CCI took a 'Travelling Road Show' to the Department of Canadian
Heritage headquarters building in Hull, QC, with the goal of
enhancing colleagues' understanding of the conservation profession
and the work done at the Institute. Headquarters staff were invited
to provide personal or family heirlooms for examination. CCI conservators
not only identified the constituent materials of these artifacts
and provided advice on the best ways to handle, store, and display
them, but provided the owners with an opportunity to view their
treasures under a microscope or ultraviolet light, and have them
analysed with the portable infrared spectrometer. Information about
making a time capsule was also available, as well as exhibits of
gold leaf and gilding equipment. CCI conservators involved in the
examinations included Robert Arnold and Helen McKay (fine art),
Michael Harrington (furniture), Jan Vuori and Renée Dancause
(textiles), Robert Barclay and Tom Stone (objects), and David Hanington
(works on paper); Scott Williams tested objects using the portable
infrared spectrometer; and Mary-Lou Simac, Susanne Richter, and
Fraser Fowler manned the CCI booth.
As part of the session on Collections Management at the Fall Focus
of the Ontario Association of Art Galleries (held at the
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON), Charlie Costain gave
a presentation "Museum Storage Planning."
Marie-Claude Corbeil participated in an international seminar hosted
by the University of Bologna in Italy to discuss the role,
professional profile, and training of conservation scientists. This
seminar was organized in collaboration with ICCROM and the
Universities of Aachen (Germany), Thessaloniki (Greece),
and Oviedo (Spain).
Jane Sirois attended the Eastern Analytical Symposium in
Somerset, NJ, to give a lecture "The Analysis of Outdoor Bronze
Sculptures from the Assemblée Nationale in Québec
City" in the session "Analytical Investigations of Outdoor Art."
CCI hosted a lecture "Deterioration of Patina on Outdoor Bronzes"
by Dr. Helena Strandberg, a conservator and scientist from Göteborg,
Sweden.
December 1999
CCI held an Open House for colleagues in the Department of Canadian
Heritage. In addition to short talks, demonstrations, videos,
and refreshments, tours were available through the artifact conservation
and conservation science labs, as well as the photography and X-radiography
lab. Visitors had the opportunity to meet and mingle with CCI staff,
and ask questions.
Brian Laurie-Beaumont provided in-depth advice to the Haisla
Cultural Centre in Mission, BC, on their planning terms of reference
and consultant proposals. He also advised on the functional layout
of the museum areas of the Kitikmeot Cultural Centre in Cambridge
Bay, Nunavut.
Jane Sirois and Tom Stone visited the Canadian Museum of Civilization
in Hull, QC, to analyse (non-destructively) the masks in the ethnology
collection using X-ray spectrometry to detect the presence of arsenic-
and mercury-containing compounds.
January 2000
Judy Logan organized and helped present a workshop at the conference
of the Society for Historical Archaeology, in Quebec, QC,
hosted by the Centre de conservation du Québec (CCQ).
André Bergeron (CCQ) and Betty Seifert (Jefferson Patterson
Park & Museum, Calvert County, MD) assisted with the presentations.
Judy also organized and co-chaired, with André Bergeron,
a conservation session.
Renée Dancause was invited to be a jury member for a student's
thesis defence in the Master in Museology program at the University
of Montreal.
Michael Harrington (along with Claude Charbonneau of the Heritage
Conservation Program, Rosanne Howes of the Parliamentary Precinct
Directorate, and Paul Tranquada of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario)
presented the sixth in a series of workshops sponsored by the Federal
Heritage Building Review Office on the maintenance and repair
of heritage buildings, to facilities managers and custodians of
heritage buildings in Vancouver.
February 2000
At the request of the Minister's Office of the Department of
Canadian Heritage, Bill Peters, Jan Vuori, and Janet Wagner
brought Canada's first maple leaf flag to CCI for examination and
possible treatment.
In the session "What They Hurt: Impacts of Aquatic Nuisance Species"
at the 10th International Aquatic Nuisance Species and Zebra
Mussel Conference, in Toronto, ON, Nancy Binnie presented a
paper "Shipwrecks, Archaeology and Zebra Mussels: Is Mussel Attachment
a Threat to our Submerged Cultural Resources?" (co-authored by Peter
Engelbert, Lorne D. Murdock, and Jonathan Moore).
Deborah Stewart and David Tremain conducted a workshop on collections
salvage for the Canadian Museum of Nature at their Natural
Heritage Building in Aylmer, QC.
At the request of Mike Graham (Director, Public Service Division,
Information and Documentation Branch), Janet Wagner, intern Shannon
Parker, and Michael Harrington went to the Library of Parliament
to examine a dress uniform belonging to a former parliamentary librarian.
Robert Barclay gave a lecture "Treatment Provides Information"
for the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec in Quebec,
QC.
James Bourdeau met with archivist Isabelle Contant at the Archives
de la Compagnie de Jésus in St-Jérôme, QC,
to examine sketches and gouache paintings by 19th-century Jesuit
explorer Father Nicholas Point.
March 2000
Elizabeth Moffatt and Marie-Claude Corbeil visited the Art Gallery
of Ontario, Toronto, ON, to take samples from a number of paintings
by Cornelius Krieghoff as part of a study of his materials and techniques.
Jean Tétreault gave a seminar on exhibit, storage, and transport
of artifacts to students in the DESS program in preventive conservation
at the Université de Paris I.
Jan Vuori, Season Tse, and intern Shannon Parker took colour readings
of Océanie, la mer by Henri Matisse as part
of the long-term monitoring of the sodium borohydride treatment
undertaken on this silk-screen for the National Gallery of Canada.
Brian Laurie-Beaumont travelled to St. John's, NF, to consult on
"The Rooms," a proposed $40 million building to house the Newfoundland
Museum, the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador,
and the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador.
April 2000
On a trip to British Columbia, Brian Laurie-Beaumont visited the
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria to discuss their facility
development needs and the Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo) First Nation Museum
Committee to review organizational objectives and facility options;
he was joined by Siegfried Rempel in a site visit to the Kwagiulth
Museum & Cultural Centre in Cape Mudge on Quadra Island
to assist in evaluating redevelopment options.
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