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| OSBA Members from left to right: Claudia Burns, Julie Hughes, Janet Marshall, Donna Fleras, Hilary Casey, Barry Matthews, Cecilia Martin, Sarah Iley, Ros Allchin, and Carla Burns |
Our guide
for the tour escorted our group through the service corridors and explained how
this part of the museum was designed. The area has special isolation rooms to ensure that contaminants are not introduced
into the main collection. The hallways and
loading areas were designed to accommodate large totem poles – how uniquely
Canadian. At one point, we had a brief
glimpse of Napoléon’s bed as it was being carefully moved on a large flat-bed
trolley for the upcoming exhibit -- and yes, it was majestic.
Once we
arrived in the Paper Conservatory, we were introduced to Conservator Amanda who
explained the importance of using archival quality materials when creating
artwork. She discussed the properties of
paper and environmental factors that affect the integrity of artwork such as
temperature, light and humidity. Amanda
then showed us a project to test the lightfastness of various media including
materials commonly used in creating botanical art such as watercolour and
coloured pencils. This lightfast test could easily be replicated at home and will be the subject of a future post.
We then
moved to another room where artwork is mounted and prepared for display. Curator Paul explained how to properly mount
artwork to mat boards and where to use linen and Japanese hinging tape. He also discussed the importance of using
acid-free archival quality products and protective glass/plastic. Paul then explained the optimal formula for
hanging artwork -- centre of artwork should be 54” to 60” from the floor. This height focuses the viewer’s attention on
the image not the patterns created by the frames. We were shown mounting hardware as well as a
demonstration on how to measure and position artwork on walls. Tour participants’ questions were welcomed
and some interesting information was exchanged.
Paul showed
us the judge's robe of Hugh Richardson who sentenced Louis Riel to death for
treason on July 31, 1885. The robe is
now dark green, most likely there were some fugitive colours in the original
black mixture – probably a red hue.
As we were
finishing the tour, several OSBA members remarked how interesting being a
Museum Conservator would be and what important work they do. OSBA members would like to thank the
Conservation Department at the Canadian Museum of History as well as OSBA
member Julie Hughes for organizing this wonderful field trip.
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| OSBA Members from left to right: Claudia Burns, Julie Hughes, Janet Marshall, Donna Fleras, Hilary Casey, Inga Legere, Cecilia Martin, Sarah Iley, and Ros Allchin |
