Carole Dignard

Senior Conservator (Objects), Treatment and Collection Care – Objects, Paper and Archaeology Division

Main areas of work and/or specializations

• treatment of objects
• adhesive treatments for leather, skins and furs
• ultrasonic misting
• Nd-YAG laser cleaning
• mounts and mount-making

Biography

Carole Dignard graduated from Queen’s University with a Master of Art Conservation (Objects) in 1986 and was a Getty Fellow at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Harvard University, before joining the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) objects laboratory in 1988. She is experienced in the care and treatment of objects, in particular those made of skin, leather, fur, feathers, quills, beadwork and basketry, and has worked on various treatment development projects, such as ultrasonic misting, Nd-YAG laser cleaning and adhesive treatments for leathers and skins. She teaches the CCI workshops “Mount-making” and “Care of Objects in Indigenous Cultural Centres.”

Carole has been involved in organizing international conferences, including acting as the Program Chair of Symposium 2007 – Preserving Aboriginal Heritage: Technical and Traditional Approaches. She has been active in national and international committees in the following roles:

• Chair of the Code of Ethics Review Committee of the Canadian Association for Conservation in 2000;
• Coordinator of the International Council of Museums’ Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC) Working Group on Ethnographic Collections (2005–2011); and
• Assistant Coordinator of the ICOM-CC Working Group on Leather and Related Materials (2011–present)

Carole is a fellow of the International Institute for Conservation (2001), a fellow of the American Institute for Conservation (2005) and an honorary member of the Canadian Association for Conservation (2011).