Category Archives: Restoration

St. Francis De Sales Completed Church Restoration, Paducah, KY.

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The  summer of 2011 I worked on  a church restoration  at St. Francis De Sales Catholic church in Paducah, Kentucky.  On this project I worked for  Tony Kartsonas of Historic Surfaces. Also on the project were Susie Buchholz, Nick Pavlos and Jeff Wolfe. The project was about 5 months long and I was there for over 4 months.

Paducah is the nicest town in the western Kentucky region, with a small arts and nightlife district along the waterfront. There is a well done series of murals along the flood walls, and is generally a pleasant and friendly, if unexciting place.

The  interior church walls  had apparently been covered with a kind of acoustic tiling, obliberating  the exsisting decorative painting. These were removed, the walls and plasterwork were repaired and repainted, and we completely re-created what had been there. Also the main alter mural had been crudely over-painted and this was stripped off and restored to it’s original appearance. Overall, it was a good restoration, because of the commitment of the entire crew and management to make it a really nice job. The local Priest, Father Roby, was very pleased.

A before and after image of cleaning and conservation result of the main alter mural

A before and after image of the progression of cleaning and conservation of the main alter mural.

A before and after image of the progression of cleaning and conservation of the main alter mural (detail

A before and after image of the progression of cleaning and conservation of the main alter mural (detail)

I painted a new bottom to the main alter mural which had been previously covered by a higher alter.

New mural bottom

New mural bottom

I was lucky enough to get a commission for two paintings on this job, For a Remembrance niche at the rear of the church, which you can see more about by clicking here.

My Remembrance Niche Panels

My Remembrance Niche Panels

 

I also painted a small  mural for a side chapel entranceway based on designs by Friar Mark Joseph Costello, a Chicago based Capuchin Friar who serves as a liturgical consultant for many churches , and did so on St. Francis De Sales as well.

Side chapel mural.

Side chapel mural.

Side chapel mural(detail).

Side chapel mural(detail).

Below here are a couple images of the progression of the Trompe l’oiel decorations. You can see how they are started first with a stencil and then finished with handpainting.

Cartouche progression.

Cartouche progression.

Trompe l'oiel Progression

Trompe l'oiel Progression

And below here is a progression of some very simple conservation of a stained glass window, but with dramatic results.

Stained Glass Conservation Progression

Stained Glass Conservation Progression

And finally below is a slideshow of more images from the entire church.

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Old South Church Restoration on Nantucket Island

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Unitarian_Church_Nantucket_C. Bonelli

Interior of the Old South Church showing trompe l'oiel murals._Photo:C. Bonelli

This past spring I spent 6 weeks working on beautiful Nantucket Island helping restore  the Old South Church in Nantucket Island.  Today it is the oldest of the large church buildings still standing in the town. Nantucket is about 30 miles off the coast of Massachusetts  and was the setting for the whalers from Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”. Off course the whaling economy is long gone, but now Nantucket is a wealthy vacation resort.

View of the Old South Church from the Waterfront

View of the Old South Church from the Waterfront

It is full of bike trails, old cobblestone streets, cedar shingled houses, and lots of windswept natural beauty.  This project was with Evergreene Architectural Arts. Terry Brackenbury was the project manager. Also on the job were Chris Bonelli,  Faizulla Khamraev, Kalina Pavlova and Victor Doudkin, and a  female British restoration  plasterer named Pen (whose last name I don’t have).

Built in 1809 and updated in the 1840s, the Meeting House is home to Carl Wendtes’  trompe l’oeil paintings, the 1831 Goodrich organ, the massive Portuguese bell, as well as a collection of historic artifacts. It is a Unitarian church, which coincidentally was the faith I was raised in.

Detail of the PaintedTrompel'oiel Mural on the Cieling

Above: Detail of the PaintedTrompel’oiel Mural on the Cieling

The project was the re-creation of the 160 year old trompe l’ oiel paintings originally created by Swiss artist Carl Wendte. There had been at least three restoration campaigns, the last of which was done in the 1980′s that was unfortunately de-laminating, probably because of the damp on Nantucket.

