Last Post about Art Restoration!

        I survived all of the NJ Transit trips, the long commute, working 7-4 every day, and waiting in the microwave line during lunch. I learned so many things about chemicals, cleaning, and art care that I will take with me through all of my future pieces of art.

This is my last post for my internship at Art Restoration Technologies in Northern New Jersey with Megan Becker. I could not be more fulfilled and happy with my experience there. Megan was so kind, and shared her school advice with me, as well as engaged me in great morning car conversations about music videos, culture, and podcasts. She graciously let me stay in her home during the work week because the commute would have taken me several hours each morning, and her two cats and bird entertained me. After work every day, I would sit in my room (typically Megan’s art studio) and eat vegan deli sandwiches or TacoBell and watch movies while I wrote my blog entries. At 6am every morning, or 5am on Fridays, I would eat ramen or drink tea and get ready to leave with Megan. In the art office, the other restorer Sherry also made me feel at home and welcome, as she shared her own experiences at UArts with me and helped me decide to add a Creative Writing minor next semester. All three of us in the art office, although it was crowded, cleaned and packaged frames while discussing movies, music, and how to find cheap Philly apartments. During one of my first weeks, Megan and Sherry told me about the art documentary series on Netflix, Abstract. By now, I’ve watched every episode and refer back to it for motivation and inspiration (especially the first episode, about the illustrator). Outside of the art office was the electronic restoration warehouse. One of the electronics men, Mohammed, would spend time with us and tell long stories that made the work go faster. Mohammed and I talked about being from similar areas in the Middle East, him from Afghanistan and my family from Armenia. It was refreshing to speak to someone who had similar experiences, and didn’t need me to point out my country on the map. He seemed so excited when I told him I’d been to Iran.

Art restoration is not the field I plan on going into, but the skills I learned about handling art carefully, letting oil paints breathe, waking up at 6 every morning, and keeping track of hundreds of pieces that all have different places to go will continue to improve my own work ethic and care of art. I loved my internship, my alumnus, and everyone I worked with at ART. It’s sad to go, but I’m excited for my sophomore year of drawing comics and working in theater.