2023 & 2024 – Olivia Thanadabout

Wesleyan University, Bachelor of Arts, Studio Arts and Art History

Fellowship in Collaborative Conservation

Olivia, shown here stabilizing a painted mural at George Floyd Square, is MACC’s current one-year Collaborative Conservation Fellow. She has a special interest in community-led preservation and her independent research project is related to cultural heritage materials in the St. Paul, Minnesota Hmong community. She plans to apply for graduate training in Art Conservation after her Fellowship.

2023 – Rachel Moore (Hopi)

University of California Los Angeles/Getty – Conservation of Cultural Heritage

Objects Conservation Intern

Rachel completed an internship in the Objects lab as part of her graduate training in the UCLA/Getty conservation program. She worked on a wide variety of projects and materials, including the application of Japanese tissue mends to stabilize areas of cracking on this Ojibwe birch bark basket.

Rachel anticipates graduation with her Masters’ degree in 2025.

2023 – Austin Big Crow (Oglala Lakota)

Institute of American Indian Arts / Museum of
Contemporary Native Art

Fellowship in Native American Collections Care

Austin is shown here practicing inpainting on an item
from MACC’s study collection as part of a workshop on repairing ceramics. A full-time art handler at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art in Sante Fe, New Mexico, Austin’s Fellowship focused on expanding his practical skills and gaining experience on a general preservation assessment at Crazy Horse Memorial Museum.

2023 – Ruby Stately (Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians)

Augsburg College, Native American Studies and Religion

Fellowship in Native American Collections Care

During her Fellowship, Ruby performed accelerated aging tests (pictured here photographing samples after their removal from the Oddy test oven) and wrote a research paper critically evaluating the role of community collaborations in collections care.

She is now working with the Native American Artist-in-Residence Program at the Minnesota Historical Society.

2023 – Rose Émond-Gagnon

Queen’s University, Master of Art Conservation, Paintings Specialization

Paintings Conservation Intern

Rose spent her time in MACC’s Paintings Lab assisting the conservators with a variety of projects during her internship. Rose has since successfully completed her graduate training.

Rose now works as a Paintings Conservator at Archives Canada Preservation Centre in Quebec.

2023 – Autumn Heatrice

Florida State University, Bachelor of Science, Anthropology

Fellowship in Collaborative Conservation

Autumn, shown here during a general preservation
assessment at the New Orleans Museum of African
American History, gained valuable hands skills during her Fellowship and contributed to the archiving an inventorying of materials at the George Floyd Global Memorial.

Autumn now works as the Registrar for Southeast Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum.

2022 – Dakota LaPlante (Cheyenne River Lakota)

Augsburg College, Bachelor of Arts, History

Fellowship in Native American Collections Care

Dakota brought this technique of mending ceramics back to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center where he worked as a volunteer and was able to immediately put it to use on broken items in their collection. He also participated in several general preservation assessments during his Fellowship, and recently co-taught a workshop on ceramics repair at ATALM, a national conference for Native American collections caretakers.

He now works as a Repatriation Manager at the Harvard Peabody Museum.

2022 – Olav Bjornerud

Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art
Conservation (Class of 2023)

Objects Conservation Summer Intern

Olav completed an internship in the Objects lab as part of his graduate training in the WUDPAC program. In addition to assisting with the treatment of several monumental outdoor sculptures, Olav treated an 18th century French frame, a pair of bronze door handles designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and several folk art objects.

After graduation, Olav accepted a position as Assistant Conservator for the renovation of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Modern and Contemporary galleries.

2021 – Lorna Brundrett

Objects Conservation Summer Intern

Lorna completed an internship in the Objects lab as part of her graduate training in the Garman Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State. While at MACC, Lorna completed numerous treatments, including a 19th century Settle, a metal sculpture, an ivory figurine, and several large-scale outdoor sculptures.

After graduation, Lorna joined Linden Preservation Services, Inc. as a Preventive Conservator.

2021 – Monique Tyndall (Stockbridge-Munsee Band of
Mohicans)

Institute of American Indian Arts, Tribal Archivist for the Menominee Indian Tribe

Fellowship in Native American Collections Care

Monique is seen here conducting arsenic testing at MACC on samples taken from items in a Native American collection. Arsenic is a poisonous element that was commonly used in the past to help preserve historic artifacts and is unfortunately found frequently in Native American museum collections.

Monique is now the Director of Cultural Affairs for her home community of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans.

2020-21 – Acoma Gaither

University of Minnesota, Master’s Degree, Heritage Studies and Public History

Fellowship in Racial Justice Collections Care

Acoma worked with community caretakers at the George Floyd Global Memorial to stabilize paper-based materials and prepare them for exhibition. She also spent time during her Fellowship learning preservation techniques in MACC’s Paper Conservation Lab (seen here).

Acoma now works as a Public Program Associate for the Minnesota Historical Society.

2020 – Kiera Hammond

Howard University

Fellowship in Racial Justice Collections Care – Pilot
Program

Kiera is shown here stabilizing materials at the George Floyd Global Memorial, where she assisted in providing emergency response for collections as well as training for community volunteers on preservation ethics and storage techniques. Kiera was instrumental in setting up an inventory protocol that community caretakers are using to this day to create the first inventory of the collection.

2019 – De’Lana Northbird (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe)

University of Notre Dame, Library Assistant at Leech Lake Tribal College

Fellowship in Native American Collections Care

De’Lana, pictured here taking light readings, participated in several General Preservation Assessments – including this one in Coon Valley, WI – during her Fellowship. Recommendations on managing light exposure, one of the ‘agents of deterioration’ in museum collections, is included in the final report that De’Lana helped to author.

2018 – Kendra Greendeer (Hoocąk / Ho-Chunk)

University of Wisconsin, Madison, PhD in Art History

Fellowship in Native American Collections Care

Kendra helped to develop MACC’s protocols for Oddy testing during her Fellowship. This is an accelerated aging test to determine if materials are safe to use for long-term storage and display with artwork. With a strong interest in contemporary Native women artists, during her independent research project she interviewed several local artists on their views of materials and conservation.

Kendra is now a member of the Art History faculty and the University of Oklahoma, and recently invited MACC to present to one of her classes.