Will Shank, born 1951 in York, Pennsylvania, USA, was trained as an art historian and art conservator at Villa Schifanoia, Florence, the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, and the Harvard University Art Museums. 

He served as head of conservation at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art throughout the 1990s while pursuing his creative passions:  writing and photography. 

As conservator, he was co-creator of RESCUE PUBLIC MURALS, a preservation initiative of Heritage Preservation in Washington, DC.  He is its co-director: 

http://www.heritagepreservation.org/RPM/about.html 

His work with contemporary murals won him the prestigious Rome Prize in 2005 for Conservation/Historic Preservation. http://www.aarome.org 

He writes for many publications about art and entertainment, contributing regularly to The Advocate, London’s The Art Newspaper, and the travel website fodors.com.  He writes about art for the Fodors travel guides. 

His first book, Celluloid San Francisco (co-authored with Jim Van van Buskirk) is a 2006 release from Chicago Review Press. amazon.com 

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITIONS AS ARTIST: 

SIX DEGREES OF FABRICATION, a series of “twin” images of Old World/New World sites and sights. 
San Francisco Main Public Library, 2001
San Francisco International Airport 2002-2003  

MILAGROS FALSOS, photographs of miraculous images on rose petals. “Seeing Is Believing? The Miracle Photographs of Nate Larson and Will Shank,” Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, 2005 ; and “Seeing Is Believing?  ¿Ver Es Creer? Las Fotos Milagrosas de Will Shank y Nate Larson,” Casa de las Conchas, Salamanca, 2007. 
Download the PDF of the Salamanca exhibition catalog