From Howard to the Smithsonian: Mykayla Osborne Explores Art Conservation

By Chad Eric Smith, Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing, Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts

The recent MFA graduate brought together her backgrounds in chemistry, studio art, and art history through a six-week summer experience at Winterthur and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

When Mykayla Osborne shifted from chemistry to fine art as an undergraduate, she thought she was choosing one field over another. At Howard University, she discovered a profession that brings both together.

Osborne, a recent MFA graduate of Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts, spent summer 2026 exploring art conservation through an intensive program that took her from Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Delaware to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Her path to conservation began years earlier at North Carolina A&T State University, where she studied chemistry through her junior year. When the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the usual rhythms of college life, Osborne reconsidered the direction of her education.

“I had the opportunity to figure out what I wanted to do—whether I wanted to pursue chemistry or follow my passion in fine art,” Osborne said. “I decided to switch my path to fine art.”

The decision eventually brought her to Howard’s MFA program. During her first year, a presentation at Howard by the Alliance of HBCU Museums and Galleries introduced Osborne to art conservation and revealed that the scientific foundation she had developed was not separate from her artistic future.

“What turned on a lightbulb was hearing them talk about chemistry,” she said.

Conservation is frequently described as a “three-legged stool” supported by chemistry, art history and studio or hand skills. Osborne’s chemistry coursework gave her one of those legs, while her graduate training at Howard allowed her to deepen the other two.

“In conservation, you have three legs: science, studio art and art history,” Osborne said. “I had all three.”

That realization led Osborne to the Six-Week Introduction to Practical Conservation, or SIP-C. Developed through a collaboration between the Alliance of HBCU Museums and Galleries, the University of Delaware and participating cultural institutions, the program introduces HBCU students and recent graduates to art conservation while helping broaden representation within the profession.

Osborne spent the first two weeks at Winterthur, where participants received concentrated exposure to multiple areas of conservation, including paintings, objects, textiles, furniture, works on paper, photographic materials and preventive care.

“We received a crash course on all the different conservation areas,” Osborne said.

Participants then brought that foundational knowledge to monthlong placements at partner institutions. Osborne was assigned to the Lunder Conservation Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where she focused on objects conservation.

Her principal project involved documenting MVSEVM, an intricate 2006 mixed-media construction by artist David Beck. Commissioned to commemorate the reopening of the renovated Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, the nearly five-foot-wide work resembles the historic building the museums share. It opens to reveal miniature galleries, artifacts and hidden compartments that reflect the building’s history and the evolution of museums.

 

Although Osborne was working within objects conservation, MVSEVM crossed several areas of specialization. Its combination of wood, glass, paper and painted elements required consultation and collaboration among conservators with different expertise.

The most challenging portion of Osborne’s assignment was photographing the work. Its size and intricate construction made creating a comprehensive visual record a substantial undertaking.

 

“The most challenging part was the photography of the object because it was so large and intricate,” Osborne said. “We had to learn a whole different technology.”

Working as part of a three-person team, Osborne helped set up and dismantle the imaging equipment, photograph individual sections of the construction and organize the resulting files. The documentation process alone occupied approximately two weeks of the placement.

Beyond the technical experience, Osborne said the professional relationships she formed became one of the summer’s most meaningful outcomes.

“The most gratifying part was the networking and the people I met,” she said. “Everybody was so helpful.”

Among the professionals she encountered, Osborne saw a field filled with accomplished women but still lacking substantial Black representation. That reality underscored the importance of programs that expose HBCU students to professions they may not have previously considered.

Osborne hopes her experience will encourage other students to recognize that an arts education can lead to work beyond the career paths most frequently associated with the field, including teaching, professional artistic practice, and curatorial work.

She also expressed special gratitude to Howard Professor Kathryn Coney-Ali and Dr. Jontyle Robinson for helping make the possibilities within conservation more visible to her.

For Osborne, the summer did more than introduce another potential profession. It reframed what had once appeared to be a change in direction. The chemistry courses she thought belonged to an earlier chapter now stand alongside her Howard training as complementary parts of her preparation.

“There are other things that you can do,” Osborne said. “And if you love science, this is perfect for you.”