OUR STAFF

MACC’s highly trained staff of conservators and preservation professionals provide museum-quality treatments and consultations for Paintings, Paper, Textiles, Objects, and Preventive Conservation. All MACC’s programming is governed by the Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice of the American Institute for Conservation. Committed to continuing professional education, the MACC staff brings the most current standards, materials, and techniques to their daily practice.

Melissa Amundsen, Assistant Preventive Conservator
Ms. Amundsen joined MACC after her graduate Fellowship at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, New York. She has completed internships at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Science Museum of Minnesota, MACC, and various private practices. She has special interest disaster response and preparedness, public art, and sustainability in conservation. Ms. Amundsen holds a Master of Arts with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Conservation specializing in Paintings from the State University College of New York at Buffalo and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota. She is a member of the American Institute for Conservation.

Alexa Beller, Associate Paintings Conservator
Ms. Beller joined MACC after completing a National Endowment for the Humanities Paintings Conservation Fellowship at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. Prior, she completed internships at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Gianfranco Pocobene Studio, the department of the Conservation of Religious and Civil Art of the City of Paris, the Western Center for the Conservation of Fine Arts, and in the private practice of Ria German-Carter. Her experience is wide-ranging including Italian Renaissance panels, 19th-century French murals, early American portraits, and 20th-century mixed media paintings. Ms. Beller holds a Master of Science in Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation as well as a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is an Associate member of the American Institute for Conservation and the Paintings Specialty Group.

Rita Berg, Paintings Conservator
Ms. Berg joined MACC after completing a Kress Fellowship at the Conservation Center of New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, where she treated Old Master paintings from the dispersed Samuel H. Kress Collection and assisted with teaching and supervision of graduate conservation students. Prior, she spent a year at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and internships at the New York Historical Society, the Cranmer Art Group in New York, The Cloisters, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. While specializing in Old Masters and panel paintings in particular, Ms. Berg has extensive experience with modern and contemporary works. She holds a Masters of Arts in Art History with an Advanced Certificate in Conservation from the Conservation Center, New York University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota. She is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation with a membership in the Paintings Specialty Group.

Dianna Clise, Senior Paper Conservator
Ms. Clise joined MACC in 2007 after completing her Masters in Art Conservation with a specialization in works on paper from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.  Prior to pursuing her graduate degree, Ms. Clise worked at Etherington Conservation Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts, Honours, in anthropology and cultural studies from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.  Ms. Clise is an Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation with a membership in the Book and Paper, and Photographic Materials Specialty Groups.

Megan Emery, Chief Conservator and Senior Objects Conservator
Ms. Emery came to MACC from the Cincinnati Art Museum, where she was responsible for the care and preservation of all three-dimensional objects.  Ms. Emery has extensive experience with ethnographic and archaeological materials, ceramics, lacquer, plasters, and the conservation of large scale contemporary sculpture.  She holds a Master of Arts with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Conservation specializing in Objects from the State University College of New York at Buffalo and a Bachelor of Fine Arts cum laude from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul.  Ms. Emery is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation, Objects Specialty Group and Electronic Media.  She is also a member of the International Institute for Conservation.

Nicole Grabow, Director of Preventive Conservation
Ms. Grabow joined MACC in 2006, coming from the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education at the Smithsonian Museum, Washington, DC. Prior to that, Nicole was a Mellon Fellow at the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of the American Indian, located on the Washington DC Mall, and an intern at the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries. She holds a Master of Science from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, specializing in Objects Conservation, and a Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Ms. Grabow has particular interest in working with Native American communities and on public art projects. She was a MACC Senior Objects Conservator and Preventive Conservator prior to becoming the Director of Preventive Conservation. She is a Certified CAP Assessor and a Fellow of The American Institute for Conservation.

Jen Neville, Registrar
Ms. Neville joined MACC in 2019 after completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, specializing in Web & Multimedia Environments. Prior, she interned at the Nassauischer Kunstverein in Wiesbaden, Germany. Ms. Neville brings to MACC a material-driven interest in photographic media and analog processes. Her professional experience includes video production, sound production, web development, photography & graphic design. Ms. Neville is a member of the national Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists and the Midwest Registrar Committee.

