My French class met an art restorer and the learning was invaluable

After working on different ways to ask a question in French and studying Paris and its landmarks, they interviewed Sabine who holds degrees in conservation from French Institute of Conservation of Artworks (IFROA), the International Centre for Conservation in Rome (ICCROM), and a PhD from The University of Melbourne.

She is an International Expert for UNESCO in the conservation of Himalayan paintings, and an Honorary Fellow of the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at The University of Melbourne. In 2017, she won the AICCM (Australian Professional Conservation body) Award for Outstanding Research in Conservation.

Students learnt about the profession of restoring art masterpieces, which involves meeting people in a lot of countries around the world and learning about their life, traditions, and culture.

Sabine explained to them that she used to paint people and life scenes in her ’carnets de voyage’ to keep records of her journeys.

She talked about museums in Paris and the famous Mona Lisa.

She told the students that an art restorator is like a doctor: she can spend weeks, months or years to give back life to a piece of art.

She was recently in Gippsland to restore an 1895 stage curtain.

When asked if she loved her job, Sabine told my students that her job is very rewarding: it makes people in the community happy and brings her happiness too.

This online interview has shown my students why art is so important in our life and very much linked to the French heritage.