CCI Services: Lectures, Workshops, and Site

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CCI Newsletter, No. 25, May 2000

CCI Services: Lectures, Workshops, and Site Visits

In cooperation with provincial museum and art gallery associations, CCI responds to specific needs within the heritage community by offering workshops, lectures, and site visits related to the conservation and care of museum and art gallery collections. CCI staff also participate in and present lectures to meetings of professional groups and associations.

November 1999

James Bourdeau concluded a workshop and seminar "Contemporary Varnishes, Materials and Techniques" that was presented with the cooperation of Anne Harmssen of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Restauratoren and Dr. Detlev Gadesmann at the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege in Hannover, Germany.

Season Tse gave a lecture "Investigations in Conservation Cleaning Methods for Paper and Textiles" to students in the Master of Art Conservation program at Queen's University, Kingston, ON.

At the 1999 conference of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), Nancy Binnie gave a presentation "Health and Safety in Archives, Libraries, and Conservation Facilities" in the session "Health and Safety Issues in Moving-Image Archives," which was jointly organized by the AMIA and the American Institute of Conservation.

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.