Catalina Vasquez-Kennedy came to conservation through architecture, music, and the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
A versatile artist by nature, she began her training in architecture, became a musicologist while performing as a professional choral singer of operas, symphonic repertoire and Early Music, and studied Fine Arts and Restoration at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. It was amid the controversy surrounding the restoration of the Sistine Chapel ceiling that she found the field she would not leave: art conservation.
Years of prerequisites followed — general and organic chemistry, art history, studio arts, museum internships. In 2004 she won the first George T. Dorsch Endowed Scholarship at FIT, which took her to the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw to study under renowned paintings conservators. In 2008 she earned her Master of Arts in Art Conservation and Certificate of Advanced Study in Conservation from Buffalo State College.
She is currently a Professional Associate member of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) — and every object in the studio, heirloom or masterpiece, is treated to the same standard. It is the studio's motto: all objects are treated equally.
Training & fellowships
- The Hispanic Society of America New York City
- Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw, Poland
- The National Museum of Art Warsaw, Poland
- The Walters Art Museum Baltimore, MD
- The Chrysler Museum of Art Norfolk, VA
- Balboa Art Conservation Center San Diego, CA
- Monastery of Santa Catalina Arequipa, Peru
- Minnesota State Capitol St. Paul, MN
The studio
- ArtisAegis, LLC established 2017
- Buffalo State College — MA, Art Conservation 2008
- George T. Dorsch Endowed Scholarship, FIT 2004
- American Institute for Conservation Professional Associate