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 November 1, 2004 to April 30, 2005, CCI staff were involved in the following activities:

Conferences/Meetings

Indoor Air Quality in Museums and Archives 6th Indoor Air Quality Meeting, Padova, Italy, November 10–12, 2004 Jean Tétreault presented “Preservation Based on a Risk Management Approach.”

Eastern Analytical Symposium and Exposition in Somerset, NJ, November 15–18, 2004 Jane Sirois and Jennifer Poulin presented “Analytical Surveys of Museum Collections to Detect the Presence of Pesticide Residues” in the session on Contaminated Collections and Inherent Collection Hazards.

Ontario Museum Association “Museum Rethink,” Chatham, ON, November 23–24, 2004 Brian Laurie-Beaumont and Siegfried Rempel attended the workshop and met with five southern Ontario museums to review their future planning options.

International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) Meeting, Rome, Italy, November 25–27, 2004 Charles Costain, Chairperson of ICCROM Council, chaired the meetings of the ICCROM Council.

28th International Symposium on the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (“Non-destructive Examination of Cultural Objects — Recent Advances in X-ray Analysis), Tokyo, Japan, December 1–3, 2004 Marie-Claude Corbeil was invited to present “On Miniaturized Equipment and Microsamples: XRF and XRD at CCI.”

International Symposium for Conservation of Paper and Textiles, Tainan, Taiwan, December 15–16, 2004 Season Tse (invited keynote speaker) presented “The Art of Cleaning Paper and Textiles: Collaboration between Conservators and Conservation Scientists” and Renée Dancause (invited keynote speaker) presented “Textile Conservation at the Canadian Conservation Institute.”

Canadian Museums Association Research Summit, Ottawa, January 7–8, 2005 Marie-Claude Corbeil, David Grattan, Michael Harrington, and Jeanne Inch attended.

Photo Marketing Association International Annual Convention and Trade Show, Orlando, FL, February 20–23, 2005 Carl Bigras attended to learn more about the developing technologies that are replacing conventional film.

Health and Safety Canada 2005 Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA) Conference and Trade Show (“Effective Results through Learning and Sharing”), Toronto, ON, April 4–6, 2005 Maureen MacDonald attended.

AV Preservation Trust Board Meetings, Ottawa, ON, February 22 and Toronto, ON, April 18, 2005 (by teleconference) Charles Costain, Member of the Board of Directors, participated in both meetings.

Boston Museum of Fine Arts Meeting on Radio Frequency Identification Tags (RFIDs), April 20, 2005 David Tremain attended this meeting to discuss the use of RFIDs in museum security.

Imaging Science and Technology Archiving Conference 2005, Washington, DC, April 26–29, 2005 Joe Iraci attended the conference.

International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) Meeting, Rome, Italy, April 27–28, 2005 Charles Costain, Chairperson of the ICCROM Council, chaired the meetings of the ICCROM Bureau.

Lectures

“Adhesive Support Treatments for Textiles: Recent Research” and “Factors Affecting the Bond Strength of Heat and Solvent-reactivated Textile Artifact/Adhesive/Support Fabric Laminates” were presented by Irene F. Karsten (CCI Research Fellow accommodated through a collaboration with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council) on November 22, 2004, at CCI in Ottawa, ON, to CCI staff and guests.

“Metals and Corrosion” was presented by Lyndsie Selwyn on November 24, 2004, at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Peterborough, ON, to students in the Collections Conservation and Management program.

“Reproducing a Doll’s Sack Back Dress / robe à la Française” was presented by Renée Dancause on November 30, 2004, at Parks Canada, Ontario Service Centre in Ottawa, ON, to members of the Doll Guild of Ottawa.

“Interpreting Relative Humidity and Temperature Charts” was presented by Maureen MacDonald on January 11, 2005, at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Gatineau Preservation Centre in Gatineau, QC, to collection managers of LAC.

“Mould in Heritage Collections” was presented by Sherry Guild on January 19, 2005, at Sir Sandford Fleming College (SSFC) in Peterborough, ON, to an audience that included students in the Collection Conservation and Management program at SSFC and students in the Master of Art Conservation program at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON.

“The Examination and Treatment of Paintings in a Conservation Laboratory” and “Preventive Conservation Guidelines for Paintings” were presented by Debra Daly Hartin on January 31, 2005, at York University in Toronto, ON, to first-year art history students.

“Canadian Conservation Institute Services” was presented by Tom Stone on March 3, 2005, as part of “Preserving Our Cultural Property: A Workshop on Intellectual Property and the Preservation of Our Culture” at the First Nations University of Canada, Saskatoon Campus in Saskatoon, SK.

“Conservation Guidelines for Handling the Senate’s Heritage Furniture” was presented by James Hay and Alastair Fox on March 17, 2005, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, ON, to the Senate Installations Staff.

“Treatment of the Daverne Journal” was presented by Roberta Partridge on April 20, 2005, at the Perth Museum in Perth, ON, to an audience that included members of the Perth Historical Society as well as the general public; in conjunction with this presentation, Edward Kulka gave a brief introduction to the work of CCI.

Workshops

Les normes de conservation (“Standards in Conservation”), a joint workshop with the Centre de conservation du Québec (CCQ), was presented by Jean Tétreault and André Bergeron (CCQ) on December 8, 2004, and again on March 17, 2005, for the Société des musées québécois in Montreal, QC.

Maintenance and Repair of Environmental Monitoring Equipment was presented by Maureen MacDonald on January 11, 2005, at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Gatineau Preservation Centre in Gatineau, QC, to collection managers of LAC.

