SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT/BULLETIN SPÉCIAL

[Un message français suit le texte anglais]

As some of you may know, the National Gallery of Canada (NGC), recently decided to eliminate the position of senior paper conservator, which was held by Anne Maheux, a prominent figure in Canadian conservation. Ms. Maheux has been constantly active in the conservation field, supervising paper conservation interns on a regular basis and contributing to conservation associations, research and publications.
The CAEC strongly believes that her removal is ill advised. Furthermore, the remaining senior paper conservator at the NGC, who is due to retire in a short period of time, has not for many years maintained a practice of taking on curriculum interns. The CAEC is concerned that after this gap in practice, the remaining senior paper conservator may not be willing and/or fully able to take over Ms. Maheux’s role as supervisor to future students in the NGC paper laboratory. In addition, the elimination of this position also brings forward the issue of succession planning, or lack thereof, a question which is central to the CAEC’s activities. With this loss in mind, one has to wonder what the state of the paper conservation department at the NGC will be in a few years.In response to this situation, the CAEC has written a letter to Mr Pierre Théberge, Director of the NGC, as well as to:

Mr. Donald R. Sobey – Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Canada
Mr. David Franklin – Deputy Director and Chief Curator, National Gallery of Canada
Mr. Stephen Gritt – Chief, Restoration Conservation Laboratory, National Gallery of Canada
Ms. Lise Labine – Director, Human Resources, National Gallery of Canada

A copy of this letter follows this communiqué. We strongly encourage all conservators to write their own letters to the above mentioned people to let them know the extent of our indignation at this decision. Please note that the CAC has also sent a letter on behalf of the CAC membership which can be read at the following address: http://www.cac-accr.ca/pdf/maheux.pdf

Thank you for your support,

The CAEC Board members

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Comme certains d’entre vous le savent déjà, le Musée des beaux-arts du Canada (MBAC) a récemment décidé d’éliminer le poste de restauratrice principale au laboratoire papier, jusqu’à tout récemment occupé par Anne Maheux, une figure importante de la conservation au Canada. Mme Maheux a toujours été assidûment active au sein du milieu de la conservation, prenant en charge des stagiaires de façon régulière, s’impliquant auprès des associations professionnelles et en contribuant à la recherche et à la publication de matériel relié à la conservation.
L’ACRE croit fermement que l’abolition de ce poste est un choix peu judicieux. De plus, le second restaurateur papier principal encore en fonction au MBAC, qui doit prendre sa retraite dans peu de temps, n’a pas maintenu au fil des ans la pratique d’accueillir des stagiaires. L’ACRE est soucieuse qu’après un tel manque dans sa pratique, ce restaurateur ne sera pas désireux et/ou capable de prendre en charge le rôle de Mme Maheux en temps que superviseur des futurs étudiants dans le laboratoire de papier du MBAC. De plus, l’élimination de ce poste met en lumière la question d’une planification efficace de la relève, ou son absence, , un point central des activités de l’ACRE. Considérant cette perte, nous devons nous demander ce que sera l’état du département de restauration de papier au MBAC dans un avenir rapproché.

En réponse à cette situation, l’ACRE a adressé une lettre à M. Pierre Théberge, directeur du MBAC, ainsi qu’aux personnes suivantes :
M. Donald R. Sobey – Président du Conseil d’administration, Musée des beaux-arts du Canada
M. David Franklin – Sous-directeur et conservateur en chef, Musée des beaux-arts du Canada
M. Stephen Gritt – Chef, Laboratoire de restauration et conservation, Musée des beaux-arts du Canada
Mme Lise Labine – Directrice, Ressources humaines, Musée des beaux-arts du Canada

Une copie de cette lettre (anglais seulement) suit ce communiqué. Nous encourageons fortement tous les restaurateurs et les professionnels de la conservation à écrire leur propre lette aux personnes susmentionnées afin de leur exprimer votre mécontentement face à cette décision. SVP veuillez aussi noter que l’ACCR à également rédigé une lettre au nom des ses membre, qui peut être lue à l’adresse suivante : http://www.cac-accr.ca/pdf/maheux.pdf

Merci de votre soutien,

Les membres du Conseil de l’ACRE

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Mr. Pierre Théberge
Director,
National Gallery of Canada
380 Sussex Drive
P.O. Box 427, Station A
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
K1N 9N4

April 15, 2008

Dear Mr. Théberge,

We are writing to express our concern over the recent decision to terminate the position of Senior Paper Conservator, held by Ms. Anne Maheux, at the National Gallery of Canada.

As an association representing emerging conservators, we are deeply perturbed by the ramifications of this decision for conservation at the National Gallery, and for the profession in general.

Ms. Maheux is an active member of the field of conservation, contributing to its knowledge base through her research and publications, and supporting its development and growth through her involvement in the professional organizations CAC and CAPC. Furthermore, Ms. Maheux has continually supervised curriculum interns during her tenure at the National Gallery.

We have four major goals as an association: bridging the knowledge gap between experienced and emerging conservators, addressing the employment situation for emerging conservators in Canada, providing resources for professional development, and advocating for the field of conservation. We feel that in terms of conservation, knowledge transfer and succession planning on the part of Canadian institutions has been sorely lacking, and this decision is no exception. We wish to pose the following questions:

• Internships are an important aspect of learning and knowledge transfer in the field of conservation. With the departure of Ms. Maheux, who at the National Gallery will now undertake the hands-on training of and provide valuable transfer of knowledge and skill sets to the next generation of paper conservators?
• Upon the retirement of the remaining Senior Paper Conservator at the National Gallery, which we understand will occur in a short period of time, what (if any) succession planning has been discussed?

Conservation is a small but highly specialized discipline and both knowledge and trained personnel, once lost, are not easy to regain. We wish to express our dismay at this decision on the part of the National Gallery of Canada, a national institute whose mandate reads, in part, “The collection must be expanded, preserved, interpreted, and used extensively by the public for pleasure and understanding, for research and the advancement of knowledge.” We trust that the preservation of the 24 000 prints and drawings currently in the National Gallery’s collection lies within that purview. Furthermore, your director’s statement attests that education is central to the National Gallery’s mission, and the vision statement claims that the National Gallery “aspires to be a model of excellence in furthering knowledge of the visual arts, both at home and abroad”. We hope that the philosophy of fostering education extends beyond public programming to include professional training and development, and that aspirations towards international excellence encompass collections preservation.

Sincerely yours,
The CAEC Board

Natalie Boruvka
Marie-Catherine Cyr
Amanda Gould
Myriam Lavoie
Carmen Li
Amanda Salmon
cc:
Mr. Donald R. Sobey – Chairperson of the Board of Trustees
Mr. David Franklin – Deputy Director and Chief Curator
Mr. Stephen Gritt – Chief, Restoration Conservation Laboratory
Ms. Lise Labine – Director, Human Resources