Our Monthly Member Meetup is a series of hour-long monthly events that we’ll host second Fridays at 2pm ET. Topics may cover sustainability, private practice, volunteering, the wiki, emergency planning, introductions to our various committees and groups, and more. Our goal is to offer you a social outlet and way to connect with other members. We welcome suggestions for topics and guest hosts! Send us your ideas at membership@culturalheritage.org. 

Review our past meetups:

• 2024 Member Meetup Series
• 2023 Member Meetup Series 
• 2022 Member Meetup Series.

AIC's Paintings Specialty Group is excited to welcome guests to share information about the MOXY Project. The MOXY Project aims to empower cultural heritage professionals to preserve works of art for the future in a green and sustainable way. MOXY is venturing into new territory with roots in NASA research, bridging the gap between physics, engineering, aerospace, cultural heritage, and sustainability science, in pursuit of a breakthrough technology to conserve otherwise untreatable materials and preserve works of art for the future in a sustainable and green way. This 90-minute webinar presentation, led by Nina Olsson, will include talks by senior researchers and PhD students, videos of treatments, and live-streamed demos of the AO process. 

The tentative agenda for this webinar is as folllows:

1. Nina Olsson: Overview of the MOXY project and the Green Cluster for Conservation Science and Research 
2. Tomas Markevicius, PhD candidate UvA and UGent: The MOXY Plasma Generation mechanism for creating AO and AO treatment dynamics. Tomas will create a video of how the user would use the instrument. 
3. Catarina Rochas Pires, PhD student UvA: AO Application for the Cleaning of Sensitive Paint Surfaces.
4. Kirill Shumikhin, PhD student UPisa: Effects of AO on oil paint medium, and a comparison of AO and Laser as non contact cleaning methods. 
5. Cecilia Campi, PhD student UPisa: Effects of AO on cochineal or other pigments.
6. Tomas Markevcius: Unexpected effects of AO: Temporary bleaching of plaster and reversal of lead white darkening, new areas of research 
7. Q&A

This event will be recorded.

Sustainability Tools in Cultural Heritage (STiCH) recently published an updated, improved version of the STiCH Carbon Calculator. Join project leads Sarah Nunberg and Matthew Eckelman to explore the features of the new tool and how you can use it to make data-driven decisions to reduce the carbon footprint of your work.

This event will take place in Zoom webinars. Closed captioning available.

The Los Angeles County’s Civic Art collection is comprised of over 600 contemporary and historic permanent public artworks located across County-owned property. These artworks are cultural assets that belong to and are enjoyed by all Los Angeles County residents. In recent efforts to provide equitable resources through the Civic Art Division’s commissions, programming, and collections outreach, the Conservation Apprenticeship Program was created. The first of these projects was the Inner Resources Mural Conservation Apprenticeship Project for those interested or emerging in the conservation field and emerging public artists who have a connection or investment in the artwork’s surrounding communities of City Terrace and East Los Angeles. The project provided a rare and paid opportunity to learn about the importance of preservation and participate in the conservation of a significant artwork in their community. Please join Laleña Vellanoweth and apprentices Janeth Aparicio, Bianca Elena Ramirez, Jennifer Payan, and Diana Sanchez for a conversation on the importance and impact of including community in the conservation of public artworks.  

About our Speakers

Laleña Arenas Vellanoweth is a conservator and cultural worker in Los Angeles, CA. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry and B.A. in Art from California State University, Los Angeles and MA in Art History and Certificate in Conservation from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She has held conservation positions at the Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, then worked as an independent conservator at the Autry Museum of the American West, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Laleña is currently the Conservation and Collections Manager for the Civic Art Division of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

