Textile Specialty Group

Kathleen Kiefer is a textile conservator in private practice based in Houston, Texas. She also serves on the Board of TX-CERA, the Texas Collections Emergency Resource Alliance. Over the course of her career she has worked in a variety of conservation contexts and with a broad range of fiber-based materials. She was a textile conservator for the Art Institute of Chicago, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Winterthur Museum, Gardens & Library, where I also taught with the Winterthur/University of Delaware graduate program in art conservation, and at the Textile Conservation Center, a regional conservation center at the former American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. A priority for her now is to advocate for the importance of textiles within the hierarchy of material cultural heritage and to highlight the significant knowledge and skills necessary for and possessed by textile conservation specialists. She is committed to supporting the continued growth and development of the field textiles conservation and the individual practitioners devoted to understanding and preserving these often complex materials imbued with so much evidence of human ingenuity and experience. Kathleen a Professional Member of the AIC and a graduate of the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation.

Nhat Quyen Nguyen earned her MA/MS in Conservation of Art and Cultural Heritage and Conservation Science and Imaging from Patricia H. & Richard E. Garman Art Conservation Department at SUNY Buffalo State University. As a student, Nguyen completed a research thesis and treatment of a Qing Dynasty xiaopei from the Buffalo Science Museum and participated in treatment for a Civil War flag from the Cattaraugus County Museum. She was a part of the Andrew W. Mellon/UCLA Diversity in Conservation program and has interned in textile labs at the George Washington University’s Textile Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Heather Hodge is Textile Conservator at the Preservation Society of Newport County.

Alison Castaneda is the associate conservator at the Museum at FIT.  She was previously the Kress Conservation Fellow at The Textile Museum and from 2010-2017 she worked at the Textile Conservation Workshop in South Salem, NY. Alison holds a M.A. in Fashion and Textile Studies from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is a Professional Member of the American Institute of Conservation and is the author of multiple posters and presentations, involving iron-tannate textile dyes, the Winnie-the-Pooh toys, synthetic leather, and an Islamic talismanic shirt.

Anne Rose Keefe is passionate about textiles, design, and collaborative conservation work. As an Associate Textile Conservator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, she supervises the care, conservation, and reproduction of the textile collection. She previously served as an Assistant Textile Conservator at the RISD Museum, where she co-taught textile preservation and conservation theory classes. She holds an MS in Textile Conservation from the University of Rhode Island and a BA in Material Culture from Mount Holyoke College.

Jacquelyn Peterson-Grace (she/her) is the associate conservator of textiles at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. She holds a BSc in conservation studies from Marist College and an MSc from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation with concentrations in textile and preventive conservation. As a graduate student, she completed internships at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Peebles Island Resource Center. Her pre-program internship sites included the textile conservation labs at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and work with the modern tapestry collection of Kykuit. She has worked closely with collections care staff at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia to teach textile and preventive conservation practices and address textile preservation needs. Presently she serves as the Textile Specialty Group Wiki co-coordinator and is the Publications Chair for the Virginia Conservation Association.

Kate Herron is the Associate Conservator of Clothing and Textiles at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. She received an ALM in Museum Studies from Harvard University Extension School and a BA in art history and studio arts from Hope College. As a graduate intern at Museum Textile services, a private textile conservation firm in Massachusetts, she researched and a wrote her masters thesis on affordable costume mounting solutions and co-developed the Andover Mannequin system. Over the course of 2+ years with MTS, she trained in a variety of textile conservation fundamentals. Continuing education has included IAP's Chemistry for Conservators course as well as Displaying Historic Textiles with the International Preservation Studies Center. Her research interests include costume mounting and wet treatment protocols across the field.

Kris Cnossen is a textile conservator and owner of Midwest Textile Conservation, LLC. With a focus on preservation, Kris has worked with flags, quilts, samplers, costumes, and accessories. Their expertise extends to modern and synthetic materials, ensuring comprehensive care for a wide range of artifacts. Current and past clients include the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the George Washinton University Museum and Textile Museum, Applewood Estate, and Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum. Kris holds an MS degree in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program and a bachelor’s degree in Art History from Vassar College. They are a Professional Member of the American Institute of Conservation. Combining a strong academic foundation and practical experience, Kris is dedicated to providing meticulous and personalized textile conservation services. Their commitment to preserving cultural heritage and maintaining the stories behind textiles drives their work. By offering their expertise to institutions and individuals, Kris aims to contribute to the long-term preservation of textile heritage.

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Meredith Wilcox-Levine is a textile conservator and field services director at the Textile Conservation Workshop in South Salem, NY. A Professional Member of AIC, she holds a Master of Science degree in Historic Costume and Textiles from the University of Rhode Island's Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design, with a focus in Textile Conservation. During her training she completed internships at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the National Museum of American History. Before entering the conservation field, Meredith received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatrical costume design and production from Syracuse University. She is a member of the Costume Society of America.

Abby is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Conservation Fellow in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, which houses art from Africa, Oceania, and the Ancient Americas. In May 2025, she completed her coursework in textile conservation at the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fashion and Textile Studies program in New York, NY. She is currently completing her qualifying paper, which focuses on commercially traded antiquities that have been accessioned into museum collections. She is particularly interested in textiles from Indigenous and other historically marginalized communities from all over the world, and how the care and conservation of these pieces interacts with community engagement and repatriation concerns.

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Katharine Shark is s textile conservation student at FIT. She has a passion for patterning, hand sewing techniques, and tailoring.

Annabelle is a Textile Conservator and MBA candidate at The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, specializing in textiles and organic objects. She previously was the Manager of Marketing and Development at Balboa Art Conservation Center, where she also established and led the Center's textile service area. Annabelle completed graduate training at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Abegg-Stiftung, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Annabelle is active in the textile and conservation communities, serving as the Treasurer of the Board of the Textile Society of America, Chair Emerita of AIC's Textile Specialty Group, and a member of the ICOM Finance and Resources Committee.

Gregory Bailey graduated in 2011 from Buffalo State College with an M.A. and C.A.S. in Art Conservation with a focus on the conservation of objects. Since that time, he has been awarded a Kress Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a Mellon Fellowship at the Walters Art Museum, where he also went on to work as Associate Conservator. He is the 2016-2017 recipient of the Booth Family Rome Prize in Historic Preservation and Conservation. From 2017 to 2019, Greg served as Objects Conservator for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery. Greg returned to the Walters Art Museum in 2019 as Senior Objects Conservator. Greg is a Professional Member of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), for which he also serves on the Board of Directors. Greg is Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation (JAIC) as well as Associate Editor for Studies in Conservation.

After graduating from Mary Washington College with a BA in art history and historic preservation, Ryan moved to DC, where he got his first job working for a small association management firm. After that he worked at a national arts advocacy organization before coming to AIC as a Membership Assistant, and is now Membership Manager.