Art Restoration & Conservation – San Diego and Beyond

Art Restoration Services Studio Sarah Murray Art Restoration and Conservation’s studio is located in downtown San Diego and offers a full range of art conservation and restoration services including:

  • Painting/picture restoration
  • Oil painting cleaning
  • Antiques painting restoration
  • Art conservation consultation
  • Disaster Recovery – Fire, Flood
  • Insurance Assessment and Claims

Though we are based in San Diego, we are also happy to travel to work onsite if necessary when a painting or work of art is too big or fragile to be moved. Just contact us to schedule a free consultation and talk about your art restoration project.

Painting restoration

Most of my painting restoration work is on conventional oil and acrylic paintings, but I also work on any painted object, sculpture, furniture, murals and ‘hybrid’ works of art such as oil paintings on paper.

My work includes the consolidation of flaking or unstable paint layers, tear repair or lining of damaged canvas, repair of damaged wood panels, removal of discolored varnishes and coatings, revarnishing and inpainting of damaged paint.

Additional art conservation services

  • Consultation and Treatment
  • Onsite work
  • Disaster Recovery – Fire, Flood
  • Insurance Assessment and Claims
  • Lecture and Workshops
  • Framing
  • Art Services

Disaster recovery, insurance assessment and claims: I will work with insurance companies to do disaster recovery following fire or a flood, to carry out assessment of damage on site, to prepare reports and treatment proposals for insurance.

Lecture and workshops on art conservation: I am very pleased to offer my expertise and advice with a lecture series or workshops ~ examples of topics covered include Artists’ Methods and Materials (great for art students, schools), Good Housekeeping and Caring for your Art, Art Conservation for the Collector, Handling and Storing Art for preservation.

Framing and framing restoration: I have a huge advantage in that my studio is a floor above J.Dewers Custom Framing and Fine Arts Services www.jdewers.com , the very best custom framing shop in San Diego.  We collaborate on many projects, and J.Dewers clients frequently bring their paintings to me for treatment, and I am happy to refer my clients downstairs for the expert advice and suggestions for framing.

Lecture and workshops on art conservation

I am happy to present lectures on a number of topics concerning art conservation. Please contact me if you would like me to come and offer a lecture or workshop for your group or school.

The following is a recent example. My lecture at UCSD was entitled ‘Understanding Art Conservation – a history and career perspective’. In presenting this talk, I showed how the profession of art conservation has evolved, using my own career as illustration. Because I have been a paintings conservator for 30 years, I have many fascinating projects and stories to discuss, with some glorious slides to show.

“Sarah, thank you so ever much for the really interesting lecture! We appreciate the time and thought you put into it, especially since these things take away from the time you spend on your artistic livelihood. Really, we are so impressed with your education and experience–it’s quite overwhelming”. Christine Sullivan, Curriculum Committee, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, U.C.S.D. San Diego

Art Restoration Resources

I am a member of San Diego Art Services Network www.artservicesnetwork.com , which is a recently-formed group of highly qualified art professionals:

  • Conservation (Sarah Murray)
  • Framing (Janos Novak of J.Dewers)
  • Moving, Storage, Installation (ArtWorks San Diego)
  • Appraisals (Garrett Goldfield),
  • Art Advisory (Lynda Forsha)
  • Collections Management (Lillian Perry)
  • Photography (Philipp Scholz Rittermann)
  • Decorative Finish (Shauna Decker)

Art Conservation Links