Christie Pohl
Christie Pohl is the lead conservator for this project. She graduated with a B.A. in Art History and Sociology from Marymount Manhattan College in 2002. She then earned an M.A. in Principles of Conservation and an M.S. in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Christie co-founded "Conservators Without Borders," an international archaeological conservation and outreach initiative, leading projects in Greece, Jordan, and Peru from 2007-2009. She was a Samuel H. Kress Conservation Fellow in archaeological conservation at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) and spent a year and a half working at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, on a Mesoamerican plaster cast conservation project. From 2010-2013, Christie was Chief Conservator of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), where she managed projects in Luxor and trained local Egyptian conservation students in wall painting and stone conservation. Christie has also been involved in conservation field work in Panama and Turkey, and most recently in May 2016, for two projects in Northern Ethiopia (the Eastern Tigray Archaeological Project and the Southern Red Sea Archaeological Histories). Christie joined the MFA in 2013, as Assistant Conservator focusing on the object conservation needs of the Museum’s touring exhibitions, and in 2016, she was promoted to Associate Conservator.
Jessica Arista
Jessica Arista graduated from Smith College in Northampton, MA, in 2005 with a B.A. in Neuroscience and a concentration in Art History and Pre-Medicine; she earned her M.S. in Objects Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2010. Jessie previously worked at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, where she focused on researching and conserving ancient art from Mesoamerica and South America, as well as a Processional Cross from early 16th century Zaragoza, Spain. Engaging museum visitors in conversation while working in the Walters' open "Conservation Window," Jessie developed a commitment to public outreach. Her archaeological conservation experience includes training at the Kaman-Kalehöyük excavation in Turkey and conservation of 9th–7th century BCE Nimrud ivories in Erbil, Iraq, at the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage. Prior to joining the MFA in 2013 as Assistant Conservator, she worked at the Harvard University Art Museums, preparing artworks for installation after renovation. At the MFA, her work has focused on the conservation of ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian art, and art of the Ancient Americas. Jessie is a board member of the New England Conservation Association.
LeeAnn Barnes Gordon
LeeAnn Barnes Gordon graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2003 with a B.A. in Anthropology and a minor in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. She then worked as an archaeological technician for several years in the American Midwest and participated in excavations in Cyprus and Syria. LeeAnn earned an M.S. from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2011. After graduation she joined the MFA as Sherman Fairchild Fellow in Objects Conservation, focusing on the treatment of objects for the renovated Korean gallery, as well as completing a technical study of Benin copper alloy sculptures. LeeAnn went on to work as Conservator for the Athienou Archaeological Project in Cyprus, Project Manager for Conservation and Heritage Preservation of American Schools of Oriental Research's (ASOR) Syrian Heritage Initiative, and then as Assistant Conservator at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, before returning to the MFA in 2016 as Associate Conservator. LeeAnn is a board member of the New England Conservation Association.