CCI Services: Lectures, Workshops, and Site Visits

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CCI Newsletter, No. 36, Fall 2005

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.

For the period May 1, 2005 to November 30, 2005, CCI staff were involved in the following activities:

Conferences/Meetings

American Association of Museums Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, May 1–5, 2005
Mary-Lou Simac and Sherry Guild staffed the CCI booth.

Manitoba Library Association Conference, Winnipeg, MB, May 2–4, 2005
Joe Iraci presented "CDs, DVDs, and Magnetic Tapes: Can I Trust Them?"

Architectural Paint Research in Building Conservation, a conference at the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark, May 8–11, 2005
James Bourdeau and Nancy Binnie co-presented "Changed Forever? — Documentation of Architectural Paint Finishes at the Canadian Conservation Institute."

Canadian Archaeological Association 38th Annual Conference, Nanaimo, BC, May 12-15, 2005
Tara Grant attended the conference and participated in the pre-conference workshop Basketry Technology.

American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) pre-course training session for instructors of the workshop Adhesives for Conservation, Gerald Ford Conservation Center, Omaha, NB, May 16-20, 2005.
Jane Down attended.

Canadian Association for Conservation of Cultural Property 31st Annual Conference, Jasper, AB, May 19-21, 2005
Prior to the conference, Janet Mason attended a Board Development workshop presented by the Government of Alberta (May 15-16). At the pre-conference workshop Fur Trade Legacy. The State of Preservation of Organic Material (May 17-18), Carole Dignard presented "A Review of Nd: YAG Laser Cleaning of Feathers" and Fiona Graham (private conservator) presented "A Review of Feather Cleaning Techniques" (co-authored with Janet Mason). At the conference, Bob Arnold presented "Logistical Considerations in the Handling during Conservation of an Oversize Painting on Wood Panel — Circumcision circa 1545, from the Collection of the Musée de l'Oratoire Saint-Joseph, Montreal"; Siegfried Rempel presented "Move of Collections" (co-authored with Wendy Baker); Jane Sirois presented "A Technical Study of David Milne's Oil Painting Materials and Techniques" (co-authored with Elizabeth Moffatt, Kate Helwig, Cathy Stewart from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinberg, and Kris Legate from the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto); and Lyndsie Selwyn presented "Overview of Archaeological Iron: The Corrosion Problem, Key Factors Affecting Treatment, and Gaps in Current Knowledge."

This Will Stick Forever: Attaching & Releasing, a symposium presented by the International Association of Book and Paper Conservators and the Technical Association of Paper and Printing Industry, Budapest, Hungary, May 25-27, 2005
Jane Down presented "Report on the CCI Tapes and Heat-set Tissues Project" (co-authored with Scott Williams, Season Tse, and Sherry Guild).

European Materials Research Society 2005 Spring Meeting, Strasbourg, France, May 31 - June 3, 2005
Marie-Claude Corbeil was a co-organizer of the symposium Materials Science and Cultural Heritage.

Canadian Museums Association 58th Annual Conference, Saskatoon, SK, June 8-11, 2005
Shanna Ramsay and Lucie Paquette staffed the CCI booth.

American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) 33rd Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, June 8-13, 2005
Jane Down presented "Degradation of Cyanoacrylate Adhesives in the Presence and Absence of Fossil Material" (co-authored with Elzbieta Kaminska) and "Report on the CCI Tapes and Heat-set Tissues Project" (co-authored with Scott Williams, Season Tse, and Sherry Guild); Jan Vuori presented "A Preliminary Study of a Micro Extraction Method for Measuring the pH of Textiles" (co-authored with Season Tse) and attended a business meeting of the AIC Textile Specialty Group; Scott Williams presented "What is a Good Plastic Product?" and "IR Spectroscopic Analysis of Adhesive Tapes and Heat-set Tissues"; and Lyndsie Selwyn and Christine Bradley staffed the CCI booth.

Association of Canadian Archivists Annual Conference, Saskatoon, SK, June 10, 2005
Shanna Ramsay staffed the CCI booth.

Archives and You!, a conference presented by the Canadian Council of Archives, Ottawa, ON, June 27-28, 2005
Joe Iraci presented "Preserving CDs, DVDs, Audiotapes, and Videotapes."

Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) meeting of the Ottawa chapter, Ottawa, ON, July 6, 2005
As part of the APT tour of recent architectural conservation treatments in the Supreme Court of Canada building, James Hay and Alastair Fox made a presentation about the treatment direction and details of CCI's work on the building's interior over the last few years.

The Future of the 20th Century: Collecting, Interpreting and Conserving Modern Materials, the second annual conference of the Arts & Humanities Research Council Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies, University of Southampton, Winchester, UK, July 26-28, 2005
Janet Wagner attended.

