Janet Ruggles

Executive Director/Chief COnservator of paper

Janet has served on the BACC staff since 1982 first as Conservator of Paper and subsequently as Chief Conservator of Paper. She has also served as General Manager and Director of the Center for twenty-one years. Ms. Ruggles holds a M.A. in Conservation and Certification of Advanced Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Programs, New York State University College at Oneonta and a B.Sc. majoring in biology from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Prior employment includes positions as Associate Conservator of Paper with the Newberry Library, Chicago, IL and Assistant Conservator of Paper in the private practice of Marilyn Kemp Weidner, Philadelphia, PA. Ms. Ruggles is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation and has served as a grant reviewer for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Getty Grant Program.

Alexis Miller

Chief conservator of Paintings

Alexis earned her M.S. in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation and a B.A. in Art History at the University of Virginia. She has been with BACC since her third-year internship in 1998, and has held the positions of Assistant and Associate Conservator of Paintings. In addition to treating paintings and painted objects, she is involved with the technical examination of paintings at BACC, including infrared reflectography, X-radiography, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and cross-section microscopy. Over the years, Alexis has taught many workshops to support collections care in other institutions, including Emergency Preparedness, Care of Paintings, and Care and Handling of Collections. She lectures to the public on the subjects of painting conservation and the science of conservation and is a Professional Associate with the American Institution for Conservation.

Bianca Garcia

Assistant Conservator of paintings

Bianca earned her M.S. in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation with a concentration in Paintings. She received her B.A. in Art Conservation at the University of Delaware. During graduate school, Bianca did internships at the Western Center for the Conservation of Fine Arts in Denver, CO; the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain; and the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, OH. She came to BACC as a Mellon Fellow in Paintings Conservation prior to holding her current position. In addition to carrying out conservation treatments of paintings and painted objects, Bianca is involved in the technical examination of artworks, including infrared reflectography, X-radiography, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and cross-section microscopy. She also assists in the teaching of workshops and lecture presentations to support collections care in other institutions. Her areas of interests include pre-19th century paintings, Spanish Colonial art, and polychrome sculptures. Garcia is also the Program Manager for the Andrew W. Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation, a program that supports opportunities for students who are from backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in the conservation field.

Morgan Wylder

Assistant Conservator of paintings

Morgan earned a dual undergraduate degree in Fine Art and Art History at Cornell University. After university, she interned with paper and paintings conservators in New York City and Washington, D.C. She later received her graduate degree in Conservation of Easel Paintings from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. During graduate school, Morgan interned in the paintings conservation department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Before her Andrew Mellon Fellowship at BACC, Morgan worked as the NEH Fellow in Paintings Conservation at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA. In addition to carrying out conservation treatments at BACC, Morgan is involved in the technical examination of artworks, including infrared reflectography, X-radiography, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and cross-section microscopy.  Her areas of interest including the conservation of Modern and Contemporary paintings and mixed media artworks, materials and techniques of 20th century California painters, and helping artists to better understand materials to support their artistic practice. 

SAra Bisi

Associate Conservator of Paper 

Sara earned an M.A. in Art Conservation from SUNY Buffalo State College with advanced study in paper conservation and a B.A. in Art History from Saint Joseph College.  She held post-graduate positions as a research associate in paper conservation at the Yale Center for British Art and was awarded the Craigen W. Bowen fellowship in paper conservation at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art Museums in 2010. Sara also gained extensive treatment experience working in regional centers such as the Northeast Document Conservation Center, the Williamstown Art Conservation Center, and in her own private practice. In addition to works on paper, she has had the opportunity to successfully treat a wide variety of materials including parchment, papyrus, portrait miniatures on ivory, and paintings on silk. She came to BACC after gaining diverse experience in both art conservation and collections care, including serving as the collections care manager for the Harvard Art Museums where she oversaw preventive care for three distinct museum collections located in four sites and totaling over 250,000 objects. Her areas of interest and previous research include the analysis of color printing methods and materials before 1800, the development and analysis of an iodine vapor treatment for silver mirroring on photographs, and teaching workshops and courses on general collections care and preventive conservation practices.

Erick Gude

Conservation Technician / photographer 

Erick earned his undergraduate degree at Southern Illinois University and has been on the staff BACC since 2001, where his primary responsibilities include photography, reframing, art handling, and conservation of frames. Past affiliations include the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Terra Museum of Art in Chicago, the Musée d’Art Americain in Giverny, France, and the San Diego Museum of Art. ​

Emma Poggioli 

Registrar / Administrative Assistant

​Emma Poggioli earned her graduate degree in Public/Applied History at the University at Albany. She received a B.A. in history at the State University of New York at Oswego. Prior to her work at BACC, she was employed with the San Diego History Center as a Visitor Engagement Associate. Ms. Poggioli's training includes positions at the Albany County Hall of Records, the Safe Haven Museum, and the Storm King Art Center in NY.

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