Building Frameworks for Response in the Aftermath of the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires

Linnaea E. Saunders is a Conservator of Paintings in private practice in Los Angeles. Following her training at the Courtauld Institute of Art (1999), Linnaea worked for the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Mauritshuis, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). In 2007, she established her independent conservation studio, The Conservator's Easel, LLC, specializing in the treatment of easel paintings and frames. Linnaea has experience treating  European, Latin American, American, and Modern and Contemporary paintings on canvas, wood panel, copper, and paperboard support. She provides services to major institutions, smaller museums and historical societies, galleries, collectors, and private individuals. Linnaea regularly hosts graduate interns in her studio as part of their training.

Laleña Arenas Vellanoweth is a textile conservator 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 worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Autry Museum of the American West, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She currently works as the Civic Art Conservation and Collections Manager for the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, where she manages the preservation of the County's Civic Art collection and oversees projects that promote healing, equity and access for the County's artworks in public spaces.

Founded by Kamila M. Korbela, LA Art Labs LLC (LAAL) is a leading art conservation laboratory offering specialized conservation and restoration services for paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media objects to private collectors, museums, and cultural institutions throughout California and beyond. The lab seamlessly blends technical expertise with a profound respect for the creative essence of each artwork, employing innovative conservation techniques that combine traditional methods with advanced technology. With two decades of experience, Kamila M. Korbela has conserved artworks in encyclopedic collections across Europe, America, and Asia. She holds a German graduate degrees in Art Conservation and has held positions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Balboa Art Conservation Center, the National Gallery of Denmark, and the German government to name a few. Her projects range from local treatments to international collaborations, including an ongoing U.S. Department of State-funded conservation initiative at the Bengal Foundation in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Alongside her hands-on work, she is deeply committed to building strong relationships between artists, collectors, art professionals and institutions to ensure the long-term preservation of cultural heritage which also encompasses disaster planning, preparedness, recovery and management. Under Kamila’s leadership, LAAL has become a trusted resource for resolving complex conservation challenges. The studio is particularly recognized for its expertise in emergency and disaster recovery of large collections, including fire and water damage remediation.

Malaika completed her bachelor's degree at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2023 with majors in art history and anthropology. She discovered her passion for conservation when she interned with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History through the Conservation Internship for Broadening Access in the summer of 2024 and went on to intern with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as a collections management intern for works on paper in the fall of 2024. Malaika is currently a conservation technician at LA Art Labs, where she continues to grow her knowledge of conservation techniques and plans to pursue a graduate degree to further her education in the field.

Carolina Benitez Squires (She/Her/Ella) is a first generation college graduate, and received her B.A. in Art History, cum laude, at the California State University, Long Beach In 2021. She is a pre-program art conservation and museum professional based in Los Angeles, CA.

She has held art conservation positions at the Margaret Herrick Library, Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Research Institute, Getty Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and the Autry Museum of the American West. She started her journey in the field as a participant of the Andrew W. Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation Summer Workshop, through which she was awarded an internship grant.

In addition to conservation-related work, she has held a variety of museum roles at the The Museum of Latin American Art, the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, the Timken Museum, and the Museum of Us. 

In addition to working in the field, she has volunteered as a Co-Liaison for the Los Angeles chapter of the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network from 2022-2023 and has been on the board for the non-profit organization Collections That Care since 2023. She is currently serving as the Social Media Officer for Conservation Association of Los Angeles (CALA) and Art Recovery LA, a collective of art conservation professionals in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California dedicated to assisting our communities to protect and restore their cherished belongings before, during, and after disasters.

Moira McKee is a seasoned personal property appraiser, completing her Appraisal Studies in Fine & Decorative Arts at New York University (NYU), Master’s in Art History and Curatorial Studies (UWO), and is an accredited member of the Canadian Personal Property Appraisers Group (CPPAG). She has a robust background in evaluating fine and decorative arts and managing projects for high-net-worth estates. As the Founder and Director of a contemporary art gallery and appraisal practice, Moira has over 12 years of experience advising commercial enterprises, banks, law firms, auction houses, and cultural institutions. She excels in cultivating client relationships and providing strategic expertise.

Moira works with clients globally on art collecting and investment, offering buyers and sellers short and long-term advice. Her services include valuations, collection management, industry intelligence, and art market analysis. In addition to her advisory roles, Moira has presented on topics such as art as an alternative investment and appraisals in estate planning in collaboration with CIBC. She is a keynote lecturer with the CPPAG, where she teaches key concepts in the appraisal of fine art and antiques, provenance research, and business development best practices. 

Amy Green is a founding partner of Silverlake Conservation in Los Angeles, CA, a firm founded in 2001 that specializes in the treatment of sculpture and architectural finishes. Amy works on wide variety of materials including metal, cast stone and concrete, but gravitates towards historic tile and architectural terra cotta. She holds a certificate in historic preservation from the University of Southern California, an MA in tile conservation from Antioch University and is a Professional Associate with the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Work (AIC). Silverlake Conservation has worked on numerous tile murals and installations, tile fountains and and tile finishes in private homes and public spaces. Notable projects include the Batchelder fountain at the Pasadena Playhouse, the Electric and Doheny fountains in Beverly Hills and Malibu Tile fountain at Adamson House in Malibu. Amy sits on the acquisitions committee at the American Museum of Ceramic art and is a Landmarks Commissioner for the City of Santa Monica.