Restoration takes center stage at SUNY Buffalo State

The painting of trees along a stream has felt like home since Debbie Mattison first admired it on the pale blue walls of her Grandma Ethels Philadelphia living room. After carefully wrapping it in a sheet for the trip to SUNY Buffalo State and its appointment at the annual one-day conservation clinic, she was grateful for a conservation professors checkup and to know shed been taking good care of her inherited art.

It turned out she did the right thing to hang it by an armoire and away from the drying damage of a nearby heating vent. Now she has a list of restorers who can clean it and fix the chips in the frame.

I didnt have a clue, she said Friday morning as she headed out, pausing to talk proudly about the painting she imagines stepping into. It feels like I could walk up there, sit down and have a sandwich on the rocks.

Once a year, SUNY Buffalo State invites about 60 people to make appointments and bring art in need of repair for review at the Art Conservation Department in Rockwell Hall on Elmwood Avenue. Professors and students divide into three categories: painting, paper and decorative objects, such as furniture, clocks, ceramics, glass and fabric.

Sometimes they offer to take on a restoration project, which can cost from $200 to $900 or more, as an opportunity for students to learn as they work on their craft.

Its a really interesting way to get a different perspective on art, said Julie Ribits, one of the departments 30 graduate students, who spoke Friday morning as she waited in the painting room for the next appointment. Its a really nice blend between science and art.

Since the spring, she has been restoring a family portrait someone brought in that dated from the mid-1800s. Out of its frame, the canvas of a demure-looking woman with lively, detailed eyes and neatly parted hair beneath a white bonnet lay flat on a table. In the background at the top corner, Ribits had been carefully filling in layers of gray paint that had worn away.

Its kind of like a doctors office, said Patrick Ravines, program director, who looked in from the hallway where people were carrying in artwork in frames and wrapping. You can come in four months. You can come in a year.

People can apply for future appointments by calling the department at 878-5025 or by emailing a description of the item to artcon@buffalostate.edu. On Nov. 7, the program will host an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. so that people can see art in the midst of treatment and learn about conservation study.

So much of what we do is behind the scenes, said James Hamm, the professor who oversees painting work. No one knows we exist.

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Restoration takes center stage at SUNY Buffalo State