Jill Hari is the founder and principal objects conservator at West Coast Art Conservation. She has over over 25 years of experience in jewelry and metalsmithing, and has been an accredited art conservator since 2009. Her path into conservation began through jewelry making and repair in the 1990s where she developed a deep understanding of how objects are constructed and how materials behave and wear over time. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Metals & Jewelry from the University of Oregon, she completed a Postgraduate Diploma in the Conservation-Restoration of Fine Metalwork-with distinction, and an M.A. in Conservation Studies from West Dean College in England. She began her career in art conservation with back to back year-long fellowships in art conservation at Historic New England, Harvard Art Museums, and a graduate internship at the Getty Center. During this time she spent two summers as a Special Projects Conservator in metals with the Harvard-Cornell Archaeological Exploration of Sardis in Turkey. Jill worked as a contract conservator with various firms and institutions including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Sculpture Conservation Studio in Los Angeles, and Preservation Arts in the Bay Area before founding West Coast Art Conservation in Los Angeles in 2017.

Since 2017 West Coast Art Conservation has cared for small and large public and private art collections in the western states and maintains long term relationships with many municipalities and private collectors, including the City of Bend, The City of Sisters, and Deschutes County, as well as private clientele in southern California. Jill travels regularly within the United States for specialized projects, occasionally teaming up with other private conservation firms as a metals specialist. West Coast Art Conservation has experience and expertise with a wide range of materials, including all metal alloys, patinas, industrial coatings, glass, ceramics, stone, textiles, wood, leather, and mixed-media objects. WCAC is dedicated to the care, restoration, and long-term preservation of sculpture, fine art, and culturally significant objects, and takes pride in an earned reputation for the highest quality of ethics, workmanship, and nurturing long term relationships in the public and private sectors.
​
Jill is currently working on expanding her practice to include historic mechanical objects and automata with a focus on musical mechanisms and music boxes, an area of special interest since finishing her Master's Thesis on 18th and 19th century gold boxes. A new sister website is in progress and will include featured conservation and restoration projects, educational programs and workshops in metalsmithing and mechanical arts, research initiatives, and more. Adding this underserved set of services is driven by a sense of urgency to preserve and share knowledge that currently exists only in the hands of a small number of specialists, and to make it accessible to a wider audience.