Changing Careers

Hearst Castle, San Simeon, CA

       In 2015, I retired from the U.S. military and decided to change career paths from a Medical Laboratory Technician to Art Conservationist. The idea to change career paths came when after enduring rain and gloomy weather for 7 months in Seattle, I decided to take a spontaneous, weekend trip to California to get some sunlight. I visited and toured Hearst Castle in San Simeon. As the tour of the castle was proceeding, the guide told us about an ongoing art conservation project being completed on a painting on the ceiling in the pool room.  This work sounded appealing to me as it meant working alone and completing detailed, meticulous work at a slower pace than I was used to in laboratory work.

        Although laboratory work seems far removed from art conservation, I have found it has many similarities. All laboratory work is very detailed and needs to be completed in a meticulous manner similar to art conservation. Art conservation also requires great investigative, problem-solving skills that are also needed within the laboratory. In art conservation, it is necessary to be able to notice small, significant details in artworks in order to preserve the artist's original intent by restoring the piece in a way that would not detract from the work. These same skills are needed in the laboratory in order to ensure proper and expeditious patient care. In both medical laboratory and art conservation, it is important to have a thorough understanding of chemistry as well as how to follow safety procedures and the use of personal protective equipment when using chemicals. Another important aspect that is similar in both laboratory and art history is the importance of ensuring the working environment are within appropriate humidity and temperature ranges. In the laboratory, extremes within temperature and humidity levels can greatly alter the instruments ability to appropriately run and report accurate laboratory results. Damage can also occur within the art environment to the artworks if there are fluctuations in humidity and temperature levels.

         While there are plenty of similarities, there are also many differences between art conservation and laboratory work.  For example, in the laboratory, the time allowed to finish testing can vary greatly between life-threatening and routine lab testing. However, depending on what area of the lab you work in, the amount of time you have to complete the work can vary greatly. If you work in a hospital laboratory, you would need to complete the work perfectly and sometimes within minutes in order for the medical staff  to be able to provide life-saving care. In a research or forensics laboratory, the work can be completed at a slower pace. Although I have not worked in art conservation at this time, I would assume that the time allocated for completion of projects is much greater than in a medical laboratory setting. Another difference is that in art conservation you would not be working with body fluids and infectious diseases as you would in the laboratory.  You would also have less interaction with people in art conservation than in the lab. Also, the interaction you do have with people in art conservation should be more pleasant as you would not be drawing the patient's blood as you would in the lab.

          As I have been studying art history for the past couple of years, it has been interesting to learn how similar the professions of medical laboratory technician and art conservation are. I hope that I will be able to study art conservation in the future and apply my laboratory skills to work in the conservation area. - Audrey Sokol