94c30bdb-ac88-4135-9401-54bd6b577c1c Lara Kaplan Objects Conservator and Affiliated Assistant Professor Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation Winterthur, USA Previous Next All members MEMBER INFORMATION Lara Kaplan is an objects conservator at Winterthur Museum and an affiliated assistant professor at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC). Since 2017, she has led the organic objects portion of WUDPAC’s first-year conservation curriculum and beginning in 2019 came on board as a full-time objects conservator at Winterthur Museum. She earned an M.S. in art conservation from WUDPAC in 2003; interned at the Sheldon Jackson Museum, the Arizona State Museum, and the National Park Service Western Archeological and Conservation Center; and held a post-graduate Mellon Fellowship at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Prior to working at Winterthur, she ran a private conservation practice in Baltimore, Maryland. Ms. Kaplan’s research interests include organic materials, especially skin and leather, the treatment of plastics, and ethical considerations for non-traditional collections. ABM CONFERENCES ABM 2021 Team Presenter Overlooked Organics in Decorative Arts: Cataloging Skin-Based, Skeletal, and Hard Keratinous Animal Tissues Explore Full Abstract ABM MEMBER EVENTS PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS

93d38c6d-0323-4bf3-846e-ed52f62b4bbd Evon Hekkala Assistant Professor Biological Sciences Fordham University New York, NY, USA Previous Next All members MEMBER INFORMATION Evon Hekkala uses ancient and archival genomic methods to identify biological materials and to track their use and meaning at various points in history. Most recently, she is working with natural history collections to uplift Indigenous taxonomies and knowledge systems. Her current research is primarily focused on analyzing genomic data from archival and ancient biomaterials in combination with historical documentary resources to better understand species specific responses to anthropogenically and naturally induced environmental change. She works with communities to explore both formal and colloquial natural histories to decolonize our understanding of sources and meaning of the cultural heritage and natural history objects in museums. ABM CONFERENCES ABM 2021 Poster Presenter Art Bio Matters 2021 Virtual Conference Explore Full Abstract ABM 2018 Participant Art Bio Matters 2018 Conference Explore Full Abstract ABM MEMBER EVENTS ABM Seminar Series - November 2023 Seminar Series Presenter Decolonizing Crocodylian Collections: Developing a model system for bridging Historical Indigenous and Eurocentric interpretations of culturally and economically important species in museum holdings Explore PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS

1703895f-22de-4e6f-95b3-15ed3b534d95 Ashley Coutu Research Fellow Pitt Rivers Museum University of Oxford, UK Oxford, UK Previous Next All members MEMBER INFORMATION Ashley Coutu is currently a Research Fellow at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Her background is as an archaeological scientist, and she primarily uses techniques and methods from biology and organic chemistry to understand archaeological materials. Her specialism is the use of stable isotope, ancient DNA, and proteomics analyses as applied to archaeological and museum collections of organic materials. She is particularly interested in method development in relation to the needs of museums for display and the care of objects in terms of their conservation. The geographical focus of her work is sub-Saharan Africa, and therefore most of her research is on the ivory trade, past and present, and the use of ivory as a raw material for crafting objects. ABM CONFERENCES ABM 2021 Poster Presenter Life histories of ivory objects in museum collections Explore Full Abstract ABM MEMBER EVENTS PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS

5f67ee22-ed4e-42d7-8d35-e4b79bedf473 Erma Hermens Professor in Studio Practice and Technical Art History Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Netherlands Previous Next All members MEMBER INFORMATION Erma Hermens is the Rijksmuseum Professor in studio practice and technical art history at the University of Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum, Department of Conservation of Science, where she works with interdisciplinary teams, liaising between curators, conservators and scientists, combining art historical and contextual research of objects, their composite materials, and methods of making, with scientific analytical data. She is from March 2021-March 22, Visiting Porfessor at the Venice Centre for Digital and Public Humanities, Ca ‘Foscari University of Venice. Present projects CT-scanning for Art: from Images to Patterns (IMPACT4Art); Imaging, Identification and interpretation of Glass in Paint (I3Glassp); Down to the Ground: Colored grounds in Netherlandish 16th and 17th-century painting. She is presently writing a review report of the field of Technical Art History commissioned by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. ABM CONFERENCES ABM 2021 Steering Committee Art Bio Matters 2021 Virtual Conference Explore Full Abstract ABM MEMBER EVENTS PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS

709df5fc-534d-4ba6-91e7-376b562cd322 Cynthia Hahn Professor of Art History New York, NY, USA Previous Next All members MEMBER INFORMATION Cynthia Hahn is Distinguished Professor of Art History at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of CUNY. She has published extensively on reliquaries (including those of other cultures, but primarily Western medieval). Her books on the subject include: Strange Beauty (PSU press), The Reliquary Effect (Reaktion), and Passion Relics (UCal press). She is particularly interested in materials and ritual as well as viewer reception. ABM CONFERENCES ABM MEMBER EVENTS PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS

