Then and Now

Bonar (Boner, Bonner) family last generation on the farm.  

2011 Wilhelm Valley Farms.  Outside restoration consists of engineered stone facing over the original (and crumbling) site-fired bricks.  Windows are replacements.  Chimneys are still interior up to the rooftop, but have long since been removed from rooftop.

Blame it on the wallpaper

 My whole adventure into the Aesthetic began with the wallpaper I found in the attic stairwell one rainy day after I moved to this old home in PA.  It was fragmented and very damaged by the years.  Picking at the 6+ layers, the first layer (and the nicest) was this olive colorway paper.  Over the past year, I have managed to remove a large portion of it from the top of the stairwell where it was applied to the wooden boards on a base of material.  The other walls it is on are plaster and concrete.  The horsehair filled plaster is the wall that has the most colorful and well preserved sections, but there is no safe way to remove it entirely.  I resorted to putting a decoupage over top of these to keep them more stable.
The first part of the pattern that I had uncovered was butterflies in a circle.  Then a super busy, crazy pattern with stars, mums, another large butterfly, circles, squares, some sort of beetle? and spiderwebs.  The colors are olives, black, reds, yellows and gold gilding heavily throughout.  Most of this color is faded and damaged on the material backed paper.  The colors are amazingly vivid and well preserved on the more stable plaster walls.


I have been able to put together most all of a repeat of the pattern.  I am slowly going to try to fill in the missing areas so that I can duplicate and save this interesting paper.  I had contacted several wallpaper reproduction companies here in the USA and was informed that this was a high end Aesthetic paper from the late 1800's.  In the past year of trying to find out an answer to what this was, I have learned more about this buried period of our history that I don't ever remember learning in History or in Art back in school.
I am researching the history of this house (which will be in a future post) and decided to redecorate it in the period of this paper.
If anyone has an idea who made this paper, please contact me.  I would love to find a complete repeat of the pattern.

The photo at the left shows an entire repeat pieced together.

Art for Art's Sake

From Oxford Grove Art - Aesthetic Movement:  Term used to describe a movement of the 1870s and 1880s that manifested itself in the fine and decorative arts and architecture in Britain and subsequently in the USA. Reacting to what was seen as evidence of philistinism in art and design, it was characterized by the cult of the beautiful and an emphasis on the sheer pleasure to be derived from it. In painting there was a belief in the autonomy of art, the concept of ART FOR ART'S SAKE, which originated in France as a literary movement and was introduced into Britain around 1860.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/aesthetic-movement-3#ixzz1Q3cv1SIP

As an artist, I see the world in colors, shapes and patterns.  As an independent and free spirited person, I have never been one to conform or follow.  I create, but not on demand.  Something deep has to inspire me.
I had tarot cards read to me back in the late 80's and I was told that I am the type that does not only want to see the time on the clock, but I want to know how the clock works.  That pretty much sums it up.
I love simplicity, yet I love the beauty of the complex in those simple things.
Always one to love antiques, as a child I was drawn to the houses that looked the "creepiest".  We have all seen them, like in The Adam's Family.  The old Victorian mansions with the peaks, gingerbread and gorgeous old wavy glass in the windows.  The heavy furnishings with carvings, the patterned wallpapers and the the heavy curtains.  The more elaborate, the better.  I did not really have knowledge of the period or precise style that I loved the most, I just knew what I liked when I saw it.  Modern "upgrades" or additions were something I absolutely abhorred.
I would poke around in abandoned houses and barns, usually with the company of a not overly enthusiastic friend to look at the architecture and any interior remnants of years gone by.
It was not until I moved to southwestern Pennsylvania in May of 2010 that I rediscovered this part of me that I had decided to give up on just a few months prior.
This blog is a journey of sorts.  It is a part of me that I knew, but did not yet know.
I hope someone finds it enjoyable.