Biography

Christian de Brer has an MA from the UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials, where he concentrated his efforts on the long-term preservation of organic materials in regional museum collections. Since 2011 he has overseen all conservation-related activities at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Chris has published articles on a variety of subjects, including the deterioration of artificially mummified human remains from Chile, cultural representation in conservation decision making, magnets as mounting devices for artworks, and pesticide residues on organic objects in museum collections. His areas of focus include the characterization of materials and stabilization treatments for objects from non-western cultures as well as the mitigation of display and storeroom environments for the preventative care of museum collections. The most recent projects for which Chris received grants involve the collaboration with regional Mexican institutions in Tepic, Guadalajara, and Campeche to compare their ancient Mexican pottery with similar vessels in collections in Southern California.