According to Temporale, things hit rock bottom when the arena was washed in anticipation of the National Hockey League all-star game last winter. As he explains it, the porous limestone panels absorbed water, which then froze, causing extensive damage.
"No one's done any protective work," Temporale laments. "It's pretty sad. It gets me very upset. . . . It had to get to the point where now I have to do something I didn't want to do - recarve."
That's why Temporale has spent the last few weeks on a scaffolding erected at the south end of the Air Canada Centre. With his tiny diamond-bit drill, he is busy reworking the pitted surface, trying to return it to a semblance of its original condition.
His main concern is the magnificent sculpted steamship that has clearly been seriously eroded. The exquisite detailing - ropes, portholes, rigging - is fast disappearing. In spots, the surface can be rubbed away by hand.
Temporale says he has no choice but to remove more of the surface and dig down deeper into the panel, which was once 24 centimetres thick but now only half that.
"I'll keep the boat as close as possible to the original, but it's no longer a matter of just a touch-up. The clouds will have to be reversed, for example, so they'll curve in instead of out. You have no choice. Same thing with the boat, none of it will be original."