VIRTUAL | Assessing Risk with Covid-19: Museums, Galleries and Private Collections

Image: Juan Arredondo for The New York Times

How to take part!

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Join ArtTable for a conversation on risk assessment for museums, private collections and galleries during COVID-19. We’re bringing together experts to discuss the most significant risks for art when museums, galleries, and other exhibiting institutions are closed, as well as important measures to be taken.

About the participants: 

Aleesha Ast, Associate Registrar, Boca Raton Museum of Art

Before joining the Boca Raton Museum of Art in February 2020, Aleesha held registrar positions at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Norton Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, and Ringling Museum of Art. With a decade of experience coordinating exhibitions, facilitating loans, couriering artworks, and preparing for natural disasters, she has worked with conservators, artists, preparators, and invaluable colleagues to be well-versed in collections of all sorts and objects of all mediums. 

Jitka Kyrian, Associate Conservator at GV Art Conservation 

Jitka is a Paintings and Objects Conservator with GV Art Conservation and has been in this role since 2015. Prior to joining GV Art Conservation, Jitka had 9 years of experience working in museums and other institutions in Germany and other European countries. She holds a degree in Conservation from the Technical University in Munich, Germany and continues her education with on-going conservation studies.

With her specialization in paintings, sculptures and objects she worked in private conservation studios and institutions such as the Wallraf-Richartz- Museum/Museum Ludwig (Cologne, Germany), the Conservation Institute Ludbreg (Croatia), the Vancouver Museum (British Columbia) and the National Gallery of Prague (Czech Republic). From 2008 to 2015 she worked in the Museum Five Continents Munich, which houses one of the biggest collections of ethnographic art and objects worldwide. Here Jitka gained experiences working with artworks and objects of various materials and material combinations of all periods and regions of the world. Additionally she gained practical experiences in fields such as preventive conservation, storage management, risk management and the supervision and management of museum’s staff and other professionals.

Mary Pontillo, Senior Vice President, National Fine Arts Practice Leader

In her current position as Senior Vice President and National Fine Art Practice Leader at DeWitt Stern/Risk Strategies, Mary handles and produces Fine Art accounts including Fine Art dealers, private collectors, and museums, artist foundations among others, along with the Property & Casualty policies associated with these accounts.  In addition Mary consults on client Fine Art exposures firm-wide.

Before joining DeWitt Stern in May 2006, Mary worked at Huntington T. Block Insurance Agency/Aon for over three years as a Fine Art Insurance Underwriter and Account Manager, handling large line Fine Art accounts. In addition, she taught art in Norfolk, VA, for two years and served as a docent at the Smithsonian Institute’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.

Mary earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and Masters in Art History from James Madison University. She also completed the Appraisal Studies and Art Business certificate programs at New York University.

In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 Mary was recognized as Power Broker: Fine Art category by Risk & Insurance magazine, as well as the Enterprising Achiever Award from NAIW. In addition, in 2011, Risk & Insurance magazine awarded Mary the Responsibility Leader designation. 

David Shapiro, Senior Art Appraiser and Advisor with Victor Wiener Associates

David Shapiro is a Senior Art Appraiser and Advisor with Victor Wiener Associates,
LLC and a Certified Member of the Appraisers Association of America (AAA), with a specialization in postwar, contemporary, and emerging art. He has contributed to the valuation of art for the bankruptcy trial of the City of Detroit; the federal art fraud case, United States v. Luke D. Brugnara; and the insurance case MunnWorks v. 645 Mac Realty (2016), among other legal cases.

Mr. Shapiro has lectured on art appraisal and the art market for Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), The New Art Academy, and St. John’s University. He is the author of the article “The Dynamics of Valuing Emerging Art and Artists” for the Digital Journal of Advanced Appraisal Practice (2019) and has also published on art fraud, as a co-author with Victor Wiener. Mr. Shapiro is the founding editor of the online contemporary art publication Museo and has served on the editorial team for several art history textbooks.

Thank you to David Shapiro for organizing this event with ArtTable.