CCI Newsletter, No. 21, March 1998

CCI Services: Seminars, Lectures, Workshops, and Visits

September

Nancy Binnie participated in the final underwater field study on a War of 1812 shipwreck at Deadman Bay, Kingston, Ontario, in a project to study the effect of mollusks such as zebra mussels on submerged historic sites including shipwrecks.

George Prytulak visited Doon Heritage Crossroads in Kitchener, Ontario, to examine former CPR locomotive No. 894. He also examined former CNR locomotive No. 6213 for the Toronto Historical Board.

Cliff McCawley was a keynote speaker at the National Heritage Conference "Preserving the Past for the Future" organized by the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials, Inc., on Rottnest Island, Western Australia.

Stefan Michalski presented a paper "The Lighting Decision" at Textile Symposium 97. He was also a speaker and participant at the "Symposium on the Collection Environment" hosted by the Conservation Analytical Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution; gave a lecture on the preservation of contemporary art collections at the international symposium "Modern Art: Who Cares?" in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and gave a presentation to the CIE (International Commission on Illumination) technical committee "Museum Lighting and Protection Against Radiation Damage" during its meeting in Ottawa to discuss the contents of its planned publication on museum lighting.

R. Scott Williams presented a paper "Concerns about Plastics During Exhibition and Transport of Textile Objects" at Textile Symposium 97.

James Bourdeau presented a two-day seminar and workshop "Contemporary Varnishes, Materials and Techniques" at the Straus Conservation Center, Harvard University, to conservators from Boston and the New England area. He also gave a lecture "The Ideal Varnish: Some Thoughts on the History and Appearance of Contemporary Picture Varnishes" at the Sackler Museum, Harvard University, to a meeting of the New England Conservation Association. David Grattan chaired the semi-annual three-day planning session of the Directory Board of the ICOM Committee for Conservation, hosted by CCI; during the meeting CCI organized a reception in honour of ICOM and representatives from the Canadian National Committee and other international committees attended, including three past Chairs of the Committee for Conservation, Cliff McCawley, Brian Arthur, and Janet Bridgland

Dr. David Grattan (left), current Chair of ICOM-CC, along with past Chairs (from left to right) Cliff McCawley, Janet Bridgland, and Brian Arthur.

October

Jane Down presented a seminar "Adhesive Research Update" to students in the Art Conservation Program at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.

Helen McKay coordinated and made arrangements for the visit of Dr. Costas Balas of the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, Greece, who gave a presentation and demonstration of the real-time imaging system he has developed. This talk/demonstration was co-hosted by CCI and the National Gallery of Canada.

Siegfried Rempel visited the Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario, to help resolve architectural design issues; this was a follow-up visit to a previous site survey he had done on facility development options and requirements.

Bob Barclay presented a paper at the conference for the CIMCIM Policy on the Preservation of Musical Instruments, Musée de la Musique, Paris.

David Tremain gave a lecture on "Emergency Preparedness for Museums" to students in the Collections Conservation and Management, Museum Management, and Curatorship programs at Sir Sandford Fleming College, Peterborough, Ontario.

Leslie Carlyle presented a two-day seminar "British 19th-century Artists' Oil Painting Materials and Techniques" and a one-day hands-on workshop to the AICCM Paintings Group in Victor Harbour and Adelaide, Australia, as part of their annual symposium.

George Prytulak conducted a one-day training session on Industrial Conservation Materials and Techniques for the City of Woodstock, Ontario, and the Woodstock Museum. The session focussed on air abrasives and the restoration of the local fire hall's bronze bell (907 kg) dating from 1901.

Carl Bigras presented a paper "Kite Aerial Photography of the Axel Heiberg Island Fossil Forest" at the First North American Symposium on Small Format Aerial Photography sponsored by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing in Cloquet, Minnesota.

Stefan Michalski spoke at a technical workshop on "Humidity and Temperature Control in Historic Buildings" at the annual conference of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Canadian Council of Archives Conservation Committee held its annual joint research meeting at CCI. The meeting, chaired by Mike Mosseberger of the Manitoba Archives, considered various current issues, including a government task force report on digitization of records, as well as the whole issue of the preservation of modern archival media. CCI has prepared two information bulletins for CCA (one is a guide to preservation photocopying and the other is humidity and temperature guidelines for archives), which will be released shortly. 

Brian Laurie-Beaumont and Siegfried Rempel visited the McNichol Estate at the request of the City of Burlington, Ontario, to tour the house and grounds and discuss the potential of the site to become the home for an art gallery. The two also visited the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, to discuss collection storage needs.

James Bourdeau visited the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Stanstead, Quebec, to assess the condition of the historic opera house interior. His report will form the basis of a needs assessment to initiate a project for the interior conservation and restoration. He also visited les Archives du Séminaire de St-Hyacinthe to pack two early Canadian portraits by Louis Dulongpré for transport to CCI for conservation treatment. As well, James met with Canadian Pacific Hotels in Quebec City to establish conservation priorities for the renovation work to the interior of the Chateau Frontenac Hotel, and established conservation guidelines for the tendering process on this project and interviewed bidders.

