Profession conservator

Conservators organise and valorise works of art, buildings, books and furniture. They work in a wide range of areas such as creating and implementing new collections of art, preserving heritage buildings by applying restoration techniques as well as foreseeing the conservation of literary works, films, and valuable objects.

Personality Type

• Realistic / Artistic

Knowledge

• Museum databases

  The tools and processes involved in working with museum databases.

Skills

• Assess conservation needs

  Assess and list the needs for conservation/restoration, in relation to current use and planned future use.

• Apply strategic thinking

  Apply generation and effective application of business insights and possible opportunities, in order to achieve competitive business advantage on a long-term basis.

• Create solutions to problems

  Solve problems which arise in planning, prioritising, organising, directing/facilitating action and evaluating performance. Use systematic processes of collecting, analysing, and synthesising information to evaluate current practice and generate new understandings about practice.

• Coordinate operational activities

  Synchronise activities and responsibilities of the operational staff to ensure that the resources of an organisation are used most efficiently in pursuit of the specified objectives.

• Create collection conservation plan

  Create a comprehensive, high-level overview conservation plan for the collection.

• Meet deadlines

  Ensure operative processes are finished at a previously agreed-upon time.

• Use ICT recources to solve work related tasks

  Ability to choose and use ICT recources in order to solve related tasks

• Ensure safety of exhibition

  Ensure safety of exhibition environment and of artefacts by applying safety devices.

• Assess object condition

  Work together with the collection manager or restorer, to evaluate and document the condition of a museum object for a loan or an exhibition.

• Structure information

  Organise information using systematic methods such as mental models and according to given standards in order to facilitate user information processing and understanding with respect to the specific requirements and characteristics of the output media.

• Cope with challenging demands

  Maintain a positive attitude towards new and challenging demands such as interaction with artists and handling of artistic artefacts. Work under pressure such as dealing with last moment changes in time schedules and financial restraints.

• Diagnose conservation issues

  Assess the nature of the object to be conserved or restored, and examine the causes of any deterioration.

• Provide conservation advice

  Formulating guidelines for object care, preservation and maintenance, and providing professional advice on possible restoration work to be done.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB