Rikke Foulke

earned a B.F.A. and B.A. in studio arts and art history from the University of Colorado. She began working in conservation in 1989 and studied chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, earning memberships in academic honor societies.  In the four-year graduate program of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, Ms. Foulke took courses to understand the construction and condition of Old Masters and works by Modern and Contemporary artists.  She earned her M.A. in Art History and a Certificate in Conservation in 1998.

As a graduate student, Foulke developed expertise in the treatments of canvas and panel paintings from periods that include Early Renaissance, Old Masters, traditional works from the 19th and 20th Centuries as well as Modern and Contemporary works.  This experience was acquired by working in privately operated studios with experienced conservators in New York and Germany.  During one summer, she participated  with Spanish conservators from the Centro de Estudios de Restauración  de Obras de Arte in Madrid to work on paintings and sculptures in churches in Medina de Rioseco.  She completed her coursework with an internship at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

Foulke also worked as a conservation technician outside her specialty group to broaden her knowledge in the field.  Her experiences working with textiles at the Textile Conservation Workshop, costumes with the Museum of the City of New York, and Asian textiles at in the Department of Far Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art have given her a familiarity with problems encountered in the conservation of textiles.  She has worked as a technician on an archaeological site at the American Expeditions in Samothrace, Greece.

Rikke Foulke leads the team of conservators working to preserve the Maxo Vanka murals in Saint Nicholas Church since 2009.

Ms. Foulke’s post-graduate fellowships include positions at institutions in the States and abroad.

In 1997-98, at the Städtische Galerie in the Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau in Munich, Germany, she treated works by artists of the Blue Rider Group, traditional works of the 19th and 20th centuries by German artists and Modern and Contemporary pieces. She also couriered works of art in German-speaking countries.

The Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

The Fogg Museum and Straus Center for Conservation in Cambridge, Massachusetts

During 1998-99, Foulke held the position of Advanced Intern at the Straus Center for Conservation at Harvard University Art Museums, an advanced educational facility for the research and treatment of works of art.  The conservators work on the collections of Harvard University and offer services to other cultural institutions and the private sector.

In 1999, Rikke worked with senior conservators at the Museums of New Mexico and with the Archdiocese of  Santa Fe to carry out preliminary examination of the construction and condition of retablos and bultos in the Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico.

El Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico

National Gallery of Art, West Building, Washington, D.C.

Rikke held the Charles E. Culpeper Fellowship in Painting Conservation at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from 1999 - 2002.  She treated Old Masters, carried out research on early Italian Renaissance panels, escorted works of art to domestic and international institutions, and wrote technical entries for systematic catalogues of the French and Italian collections.

The National Endowment for the Arts sponsored Ms. Foulke’s Fellowship in Painting Conservation at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  At the Carnegie during 2002 - 03 she treated works by traditional and Modern/Contemporary artists.

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina

As the Samuel H. Kress Fellow in Painting Conservation in Raleigh, North Carolina between 2003 and 2005, Rikke treated Old Master paintings in the Kress Collection as well as works by Modern and Contemporary artists.  She wrote technical entries for the systematic catalogue of the collection of Dutch paintings, and launched an integrated pest management program for the state facility.