For more information on art shown in the Oregon State Capitol Collection,
see the short booklet by Megan Atiyeh. Our projects are listed in the collection.
ASSESSMENT + DELIVERY
- Judith Fawkes “Fawkes Eight”,
- Marie Lyman’s “Desert Grasses”,
- Heidi Fuhrmeister’s “Untitled”
Right, two of Judith Fawkes “Fawkes Eight” during assessment.
All of the items had identification labels on them, example below left.
Most of the better assessment images shown were taken in the MPFC studio as we prepared for treatment, and after this we will not differentiate where the assessment image was taken. For all textiles below, descriptions will be as follows:
- LF-: Left-facing
- RF-: Right-facing
- Top and bottom are described as the directions when hanging
- Front is the side that the artist chose to view
- Backside is the side facing the wall
Identification labels were originally attached with a metal ring, which actually damaged some of the textiles. They were removed during treatment and replaced before delivery using thick thread or yarns instead of a metal ring, left.
DELIVERY
After cleaning, each piece was rolled and wrapped in the best manner for its design, to be stored until installation. All had support under the textile, such as is shown below for Heidi Fuhrmeister’s “Untitled”.
FAWKES EIGHT
The eight panels before treatment, above.
The panels were identified with a thicker thread, example shown below left.
Panels were identified by a thick smooth cording with the eight initials, example shown left. Because of what we presume was Judith’s choice in thread to identify the panels, we used a similar smooth thick thread from DMC or Gütermann whenever we had to sew a repair.
Some minor fading exists, probably due to the fluorescent lighting in the Capitol rooms, as it is more apparent at the top of each panel; no treatment will be done toward the fading issues. Fluorescent lighting can cause fading over time, but are not the danger that sunlight poses.
Our intention was to repair torn, unraveling, or broken areas using appropriate techniques, then clean and block tapestries before returning for re-installation.
We also found several areas where the hem was failing, and in these instances we removed sagging threads and stitched those areas, not shown.
MPFC cleaned and repaired all eight panels during treatment, plus two of the wooden square dowels which were cracked.
PANEL B
We are focusing on repairs to panel “B” because it displayed the most damage. The back of panel B is shown below, before treatment; note the unraveling edge on the lower hem, detail shown below right.
In all the sewn repairs, Kate used a slightly thicker thread to ensure that it did not cut into the woven materials, and also made sewn repairs (such as securing a long woven piece) on the backside.
Above, the stages of the largest repair, the unraveling RF-edge on the bottom of panel “B”; the woven bottom hem and front selvage edge had unraveled.
Note that three previous repairs were attempted, which we surmise is why loose warp yarns were braided and secured with cotton thread, shown in the second and third images above. Green weft yarns are loose, shown above.
MPFC cut the hem thread 7-inches back to release tapestry for reweaving, not shown; threads used to secure previous repairs, such as the braid ends, were also cut. It appears the artist wove the back layer into the front at the edges, which doubled the number of warp threads.
The treatment was performed with the piece pinned; without the benefit of a tapestry loom to secure the field, the repair became lopsided and tight from pulling warp threads through weft. Black and cream weft yarn ends were braided loosely, then wrapped in order to tuck into the hem.
Prior to hemming, two pale pink and one coral pink repairs were completed, as shown above. Stitching was performed on the backside so it did not show.
Final step before tying was to release the tension caused by the repair, and to space the warp and weft yarns into the proper spacing. The long repair was complete, above, shown on the front and back side at the edges.
We were fortunate with pulls like the one above that no one had cut the long strands of wool, but instead tucked them behind the panel, shown image one. MPFC organized the warp yarns, image two, and wove the weft yarns back where they belonged with two crochet hooks. Stitching to secure the repair was performed on the backside.
Before any repair was attempted, we studied the how the artist made her wraps and connections to try to duplicate it in our repairs, above.
Below, edges are balanced and appear much as they did when Judith first completed panel “B”.
CLEAN
MPFC vacuumed the panels through a filter under low strength, above, to lift loose dust and debris with minimal damage to the fibers.
Because bug residue is laid into the textile wet, it is harder to removed with a vacuum. Removing bug feces, embedded bugs, and the resulting stains (shown right) from all the textiles was a large part of our treatment; for small stains like the one shown right we would carefully use a wet cotton swab to lift residue that could mimic stains. Residue could be removed using a dry mushroom brush then vacuuming immediately.
Above, residue from a bug long gone was gently removed using a mushroom brush.
Selective wet cleaning with a damp cloth wrapped around a finger is effective and does not move dyes, image two. Finally, a slightly damp cloth is wiped across both front and back of each panel to lift residue surface dirt.
SQUARE DOWEL REPAIRED
Two of the square dowels were broken and were repaired, below.
COMPLETION
BIOGRAPHY
“Judy exhibited her linen inlay, double weave and pattern weave tapestries since the 1960s, and beginning in 1989 she showed at Laura Russo Gallery, now Russo Lee Gallery… and taught weaving for many years at four colleges in Portland, including Lewis & Clark College. (Her work) is included in numerous public and private collections. She published Weaving a Chronicle, Schiffer, in 2012; in (it) she described the circumstances and techniques behind the tapestries she produced over five decades. Her work was inspired by the grid of the loom, Bauhaus, Renaissance tapestry, light through water, Italian gardens, Portland weather and the medium of flax itself.”
Along with the entry for “Fawkes Eight”, you can also see a sample of her husband, Tom Fawkes’ artwork in the Oregon State Capitol Collection (page 36), next to his wife.
Note: The protocol used in Fawkes Eight was repeated
in the next two textile treatments; we are not repeating the details,
but will say when protocol changes.
