Working life | ‘I was ill-prepared for the interview but I convinced them to admit me’

Aviva Burnstock, the head of the department of art conservation and technology at the Courtauld Institute has been awarded the 2025 Plowden Medal for Conservation.

Why did you pursue a career in conservation? 

I was nearing the end of my degree in neurobiology at Sussex University and wanted to go to art school. As I also enjoyed science, I asked the university’s careers advice service if there were paths combining art and science.  

They told me about an alumni of the chemistry department, David Bomford, who worked at London’s National Gallery, and suggested I follow his example and become a painting conservator. I had no idea of what was involved in conservation, but I applied for the Courtauld’s three-year postgraduate diploma in easel painting conservation.  

I was ill-prepared for the interview, but I convinced them to admit me by showing my artistic images of the fluorescent ganglia of the garden snail, and my very dark oil paintings that had cracked badly – though at the time I couldn’t say why. It was easier to get a place on the course in the early 1980s than it is now. 

How has the profession changed over the years? 

It’s changed a great deal since the 1980s. Now, demands on conservators include wide skillsets and considerations of, for example, changing climate and sustainability; making the process accessible to wide audiences; and consideration of the impact and criteria for preserving cultural materials that are still in use in wider contexts.  

There have been major developments in understanding material changes and the history of the use of materials for creating works of art and subsequent conservation interventions. 

Would you recommend conservation as a career? 

I’ve loved my career and the privilege of playing a role in the preservation and display of great works of art. The opportunity to study artists’ materials and techniques, and the impact of physical histories, has been the source of lifelong learning. For art lovers, conservation is a good career as it brings surprises and new insights every day. 

What does winning the Plowden Medal for Conservation mean to you? 

I am deeply honoured. I have spent most of my career as an educator of painting conservators and am proud of the achievements of many students with whom I was involved at the very start of their careers. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities the Anna Plowden Trust has offered to students.