Teamwork for Integrated Emergency Management, an international workshop co-presented by the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the Getty Conservation Institute, and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property within the broad framework of ICOM's Museums Emergency Programme, Bangkok, Thailand, August 15-26, 2005
David Tremain participated.

The Preservation of Religious Textiles, a symposium presented by Textielcommissie Nederland (The Dutch Textile Committee), The Hague, The Netherlands, September 10, 2005
Jan Vuori attended.

International Council of Museums - Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC) 14th Triennial Meeting, The Hague, The Netherlands, September 12-16, 2005
Jan Vuori presented "A Preliminary Study of the Use of Bathophenanthroline Iron Test Strips on Textiles" (co-authored with Season Tse), chaired a session of the ICOM-CC Textile Working Group, attended a meeting to plan the next interim meeting of the ICOM-CC Textile Working Group, and travelled to Mechelen, Belgium to visit the De Witt tapestry conservation facility; Lise Perron-Croteau presented "The Development of Competencies at the Canadian Conservation Institute"; Marie-Claude Corbeil was elected to the Directory Board of ICOM-CC as Vice-Chair for the 2005-2008 triennium; Carole Dignard was elected Chair of the Working Group on Ethnographic Collections; David Grattan, Stefan Michalski, and Jeanne Inch also attended; and everyone assisted in staffing the CCI booth.

Cultural Spaces Canada Semi-annual Meeting of the Advisory Body from the Regional Offices, Toronto, ON, September 29, 2005
Brian Laurie-Beaumont attended to discuss the developmental planning needs of the heritage community.

Studies of the Sculptural Arts of Asia using Scientific Methods, the third Forbes symposium, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 29 - October 1, 2005
Elizabeth Moffatt presented "Examination and Analysis of the Chinese Polychrome Sculptures in the Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum" (co-authored with Marianne Webb from the Royal Ontario Museum, Marie-Claude Corbeil, and Nicolas Duxin).

Ontario Museum Association Annual Conference, Niagara Falls, ON, October 14, 2005
Brian Laurie-Beaumont was a panellist in the session "Our Museum Collections and Collecting Policies: Straitjacket or Untapped Opportunity to Tell Relevant Community Stories?"

Conservation of Archaeological Materials: Current Trends and Future Directions, a conference presented by the Archaeological Discussion Group of AIC and the Department of Conservation at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA, November 13-17, 2005
Judy Logan presented "Saving the Ferryland Cross: 3D Scanning, Replication, and Anoxic Storage."

Eastern Analytical Symposium and Exposition, Somerset, New Jersey, November 14-17, 2005
Lyndsie Selwyn and Paul Bloskie (of the Canadian Museum of Nature and Arius3D) co-presented "Laser Scanned 3D Documentation and Reconstruction for Art and Archaeology" (co-authored with Judy Logan).

Lectures

"Metals and Corrosion" was presented by Lyndsie Selwyn on November 7, 2005, at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Peterborough, ON, to students in the Collections Conservation and Management program.

Workshops

Heritage Facility Planning was presented by Brian Laurie-Beaumont on May 31, 2005 (Part 1) and Siegfried Rempel on October 20-21, 2005 (Part 2) for the Department of Canadian Heritage in Summerside, PE.

Transportation of Works of Art, a joint workshop with the Centre de conservation du Québec (CCQ), was co-presented by Paul Marcon (CCI), Patrick Albert (CCQ), and Michele Lepage (CCQ) on May 26-27, 2005 for the Société des musées québécois in Montreal, QC.

Preservation Management for Seasonal Museums was presented by Deborah Stewart on August 25, 2005 for the Mecklenburgh District Heritage Cooperative at Fairfield Homestead in Amherstville, ON, and Fairfield Gutzeit House in Bath, ON; and on September 13-14, 2005 for the Yukon First Nations Heritage Group/Teslin Tlingit Council at the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre in Teslin, YT.

Industrial Objects and Public Art was co-presented by Debra Daly Hartin and George Prytulak on September 14-15, 2005 for the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, NT.

Musical Instruments was presented by Bob Barclay on September 17-18, 2005 for the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador at the Provincial Museum Conservation Laboratory in St. John's, NL.

Adhesives for Conservation, an AIC workshop, was co-presented by Jane Down and Julia Fenn (from the Royal Ontario Museum) on September 19-23, 2005 at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV.

Aboriginal and Archaeological Collections Management was co-presented by Janet Mason and Judy Logan on September 22-23, 2005 for the Kitikmeot Heritage Society in Cambridge Bay, NU.

Care of Textiles was presented by Jan Vuori on September 28, 2005 for the Eastern Ontario Museums Group in Brockville, ON.

Mount-making was co-presented by Carole Dignard and Bob Barclay on November 3-4, 2005 for the Ontario Museum Association at the Elgin Military Museum in St. Thomas, ON.

