Peeble’s Island NYS Art Restoration Center

couch that was in the process of being restored

Went went to Peebles Island once again, but this time we toured and learned about restoration and preservation of historical artifacts at the Art Restoration Center. This  tour was different because it was like a behind-the-scenes of all the historical objects we viewed when we visited museums all around the state. It was so interesting seeing how they prepare the historical objects to be put up in a museum after it has been restored to a state of preservation to keep it from further being damaged.
First, we learned about restoration of historical furniture. This one seemed kind of tricky, because how do you restore the fabric to a couch or chair without having the original fabric that was used in the piece? Which brings me to my next example about the couch we learned about during our visit. The person told us about a couch they had sitting in the room for

before-and-after of the painting found in a barn

almost six years because they had trouble finding the fabric used in the original piece. Wow, I am not always a patient person so I can imagine all the trouble and patience she went through just to find that piece in order to restore the damaged couch back to the way it was. After that, she showed us an old couch she was currently working on that had 17th century needlework done which seemed very delicate and beautifully done. The springs were not very stable, so she was used wires and rods in the upholstery to help support the springs underneath the couch. She said that first she focuses on what the museum needs before restoring any furniture because she needs to determine which fabric would be appropriate to use.
After learning about fabric restoration, we headed into the painting conservation room. Upon walking in, I

hole in one of Church's paintings

noticed this painting of a woman to my right that peaked my interest. Sh later explained that this painting was found in a barn for a long time and I guess a cow kicked it, so there was a tear going across the painting? I think she said something like that along those lines about what happened to the painting. What interested me more about this painting was how she repaired the tear in it. She said she repaired it by microscopically re-weaving the fibers in the tear that have separated to make it look new again. "It's like surgery!" I thought that part of the restoration was interesting. And she brightened the painting by removing the grime layer that was over it. You can see a dramatic difference in the restoration by looking at the before and after paintings.
The Olana painting done by Frederic Church she was working on interested everyone the most. There was so much debate among historians, curators, and the conservationists on how the large hole in the painting should be restored since it was one of the first large-scale paintings Frederic has done in his career. It made think of all the paintings in Olana we had seen and if they also had to go through this restoration process

frame that was being restored with gilded gold

before being on display in his home.
Then we learned about frame conservation in the next room. It was so interesting to me seeing how they paint these frames I usually see. And I never thought that they actually used real gold to colour the framing. 23 carat of gold is commonly used in most frames, it is like a very thin sheet of gilded gold that has to be carefully placed on the frame without being exposed to static or else it would crumble (which explains why the woman who was working on one of the paintings was rubbing a brush of squirrel fur on her forehead?) At first, I thought she was just doing this because it tickled her forehead, which would be weird... Afterwards we learned about how furniture like chairs are restored from a man, I hear, who very much resembled a young Andor? I can't believe you people! Then we learned about painting restoration; that one was really interesting, but I can't really remember what she said about this kind of restoration since I lost my notes.

Erie canal locks

We had lunch outside, it was nice and cool out until the sun started showing up from behind the clouds, then it got really hot. Afterwards, we went to see the locks of the Erie canal with Toby. I never seen anything like this before so of course it was exciting for me. It reminded me a lot of the Panama Canal, how they adjust the water levels with the locks to allow boats to travel to higher elevations. This really revolutionized transportation and commerce overseas to the west. Then we had our book club in the afternoon...yay.