Matt Cushman received his B.A. in Art Conservation and Chemistry from the University of Delaware in 2004, followed by an M.S. in Art Conservation with a specialization in the conservation of paintings from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2007. During his graduate studies, Matt completed internships at the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education (Suitland, MD), the Frans Hals Museum (Haarlem, Netherlands), Instituut Collectie Nederland (Amsterdam, Netherlands), and the Worcester Art Museum (Worcester, MA).

From 2007 to 2010, Matt was the Assistant Conservator of Paintings and Analytical Science at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center (Williamstown, MA), where he encountered a wide range of treatment issues in paintings dating from the 16th to 21st centuries. In 2010, Matt returned to the Worcester Art Museum as the Mellon Foundation Fellow in Paintings Conservation, focusing primarily on the treatment of 19th-century American paintings and European Old Master paintings. From 2014 to 2015, Matt was a Project Conservator at Yale University’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (West Haven, CT), working with a collection of 19th-century portraits of Haitian heads of state.

Matt has published on the subjects of surface documentation techniques, novel treatment protocols, and non-destructive analysis of artworks. He has served as the Program Chair (2012-2013) and Chair (2014-2016) of the Paintings Specialty Group of the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.

Matt was recently Conservator of Paintings at the Winterthur Museum, Library & Gardens, responsible for the examination, documentation, treatment, and care of Winterthur’s collection of paintings and painted surfaces.