West Lake Art Conservation Center

West Lake Art Conservation Center Art conservation services for private and public collections, on-site consultations, educational programs and workshops.

West Lake Art Conservation Center specializes in the preservation and restoration of historic and artistic works including easel paintings, frames, murals, paper-based artworks, artifacts and documents, and photographic materials. Our business was founded in 1975 by Susan Blakney, Chief Conservator and Fellow of the American and International Institutes for Conservation (AIC & IIC). Located near S

yracuse in the Finger Lakes Region of Central New York State, West Lake serves public and private collections of art and artifacts. Art conservation is the practice of preserving the original object, stabilizing its structural integrity and bringing the appearance as close to originally intended as possible using as many reversible materials as structurally possible. Our team-based workspace maximizes cross-discipline skills and strategies to create solutions or remediations for almost every condition issue, ranging from rapid emergency treatment, to long-waited maintenance-based preservation work. Our wide range of specialized tools, materials, and expertise allows optimal results. We look forward to meeting with you about your project and how we can help.

06/05/2026

Get a behind-the-scenes look at history being saved!

Paper conservator is currently onsite at the working her magic on this gorgeous historic wallpaper. Surface cleaning is done — now comes the meticulous work of inpainting, filling and toning losses, and reattaching lifting sections to the wall.

We’re so grateful to whose conservation grant made this project possible. Follow along as the transformation continues! ✨

Our Chairman of the Board, Holly, is pictured here with Senator Rachel May and Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens.  Senator May...
05/01/2026

Our Chairman of the Board, Holly, is pictured here with Senator Rachel May and Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens.

Senator May has been a tremendous champion in securing critical grant funding for our new fine art storage facility — a game-changing space that will serve as an essential resource for museums across New York State. As fine art collections grow, the need for professional, climate-controlled overflow storage has never been greater, and this facility will allow us to provide that vital care to institutions statewide.

This is what advocacy for the arts looks like in action. Thank you, Senator May, for your incredible support, and thank you, Mayor Owens, for your continued partnership in advancing our mission.

Westlake Art Conservation Center is proud to serve New York's cultural community — and we couldn't do it without champions like you.

SupportTheArts Syracuse

Conservator Raphael Shea recently completed treatment of two works Conservator Raphael Shea recently completed treatment...
04/30/2026

Conservator Raphael Shea recently completed treatment of two works Conservator Raphael Shea recently completed treatment of two works now on view at the Fenimore Art MuseumFeinmore Museum. We're grateful to the Feinmore for their continued partnership and for the opportunity to contribute to the stewardship of their collection.

11/05/2025

🎓📓 One more answer for Ask A Conservator Day!

Executive Director and objects conservator Joey Foster Ellis on what makes a great conservation intern: curiosity.

⚡️Thanks so much for joining us for Ask a Conservator Day! Keep the questions coming—we’ll share more Q&As and demos soon.

11/04/2025

👩🏼‍🔬🎨🧪Ask A Conservator Day!

West Lake’s Executive Director Joey Ellis sneaks up on our Senior Paintings Conservator Chiara Kuhns to ask two things everyone wants to know:

How does one get into art conservation – and what kind of personality traits does a conservator need to have?

About the painting: Aileen Ortlip Shea, Old Friar (1935), oil on canvas – donated to Houghton University in 1985; part of the “Award Wall” that earned Shea the 1935 Pulitzer Student Travel Prize at the National Academy of Design (NYC).

🎃🦇 Happy Halloween from the Varnish Twins – a set of portraits painted in 1959 by George Lee Trimm (b. 1912, Syracuse).T...
10/31/2025

🎃🦇 Happy Halloween from the Varnish Twins – a set of portraits painted in 1959 by George Lee Trimm (b. 1912, Syracuse).

Trimm belonged to a generation of American illustrators who shifted to portraiture as photography replaced hand-painted magazine art in the postwar years. His work shows the commercial precision – smooth modeling, bright lighting, and studio-blue backgrounds – that made mid-century family portraits feel both formal and familiar.

These paintings – fondly called the Shining Twins by our conservators – entered WLACC’s Study Collection long ago, donated for training and testing. Their original sitters are unknown, but their legacy in the lab is strong: for years, they were perched on a windowsill in our old building, occasionally turned toward the outdoors to haunt incoming clients. Today, they guard the varnish room with their relentless gaze. 🎃

‼️Don’t forget to drop us your questions for Day! If you send us a question on Halloween, we’ll DM you a special scary animated version of the Twins!

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Owasco, NY

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