As the inaugural Isabel Bader Research Fellow in Textile Conservation at Queen’s University, Caterina Florio will research public perception of conservation treatment. Emily Higginson will assist as the Isabel Bader Postgraduate Intern in Textile Conservation. Florio’s project, “Textile Conservation and the Museum Public,” will focus on conservation practices as part of the museum experience: how costume treatments are received and interpreted in exhibitions and to what extent modern aesthetic expectations affect the level of conservation intervention. During her residency, Florio will work closely with the Queen’s University Collection of Canadian Dress at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre and share her professional and academic expertise with Master of Art Conservation students.

A graduate of the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Florence and the Palazzo Spinelli Institute of Art and Conservation in Florence, Florio has held conservation internships in Poland, Italy and Malta. She brings a wealth of conservation experience to the Fellowship position, having worked for a number of museums, public archives and university collections in Canada and abroad – including the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto; Archives of Ontario, Toronto; San Jacopo in Campo Corbolini Museum, Florence; and the University of Florence.

The Isabel Bader Research Fellowship in Textile Conservation is a new research opportunity at Queen’s University, promoting investigation and research in the areas of textile conservation and costume history. Through the generous support of Dr. Isabel Bader, the Fellowship links two of the University’s most unique resources: the Queen’s University Collection of Canadian Dress at the Art Centre, which comprises over 2000 articles of fashion from the early 1800s to the 1970s, and the Master of Art Conservation Program, which offers Canada’s only graduate degree in conservation theory and treatment.

Related articles:
Alyssa Ashton, “Preserving History,” Queen’s Journal, 27 January 2012
Lindy Mechefske, “Dressing Up an Historic Collection,” Queen’s Gazette 85.2 (2011)