more mending! tentatively finished two more posters (i'll check them over tomorrow before the final word), which brings my grand total up to 5!
DAY 2
architecture conservation. i had never really considered it before. i guess the separation between architecture conservation and painting/paper/object conservation in graduate schools in the states created a similar separation in my head. i'm sure you aren't surprised, but this isn't quite true. as with everything, there is overlap. practices and philosophies might differ a bit, but it requires the same sort of sensitivity to the history of things; buildings or books, paintings or tapestries, etc.
this morning eliza and i met with the campus architecture conservator to look at some in-situ wallpaper from the early 19th century. it was no longer there, however. the building it was in is used as housing for deans, upper administration, etc. - still fulfilling the original intentions of the grand thomas jefferson. there is a whole list of houses and rooms like this, original buildings from the university's beginning, still in use today. as can be expected, they've all been through many restorations and modifications, and while it would be nice to imagine they are still as they were all those decades ago, modern society's standards of living require some of the more advanced things, like electricity and central air. styles change as well, along with the need for things like servants quarters. so, many things have been removed or replaced or repurposed. this wallpaper, for example, disappeared just since friday. where it was is now a nice white wall. this sort of thing is understandable - workmen are instructed to do their job, they do it, but not all of the instructions are relayed or understood. most buildings do not have century old wallpaper that is in pieces that needs to be saved. many people would think it's just old, and the wall would look cleaner if it were removed, so they remove it. and they did.
however, the morning was not lost. we were still given a tour of a renovation of one of the pavilions and got to see clues to its previous lives - windows turned into doors with staircases built over the front, collected debris consisting of old beard perfume and blown glass, floors that were originally 10" deeper... very interesting stuff...and in the afternoon i finished mending another poster, which brings the count up to 6!
DAY 3
more tear mending! more posters finished
DAY 4
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