Janeth Aparicio Vazquez lives and works in Los Angeles, California. She is a visual artist and historian as curandera of Mixtec descent. Her multidisciplinary work spans ink and graphite drawing, painting, and crafts-based mixed-media. Aparicio uses this range of materials to create tender offerings to her communities: past, present, and future. Aparicio Vazquez has exhibited most recently at Room 3557 (Los Angeles, 2024), Superchief Gallery (Los Angeles,CA, 2023), and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (Santa Cruz, CA, 2022). The artist has most recently installed a mural at Dr. Owen Lloyd Knox Elementary School (Los Angeles, CA, 2024) and another public art mural in collaboration with the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory at Ruben F. Salazar Park (Los Angeles, CA, 2023). Aparicio Vazquez has earned awards such as Espolon Tequila’s Modern Maverick Artist Award (National Association for Latino Arts & Culture, 2024) and the California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Award: Emerging Artist (Los Angeles Performance Practice for LA County, 2023). She holds a BA in studio art and art history from Occidental College (Los Angeles, CA).

Jennifer Payan is an artist, emerging museum professional, and MLIS student in San Jose State University's online program. She was raised and resides in East Los Angeles, California. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles where she received her B.A. in Art History. Payan has explored many art mediums and most recently completed a two-week ceramic residency at Taller Canella in San Agustín Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. She currently works as a Curatorial Assistant with the Department of Cultural Affairs at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

Bianca Elena Ramirez is a Mexican American artist who creates work that represents her city and her people through her own lived experiences as an Angelena and exploring themes of self-memory, location, and preserving cultural heritage. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley where she received her B.A. in Art Practice with a minor in Chicana/o Studies. Ramirez is currently a teaching artist at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA) in Pomona, California.

Diana Sanchez is an artist and museum educator who was raised and currently resides in East Los Angeles, CA. She received her B.A. degrees in Art and Art History in 2016 from UC Berkeley. Since then, her curiosity and creativity ushered her into theater, supervising costume collections for various theater troupes and assisting in art studios before settling into the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. As an educator and Program Manager for school and teacher audiences, she synthesizes scientific and historical research into engaging and impactful experiences for museum visitors. In her makeshift studio, her artwork is informed by the natural world around her, despite its heavy urban density, finding parallels between nature’s anecdotes of perseverance and her Chicana heritage. She works mainly in 2D with paintings and drawings in a variety of media. 

Watch the recorded orientation session for both current and prospective volunteers. Review the handouts and slides to . 

In this session, we will:

• Orient you to our leadership and organizational structure
• Provide you with resources to be effective in your role
• Share how our groups work together
• Offer overviews of timelines, budgeting, events, funding, and planning
• Explain our communications tools and documentation rules

Please share any questions with Bonnie Naugle at bnaugle@culturalheritage.org. 

Join us to hear about the Research & Technical Specialty Group updates, budget information, and new officers. Agenda to be shared before the meeting.

Join the Wooden Artifacts Group for a lunchtime webinar with upholstery and furniture conservators Heather Porter, Cathy Silverman, and Nadine Kilchhofer. This event will feature two separate talks regarding an introduction to the field of upholstery conservation followed by an explanation of how to examine upholstery with treatment case studies as well as a Q&A session.

Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your understanding of upholstery conservation in this engaging online session!

This session is free for WAG members, $10 for AIC members, and $20 for the public (prices will adjust automatically as you register). The webinar will be recorded and available for later viewing for registered attendees.

Join us to hear about the Textile Specialty Group updates, budget information, and new officers. Agenda to be shared before the meeting.

Join us to hear about the Wooden Artifacts Group updates, budget information, and new officers. 

WAG Business Meeting Agenda

June 18, 2025

• Welcome – Cathy Silverman
• Approval of 2024 Minutes
• Update form AIC Board – Greg Bailey
• AIC Staff Update - Bonnie Naugle
• Chair’s Update – Cathy Silverman
  • Introduction of new WAG officers
  • Thanks to departing and continuing officers and volunteers
  • Online events
  • Workshops (with update about Craft and Conservation from Kathy Gillis)
• Program Chair reflections on WAG at 2025 Annual Meeting – Caroline Shaver
• Treasurer’s Update – Liz Peirce
• AOB

Join us to hear about the Objects Specialty Group updates, budget information, and new officers. Agenda to be shared before the meeting.