INTERVIEWS
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Tim
Vander Well
Ever Greene Painting Studios
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JACK
SHEPARD INTERVIEWS TIM VANDER WELL FOR STORY ON IOWA STATE CAPITOL
RENOVATION
Interviewed February 11, 2000
JACK
SHEPARD: Tell me a little bit about the procedures that we
watched you do, starting with the one in the southwest pavilion.
TIM
VANDER WELL: For the smaller domes, the coppersmiths dismantled
the pieces, the ribs come down in about two foot sections. We
stripped the old paint off the gilded areas and then we double
primed them, two coats of primer, and then we put on a gold leaf
size. It's a twelve-hour size, which means after ten to twelve
hours, it dries to a tack, and it's ready to take the gold. Then
we apply the gold to the pieces. The smaller domes were easier
to gild because we could do them indoors, and we didn't have the
wind to contend with.
JACK
SHEPARD: And when you lay the gold on the braided sections,
you had to push the gold into some cracks for a good coverage.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
TIM
VANDER WELL: Yeah. We cover the entire piece with sheets of
gold, and then with a soft brush, we push it into the crevices
and the folds of the copper. So you're always going to get cracks
in the gold. Then we go back through with additional pieces of
gold and fill in the cracks.
On
the big dome, it's a little different because we've got the elements
to contend with, the wind being a big factor because the gold
is so delicate and so thin. We use what's called patent leaf,
which means that the gold is adhered to a piece of tissue paper
so that you can gild in the wind. However, if it's in high winds,
the winds will take it right off the paper. But it does help.
On this particular project, another factor that we've had to contend
with is the stone masons working below us. They've kicked up a
lot of dust from their jackhammers and their saws and so we've
had to gild in the wind instead of the back side of the dome,
just to avoid getting dust in our size and losing our tack.
JACK
SHEPARD: How much could you expect to get done on an average
day?
TIM
VANDER WELL: On a good day, we try to get about 100 square
foot per person, which would be a ten by ten area. A lot of the
ribs, of course, are more ornate around the windows and the urns.
One of the urns that sits atop the dormer windows might take a
good day. We might be able to get it in four to six hours. On
a real windy day, it may take all day.
JACK
SHEPARD: How many hundred foot sections are there up there?
TIM
VANDER WELL: When we did the estimate, we estimated about
12,500 square feet. One of the more challenging parts of the job
was just to figure out how to go about gilding the dome and not
let our ropes fall on it or where we wouldn't have to get back
onto the gold once we laid it down. Last summer when we started
the project, we spent most of the summer just stripping the paint
off. The old gold and the old primer. Down to the bare copper.
And then we had to double prime the bare copper as well, before
we could start gilding. So, we actually didn't start our gilding
until the end of the summer. Last summer we had two guys working.
And this summer we've had two and a half.
JACK
SHEPARD: How long have you been working on this and how much
longer do you expect to be?
TIM
VANDER WELL: We started with the cupola, the lantern of the
big dome last April, and we spent about four weeks stripping,
priming and gilding the cupola. Then we came back in June and
started on the big portion of the dome. We worked until November
of last year, until the first snow. We stopped for the winter
and focused on the dome inside. Then this year we started back
in April.
JACK
SHEPARD: What's the dollar value of the gold on the domes?
TIM
VANDER WELL: Approximately $200,000. We estimated about 30
percent waste in overlapping the gold and any gold that might
get blown away. So far we've been doing pretty good. We haven't
had to order any extra gold.
JACK
SHEPARD: Is there a difficult part about putting the gold
on the braided sections?
TIM
VANDER WELL: The small cupolas of the small domes were lifted
off by crane, so those we did on the ground. We had to contend
with the same problems on gilding the bigger dome, the wind, the
dust that might get kicked up, rain.
JACK
SHEPARD: What are your impressions of the quality of the original
construction?
TIM
VANDER WELL: We see a lot of the construction as the stonemasons
demo their work and on the inside as well, just going up through
the attic. The decorative painting on the inside is top quality
work. Some of the nicest I've seen.
JACK
SHEPARD: You've done this kind of work around the country.
Tell us a little bit about where you've been.
