th century and represent the visual cultures of China, Korea, and Japan. Highlights include over 230 East Asian paintings and a collection of over 1,300 Japanese woodblock prints from the Edo period (1615-1868).  He/she also partners with the Head of Book and Paper in caring for the manuscripts and printed books and works with a team to make them accessible online through digitization. The Assistant Paper Conservator plays an appropriate role in training emerging conservators by mentoring interns and fellows in his/her specialty. She/he also works with department staff on the museum’s programmatic priorities, including activities relating to exhibitions, installations, and loans of the permanent collections, as well as public outreach through the museum’s popular Conservation Window.

Responsibilities:

• Participates in preventive conservation and all that it entails, including monitoring, evaluating, and making recommendations for display and storage environments, pest management, rehousing, etc.
• Conducts condition surveys of the collections on a regular basis to prioritize needs, and carries out emergency treatment on works that are actively deteriorating.
• Prepares, examines, treats, and documents works in the collections for acquisition, loan, and exhibition; consulting on environmental conditions, matting and framing, crating and transit for works traveling outside the museum.
• Acts as a courier for loans as required.
• Evaluates, obtains and maintains equipment and materials needed to carry out conservation treatment and preventive maintenance adhering to professionally accepted standards.
• Assists in writing grant proposals and overseeing grant projects to address priority preservation needs.
• Works with the museum’s conservation scientist to carry out technical studies and analysis on works in the collections to determine materials, methods of manufacture and authenticity, contributing to databases for comparative studies, determining causes of deterioration and developing new treatment methodologies.
• Assists in mentoring fellows, interns, and pre-program students entering the conservation profession.
• Works in the Conservation Window, giving occasional tours.

Qualifications

Requirements:

• MA or MS in Art Conservation.  Concentration in Paper conservation preferred.
• Minimum of 2 to 3 years of post-graduate experience required.
• Must have a good grounding in conservation, scientific method, materials science, and environmental science literature.
• Comprehensive knowledge of treatment methods, materials, preventive conservation principles, and methodology.
• Knowledge of art history and other subjects relevant to specialty.
• Knowledge of ethical and practical professional standards.
• Familiarity with analytical techniques, uses, and limitations.
• Must have excellent conservation planning, decision-making, and hand skills for structural and aesthetic treatment; must have good research, documentation (writing and imaging) skills, teaching and administrative, oral and written communication skills; skills in research and analytical techniques and interpretation appropriate to specialty.
• Must have proficiency in Microsoft Office.
• Experience with TMS Conservation Studio and Adobe Photoshop desirable.
• Some weekend availability required.