DESERT GRASSES
It was 80″x84″, eight rows of varying sized fabric pieces in shades of golds, rusts, and browns, hemmed and backed with the soft brown shown in the hem on the backside right. Fiber content was cotton, cotton blends, wool and synthetics.
During assessment there was a marked difference from the condition of the front of Desert Grasses to the backside. Seams and the hem needed to be restitched in several places on the back. The back was also abraded, and we found many moth holes on the textile, example shown top right, next to the seam.
The moth holes were difficult repairs because the weave was fine or had a ribbed texture, and we could not find proper matching yarn threads.
We developed a different protocol for the single hole on the front, versus the many holes on the backside.
To reweave Repair “A” on the front, MPFC devised protocol to pull enough threads from the seams under the hem, shown above.
MPFC opened the quilt hem to obtain threads from the edge. Hem stitches were carefully picked from the backside of quilt with a sharp new stitch picker, image one above. Five small pieces of weft were removed from the end of the hem area of the panel!
The hem was restitched using a blind stitch and matching thread, shown right.
Two holes on the backside, referred to as Repair “C” and “D”, were located on the RF-back on the third row, two panels in, and were approximately ¼-inch and ⅛-inch, in the rust-colored wool twill.
A second machine hem stitch ran through the top and back. Both were released for the repair, approximately 2-inches in either direction, so the damaged quilted piece could be accessed.
Rust colored cotton thread DMC was used as both warp and weft in the repair, woven on the diagonal.
Again, rust colored cotton thread DMC was used as both warp and weft in the repair, anchored in the hem area.
If a bit darker weft had been found possibly a better variation would be seen, but the changes in the degree of color were too great to show the woven shadows. A simple darn was woven on the diagonal, to produce a shiny diagonal that would blend into the twill.
The repair was visible. Another option was to replace the rust-colored panel, but was not advised.
Several moth eaten areas are documented which were not to be repaired during this treatment due to time and budgetary consideration; they were extremely difficult losses where the recommendation would be to replace the material or disassemble the quilt for reparation.
CLEANING
- A gentle brushing with the soft “mushroom” brush lifted loose surface debris, shown right;
- Vacuuming the debris followed at low suction, not shown;
- Spot wet cleaning, where possible.
Tests were done in safe areas for wet cleaning for dye movement, with both deionized water and isopropyl alcohol; no failures were seen during wet treatment tests. Wet cleaning was performed with both, as was appropriate.
Spot wet cleaning was performed along edges and in specific areas, where frass, dead bugs and oils from handling (on edges) existed, shown above.
After treatment, above and below; below shows Marie’s’ labels.
BIOGRAPHY
Over her lifetime she had many name changes, and we couldn’t find out their genesis:
- Nyx Philomela Lymann
- Nyz P Lymann
- Delores Marie Lyman
She died as Nyx Lyman in 1992.
Her art does not appear chaotic, but orderly in a non-traditional manner. She was a quilt artist, fascinated by textile history and particularly interested in Japanese textile traditions, from folk art to garments to embroidery. She passed that interest on to her students, teaching at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in the 1970s and 1980s. The blue quilt, “Morning Light”, 1975, shown left is in the Smithsonian.
Marie Lyman’s “Desert Grasses” can be found on page 50 in the Oregon State Capitol Collection.
FUHRMEISTER’S “UNTITLED”
As Heidi Fuhrmeister’s “Untitled” was unnamed, we will refer to it as “Fuhrmeister” in this post.
It is a large woolen woven piece, 51″ x 74″, in shades of purple, maroon and dark blues; after weaving it was then quilted, which accounts for the puckering of some squares in a pattern across the surface. It hung top and bottom on wooden rods. Because of the height we were never able to hang it in our new textile room in our studio and therefore never photographed it in its entirety; it is shown below during reparation, taking up our longest tables.
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Instead MPFC bought many variegated and heathered wool yarns from several brands, including a locally made multicolor wool, left, and found bits that matched the wools in Fuhrmeister. Reweaving was performed using the new yarns mixed with existing yarns around the damaged areas and the treatment was successful. The yarn was split into fibers the appropriate weight for weaving and repair.
Several “mistakes” in the weave were located during the thorough examination, mostly in the form of a weft yarn that skipped two warp threads, examples above.
REPAIR A
We were to repair several moth holes. We are documenting two holes in this post.
The other was slightly smaller, shown below. MPFC believes both holes were caused by moths.
We filled in the holes by extending the weaving yarns out 2-3 strands and in-weaving warp and weft in matching yarn threads, as shown above and below.
One repair that was not made were the few long strands of warp that are left unwoven and are held by the bottom support, shown left. Because they were not long enough to be placed back into the clamped support, we did not take it apart and attempt it.
WOOD REPARATION
MPFC did not want to remove the piece from its support, and so carefully applied pigmented wax in the scratched areas, shown above. The wax was allowed to set then the excess was carefully buffed.
CLEANING
Each panel was vacuumed; the gauze was replaced frequently.
Tests were done on the fringe for wet cleaning for dye movement, with both deionized water and isopropyl alcohol, shown below. Only very slight dye failures were seen during wet treatment tests.
Wet cleaning would be performed with both, as was appropriate. Isopropyl alcohol was used as a treatment over moth holes and where webbing existed, in order to kill potential eggs.
BIOGRAPHY
Unfortunately, little information could be found on the Oregon artist, Heidi Fuhrmeister, then or now.
Heidi Fuhrmeister’s “Untitled” can be found on page 38 in the Oregon State Capitol Collection. Note: The Fuhrmeister tapestry is not green as described on the Oregon Libraries site!
☾
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