TIM
VANDER WELL: I've worked on the restoration of a number of
theaters, the State Theater in Minneapolis, the Frouenthal Theater
in Muskegon, Michigan, Union Station which just got completed
in Seattle, Washington. St. Mary's Cathedral was damaged by an
earthquake about six years ago and I worked with a team of artists,
who reworked all the old stencil work, the lining, and the decorative
painting.
JACK
SHEPARD: Where have you worked in Europe?
TIM
VANDER WELL: I worked in Barcelona at a new high rise hotel.
I did a five story department store in Singapore. Worked on a
mural at the Casino in Sun City, South Africa. And I installed
some murals in a resort in Dubai, United Air Emirates. It's quite
an interesting city. They're trying to build it into a tourist
attraction, I guess in anticipation of all the oil running out.
They're building resorts on the water and golf courses out in
the desert. It's quite an interesting place.
JACK
SHEPARD: What did you think of Barcelona?
TIM
VANDER WELL: I loved it, a beautiful city. It's so rich in
history and character. I was really impressed with the gaudy architecture.
You couldn't help but see it around town. The people are very
proud of being Cathelonian and fighting for their independence
from Spain.
JACK
SHEPARD: The Iowa Capitol is a one of a kind building, of
course. How do you feel about working on its restoration?
TIM
VANDER WELL: I grew up in Des Moines, and Iowa's such a wonderful
place to raise a family and to grow up. You know, I've had the
chance to see other parts of the country and other parts of the
world, and when I heard that Evergreen had gotten the project
to regild the dome, I asked to be part of it. I've heard that
it's the largest gilded dome in North America. To replace a building
like this would just be next to impossible. It's such a beautiful
building with all the different kinds of marble and the craftsmanship
that went into it. I really welcomed the opportunity to work on
such a magnificent building.
JACK
SHEPARD: You're working at a dangerous height. Is there anxiety
involved or are there special precautions?
TIM
VANDER WELL: Oh it's just the type of work I've done. You
get used to working off scaffolding and swing stage. Not everybody
gets used to it, but I don't mind working at those heights. We've
got rappelling rope that we work from and we also have a safety
line. So I feel very safe. It's not nearly as scary once you get
up there and get out over the edge. It's kind of nice working
up there. You have a wonderful view. I've seen a lot of beautiful
sunsets and sunrises this summer. I've got the best spot in the
city to see them.
JACK
SHEPARD: Are you taking any special steps to make the gilding
consistent with what was originally done? Are you trying to do
it exactly the way it was done before?
TIM
VANDER WELL: Yeah, we're trying to put it back just the way
it was done before. Of course, as far as seeing what was done
before, we only have what was there when it was re-done in 1965.
We were able to see that they did put two coats of primer on and
a layer of gold. We just kind of have to assume that that's what
they did originally. Typically, for outdoor work, you want to
use 23 carat or purer, 23 to 24 carat for outdoor work. When you
get less than that, you've got too much copper in it, and it can
tarnish. But I'm pretty confident that it's what was there originally.
JACK
SHEPARD: Are you looking forward to driving by here with your
grandkids and saying, "See that gold up there."
TIM
VANDER WELL: Yeah, it's something that I feel pretty privileged
to have had the opportunity to work on. I've also done some work
on the inside dome. Once we got access to the area, we were able
to clean off and take exposure windows down to the original layer.
We've uncovered some colors that were put on originally and we
could determine what was done in 1904. With the major work done
in 1904, the architects are trying to bring it back to the 1904
look. It seems like the gold is what the people see, and recognize
on the Capitol. It's not something that's commonly done, so I
think you know there's kind of a mystique about it.
JACK
SHEPARD: The first thing you notice about the capitol building
is that gold.
TIM
VANDER WELL: Yeah. The old gold has been on there for 30 some
years and it was needing a facelift.
JACK
SHEPARD: How do you sign your work?
TIM
VANDER WELL: We'll find a little corner somewhere on the copper
on an out-of-the-way place that nobody'll see. We'll probably
sign our name and size and gild it so that the next time somebody
goes up that high, they'll see our names up there. Usually we
do it to where the average person can't see it. If you go up and
look at the cloud mural on the inside dome or along the edge where
nobody can see it, you'll see other names scratched in the woodwork.
Oftentimes, you take a ceiling off, and you'll see the names and
the dates scratched on the wooden beams of the workers who built
the Capitol.
