26 February 2016
Don Wiles. The Artist Meets a Chemist
Don Wiles’ lecture summary
While the first Almonte Lecture dealt with how the materials of works of art and archaeology are constructed, this lecture will deal with the deterioration of these same materials: colour fading, rusting, cracking, damage to paper and other materials. The main agents of deterioration are oxygen, water and light. Also interesting is the fact that some materials do not deteriorate (actually they do, but only very slowly).
Don Wiles’ bio.
Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Educated at Mount Allison, McMaster, M.I.T. and Oslo. Taught Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry at UBC before moving to Carleton University in 1959. Married Billy in 1952 and helped to raise two daughters and a son. At Carleton University he taught several different courses including the Chemistry of Art and Artifacts. While at Carleton, he and Billy got into serious farming (beef cattle) for over 30 years. At the same time they travelled a good deal to visit some unusual countries. Following retirement in 1990, he kept on lecturing and ultimately initiated the Almonte Lecture series and the Learning in Almonte series. In 2015 he is beginning to slow down.
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