Keep in mind when looking at these photos that there is very little  ornamental plaster work in the building. It is all paint. Some distortion is evident in the shots. These were either changes we made so things would look correct from the floor, or sometimes the walls were distorted.

Detail of the Trompe L'oiel Painting in the Altar Area

Detail of the Trompe L'oiel Painting in the Altar Area

The process was for Evergreene  to carefully document the old work, including exposure windows. Then the plaster was repaired in the entire church , and the walls were repainted. We used Kiem brand paint, which is a very flat, breathable paint, which should avoid the moisture problems in the future. We used about 7  different values of gray paint  to create the  trompe l’oeil, which gave it a really realistic effect.

Thanks to Chris Bonneli for some after scaffold photos. Below is a slideshow of Nantucket and Old South Church images.

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St. Francis De Sales Restoration, Paducah,Kentucky

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This summer I have been working on  a church restoration  at St. Francis de Sales Catholic church in Paducah, Kentucky. The funny photo-montage below is me posing for reference for one of two paintings I have  been commissioned to paint for a small altar in the church.

Me posing as St. Francis De Sales - through the magic of Photoshop

Me posing as St. Francis De Sales - through the magic of Photoshop

I was lucky and surprised  to find  a great costume shop in town, Creatures of Habit, which was able to put together something resembling a Bishops vestments for me. I’m also doing another one of Saint Jane de Chantel. I am going to hire a model and a nuns habit and do a similar photo-montage and then create both paintings.

I’m working with Tony Kartsonas of Historic Surfaces on this job. We have done a lot of  art in the church and still have much to do. I’ll do a more complete post when it is done. Below are some images from two  stained glass windows I touched up.

Even More Washington,D.C. Mural Conservation

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1880's DC mural

1880's DC mural

As my friends know I have been spending a lot of time in the last two years working in Washington, DC on  some mural conservations working with an Conservator/artist team  to conserve some  circa 1880′s decorative murals in an executive branch office building near the White House. With Page Conservation.

About the 1940′s the decorations in a whole series of rooms were painted over and by the time we got to them there were about ten coats of paint on them. So basically the process starts by carefully removing  the over-paint  while trying to save the original layer. Next, the remaining original mural  paint  is conserved and stabilized with glue and other materials. Then we re-paint  the missing areas in, trying to conserve as much of the original paint as possible. We use reversible materials so our work can always be removed.

This differs from a “restoration” which usually means a recreation of old work as opposed to a “conservation”, which actually means to keep as much original work as possible.

in the following gallery which includes several rooms, you can see the beginning stages (where the ceilings are white), intermediate stages, and the completed stages where the original murals look, well, original! Keep in mind everything you see had been completely painted over.

Old War Department Restoration Continues

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I am in Washington,D.C. for most of the first five months of 2009 working with Page Conservation on a restoration of an Executive branch office building that formerly housed the War Department. I am working very near the White House.

The building was extensively decorated but unfortunately was over-painted in the late 1940’s. In the photos you can see the room and ceiling frescoes  that we are currently restoring, as well as some of my co-workers.

Dana is pictured alone in-painting on the fresco and  Blanca, Dana, Myself, and Klara are pictured left to right in the  other photo.  The other is a closeup of the designs. After this room is completed we move to another room down the hall.

Working on 18th Century Wallpaper restoration in Washington, D.C.

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Here is a  look at what I am doing this week in Washington DC. This is an 18th century  wallpaper made with woodblock prints . It would have been manufactured by a company like Joseph Dufour et Cie. I’m working with Page Conservation who have mounted the wallpaper on panels and I am  very carefully filling in  paint losses with my coworker Dana Sax-Ruud.

Harrisburg, PA. Cathedral Dome Mural

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Last month I painted a mural inside a cathedral dome at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Harrisburg, PA. The project was a recreation of an original mural that had suffered water damage over the years. I was the lead artist for EverGreene Architectural Arts. Four other artists worked under my supervision.

St.Pat dome