Kenya is a Baltimore, Maryland native whose love of art history and science found itself in the perfect career canon of art conservation. A second bachelor’s degree from Hood College in Frederick in art history inspired a subsequent move to study her craft at Studio Art Centers International in Florence Italy in 2006 leading to return to the U.S. to work as lead conservator of the Jamestown Project at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory where a team of other conservators and volunteers would assist in the treatment of 42,500 metallic, wood, and ceramic objects. The National Park Service at Jamestown would be the step in her journey where she helped catalog objects from the Greenspring Plantation. She returned to Italy to pursue a Masters in Conservation Science from Universita di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. A collaborative thesis study between Duke University, Hood College, and University of Florence under the supervision of other scientists would allow her to research the characterization of cleaning protocols by Er:YAG laser, a study of Paul Cezanne pigment effects
Duke University, French Science Laboratories and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Firenze, Italia, and Hood College Chemistry Department.

Projects

Painting Conservation

CA . 19th century Horace Bonham Paintings Collection (York History Center)

Antiques and Art Auction Paintings (Zelma’s Antiques)​​

Wood Conservation/Object Conservation

Lead Conservator for African Masks, and Statues (Crispus Attucks Cultural Center and Museum)

Maryam Forge, CA 18th century Fireplate (Spring Grove Area Historical Society)

Monument and Architectural Conservation

Restoration of Edgar Allan Poe statue and base (University of Baltimore)

Cleaning and polishing of USS Naval Ship Baltimore Bell (University of Baltimore)

World War I Monument Restoration, Frederick, Maryland, Maryland Military Monument Commission

Four Panther Monument. 16th Street, NW and Arkansas Avenue, Washington, DC

Boy Scouts of America Monument, Washington, DC, White House Administration

St. Anne’s Parrish, Annapolis, Maryland, 17th century cemetery head stones