McKeever, Sheena

Sheena McKeever studies early modern craft practices in Western Europe, with particular attention to Italian art. Her research explores how artisans and restorers understood and worked with materials—especially in the making, alteration, and repair of stone sculpture. Drawing on technical art history, archival research, and her experience in The Making and Knowing Project, she examines how material interventions shaped the visual and cultural afterlives of classical antiquities.

McKeever’s work is informed by her training in archaeology at Palaikastro (Crete) and Falerii Novi (Civita Castellana), as well as her hands-on practice through studio sculpture. Before coming to Columbia, she completed an MPhil in History of Art & Architecture at the University of Cambridge and a BA in Art History and Classics at the University of Toronto. Her research has been supported by The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Casa Muraro, and Notre Dame Rome.

She is broadly interested in the histories of art restoration and conservation, and in the ways technical study and close looking can contribute to understanding the early modern past.