Conservation in Action: Japanese Buddhist Sculptures, Meet the Conservators

Abigail Hykin

Abby Hykin is Conservator in the Objects Conservation Laboratory and lead conservator for “Conservation in Action: Japanese Sculpture in a New Light.” She holds an MA and CAS in Art Conservation from the State University College at Buffalo. Abby worked closely with the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the MFA’s sister museum in Japan, preparing a wide range of objects from across the MFA collections for exhibition. Within the MFA, she has overseen objects conservation for several major exhibitions, including “Games for the Gods: The Greek Athlete and the Olympic Spirit,” “Aphrodite and the Gods of Love,” “Donatello to Giambologna: Italian Renaissance Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,” and “Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence.” Significant conservation treatments, technical research and publications have focused on Asian and European sculpture, including Giovanni Francesco Rustici’s Saint John the Baptist, the Jin dynasty sculpture Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Compassion, and Nishida Jun’s Zetsu #8. Abby was previously Assistant Conservator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the J. Paul Getty Museum and completed advanced-level internships or fellowships at the Asian Art Museum, the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at Harvard University, and here at the MFA.

Linsly Boyer

Linsly Boyer is the Associate Conservator for “Conservation in Action: Japanese Buddhist Sculpture in a New Light.” She graduated from the Conservation Center at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Prior to graduate school, she worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, assisting with the de-installation, treatment, and re-installation of the Pacific Collection. She has also spent time working for the Preservation Society of Newport County, the Central Park Conservancy, the National Park Service, and the Guggenheim Museum, and participated in archaeological site work at Selinunte in Sicily. Prior to joining the MFA, Linsly worked for the Art Conservation Group in New York, one of the largest private objects conservation studios in the region, treating artworks from world-class private collections, as well as the collections of many smaller institutions.

Evelyn Mayberger

Eve Mayberger is the Assistant Conservator for “Conservation in Action: Japanese Buddhist Sculpture in a New Light.” She graduated with MA and MS degrees in Art History and Conservation from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, where she specialized in objects conservation. Eve has worked in the conservation departments of Olin Library at Wesleyan University, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Historic Odessa Foundation, Small Collections Library at the University of Virginia, National Museum of the American Indian, Worcester Art Museum, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (graduate internship), and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Andrew W. Mellon Fellow for Advanced Training). In addition to museum work, she has participated in excavations at Sardis (Turkey), Selinunte (Sicily), Abydos (Egypt), and el Kurru (Sudan). Eve is the current Chair for the Emerging Conservation Professional Network of the American Institute for Conservation.