November

Janet Wagner and Renée Dancause presented a seminar "Construction of Mannequins for Historic Costumes" at the Old Kings Courthouse Museum in Kentville, Nova Scotia, in association with the Federation of Nova Scotian Heritage. Cliff McCawley chaired a meeting of the CGSB Subcommittee on the Permanence of Paper which reviewed feedback on the draft version of the final report of the Canadian Co-operative Permanent Paper Research Program "The Impact of Lignin on Paper Permanence"; the meeting also considered a draft Canadian standard (CGSB-9.70) on paper permanency. Representatives from government, cultural institutions, and the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry attended the meeting, which marked an important step forward in achieving a new performance-based standard for Canada.

Participants at the "Construction of Mannequins for Historic Costumes" workshop applying plaster to a paper tape form to create a mannequin.

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, Ontario.

James Bourdeau presented a talk "Paintings Conservation and the Private Collector: What Can It Do For You?" at the Antique Fair at Ashbury College, Ottawa.

Cliff McCawley was a keynote speaker at an international congress organized by the Fundación del Patrimonio Histórico de Castilla y León, in Valladolid, Spain. His talk was titled "Conservation: Costs and Benefits."

Stefan Michalski gave a talk "Preventive Conservation for the 21st Century" at an international congress organized by the Fundación del Patrimonio Histórico de Castilla y León, in Valladolid, Spain. He also gave a one-day seminar to facilities managers and building engineers in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The seminar was organized by Harold Holland of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.

Siegfried Rempel visited the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario, to gather information on potential environmental control improvements and related cost savings that might be realized through a facility upgrading project.

David Grattan, Elizabeth Kaminska, Paul Bégin, and Joe Iraci attended a research review meeting of the ASTM/ISR paper permanency program on the "Effect of Aging of Printing and Writing Papers" at the Image Permanence Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology in New York State.

December

David Tremain, Deborah Stewart, and Charlie Costain attended a meeting at the Canadian Museum of Civilization to discuss an emergency preparedness network for cultural institutions in the National Capital Region. This forms part of a series of ongoing meetings being held in the National Capital Region as a result of the ICOMOS Canada initiative to participate in the Blue Shield Program.

David Grattan attended a meeting of the ICOM Executive Council at UNESCO in Paris, France.

January

Tom Stone visited the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario, to discuss CCI's Aboriginal Issues Project with the Centre's Director, Tom Hill. He also visited the Brant County Museum and Archives in Brantford, as well as the London Museum of Archaeology and the McIntosh Gallery at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.

Leslie Carlyle presented a two-day seminar "British 19th-century Artists' Oil Painting Materials and Techniques" and a one-day hands-on workshop for 70 participants at the Limburg Conservation Institute, Maastricht, The Netherlands. She also visited the Royal Cabinet of Paintings: Mauritshuis, The Hague, The Netherlands, to discuss paint inclusions in Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulup, and the collection at the Museum Mesdag, The Hague, to view 19th-century craquelure and 'bitumen-cracking'. In addition, Leslie was discussion chair and commentator in MolArt "The Evaluation Workshop," FOM Institute, Amsterdam.

Lyndsie Selwyn presented a workshop on metals and metal corrosion to students in the Art Conservation Program at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.

Stefan Michalski gave a lecture "Cracking and Deformation of Oil Paintings such as Picasso's Guernica" at the symposium "Guernica and the Ethical and Technical Problems of Handling Works of Art," in Madrid, hosted by the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.

James Bourdeau, assisted by Janet Mason and Michael Harrington, gave a talk on "Applying Conservation Process to Routine Maintenance and Housekeeping" as part of a two-day course on the maintenance of heritage buildings organized by the Federal Heritage Building Review Office and the Heritage Conservation Program and presented to management and staff of the Parliamentary Precinct. James also travelled to Quebec City to sample an historic ceiling in the Salon de Madeleine-de-Verchères at the Chateau Frontenac Hotel to determine the original decorative scheme so that this room could be restored to its original appearance.

February

Nancy Binnie presented a lecture "Zebra Mussels: What's Happening to our Historic Shipwrecks" at the annual general meeting of Preserve our Wrecks, an avocational scuba-diving group in Kingston, Ontario.

Jan Vuori, Janet Wagner, and Renée Dancause examined and provided conservation advice about a Renaissance altar cloth from the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

Lyndsie Selwyn presented a lecture to students in Art Conservation at Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York.

Michael Harrington organized CCI's professional development workshop "The Conservation of Gilded Artifacts" held at the Institute. Deborah Bigelow of Beacon, New York, was the primary instructor, and Nancy Binnie, James Bourdeau, Leslie Carlyle, Marie-Claude Corbeil, and Kate Helwig gave presentations at the workshop.

Bob Barclay gave a talk on "The Care of Antiques and Collectibles" at the Nepean Antiques Show, Nepean, Ontario. Stefan Michalski gave a one-day seminar "Mechanical Behaviour of Paint Films: Implication for Treatment Processes" in Winnipeg, Manitoba, hosted by the Manitoba Heritage Conservation Service. Brian Laurie-Beaumont visited the DesBrisay Museum and Exhibition Centre, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, to dicuss environmental control and facility upgrading. Vicki Davis organized a meeting of the BCIN Content Review Board at CHIN. Participants from ICCROM, ICOM, ICOMOS, SCMRE (formerly CAL), and GCI came to CCI for a tour.

Deborah Bigelow (left) demonstrating bole manipulation techniques to participants in the workshop "The Conservation of Gilded Artifacts."

Retirements

CCI recognizes and thanks the following employees who retired recently after many years of service: Paul Baril, Wayne Kelly, Émile Mongrain, Jacques Richer.