Two things helped Coia land the coveted internship: previous archaeological work in Israel with classics professor Andy Overman, and that the center’s office manager is Mac classics graduate Jenny Wollner ’13.

Although it was just 10 hours a week, Kelsey Coia’s fall internship turned out to be a highly instructive one. Coia ’16 (Arlington, Va.) interned at the Midwest Art Conservation Center, located in the basement of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

 There, in leased space deep within the bowels of the museum, 10 conservators work in four labs—objects (sculptures, etc.), paper (drawings, prints, etc.), paintings, and textiles—repairing and restoring works of art from throughout the Midwest and Mountain West.

 “They do really cool, very high quality work there,” says Coia, an art history and classics major. “The best.” Because the Minneapolis Institute of Arts does not have its own team of conservators, it’s one of the center’s main clients, Coia says. Art also comes from other museums, historical societies, churches, and private clients.

 Two things helped Coia land the coveted internship, she believes: previous archaeological work in Israel with classics professor Andy Overman, and that the center’s office manager is Mac classics graduate Jenny Wollner ’13, who reached out to her old department when in need of an intern.

 Because conservation work requires long years of intense training—professionals have specialized degrees and what Coia calls a “rare mixture of skills,” including chemistry, studio art, and art history—the Macalester junior didn’t actually get her hands on the art during her internship.

 Instead she worked in the office organizing treatment report files and performing other administrative tasks. Nevertheless, “just being around the conservators, learning how they assess a piece,” was fascinating, she says, and along the way she had a chance to look at everything from Renaissance tapestries to Andy Warhol prints.

 She also learned a lot about how nonprofits work, even attending a grant-writing workshop with some of her colleagues.

 Despite her newfound fascination with the field of conservation, Coia remains more interested in pursuing a museum career, probably as a curator. To that end, she hopes to spend a semester in Italy next year studying art and art history.

 What she will take with her from her time at the Midwest Art Conservation Center, she says, is a newly keen understanding of “the universal value of an object.

 “Every culture has its sacred things,” she says. “And we’re willing to spend so much to maintain these important objects.”

January 14 2015

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