Permanence of Artists' Materials: Paintings and Works of Art on Paper was co-presented by Sherry Guild and Debra Daly Hartin on November 12-13, 2005 for the Canadian Artists' Representation Ontario in Ottawa, ON.

Site visits for facilities development or upgrading

Site visits conducted by Siegfried Rempel, Brian Laurie-Beaumont, and/or Cliff Cook include the following:

British Columbia — Nanaimo District Museum, Nanaimo; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum, Victoria; Alberni Valley Museum, Port Alberni; Whistler Museum & Archives, Whistler; Quesnel District Museum and Heritage Commission, Quesnel.

Alberta — Museum of the Regiments, Calgary; University of Alberta, The Art Gallery of Alberta, and Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton; South Peace Centennial Museum, Beaverlodge.

Saskatchewan — Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre, Saskatoon.

Manitoba — Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre, Morden; Métis Interpretation Centre, Saint Laurent; Northern Plains Museum, Brandon; National Residential School Museum, Portage la Prairie; Boissevain & Morton Regional Library/Moncur Gallery, Boissevain; Plum Coulee Heritage and Recreation Development Corporation, Plum Coulee; Honekwe (House of Stories), Thompson; Manitoba Agricultural Museum, Austin; Métis Culture & Heritage Resource Centre Inc., Transportation Heritage and Technology Centre, Western Canada Aviation Museum, and Centro Caboto Centre, Winnipeg.

Ontario — Georgina Arts Centre & Gallery, Sutton; Cornwall Community Museum in the Wood House, Cornwall; The Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa (with Maureen MacDonald); Art Galley of Sudbury, Sudbury.

Quebec — Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery at Concordia University, Montreal (with Helen McKay); Église Notre-Dame de la Présentation, Schawinigan (with James Bourdeau).

New Brunswick — Kings Landing Historical Settlement, Kings Landing.

Yukon — Campbell Region Interpretive Centre, Faro; White Pass and Yukon Route Roundhouse and Copperbelt Mining Railway Centre, Whitehorse.

Other site visits

Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, ON — On May 4 and 24, 2005, James Hay accompanied private furniture conservators as they examined various judges' offices and associated rooms within the court, and discussed the scope of treatment work envisaged for the walnut-panelled walls during the summer recess of 2005.

Redpath Hall, McGill University, Montreal, PQ — On May 5, 2005, Bob Barclay inspected the storage and display facilities for housing the Kenneth Gilbert Collection of historic keyboard instruments, and initiated a program of environmental monitoring.

Brockville Museum, Brockville, ON — On May 9, 2005, Edward Kulka, Roberta Partridge, and Sherry Guild examined a very large Barnum circus board and provided advice on lighting, mounting, and treatment options.

Invitation: the Quilt of Belonging Project Office, Williamstown, ON — On May 9, 2005, Renée Dancause, Tom Stone, and Janet Wagner examined this unique national textile and provided advice regarding its care.

National Gallery of Canada (NGC), Ottawa, ON — From May 31 to June 2 and from June 14 to 17, 2005, Jane Sirois and Lyndsie Selwyn, in collaboration with Doris Couture-Rigert of NGC, performed research into alloys, patinas, and corrosion products on indoor bronze sculptures.

West Memorial Building, Parliamentary Precinct, Ottawa, ON — On June 7, 2005, Bob Barclay and Nancy Binnie inspected lacquered brass plates on elevators and provided advice on care and preservation.

Monastère des Ursulines de Québec and Monastère des Augustines de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, Québec, QC — On June 27 and 28, 2005, Marie-Claude Corbeil and Elizabeth Forest (from the Centre de conservation du Québec) examined and sampled paintings by or attributed to Jean-Antoine Aide-Créquy as part of a research project on the materials and techniques of this 18th-century artist.

Senate of Canada, Ottawa, ON / Gatineau, QC — On June 27, July 18, and July 29, 2005, David Tremain and Siegfried Rempel carried out a threat risk assessment of Senate archives stored in the Government Printing Bureau in Gatineau and in vaults on Parliament Hill for France Belisle, the Senate Archivist. Over the period July 26 - September 14, 2005, Wendy Baker and Robert Arnold examined eight portraits of British royalty in the Senate Foyer to determine their condition and conservation needs for Public Works and Government Services Canada, Parliamentary Precinct.

Centre de conservation du Québec, Québec, QC — On June 29, 2005, Marie-Claude Corbeil took samples for various analytical projects and discussed some active projects with colleagues.

Parliament Hill, Ottawa, ON — On July 1, 2005, Jan Vuori, Janet Wagner, and Charlie Costain met with David Monaghan, Curator, House of Commons, to examine the first maple leaf flag ever flown from the Peace Tower (15 February 1965). The flag was formerly in the possession of Mme Hoffman-Lamoureux, widow of Lucien Lamoureux, Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons at the time the flag was first flown. Mme Hoffman- Lamoureux was returning the flag to Canada and it was received by Prime Minister Paul Martin in a ceremony on Parliament Hill later that same day.

Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC — From July 5 to 7, 2005, Jane Sirois undertook a pesticide survey using a hand-held X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to determine the presence of inorganic pesticide residues in the education collection.

Red Bay National Historic Site, Labrador — From July 11 to 28, 2005, Nancy Binnie worked with underwater archaeologists from Parks Canada's Ontario Service Centre on the survey, excavation, and reburial of a 16th-century Basque whaling ship located in Red Bay harbour.

Kitigan Zibi Cultural and Education Centre, Maniwaki, Quebec — On July 19, 2005, Tom Stone and Maureen MacDonald provided advice on lighting, humidity, and general environmental issues in the building and display cases, and inspected a cross section of artifacts that will eventually be put on display. They also provided suggestions for handling and display of the artifacts, and freezing of artifacts made of fur skins.

Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, ON — On July 27 and September 14, 2005, Jane Sirois provided on-site X-ray fluorescence analysis of natural history specimens to determine whether or not inorganic pesticide residues such as arsenic, mercury, and lead, were present in the dioramas.

Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre (PWNHC), Yellowknife, NT — From August 3 to 31, 2005, Tara Grant worked with Rosalie Scott, the conservator at the PWNHC, to prepare a Web-based version of the Conservation Manual for Northern Archaeologists. She also assisted in treating artifacts from an archaeological site in the Mackenzie Delta.

Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, QC — From August 16 to 18, 2005, Wendy Baker and Robert Arnold examined three painted canvas altar fronts from the historic church l'Église Saint-Pierre de l'île d'Orléans to determine the condition of the paintings and suggest a suitable conservation treatment.

National Arts Centre (NAC), Ottawa, ON — On August 25, 2005, Jan Vuori met with NAC staff to discuss on-site cleaning tests of the decorative stage curtain (originally made by Micheline Beauchemin) in Southam Hall. On November 17, she and Renée Dancause conducted the cleaning tests. Carl Bigras carried out photography.

Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site, ON — From August 29 to September 9, 2005, Nancy Binnie worked with underwater archaeologists from Parks Canada's Ontario Service Centre on a search for historic and prehistoric submerged cultural resource sites (fish weirs, shipwrecks, artifacts, etc.) at locations including Lovesick Lake and Sturgeon Lake.

Bank of Montreal building, Sparks Street, Ottawa, ON — On September 15, 2005, James Hay dismantled a small section of the woodwork installed behind the stone tellers' counters to reveal how the stonework was assembled and determine if it could be dismantled with minimal damage and reassembled in a different location in the room.

Awards/Recognition

CCI is proud of the talent, commitment, and dedication of its staff, and is pleased to provide a program of awards to recognize their contributions to the Institute.

The Technical Achievement Award is presented for exceptional technical achievements that increase the effectiveness of CCI's organization or business practices in the delivery of conservation services, or advance knowledge in conservation science, conservation treatment, or preventive conservation. Recent winners include Joe Iraci (spring 2005) for his work on preservation of modern information carriers, and Jean Bisson (fall 2005) for ongoing contributions to CCI's information technology needs.

The Team Work Award is presented to honour a team that exemplifies the effectiveness of working together and makes a significant contribution to the achievement of CCI's mission, goals, and objectives. Season Tse and Sherry Guild received a Team Work Award in spring 2005 for their collaborative efforts on the preservation of documents containing iron gall ink, which included an international workshop The History and Treatment of Works on Paper Containing Iron Gall Ink that was delivered in partnership with Library and Archives Canada, the Council of Archives of New Brunswick, and the Canadian Museum of Nature. Season and Sherry were also honoured with a Deputy Minister's Award during Public Service week in June 2005 for their work on this project.

The Bon Appétit Award is presented in recognition of exceptional contributions to the achievement of CCI's mission, goals, and objectives. Recent recipients include Nicole Guenette-Allen (winter 2005) and Bob McRae (summer 2005).

In addition to CCI awards, a number of staff were honoured with Government of Canada Long-Service Awards in the spring of 2005 in recognition of their many years of commitment to public service: 15 years service — Sumi Grover, Jean Tétreault, Rick Bedard. 20 years service — Maureen MacDonald, Helen McKay, Jane Sirois, Season Tse, Lyndsie Selwyn, Deborah Stewart, Lucie Paquette, Vicki Davis, Patricia Legault. 25 years service — Leslie Carlyle, David Tremain, Debra Daly Hartin, Jane Down. 30 years service — Robert Arnold, Tom Stone, Brian Laurie-Beaumont, Cliff McCawley, Lise Perron-Croteau.