Company & Collections Care Experience

Nail-to-Nail is based in Palm Springs, California.  We provide an array of fine arts appraisals, services, and consulting to museums, private collectors, artists, foundations and estates. See our Services section to learn more about how we can help you.
               
Alicia B. Thomas has over 30 years of art museum experience in the areas of collections care and management, art storage and archival housing, project management and exhibitions, installations and earthquake mitigation. Alicia has amassed a vast portfolio of experience across multiple institutions. Alicia spent 12 years at the National Gallery of Art, where she coordinated exhibitions and loans from the collection to museums worldwide. She also managed loans of artwork to the President of the US, the President’s cabinet members, US ambassadors and the justices of the Supreme Court. Finally, Alicia worked 5 years as a registrar at the J. Paul Getty Museum, coordinating exhibitions and loans, and at Vassar College.  

Most recently, Alicia was the Director of Exhibitions & Collections Management at the Palm Springs Art Museum, overseeing the art, archives and library collections for 8 years.  During this time, she raised the standards of collections care to align with today’s best practices. Having a particular affinity for conservation and preservation, she was awarded two collections grants by the Institute for Museums and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has contributed to several exhibitions-related grants awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andy Warhol Foundation.

As a project manager/exhibitions registrar, Alicia has coordinated over 100 exhibitions, including 2 covered by U.S. Federal Indemnity and 3 Getty Pacific Standard Time exhibitions. As a registrar, Alicia has handled every type of art shipment imaginable from an ocean freighter to a helicopter used to fly a 3,700-pound granite sculpture to the top of Mt. San Jacinto. She has handled and examined works of art of all media and served as a courier numerous times in the United States and more than 25 times to Europe and Asia. She is a board member of the Association of Registrars & Collections Specialists (2020 - present).

Alicia is Accredited Member of the Appraisers Association of America (AAA). Appraisals are provided in accordance with the Association's guidelines & in compliance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisals (USPAP). She is a graduate of the Comprehensive Appraisal Studies Program and is USPAP compliant through May 31, 2026. Alicia is a member of AAA's Associate Candidates Steering Committee (2022 - present).