Services
Environmental Assessment
This includes taking various measurements (temperature, relative humidity, and visible light), examining the structure of an exhibition or storage space, and more -- all of which inform recommendations made towards protecting commercial, private and museum collections from climate-related damage.
Collections Care & Preventive Conservation
This includes integrated pest management, recommendations for display, storage, and transit of objects, calculation of appropriate annual light exposure for objects, condition reporting for mixed media collections.
It also includes the careful design of crates, backing boards, storage solutions, etc.
Painting Conservation
This includes examination of paintings (using visible light, UV light, stereomicroscope, magnification, etc.), photographing paintings, drafting condition assessments, creating treatment plans, submitting proposals for treatment, and treating paintings in a variety of conditions.
Examination may be conducted on-site, but most treatment will occur in the studio — with the exception of large paintings or particularly delicate works. In some cases, condition reports are used by insurance companies and policy holders to determine whether conservation is possible and reasonable.
Treatment can include anything from dry surface cleanings and removal of coatings to paint consolidation and structural care like reweaving torn threads or repairing stretchers.
Please consult the Client Resources tab to learn more about what happens in a typical day at the studio or on-site.
Disaster Mitigation
This includes consultations (condition assessments, recommendations for stabilization and for limiting damage from mold, mildew, flood, fire, earthquake, etc.,) triage, and treatment.
In some cases, I will treat pieces (partially) on site if they are too damaged to travel safely or difficult to extract. For example, I have treated paintings that were impaled during an earthquake and those that were cemented to the ground during a mudslide. After stabilizing them, the pieces should come to the studio for further treatment.
Workshops
These include in-person and online instruction focused on various aspects and implementations of preventive conservation. Workshops are designed to assist institutions (museums, galleries, historic homes, etc.) and individuals (artists, preparators, etc.) with preventive conservation techniques.
About
Elizabeth Burton has worked in paintings conservation since 2013. From 2013 through 2021, she worked under Eugena Ordonez at Painting Conservation & Research in Los Angeles.
She has conducted environmental analysis and implemented climate control measures for museums since 2017 — during and after completing her MA in Preventive Conservation.
Elizabeth contributes to the museum studies and preventive conservation fields as an instructor for the Northern States Conservation Center where she teaches the following courses: "Condition Assessments," "Care of Paintings," and "Museum Cleaning Basics" several times each year.
Elizabeth focuses on pre-modern, modern, and contemporary paintings completed between the 1850's and today. She is especially passionate about working on paintings of late 19th and early 20th century California artists as well as heirloom pieces close to the hearts of their owners.