Maria Fusco

Chief Conservator/Margaret Wing Dodge Chair in Conservation

Maria Fusco has been chief conservator since 2016, following five years as associate conservator. She oversees the conservation laboratory at the museum’s Avenir Foundation Conservation and Collections Resource Center.

Under her leadership, the Conservation Department has expanded its role as an international resource in textile collections care, providing training to emerging and established professionals. Fusco has mentored numerous fellows and interns, including those supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She also guided the lab through a complete equipment upgrade supported by the Avenir Foundation.

Fusco received a bachelor’s of science in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a master’s in textile conservation from the Textile Conservation Centre at the University of Southampton in England. She has worked as a conservator at institutions in New York and Denmark. She completed an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at Los Angeles County Museum of Art and a Samuel H. Kress Conservation Fellowship at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.