Art galleries, art conservatories and restoration companies offer careers in antiques restoration, necessitating that you specialize in a particular genre. For example, you can pursue a career in restoring vases, sculpture, photography, paper or textiles. You can even restore gold plating on antique picture frames.
Museums also offer careers in restoring antiques. They would expect you to be highly proficient in your field as you would be handling valuable works of art.
As an art restorer you would first clean the work of art, thoroughly examine the piece, determine what damage has been done, research its history, and then use the resources available to repair and restore the item to the condition of its original state, by all appearances.
Can't decide whether to work for an art gallery or museum? Ultimately you must determine which environment is most suitable to your liking. Depending on your locality, you can expect to make $15 to $100 an hour as a technician in art restoration.
Museums have set the gold standard for quality in art restoration. Careers at these institutions would be highly competitive but attainable if you are qualified.
The most ambitious art restoration project of the 20th Century was Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel in Rome. It was a highly controversial and debated subject because art restorers could alter and possibly damage the frescoes, thus the artist's original intent might have been compromised and these art treasures could have been ruined.
Conservation can sometimes be difficult to execute, but according to art historians, it should be the preferred alternative before restoration is considered, to maintain the integrity of a work of art and its cultural heritage.
Depending on your specialty in art restoration, you may choose to lecture at association conferences or even teach at the college level.
If you have received an advanced degree (a masters or doctorate) in education as well as the arts, then you can become an educator.
You may decide to write a catalogue raisonné or a book on your specialized field in art restoration. It would be beneficial to your career to become published in your area of expertise.