The House of the Seven Gables will offer an encore presentation of its popular lecture, Layers of Paint, Layers of History, during Essex National Heritage Area’s Trails and Sails event. This special lecture will take place Saturday, September 22, 10 a.m., at The Gables, 115 Derby St., Salem. Registration is required due to limited space. This event is free and open to the public.
Presenter Christine Thomson is one of the region’s foremost furniture and decorative surfaces conservators. She has an expertise in the study and treatment of painted, lacquered, gilded and varnished surfaces. In her lecture, she will talk about the importance and techniques of paint analysis in historic structures and share findings from research she did at The Gables in 2016.
Thomson will show how scientific material analysis techniques used by art conservators today can be applied to historic interiors to gain a more accurate period interpretation. She takes small samples from around a room to determine how the room evolved over time. The final report helps to guide restoration by documenting color schemes and advising on color choices.
Thomson provides services in architectural paint analysis for museums, historic sites and private homeowners. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, she apprenticed in woodworking and wood finishing in California before moving to Boston in 1988. She was Senior Furniture Conservator at the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England) Conservation Center and Senior Conservator at the firm of Robert Mussey Associates in Boston. She is now self-employed in Salem, Massachusetts, and serves both museums and private collectors.
www.7gables.org/event/layers-paint-layers-history-2/
