I am a practicing paper conservator and technical art historian.
After studying Art History at the University of Leicester and Conservation of Fine Art at Northumbria. I completed my PhD at the Royal College of Art, London and carried out post-doctoral research at the the Bodleian Library at Oxford on the materials and techniques used by the eighteenth century natural history painter, Ferdinand Bauer. Before joining Northumbria, I spent nineteen years as an art conservator working at the a number of heritage institutions, including; the V&A, the Tate, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Harvard Art Museums.
My research is primarily concerned with material, technique, and studio process used by artists from the late eighteenth to the late twentieth century, particularly focusing on material, meaning and visual perception in twentieth century artists' drawings.
My forthcoming book, 'David Smith: The Artist's Materials' will be published by Getty Publications in 2024.
I am also engaged in research on the conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage collections at risk in world conflict zones, focusing particularly on post-conflict Afghanistan. I have spent time working in the field in Kabul during a series of research and capacity-building projects funded by the British Council's Cultural Protection Fund. My research looks at the impact of capacity-building and educational programmes in cultural heritage conservation in the region post-2001, and is focused on how alternative pedagogies for teaching and learning in cultural heritage conservation in Afghanistan might be used to develop skills and knowledge in the region, paticularly after the withdrawl of international forces in 2021.
Charlotte Johnston Legacy of Dammar Resin: Colonialist Harvesting and its Impact on the International Artist Material Trade and Import of Natural Resinous Materials to Britain, 1820 - 1850 Start Date: 01/10/2023
I co-lead the team that manages and preserves the University Art Collection and the Montagu Collection of World Musical Instruments at Northumbria. I am a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works and am Coordinator for the Photographic Materials Working Group of the International Council of Museums Conservation Committee (ICOM-CC)
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