Kristy Jeffcoat, Senior Paintings Conservator
Ms. Jeffcoat has extensive experience in the care and preservation of paintings and painted surfaces, including canvas paintings, panel paintings, and painted sculpture, as well as Preventive Conservation. Prior to joining MACC, she worked at West Lake Conservators in Skaneateles, NY; the Western Center for the Conservation of Fine Arts in Denver, CO; and the Denver Art Museum.  She interned at the Field Museum in Chicago, IL, and was a Kress Fellow at the Denver Art Museum.  She holds a Masters of Art Conservation with a specialty in Paintings and Painted Surfaces from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario; a Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Art Conservation from Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy, and Bachelor of Fine Arts with a specialization in Art History from Louisiana State University.  Ms. Jeffcoat is a Professional Associate of the American Institute, Paintings Specialty Group, and has been with MACC since 2014.

Beth McLaughlin, Contract Textile Conservator
Ms. McLaughlin was the Chief Textile Conservator at Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina and the Sr. Textile Conservator at MACC from 2005 to 2010. She has significant training and experience in the conservation of historic and contemporary textiles and the preservation, care and re-housing of three-dimensional objects. Ms. McLaughlin received a Masters in Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts summa cum laude from Ohio University and received advanced training at the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Analytical Laboratory and also at Colonial Williamsburg. Ms. McLaughlin is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation, Textile Specialty Group, and a member of the Southeast Regional Conservation Association, the American Quilt Study Group, and the Textile Society of America.

Courtney Murray, Objects Conservator
Ms. Murray joined MACC in 2017, coming from the Denver Art Museum where she worked with an encyclopedic collection of three-dimensional objects. Prior, she completed a Samuel H. Kress Foundation post-graduate fellowship and graduate internship at the Denver Art Museum, and graduate internships at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, British Columbia and the Toledo Museum of Art. Ms. Murray has experience with a wide range of structures and materials, ranging from archaeological artifacts to contemporary art, and particular interest in polychromed wood, ethnographic materials, and technical analysis. Courtney holds a Master of Science in Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation and a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Emory University. She is a Professional Associate member of the American Institute for Conservation, Objects Specialty group and Research and Technical Studies (RATS) Specialty group.

Liz Sorokin, Paper Conservator
Ms. Sorokin came to MACC after completing the Craigen W. Bowen Fellowship in Paper Conservation at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art Museums. She completed graduate internships at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Saint Louis Art Museum and has experience working with a variety of works on paper. In addition to her museum experience, she has also worked with the library collections of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, the University of Virginia and Northwestern University. She holds a Master of Arts with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Conservation specializing in works on paper from the State University of New York at Buffalo State and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History with Honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She is an Associate member of the American Institute for Conservation.

Colin D. Turner, Executive Director
Mr. Turner has been Director of MACC since 2002 after prior nonprofit experience as the Director of United Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota and the Director of Fundraising for Fresh Air Radio in Minneapolis. Mr. Turner has a special interest in archaeology and ethnographic works and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and History from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, as well as advanced training in Nonprofit Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. His business experience includes 11 years as the owner of a manufacturer’s representative firm and 4 years founding and managing a publishing company. Mr. Turner is a Professional Associate of The American Institute for Conservation, a member of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and the Twin Cities Nonprofit Financial Group, Chair of the National Association of Regional Conservation Centers, a member of the Regional Alliance for Preservation and serves on the Heritage Emergency National Task Force.

Jenny Wollner, Operations Manager
Ms. Wollner began working at MACC in 2014 after an internship in MACC’s offices and objects conservation laboratory. She graduated with honors from Macalester College with Bachelor’s degrees in History and Classics with an emphasis on archaeology and a minor in Art History. She developed a deep concern for the preservation of art and artifacts after studying archaeology at Istituto Lorenzo de Medici in Tuscania, Italy. Ms. Wollner is a Certified Non-Profit Accounting Professional and holds a certificate in non-profit business administration from St. Thomas’s Opus College of Business. She is also a member of the Twin Cities chapter of the Non-Profit Financial Group and Minnesota Council of Non-Profits and serves on the board of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Organization for Women.