Campus Community
Posted: Thursday, June 17, 2010New Director of Art Conservation Department Appointed
By Phyllis Camesano
Patrick Ravines has been selected as the new director of Buffalo State College’s renowned Art Conservation Department, following a comprehensive international search. His appointment is effective July 2010.
Ravines comes to the college with more than 25 years of experience as a conservator, researcher, and administrator. He currently serves as senior project conservator and research fellow at the George Eastman House (GEH) International Museum of Photography and Film, working with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in a collaborative program to study the deterioration of daguerreotypes using advanced electron and optical imaging techniques.
“Patrick Ravines is ideally qualified to further advance our reputation, our curriculum, and our service to the art world,” said Kevin Railey, interim provost. “With great pleasure we welcome him to the campus and the community.”
Ravines is the fourth director of the art conservation program since its founding in 1970. His selection follows the departure of Elizabeth Peña a year ago. “We are grateful to the search committee for their thoughtful, comprehensive work,” said Benjamin Christy, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities. “I also want to personally thank Professor James Hamm, who served as interim director, providing adept leadership while continuing his faculty responsibilities.”
Prior to his position at GEH, Ravines was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the Advanced Residency Program in Photograph Conservation in Rochester, and, for more than a decade, chief of the Conservation Office at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa, Israel. He holds advanced degrees in chemistry (University of Wisconsin), library science, and library and archives conservation (Columbia University).
The Art Conservation Department is one of the leading programs of its kind in North America. Accepting only 10 students a year, the competitive three-year graduate program trains conservators of fine art and material cultural heritage. Graduates can be found in the conservation labs of major institutions across the United States, including the National Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; and the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The department is currently planning an expansion in Rockwell Hall, scheduled to be completed in 2012.
