ABOUT RUBY
Hello,
Thank you for stopping by.
I'm Ruby E. Lipsett, a Swiss-Canadian paintings conservator based in the United Kingdom. I've put together this magazine to share the work I care about most: the paintings I've treated, and the questions my research investigates. As I look to take on new conservation placements and learning opportunities, I wanted to introduce myself through my work itself - rather than a CV alone - to show not only what I've been up to so far, but how I’ve approached these challenges.
My practice has spanned the examination, documentation, and treatment of easel paintings across national museum, historic interior, and private studio settings. I trained in easel painting conservation at Northumbria University (MA, Distinction), following a Joint Honours degree in art history and social anthropology at the University of St Andrews (1st).
I've treated paintings from the national collection within the conservation department at the Royal Museums Greenwich, and undertaken an internship at the Fine Art Restoration Company, where I documented, analysed, and treated a broad range of works. I contributed to the Rochdale Town Hall Conservation Project, assessing and devising treatment strategies for a large body of wall and easel paintings in a complex historic interior as part of a multidisciplinary team, and worked as a collections researcher at the McManus Gallery, Dundee, handling a wide range of artefacts and supporting documentation, cataloguing, and provenance research. My broadened technical training also encompasses emerging cleaning methodologies, analytical approaches to assessing cleaning efficacy, and a range of imaging and examination techniques.
My research centres on the material behaviour of historical painting materials - most recently the ageing of madder lake paint films as a function of how the pigment was made. I'm particularly drawn to the point at which a painting's physical make-up becomes evocative of time and place, where meaning is carried not only through imagery but through material history and ongoing change. I'm also a practising oil painter working with historical techniques, and I find my studio work and my conservation practice constantly informing one another.
I'm a member of ICON, BAPCR, the CAC, and I'm committed to achieving ICON accreditation as my career progresses. If the approach I take to my work demonstrated in this portfolio resonates, I’d welcome the chance to bring it to your studio - both learning from, and actively contributing to, your team.
