Our People
RLA is a woman-owned-and-managed firm whose strength comes from the collaboration of our team of allied professionals. Our conservators hold degrees from accredited conservation training programs in the United States, United Kingdom, and Cuba.* Because we employ our own skilled artisans and construction technicians, we maintain exceptional levels of quality control over our work. An equal opportunity employer that actively promotes diversity in hiring, we enjoy high employee retention and pride ourselves on being a place where people like to work. Our team is able to communicate in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Haitian Creole.
* There are few training programs in Cuba that actually train conservators rather than restoration technicians. We are happy to provide all of our staff’s credentials upon request.
ROSA LOWINGER
CEO and Chief Conservator of Rosa Lowinger and Associates, Inc. has over 30 years of experience as a conservator of sculpture, contemporary art and historic buildings. She holds an M.A. in art history and conservation from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, and is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation, the American Academy in Rome and the International Center for Conservation in Rome (ICCROM). Rosa’s long and varied career has included fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania’s archeological museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and field conservator positions for the joint University of Pennsylvania-Tel Aviv University Expedition to the Coastal Plain of Israel. She was the founder of the Los Angeles firm Sculpture Conservation Studio and served as its director of conservation from 1988-2008. Rosa lectures frequently on public art and conservation of modern finishes. A lively public speaker on topics for the general public, she was a featured speaker at the 2018 Miami Beach Art Deco weekend and the 2016 AIA meeting in Havana, Cuba. She co-curated the 2013 exhibits Concrete Paradise: Miami Marine Stadium at the Coral Gables Museum, and Promising Paradise: Cuban Allure, American Seduction at the Wolfsonian in 2016, and is the author of articles in Preservation, ArtNews, the Cuban Art News, WNYC.com, and is most well known for the 2006 non-fiction book Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of the Legendary Cuban Nightclub.
CHRISTINA VARVI
Principal Conservator and Professional Associate of the AIC, holds an M.S. in Historic Preservation with a concentration in Materials Conservation from Columbia University. A specialist in architectural and public art conservation, Christina is RLA’s lead professional for all projects west of the Mississippi River, including Hawaii and Alaska. She is a specialist in modern architectural materials, such as linoleum and synthetic finishes, outdoor sculpture planning, treatment, and surveys, as well as large-scale mosaics conservation and architecture surveys, testing, and specification development. Prior to joining RLA, Christina worked with the Central Park Conservancy in New York City and with Jablonski Building Conservation (JBC). She is a certified Cathedral Stone Jahn® Mortar installer, operator of aerial and scissor lifts, and OSHA 30-hr certified for the construction industry.
CAROLINE DICKENSHEETS
Assistant Conservator, holds a 2019 M.S. in Historic Preservation with a focus in Architectural Conservation from the University of Pennsylvania. She received her bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Art History from Wellesley College. During her graduate studies, she was involved in the preservation of earthen architecture in the American West through the Vanishing Treasures Program of the National Park Service and the Center for Architectural Conservation at the University of Pennsylvania. She is OSHA 10-hr certified.
BENJAMIN BRANDFON
CFO, Ben holds a 2010 B.A. from California State University at Northridge. Ben has been with RLA since 2008
PAT OBLAK
Miami Studio Manager, attended John Carol University. With RLA since 2017, Pat comes from a retail management background and spent 30 years managing Pearl Paint in South Florida.
Sonia Jerez Fraj
Sonia recently graduated from the Master’s Degree program in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the University Paris 1 Sorbonne, in Paris, with a specialty in the conservation of objects. In 2016, she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the School of Conservation of Barcelona (ESCRBCC). Prior to joining RLA in early 2021, she spent two years working at Atelier d’Autan, in Toulouse, France on mural painting restoration.
Elena Bowen
Assistant Conservator, holds a 2020 M.A. from the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program. She received her bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from Wellesley College. Prior to joining RLA in 2021, she completed pre-program internships at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens and the Penn Museum and graduate internships at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, the Hirshhorn, and the Carlos Museum at Emory University. She has also worked on archaeological sites in Peru and Greece.
NELSON HALLONQUIST
Operations Director, Los Angeles, holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Central Florida. Prior to joining RLA, Nelson worked with fine art objects as a museum-quality art preparator.