5550439c-7ee5-46f8-97cc-d8dfac2b7fea Nezka Pfeifer Museum Curator Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum, Missouri Botanical Garden Missouri, USA Previous Next All members MEMBER INFORMATION Since 2018, Nezka Pfeifer has been the Museum Curator of the Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum at the Missouri Botanical Garden, where she develops interdisciplinary exhibitions and programs on botanically related subjects that feature Garden collections, the Garden’s global research initiatives, and commissions of contemporary artists to create site-specific artworks. Recent exhibitions have focused on the plants that make paper and musical instruments, and the Missouri innovation of grafting in the grape and wine industry. ABM CONFERENCES ABM 2023 Participant Art Bio Matters 2023 Conference Explore Full Abstract ABM MEMBER EVENTS PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS

ec11a66e-3b1e-4a31-a46f-c871137d1c7a Thainá Vígio Previous Next All members MEMBER INFORMATION ABM CONFERENCES ABM MEMBER EVENTS ABM Round Table - March 2024 Round Table Presenter ABM Round Table - March 2024 Question on fungicide methods outside of freezing and anoxia. Explore PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS

702ef7cf-5679-4c98-9e81-0a74b2298a60 Anna Serotta Associate Conservator Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, NY, USA Previous Next All members MEMBER INFORMATION Anna Serotta is an objects conservator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art where she is primarily responsible for the conservation of the Egyptian Art collection. Her research interests span a broad range of topics, including stone carving technology, technical imaging and the ethical care of human remains. Anna has worked as an archaeological field conservator on sites in Turkey, Greece, Italy and Egypt, including at The Met’s excavation at Dahshur. She is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome as well as a guest lecturer at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. ABM CONFERENCES ABM 2021 Participant Art Bio Matters 2021 Virtual Conference Explore Full Abstract ABM MEMBER EVENTS PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS

78ae119c-2328-4566-b7d3-ef1b88ec2716 Thiago Sevilhano Puglieri Los Angeles, USA Previous Next All members MEMBER INFORMATION Thiago Puglieri is an assistant professor at the UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage and the UCLA Department of Art History. He works in the intersections of art history, chemistry, and conservation, focusing on studies of Indigenous arts. He holds BA, MA, and PhD degrees in Chemistry, focusing on vibrational spectroscopy. Before joining UCLA, he was a professor in Brazil for seven years and a visiting researcher at the Getty Conservation Institute. In September this year, he will be a scholar at the Getty Research Institute, investigating how the engagement of science, the humanities, and Indigenous communities can help better preserve endangered knowledge from the Amazon Forest. His work combines archival research with chemical investigations and community engagement, exploring ways to increase the social impacts of his scientific outcomes. ABM CONFERENCES ABM MEMBER EVENTS ABM Seminar Series - August 2024 Seminar Series Presenter Technical art history with and for Indigenous communities The Brazilian Amazon Forest is a treasure trove of cultural and natural variety and abundance, exemplified by the coloring materials used by at least 155 ethnic groups. These materials, deeply intertwined with the region's natural environment, are vital for conveying cultural narratives, spiritual beliefs, and ecological knowledge. Many Brazilian Amazonian people continue to produce these traditional coloring materials, and their involvement in research projects related to technical art history and conservation science holds great potential for both Indigenous communities and scholars. However, such collaborations are rare in these fields. In this talk, Thiago Puglieri will share how he has been incorporating Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) into his work at UCLA, with a focus on the Tikuna/Magüta blue case, a still unknown blue among technical art historians and conservation scientists. Explore PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS

b7dc7019-3f88-4634-9ab0-21b0855675ac Trish Biers Curator Cambridge, UK Previous Next All members MEMBER INFORMATION Trish is the Curatorial Manager of the Duckworth laboratory (biological anthropology) in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. She teaches in the Department about ethics, repatriation, treatment of the dead, and osteology. She is currently the Museum Representative, on the Board of Trustees, British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO) and organises their Taskforce on the Trade and Sale of Human Remains. Her research interests include ancient and modern death work, osteoarchaeology and paleopathology, and museum studies focusing on the curation, ethics, and display of the dead. ABM CONFERENCES ABM MEMBER EVENTS ABM Roundtable Discussion - August 2024 Roundtable Speaker Perceptions of Human Remains - Continued Following the overwhelming response to our March 27th session. We are pleased to announce an upcoming online Roundtable discussion on the topic of human remains in museums, cultural centers, and religious spaces. This session will offer an opportunity to examine the ongoing ethical and practical challenges surrounding the display, handling, storage, treatment, and scientific analysis of human remains. It will also provide a space to share diverse institutional experiences and foster thoughtful dialogue across disciplines. 
Our goal is to generate actionable insights that can support professionals navigating these responsibilities, and to encourage a respectful, informed approach to working with human remains in varied contexts. We welcome participants from across the field to join us for what promises to be a meaningful and necessary conversation. Explore PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS