ST. LOUIS, MO.- Lucian H. (Hugh) Shockey Jr. will join the Saint Louis Art Museum as head of conservation, supervising a team of conservators working in the museum’s objects, painting, paper and textiles labs. Shockey starts the at the museum on Aug. 10.

Shockey has worked in conservation for the past 20 years, the last 10 as an objects conservator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Lunder Conservation Center, where he has played a key role in large-scale institutional projects and served as a member of the Smithsonian’s initial response team for the Haiti Cultural Recovery Project, which launched recovery efforts after the devastating earthquake of 2010.

Shockey holds a Master of Science degree in Art Conservation from the University of Delaware. His conservation experience has included large-scale outdoor installations, ethnographic and archaeological objects, decorative arts, furniture, traditional sculpture and time-based media art. Shockey was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the National Museum of the American Indian, and has worked in the collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Elvis Presley’s Graceland.

Hugh served as President of the Washington Conservation Guild, is a professional associate in the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works, and has published on innovative treatment techniques that have been cited internationally.