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28 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday November 12, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Artscene · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2008 Sign up now for guitar, bass, drums, and piano OAKVILLE'S MUSIC STORE Diamonds are a girl's best friend Oakville geologist lead curator of major diamond exhibition at the ROM By Tina Depko OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF I t might sound cliché, but diamonds really are Kim Tait's best friend. The Oakvillebased geologist has spent a lot of time focused on the brilliant stone and its many forms as the lead curator of The Nature of Diamonds at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. The exhibition opened in late October and has already drawn thousands of visitors to the ROM. It has been the largest exhibition to date for Tait, who was hired in April 2007 as the associate curator of mineralogy in the department of natural history at the ROM. "I think what I hope people see is that diamonds don't originate in the jewelry store," she said. "They have geological beginnings and come from the earth. I hope people think a little about the geology and history associated with them." The Nature of Diamonds is a travelling exhibition organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, in collaboration with the ROM, the Field Museum in Chicago and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Tait and a team of staff members spent about 10 months developing the Canadian aspect of the exhibition. One of the major projects was producing a nine-minute video about Canadian diamonds and the mining industry. "We did a lot of work for the Canadian content, including the video, which we are very proud of," she said. "For the Canadian loans, a lot of that was arranged through the ROM and myself. Canada has become the third largest producer of diamonds by value, so we wanted to highlight that." The exhibition is multi-faceted, providing an in-depth examination of diamond as a natural substance, digging into its geologic origins, how it is mined, its cultural significance in art, literature and ornamentation, and its look at very closely for a condition report, so I had to hide my one-carat diamond ring because it paled in comparison," said Tait. "It's one thing to see them in the case, but to hold them is an extra bonus of my job." While the jewelry is a major attraction, The Nature of Diamonds also focuses on the science behind the stone, such as how it is created and how it is mined. Tait said the response from visitors has been overwhelmingly positive. "We've heard nothing but great things," she said. "We've had great numbers, too. We've had about 9,000 people on the weekends go through. I think there's something for everyone. Everybody loves jewelry, but there's diamonds in all facets of our life." Tait, who was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, said she always knew she wanted to be a geologist. A daughter of a teacher, with a father in the IMAGES COURTESY OF THE ROM military, Tait said her parents were not sciALL THINGS THAT GLITTER: Kim Tait ence-minded at all, but did foster her fascinaexamines stones at the Royal Ontario Museum. tion with rocks. "I always picked up rocks From the diamond exhibition, above, the 253.70 carat Oppenheimer Diamond from South Africa when I was a little kid and, below, a Gecko brooch with 1,524 green and from about age four on, I knew I wantdiamonds from Germany. ed to be a geologist," numerous uses in modern science and tech- she said. "We would be nology. driving along, and I'd ask them One highlight of the show is a gem vault to pull over the car so I could get featuring some of the world's largest dia- out and touch rocks that I would see." monds, such as the 407-carat Incomparable Tait studied geology at the bachelor and Diamond. master's level at the University of Manitoba, Jewelry worn by royalty and Hollywood completing a PhD in geosciences at the stars is also on display, as is the use of the dia- University of Arizona in 2007. The ROM mond in ancient and medieval times. hired her that same year, which was a dream Tait said having the chance to examine come true, she said. each piece was amazing, although it did make "Museum jobs don't come up that often her feel a little more humble about her own and are a once-in-a-lifetime thing," she said. jewelry. She said her favourite piece of the "I'm surrounded every single day with gems exhibition is a corsage ornament comprised of and jewels and minerals and I get to also not more than 2,600 diamonds that once only touch and look at them, but also build a belonged to Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, a collection and buy or acquire samples for our niece of Napoleon Bonaparte. collection. I think it is the best job you could "Every diamond that came in, we had to have in my field." Tait moved to Oakville with her husband, Sal Sena, in December 2007. Besides her career in mineralogy at the ROM, Tait became a professor in the department of geology at the University of Toronto this fall. Tait hasn't had time to catch her breath from the long hours spent preparing for The Nature of Diamonds. She is currently working on assembling the Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth's Treasures, scheduled to open on Dec. 20. The 6,900 square-foot permanent gallery space will showcase the ROM's collection of minerals, gems, rocks and meteorites. "We have 2,300 minerals that are going to go on display, so each of those have to have all of the information associated with them," she said. The first exhibition slated for the Teck Suite of Galleries is Light & Stone: Gems from the Collection of Michael Scott. The show features 200 pieces of jewelry and gemstones from the private collection of Scott, the first CEO of Apple. It will also open on Dec. 20. The hours are long, but for Tait, it is anything but a chore. "Right now, I'm working almost every night and weekend, and then I'm teaching too," she said. "A lot of people working at the ROM never leave (to work elsewhere). It isn't just about the gems, it is also about the great people you work with." The Nature of Diamonds runs to March 22, 2009 at the ROM, 100 Queen's Park in Toronto. For information, go online to www.rom.on.ca or call the ROM at 416-586-8000.