Stephanie Hornbeck

Stephanie Hornbeck is Director of Conservation at Caryatid Conservation Services, Inc., her private practice in object and sculpture conservation based in Miami. From 2010-2012, she served as Chief Conservator for the Smithsonian Institution Haiti Cultural Recovery Project in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, directing conservation recovery efforts of cultural patrimony damaged in the January 2010 earthquake. In recognition of her service, in 2011 Stephanie was awarded the Smithsonian Secretary’s Gold Medal for Exemplary Service from former Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough. This rarely given honor recognizes extraordinary achievement in service of the best ideals of the Smithsonian Institution. Stephanie is the first conservator in the award’s history to be honored.

From 1998-2009, Stephanie was Conservator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art and served as Chair of the Smithsonian Forum on Material Culture from 2006-2009. She is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) and a past chair of the AIC Education and Training Committee. 

Stephanie has lectured on the topic of disaster recovery at the American Institute for Conservation, the Caribbean Commonwealth Association of Museums, and the Florida Association of Museums. Stephanie has also lectured and published on the identification and regulation of ivory and shared conservation aspects of ethnographic and contemporary art. Stephanie received her B.A. in art history from Wellesley College and her diploma in fine art conservation (objects) and M.A. in art history from the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.