There were several influences in my childhood that directed me towards conservation, one I loved to “fix things”, two “keep” things, three “help” things ( people, animals, objects). I loved art and history equally. And I loved the story that went with the “thing”.
I was lucky enough to go straight from high school to the Bachelor of Applied Science of Conservation of Cultural Materials in Canberra in 1992. Conservation was a perfect fit.
In 1995, after graduating from Canberra majoring in Paper Conservation, I worked at Conservation Access, the conservation business of the State Library of NSW. The stories, the objects and working with collections and communities was a challenging delight.
I continued to work at the State Library in the Preservation Department, filling various roles, including the inaugural Garling Conservator, the project leader for the renovation and installation of the Heritage Galleries in 2003, project coordinator and disaster coordinator.
In 2008 I decided to join Kay at Preservation Australia, my experience in conducting workshops, managing disaster recoveries, project management fitted nicely with the projects at Preservation Australia. Over the last 10 years I have continued to develop my skills and knowledge in both preventive and photographic conservation, and in 2010 I completed Post Graduate studies in Photographic Conservation from the University of Melbourne.
I thoroughly enjoy how my work at Preservation Australia allows me to meet the people, hear the stories and help them preserve (“fix” and “keep”) their history and story, our history, through the objects that they keep. I love to share my knowledge and I have developed training packages and workshops to deliver this knowledge and build capacity in the community and arts to enable them to “fix and keep”.