Cultural heritage conservator – Works on paper and books

María holds a Master's in Art History from Concordia University and a Bachelor's degree with honors in Cultural Heritage Conservation from the Escuela de Conservación y Restauración de Occidente in Guadalajara, Mexico. She has worked in the cultural heritage conservation field for over 10 years in Mexico, Italy, and Canada. 

She interned at the conservation department of the Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL) in Mexico City, as well as Fundación Kraeppellin A.C. In 2014, she completed a semester on Diagnostics and Materials for Conservation and Restoration at the University of Florence, Italy, where she also completed a stage at the Faculty of Chemistry Ugo Schiff on nanomaterials and hydrogels applied to art conservation. Additionally to her work in different institutions in Mexico, in 2015 Maria co-founded the former bindery “Las Ramonas colectivo” in Guadalajara where she honed her passion for books and bookbinding.

Since 2016, María has established herself in Canada, working as an independent paper and book conservator with multiple institutions, such as Library and Archives Canada and the City of Ottawa Archives, as well as collaborating with established conservation studios in Quebec. Her clients include the McCord Stewart Museum, McGill University’s Rare books and special collections, the Osler Library of the history of Medicine,  and The Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture.

Maria has also developed professionally as a project manager of large-scale collection care projects, including the preservation of Orson Wheeler’s architectural models at McGill’s Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture in Montreal in 2022, as well as the conservation of Mathias Goeritz's Vía Láctea (1968-70) at the Instituto Cultural Cabañas in Guadalajara.

Her interest in science and the humanities is evident through her strong focus on conservation-restoration ethics and collaboration with clients to develop the best treatment for their particular project.