Kaela Nurmi gives an overview of her path since graduation:
“After graduating from Scripps with a BA in art conservation, I was awarded the Turk Internship in Conservation where I worked with paintings conservator Aneta Zebala in Santa Monica, CA. Throughout the summer, I worked on the conservation of both murals in Los Angles as well as canvas paintings in the studio.
After the internship, I moved home to Seattle, WA where I split my time as a conservation intern with the Museum of History and Industry, Museum of Pop Culture, and private practice horological conservator Brittany Cox. Throughout the year I had the joy of working on such objects as the intricate and tiny dollhouse furniture, a Borg Regeneration Chamber set piece from Star Trek, and a banjo playing automaton.
In October 2016, I moved to Washington, DC to start an internship with the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Over the 9–month internship I completed the treatment of Doris Salcedo’s concrete and wood sculpture, Untitled, 1995 and Janet Cardiff’s site-specific audio walk, “Words Drawn in Water,” 2005. Additionally, I worked on the conservation of a fiberglass pumpkin from Yayoi Kusama’s “All the Eternal Love I have for Pumpkins” infinity room, a bronze bust by Henri Matisse, and prints by Antoni Tapies.
Since June 2017, I have been working with Page Conservation, Inc, a private practice paintings conservation studio in Washington, DC. With Page Conservation, I have had the opportunity to treat a wide range of works, including traditional portraiture, European panel paintings, and modern/contemporary American art.
In September 2021, I will begin my 12-month graduate internship in the objects conservation department at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.”