Katherine Sahmel

Biography

Kate Sahmel (she/her) completed her M.S. in art conservation at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) in 2006, specializing in textiles conservation. Before finding a career path to conservation, she earned a B.A. from Macalester College in Biology and Fine Arts, and completed an intensive studio art program at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Early in her conservation career, she worked as a technician at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, which inspired her interest and love of textiles. After finishing her degree at Winterthur, Kate started a Mellon Fellowship in Costume and Textiles Conservation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she had the opportunity to work with historic and contemporary costume, American quilts, Indian kanthas, and contemporary textile art. Since 2010, she has worked with textiles from Philadelphia area institutions and individuals through her private conservation practice.​​​

Kate returned to Winterthur in 2014 to work in Textiles Conservation, where some of her favorite projects have included preparations for the biennial needlework exhibition, and exploring the exceptional collection of printed textiles at Winterthur. She is currently Head of Textiles Conservation at Winterthur and supervises second-year textiles majors and minors in WUDPAC, and also teaches the first year textile block. She is active in the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) and served as the Program Chair and Chair of the Textiles Specialty Group for AIC from 2014-2016, and on the TSG Scholarship Committee from 2017-2021.​