Tear-mending with surgical needle and thread
The two-day workshop with Louise Wijnberg focuses on the technique of local intervention for mending tears in canvas fabrics.
Programme
During the two-day workshop, the focus will be on the application of the technique of local intervention of a tear in a canvas fabric with the use of surgical needles and thread. The use of metal bars on the reverse of the canvas for preventing deformations in the fabric support will be explored. Morning sessions will give attention to the history and the theory of this technique. Afternoon sessions will give hands-on practice to participants. The focus on DAY ONE will be on the use of surgical needles and thread. On DAY TWO, participants will learn how to make, in a simple and easy way, their own equipment which can be adapted and applied everywhere for mending tears. In both practical sessions, mockups will be used to gain the skills require to apply the tear mending with surgical needle and thread technique. Comparison with other tear mending techniques will be addressed.
Louise Wijnberg
Received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Conservation at the University of Paris I – Sorbonne, Conservation et Restauration des Oeuvres d’Art. She worked for 32 years as painting conservator at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam where she specialised in Artists and Art Movements like Malevich – Mondriaan – Cobra – Pollock and other American Colourfield (Newman, Kelly, Marden) artists related to the collection. Since 2018 she works as an independent conservator and researcher for Museum and Art Collections. Wijnberg served as Treasurer for the ICOM CC Fund for 5 years. She just completed the research on 9 paintings of Karel Appel – Collection Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam – with a Symposium, being part of the RCE project “Heritage of the XXth-Century”. She has given this Tear-Mending Workshop at SRAL for many years.