For Art UK's 'Being...' series, we take a look at a day in the life of a professional working in the arts, heritage or museum sector.
What's your role?
For over three decades, I've run an independent conservation and restoration company specialising in large-scale bronze sculpture, monuments and architectural features.
My formal title is Director of the company Antique Bronze, but my role is more a tapestry of colourful threads rather than a lone stitch. Foremost, I am a senior conservator – I work on-site undertaking conservation treatments and overseeing the work of the other teams in the company. I also cover estimating and am the primary client liaison. To satisfy my love of art history, particularly in the field of public sculpture, I host, the Sculpture Vulture podcast and also, because I love it, I write books about conservation and novels set in the art world.
Lucy Branch at Nelson's Column
The company is a true family business. I am joined by my husband, several cousins and a few close family friends. We work together as a close-knit team and rely on one another to laugh and cry over life's challenges.
I studied Art History with Material Studies as an undergraduate at University College London. My degree was the perfect split of art history and chemistry, perfect for someone of my dichotomous nature. I was taught how to care for and restore bronze by my father, who worked for various foundries and noted artists such as Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. He taught me the practical skills I use most days and gave me a profound love of sculpture.
After a decade of work, I was accredited by The Institute of Conservation, but I craved further academic challenge and was accepted as a mid-career master's student in conservation at the Royal College of Art and Victoria and Albert Museum. It was a wonderful opportunity. I was there part-time for four years and continued working as a conservator using the objects in my work to expand my knowledge. I was exposed to the wonderful resources at the V&A, interesting people and different approaches to conservation. My tutors pushed me to do things differently and challenged me in ways that nobody else had.
What's your morning routine?
My days are divided between site days and desk days. Both begin early, around 4.30am – this has become a habit as we start on site at 6am, so we need to be ready and travelling at an early hour. I have found that sticking to this routine is a great formula even on desk days – I always do my creative work early which brings me joy when the house is peaceful.
Site days tend to be whole-day projects where I work on a treatment and oversee my team. I may step away to a different site the following day or return to the same site if the team need further support.
Lucy working on 'The Bomber Command Memorial'
On desk days, I try to take a little more care of my mental and physical health. After my early creative time, I wake my teenagers and get them off to school. I take out my glorious German Shepherd and give her a good walk, ensuring we have some leisurely sniffing time for her and contemplation time for me; each morning, I send a message to a like-minded friend, and we exchange our intentions for the day. It's a great way to ensure we stay focused on our goals. Towards the end of the walk, I pick up the pace and have a good march home so I get in some cardio.
Managerial and administrative work, of which there is a lot when running your own business, starts from around 9.30am. Designing your own mornings and determining what fills your days is one of the great joys of working for yourself.
What's your journey to work like?
Working on-site means that I have to take everything I need with me: kit, barriers and access equipment. This can't be done any other way than driving, though I listen to audiobooks. Generally, I read non-fiction in the mornings to sharpen my mind and, on the way home, fiction, for the soul.
I have a lovely little van, which is my very own, though I sometimes share it with my husband begrudgingly.
My commute is different most weeks. Though the majority of my work is in London, this week I have been to Leeds and Cambridge for different projects. I take the projects which interest me the most. This is a key ingredient in maintaining a passion for what you do when you have worked as long as I have in the same role.
The Bomber Command Memorial
2012
Philip Henry Christopher Jackson (b.1944) and Liam O'Connor and Richard Kindersley (b.1939) and Colin Dudley (b.1923) 
What's a typical day at work for you?
Bronze conservation is a dance with the elements – rain interferes with our materials, wind affects our treatments, and the sun alters how surfaces react – so this determines whether we are on-site.
Each morning begins with setting up our workspace in a public area. This will involve barriers and access equipment: this might be steps, a tower or a mobile elevating work platform. Occasionally we get scaffold, but this is the height of luxury. We work on large objects, so I tend not to work alone.
I start with careful cleaning, removing grime and guano, not just for aesthetics, but to read the story written in the metal itself. Mornings tend to be for documentation, preparatory work and samples.
Lucy working on the sculpture of Bobby Moore at Wembley Stadium
What's a typical afternoon like for you?
We often don't have any specific facilities for breaks, so my little van becomes our mess room. We use local cafes to grab snacks and coffee. It's a nice way to get to know the area we are working in too. We often make friends this way and get great local tips.
The afternoons are more practical work: treating corrosion, blending disfiguring marks, sometimes repatination work and re-applying protective coating.
What do you do after work?
My time after work tends to be in the service of others. I visit and help with my mother most days as she has dementia. I have two teenagers at home who need support with homework, and constant feeding! I walk my dog again in the evening, often with my husband and we catch up on the day together. We take time at the dinner table with the kids, talking, debating and planning upcoming activities. It's late by the time I have tidied away dinner and done some chores, but even doing these more mundane jobs, I'm usually accompanied by an audiobook, feeding my constant appetite for stories.
Lucy Branch, sculptural conservator and author
Do you work in the arts, heritage or museum sector? Would you be kind enough to share an example of your working day for our 'Being...' series? Please get in touch with Art UK at pitches@artuk.org as we'd love to hear from you.
