Textile conservator Colleen Callahan
Some things, like wine and cheese, get better with time. For others, such as wedding gowns and paintings, the passing years can be a curse.
Protecting artifacts from the claws of time is a conservator’s mission. Richmond is home to several of these rescuers, including Colleen Callahan of Costume & Textile Specialists, whose work preserves items from the past for future generations.
Callahan, who specializes in conserving clothing, has helped preserve historical items, such as Elizabeth Monroe’s wedding dress for the James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library, as well as private clients’ treasured christening and wedding attire. She also worked as The Valentine museum’s curator of costume and textiles for 18 years before being designated curator emeritus in 2003. Among her exhibitions was “Dressed for Work: Women in the Workforce,” which used outfits from 1900 to 1989 to show how women’s business clothing evolved.
A closer look at Callahan’s intricate repair work on a historic garment
When she’s working on conservation projects, Callahan uses a variety of tools and techniques to revive timeworn pieces. One is an exclusive nylon netting from England. “A lot of things fall apart over time, especially silk, which can start to split and deteriorate,” she says. “This netting is used with a very fine silk thread to basically hold things back together.”
Matching fabric is another important step. If there are holes or blemishes in a garment, Callahan will hunt for similar material, perhaps dyeing it to match the original and then stitching it in place with a fine thread. “It’s not like invisible mending or invisible weaving — we can still see where mottles are — but it’s much, much better,” she says.
To remove dust and other minuscule debris from garments, Callahan uses vacuums. She places a screen between the garment and the vacuum and carefully adjusts the suction as she moves the device around.
Callahan says her intricate and time-consuming work not only helps families connect to their ancestors by preserving sentimental items but allows us to glimpse parts of history that can quickly fade and disintegrate. “These things become very fragile over time,” she explains. “We don’t have archaeological textiles from hundreds or thousands of years ago; they all deteriorated. Our work to preserve what we have from the 1700s, say, and on is very important.”
Art conservator Beth Fulton
Richmond Conservation Studio has a similar mission but conserves a totally different medium: pigment. Founded in 1982 by Cleo Mullins, the studio specializes in preserving and repairing traditional easel paintings and polychromed objects. “This includes oil, acrylic and other types of mixed media paintings on canvas, panels or other supports,” says Assistant Conservator Beth Fulton, who has been with the studio since 2005. “We can also work in situ on murals, polychromed objects and large paintings as needed.”
The studio interacts with paintings of all ages, including some over 400 years old, using tools such as small heated spatulas, tacking irons, scalpels, tiny brushes, headband magnifiers and cotton swabs. Restorers provide clients with digital photos taken before, during and after treatment, as well as written reports.
Understanding the uniqueness of each piece is vital before beginning treatment, Fulton says. “It all depends on the structure and composition or materials that make up the piece and then its history,” she says. Some items might only need a quick touch-up, while others might require complex restoration that lasts years.
Fulton at work restoring a painting
“The most challenging projects we’ve worked on are usually undoing previous restorers’ work,” she adds. “Some of the worst we’ve seen are paintings very heavily overpainted with oil or those that have been overcleaned and lost a lot of original paint.”
While most paintings can be saved, that’s not always the case. Fulton says heavily damaged painted canvases and newer paintings that were intentionally designed to look old can’t be restored. Conservators also can’t help when the original has been erased. “We have seen flaking paint knocked off the surface and then repainted, and when you have that happen to 95% of the surface, it’s no longer the original piece,” she explains.
The studio’s work is displayed in private homes and public locations around the area. They restored the century-old panoramic Memorial Military Murals at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture over a decade ago and, in 2016, repaired the reredos — ornamental screens behind the altar — at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Grove Avenue. They recently completed the conservation of five paintings that hang in the apse of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Petersburg.
“Art is important in society and allows us to explore and be creative and see different worlds,” Fulton says. “If we don’t take care of the pieces we have, we lose the perspectives, joy and history of ourselves.”
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