The curator and conservator of the fine art collection and historical buildings of the U.S. Embassy in Rome will present a visiting artist lecture Thursday, April 6, at West Virginia University .

Valeria Brunori will speak onConservation and Restoration of Cultural HeritageThe U.S. Embassy in Romeat 4:30 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (Room 200A) of the Creative Arts Center . The event is free and open to the public.

I am most pleased that Ms. Brunori will share her expertise in art restoration with our students and the Morgantown community,said Dean Bernie Schultz of the College of Creative Arts .Her lecture will open new avenues of thought about the visual for arts for all of us.

Brunori earned her professional degree as an art restorer at the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro in Rome , the national school for restorers sponsored by the Ministry of Culture. She is a specialist on conservation of paintings and architectural surfaces. She also holds a degree in archaeology from the University of RomeLa Sapienza.

As curator and conservator, she is responsible for the conservation of the art collections, historic buildings, residences and the American diplomatic missions in Italy . She also acts as contact person for Italian authorities in the fields of fine arts and archaeology.

Before joining the U.S. Embassy, she founded her own restoration company and worked with museums, churches and educational institutions in Rome to restore oil paintings, marble sculptures, fresco, building facades and portals, and other antiquities.

She is a specialist in restoring stone artifacts and mosaics, as well as mural paintings and stucco. She has conducted numerous seminars on these topics, among others, and is also the author of several publications.

During 2003-04 she worked on the restoration of stone artifacts on the archaeological site Tell Deinit in Syria on behalf of the Department of Historic Sciences of the Ancient World at the University of Pisa . In 2005 she also worked on the preliminary cleaning of coins from the archaeological excavation at the Nuovo Mercato Testaccio and the survey for the protection on the site of amphoras (two-handled storage jars) for the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma.

A distinguished graduate of WVU helped make Brunori’s visit to Morgantown possible.

Vivien Woofter, formerly director of the Interiors and Furnishings Division in the Office of Overseas Buildings Operations of the U.S. Department of State, has worked with Brunori on various projects. Woofter was personally responsible for the interiors and historic restoration of ambassador residences in Paris , London , Prague and Buenos Aires .

She was inducted into WVU ’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni in 1992 and currently serves on the College of Creative Arts Board of Visitors.

For more information about the lecture, call (304) 293-4841 ext. 3108.