Karen Wilcox

Karen is an experienced Objects Conservator and a key part of the Objects and Outdoor Built Heritage team in Sydney. She comes to ICS after five years working as a Conservator for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. in the US.

Karen brings with her extensive experience of large technology including aircraft and spacecraft well as the assessment and treatment of smaller composite artefacts.

Highlights of conservation include:

• A taxidermy African lion with fur loss and disfiguring repairs
• A large outdoor bronze sculpture with a failed coating
• Working with Restoration staff on doped fabric aircraft and WWI and WWII armament and accessories
• Stain removal on fabric-covered aircraft
• Large-scale cleaning of the exterior of the Skylab Orbital Workshop
• Working in-situ to promptly stabilise objects prior to deinstall, such as with flaking paint or shattered Kapton blankets.

Publications‍

• Wilcox, K., Horelick, L., Sweeney, M. & Kinney, J. 2023, ‘Conservation Treatment of Gilmore the Flying Lion: Examination’, https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/conservation-treatment-gilmore-examination .
• Wilcox, K., Sweeney, M. & Horelick, L. 2022, ‘Magnesium Alloy Corrosion: An Assessment of Previous Treatments at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’, paper presented at the 10th Interim Meeting of the ICOM-CC Metals Working Group, Helsinki, Finland, 5th – 9th September.
• Wilcox, K. 2020, ‘Markings of the Turning Point: Preserving the Last Surviving Example of Invasion Stripes on a World War II Bomber’, poster presented to American Institute for Conservation Annual Meeting, online.
• Wilcox, K. 2020, ‘Markings of the Turning Point: Preserving the Last Surviving Example of Invasion Stripes on a World War II Bomber’, paper presented to SI Conservation Conference, Washington D.C.
• Wilcox, K. 2020, ‘Conserving Michael Collins’ Apollo 11 Razor’, https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/conserving-michael-collins-apollo-11-razor.
• Balarbar, R., Cook, R., Cotte, S., Heffernan, A., Long, E., Tse, N. & Wilcox, K. 2017, ‘Church heritage affected by natural disasters: an account of conservation in the field’, paper presented to AICCM National Conference, Katoomba, Australia, 1st-3rd November.
• Klaassen, S., Lane, R. & Wilcox, K. 2017, ‘A Lesson in Software-Based Art: Conserving Philip Brophy’s The Body Malleable (2004-)’, paper presented to The Shock of the New: Modern Materials, Media and Methods, Melbourne, Australia, 8th-10th February.
• Wilcox, K. & Zihrul, N. 2016, ‘Synthetic Papers; composition, properties, ageing, and preservation approaches’, Preprints to 9th AICCM Book, Paper and Photograph Materials Symposium, National Gallery of Australia, October 10th-15th 2016, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra