International Day of Women and Girls in Science - 2019
The Royal Alberta Museum is fortunate to have many amazing women doing scientific work on our staff. As February 11 is International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we are highlighting a few members of our conservation team, who utilize scientific methods of preserving and conserving our precious objects.
Weâd love for you to meet Carmen, Katherine, Genevieve and Brenna!
(Conservation team - Top: Katherine Potapova. Middle L to R: Lisa May, Carmen Li. Front L to R: Brenna Cook, Alison Fleming and Genevieve Kulis)
What do you do here at RAM? Â
I am head of the conservation program here at RAM. The goal of the conservation program is to ensure the long term preservation of the specimens and artifacts in our collection through treatment or preventive conservation.
I'm a paper conservator. For the most part, I repair damaged documents, maps, photographs, and other artifacts that are made of paper. Sometimes, I also help out with other conservation-related task, like preparing objects for exhibition in the galleries, and operating the equipment that we use to run tests to better understand what our artifacts are made of.
I am a Natural History Conservator here at the RAM. I am one of the people responsible for ensuring the ongoing care and preservation of museumâs Natural History collections. As part of this work, I get to carry out various treatments that help to repair and stabilize damaged or deteriorating specimens and objects.
I am a textile conservator. I work with textile-based objects to treat and preserve them while also preparing them for display.
 What first made you interested in conservation as a career?Â
I first heard about conservation as a career at a high school career fair, but never thought I could pursue it because of the chemistry requirements. I began studying architecture and art history, but really started reconsidering during the third year of university. I decided to follow my passion and started intensively taking first, second and third year chemistry courses in preparation for a graduate degree in art conservation. Conservation allows me to exercise both the artistic and creative side of my brain as well as the materials science part. It allows me to engage in meaningful work, and since every project is different and since we work on such a diverse collection, conservation work really is endlessly fascinating and a source for lifelong learning.
I've always had diverse interests, and had a hard time deciding on the one thing that I wanted to pursue. In university, I was torn between fine art, history, and science. When I found out about conservation, it seemed like the perfect solution: conservators need to have skills and knowledge from all these areas. Conservators need to think systematically, like scientists. Conservators also need to understand the materials they work with on a molecular level. At the same time, they also need the creativity and craftsmanship of artists, as well as an understanding of the history of materials.
I have always loved museums and have found them wonderful places to learn and discover new things. Growing up, I always felt that working at a museum would be a dream come true, but didnât know in what capacity I wanted to do that. After some research into various museum careers, I came across conservation. It had a great balance of all of the things I was interested in. It allows you to use both science and art-based skills, there is a great deal of diversity in the projects you get to work on, and it allows you to work with incredible objects and help preserve them for other people to enjoy and learn from. To me, nothing seemed to match my interests better than that.
I always had an affinity for working with textiles and a strong interest in history and material culture. I enjoyed the combination of craft and science as well as the deliberate, measured pace of work.
What was your education and career path that lead you to your current job? Â
I pursued a bachelorâs degree in Architectural Studies and Art History, followed by a certificate in Collections Conservation and Management and then a Masters in Art Conservation. I completed internships and fellowships at the Canadian Conservation Institute, the National Museum of the American Indian, Fitzwilliam Museum, Royal Ontario Museum, and others. I coordinated a major collections move at the Museum of Northern Arizona, and then was hired as the Preventive Conservation Manager at the University of Alberta Museums which brought me to Edmonton. I joined the RAM team in 2014.
I was halfway through a bachelor's degree in art history when I decided to try my hand at conservation. After receiving my art history degree, I went on to pursue a Master of Art Conservation degree at Queen's University. To meet the admission criteria for the conservation program, I also had to take general and organic chemistry courses, and also fine art courses, while I was finishing my art history degree.
All the conservation programs in North America are postgraduate, meaning that you need to have a degree in some other discipline to be eligible. People come to conservation from a great variety of backgrounds: fine art, history, and chemistry are some of the more common ones. Conservation is such a crossroads that skills from many different disciplines can be applicable. Everyone who wants to be successful in conservation also needs to have some knowledge outside their own discipline: a scientist needs to have some experience with art or crafts, and someone from a humanities background needs to have at least a basic knowledge of chemistry. And of course, everyone needs to be comfortable working with their hands.
I first attended McGill University, where I majored in Anthropology and minored in Earth and Planetary Sciences. I was fortunate enough to have a number of my classes at the Universityâs Redpath Museum. Having classes at the Museum allowed me to work with the collections for various lab sessions and research projects, and really solidified my interest in working at a museum. I also began volunteering there, when I could. After I graduated, I attend Fleming College for their post-graduate program in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management. The program was really immersive and hands-on, and included a full-time internship in the final semester, which I completed at the Textile Museum of Canada. After completing my internship there, I continued to volunteer and eventually was hired on a project contract. After my contract was over, I began working as a conservator for private collectors and short-term contracts. Soon after, I found my way to the Royal Alberta Museum, where Iâve been working for the past two and a half years.
I started my post-secondary education interested in archaeology but over the course of a bachelorâs degree in the subject I discovered it wasnât a career I wanted to pursue. I rearranged my coursework and volunteer experience to support an application to a graduate degree program in textile conservation. Following that I completed several years of internships until I secured this position at the RAM.
Tell me about some of the ways you use science in your work.
The most obvious way that I use science at work is through analysis of objects or specimens. For example, we can do X-Ray Fluorescence to identify what elements are present in or on the surface objects, or we can do Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy to try to determine what an object is made of. But more generally, through an understanding of materials science, we can try predict how materials will degrade over time, how our conservation treatments would interact with original materials, and they would age over time.
Science is really just a systematic way of figuring out what things are made of and how they work. This kind of systematic understanding is at the heart of many fields, including conservation. When working with museum artifacts, it can be very important to understand what each artifact is made of, and how these materials will behave over time. For example, some materials, like some papers and many plastics, are inherently unstable: over time, these materials often turn yellow and become very brittle. Sometimes they become so brittle that they crumble if you so much as touch them. To preserve these materials in the best conditions possible, special accommodations are needed. We wouldnât know this without a scientific understanding of the artifacts.
When I do conservation treatments on damaged artifacts, it is also important to understand on a molecular level how the materials that I use will interact with the materials of the artifact, and how they will change over time. For example, many people who are not conservators might use sticky tape to repair tears in documents and book pages. What these people don't realize is that over time, the adhesive in most tapes undergoes a chemical reaction that causes it to turn yellow. This can happen in just a few years, although sometimes it takes 20 or 30 years. The yellowed adhesive creates an indelible yellow stain in the paper. When conservators repair tears in paper documents, they do not use tape, but rather adhesives like wheat starch paste, which have been thoroughly tested by scientists to make sure that they remain stable over time.
I have also had the opportunity to use some fairly sophisticated instruments to run tests that help to better understand the behaviour of the materials in our artifacts. For example, it is well known that many coloured materials fade when they are exposed to light for an extended time. But different materials fade at different rates. How can we know for how long we can keep a particular artifact in the light before it starts to fade? To help answer this question, we borrowed a microfade tester from the Canadian Conservation Institute. This instrument shines a narrow beam of very bright light on a very small, barely visible spot on an artifact for a specified length of time (for example, for 10 minutes). The instrument also takes repeated measurements of the colour of the spot. The computer software uses these measurements to calculate how much the spot has faded. These data can then be used to extrapolate how quickly that particular colourant would fade under regular museum lighting. I got the chance to use the microfade tester on some of our most light-sensitive artifacts, and we used the results to decide for how long these artifacts could safely be displayed in our galleries.
Science finds its way into my work in a number of ways. Itâs a fundamental part of understanding how and why an object may be deteriorating. Understanding and identifying the types of chemical reactions that are taking place within the object itself, or between the object and something from the surrounding environment, that are causing deterioration is very important. This information informs a conservator on how to best proceed with treating the object. Science is also used during the treatment and preservation of the objects. It is important to know how an object will react with the materials being used in a treatment. Some materials or substances can be used to slow or stop types of deterioration, which can be very useful. In other instances, even just knowing what materials are safe to use with or around an object that wonât cause any adverse reactions is extremely important. Having a solid understanding of material science is quite essential.
We use scientific instruments broadly in conservation to discover information about the physical nature of materials. Most applicable to my work is our Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) which can tell me the chemical makeup of mystery textile fibers. I also use very precise lab equipment when custom dyeing fabric as minute changes in dye stuffs, water and additives can have a great effect on the resulting colours of the fabric.
What is the coolest thing you have had the opportunity to do in your career?Â
Iâve had the opportunity to travel and work on projects in museums and archaeological sites around the world - Canadian Arctic, Turkey, Peru, Hong Kong, UK, the Netherlands, Kosovo. All these experiences enrich my understanding of conservation of different material types, from different cultures, and in different contexts. In terms of the single coolest thing, Iâve had the opportunity to help with the installation of the Durham Cathedralâs copy of the Magna Carta when it came here to Edmonton, which was pretty special.
Working with museum artifacts can feel pretty special. I don't really know what the "coolest" thing that I've had to do would be, but my favourite thing that I get to do is inpainting. When a photograph, poster, or some other kind of picture has scratches or cracks in it, the damage often prevents you from seeing the image properly. In that case, I sometimes paint over the scratches with watercolour paints. I do this with an extremely fine paintbrush, and I have to mix colours so that they match the colours of the area around the scratch very closely. If I'd done a good job, you would then no longer notice the scratches, unless you looked very closely. When my inpainting turns out well, I always feel like I have a kind of magical power. Suddenly the image comes together, and you see it clearly for the first time. It always amazes me what a tiny amount of well-chosen paint can do.
I donât think there is a single coolest thing Iâve had the opportunity to do as a conservator. All the objects I get to work on are unique and have their own interesting set of preservation challenges. There is so much diversity in what I get to do as a conservator; Iâm never bored and always excited about what Iâm working on.
Iâve had the chance to get right up close to clothes that people wore hundreds of years ago, I was particularly excited to work on some French dresses from the mid-eighteenth century. You canât get more intimate with the people of the past than that!
What is your advice to young girls interested in pursuing a career in science-related careers like conservation?
Courses in science and math can lead to so many interesting and diverse career paths. Anyone can learn anything with curiosity, drive, and passion. Be fearless and follow your dreams!
Do what interests you! Scientific thinking has applications in just about every field, not to mention everyday life. If more people had a science-based education - who knows, there might even be less nonsense in the world.
If you find something youâre passionate about and interested in, pursue it. Find ways to learn more about what interests you, whether that be through independent research, reaching out to someone already in the field or finding a way to volunteer in some capacity. In particular, I would say volunteering is an amazing way to get practical, hands-on experience and is a good way to find out if your area of interest is something you want to get into as a career. Even if you arenât able to find someone in your field of interest to get in touch with, or volunteer with, immediately, donât let that discourage you. Perseverance does pay off, so do your best to keep at it and eventually, an opportunity will come up that will allow you to get your foot through the door.
I would advise young girls to indulge their curiosity. Information is becoming more and more accessible and really digging down into a question is what science is all about!