Wesley's Church Hall.
Taranaki Street Wellington.
Painted 1908
This falls within what I call wall-paper because it is wall paper, but with the original design pasted towards the wall/sarking, to allow a base for the painting. The work is mostly a stenciled design with additions of free hand painting, all in poster paints on a white ground. The mural is large and fills the east wall of the Hall.
The work was in very poor condition from wear and tear with surface soiling, impact marks from sports equipment, food splats from kids not knowing better, thousands of staples and drawing pins as life around the mural continued as if it wasn't there. It became the back drop to many plays and productions and was at a stage of keep or discard.
The treatment approach was to stabilize what was there so that the losses could be minimized and the visual integrity was restored. Using mechanical surface cleaning the surface dirt and dust was removed. The staples, panel pins, drawing pins and nails were all removed. All the tears and loses were repaired with toned Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste, and depending on the size of the loss, made up of two or three layers of repair/infill tissue.
Future care of the mural was discussed with regard to light damage and fading due to the natural light in the hall, the owners will implement some curtains for light protection and continued public use of the hall.
The work was in very poor condition from wear and tear with surface soiling, impact marks from sports equipment, food splats from kids not knowing better, thousands of staples and drawing pins as life around the mural continued as if it wasn't there. It became the back drop to many plays and productions and was at a stage of keep or discard.
The treatment approach was to stabilize what was there so that the losses could be minimized and the visual integrity was restored. Using mechanical surface cleaning the surface dirt and dust was removed. The staples, panel pins, drawing pins and nails were all removed. All the tears and loses were repaired with toned Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste, and depending on the size of the loss, made up of two or three layers of repair/infill tissue.
Future care of the mural was discussed with regard to light damage and fading due to the natural light in the hall, the owners will implement some curtains for light protection and continued public use of the hall.
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