Profile·New York
Conservator Zahira Véliz Bomford named Fall 2026 Praska visiting professor
Announced 17 September 2026: the former MFA Houston senior conservator of paintings joins the IFA Conservation Center as the Fall 2026 Judith Praska Visiting Distinguished Professor in Conservation.

Véliz Bomford, an internationally renowned paintings conservator and scholar formerly Senior Conservator of Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will teach the seminar 'The Material Image: Aspects of Technical Art History', exploring how close examination of materials, techniques and physical evidence deepens understanding of paintings in the Western tradition. She will also deliver a public lecture during the fall semester. A Courtauld PhD, she has worked with the UK National Trust, the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and published with the Getty Conservation Institute.