Artifacts in Aboriginal Cultural Centres was presented by Janet Mason and Carole Dignard on January 28–30, 2005, at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum, Iqaluit, NU.

The History and Treatment of Works with Iron Gall Ink (an advanced professional development workshop) was presented by Season Tse, Sherry Guild, and Maria Trojan-Bedynski (LAC) on February 21–23, 2005, at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Gatineau Preservation Centre in Gatineau, QC, to 16 book and paper conservators.

Emergency and Disaster Preparedness for Cultural Institutions was presented by David Tremain and Deborah Stewart on March 4–5, 2005, for the British Columbia Museums Association at the Kelowna Art Gallery in Kelowna, BC.

Mount-making for Museum Objects was presented by Bob Barclay and Carole Dignard on March 14–15, 2005, for the Nordjyllands Konserveringsvaerksted in Aalborg, Denmark, and on March 17–18, 2005, for the Conservation Programme students at the University of Goteborg, Goteborg, Sweden.

Artifacts in Aboriginal Cultural Centres was presented by Tom Stone and Janet Mason on March 17–18, 2005, at the Aboriginal Centre in Winnipeg, MB.

Preservation of Works of Art on Paper was presented by Sherry Guild and Juliet Graham (private paper conservator in Lethbridge, AB) on March 18–19, 2005, for Museums Alberta at the Nickle Arts Museum in Calgary, AB.

Photodocumentation was presented by Carl Bigras on March 22–23, 2005, for the Société des musées québécois in Montreal, QC.

Les matériaux utilisés pour l’exposition, la mise en réserve et le transport des collections (“Materials used for Exhibition, Storage, and Transportation of Collections”) was co-presented by Jean Tétreault on March 29–31, 2005, for the Office de Coopération et d’information muséographiques (OCIM) in Lyon, France.

Site visits for facilities development or upgrading

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

British Columbia — Nelson & District Museum, Art Gallery and Archives, Nelson; Whistler Museum & Archives, Whistler.

Manitoba — Northern Plains Museum, Brandon; National Residential School Museum, Portage la Prairie; Mennonite Historical Village, Steinbach; Winnipeg Art Gallery and Ukrainian Cultural and Education Centre, Winnipeg.

Ontario — The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum, London; Port Burwell Marine Museum, Port Burwell; Lambton Heritage Museum, Grand Bend; Chatham-Kent Museum, Chatham; University of Western Ontario (Cardinal Carter Library at King’s University College), London; RiverBrink - Weir Collection and Library of Art, Queenston (Niagara-on-the-Lake); Whitehern Historic House and Garden, Hamilton; Hearst Ecomuseum, Hearst; University of Windsor (Leddy Library) and Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor; University of Toronto (Art Centre, E.J. Pratt Library at Victoria University, and The Doris McCarthy Gallery) and The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto; Robert McLaughlin Art Gallery, Oshawa; St. Catharines Museum, St. Catharines.

Nova Scotia — Membertou Heritage Centre, Membertou; Mi’kmaq Cultural Network, Millbrook; University College of Cape Breton, Sydney; Shearwater Aviation Museum, Shearwater; Sobey Art Foundation, New Glasgow; Greenwood Military Aviation Museum, Greenwood; Maritime Command Museum, Halifax.

Other site visits

Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, QC — From November 23 to 25, 2004, Jane Sirois and Jennifer Poulin conducted nondestructive analysis of objects in the collection to detect the presence of pesticide residues.

West Memorial Building, Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON — On December 6, 2004, Bob Barclay and Lyndsie Selwyn examined bronze elevator fixtures and provided advice on care and preservation of finishes.

National Arts Centre (NAC), Ottawa, ON — On December 6, 2004, Jan Vuori, Season Tse, Janet Wagner, Scott Williams, Gregory Young, and Renée Dancause met with Gerry Grace (Archivist) and David Ship (NAC) to conduct cleaning tests and take small samples of the multicoloured nylon net of the decorative stage curtain (created in 1969 by Micheline Beauchemin) in Southam Hall.

Centre Block, Parliament Hill, Ottawa, ON — From January 10 to 21, 2005, James Bourdeau, Robert Arnold, Wendy Baker, Debra Daly Hartin, and Carl Bigras, with the assistance of Art Zone, a professional art handling service, responded to a request from Public Works and Government Services Canada to undertake an emergency examination and stabilization of two royal portraits hanging in the Senate Foyer.

Queen’s University, Kingston, ON — From January 10 to March 11, 2005, Jan Vuori taught the textile conservation component of the Master of Art Conservation program as a Visiting Scholar (replacing Professor Krysia Spirydowicz who was on sabbatical).

Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, ON — On January 13, 2005, Carl Bigras examined a diorama to determine if there is a second diorama hidden behind it.

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON — On February 1, 2005, Scott Williams performed on-site infrared spectroscopic analysis of drawings and watercolours on paper and parchment to characterize their supports, media, and fixatives.

Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, ON — Between February 22 and March 1, 2005, James Hay and Alastair Fox spent several days investigating the walnut wall panelling in the Court Room to determine how it was attached and what was behind it, to facilitate research by other architectural consultants prior to a major renovation of the structure by Public Works and Government Services Canada.

Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre, Saskatoon, SK — On March 5, 2005, Tom Stone met with staff to discuss how CCI could be of service to them, inspected parts of the collection, and put staff in touch with various CCI staff who could help with specific questions.

University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, AB — On March 21, 2005, Sherry Guild visited the art gallery to discuss their current and future activities for preservation of the collection.