Conservation
Comments from Ray O’Connor, Lost Mural Project, Project Foreman & Master Contractor September 9, 2025
I hope I might contribute to your mission of documenting the Lost Mural Project’s rescue, removal and reinstallation project with the following written information in lieu of an oral interview. I have worked on this project from 2010-2022. Previously, I have been interviewed more than once about this project, and with little result. I think it is much like people in a restaurant - most people are interested in the delicious meal, but only a few are interested in the process of creating it.
This is expected and not at all disconcerting. In fact, throughout history, designers and architects are often remembered, but the "front-line" crafts people are virtually always forgotten. What is not forgotten however, is the craft person's work that takes ideas and designs and turns them into something tangible, useful, and beautiful that can last for centuries.
Years ago, I remarked to a local preservation official that I valued the legacy of architectural gems that exist in Vermont, but I valued even more the preservation of the state's legacy of friendliness, generosity, humor, peaceful simplicity, and good sense. This distinct culture may be fading somewhat in the urban centers, but I think can still be found in the more rural areas.
Here then are some brief "behind the scenes" examples of the Lost Mural project that I hope you might appreciate as exemplifying some of these Vermont cultural values:
Only in Vermont!
At the beginning of the project, I worked with a fine arts conservator who had impressive national and international experience. I described to her that at the beginning I had created a one-page flyer for residents on the street that included a description of the project, the expected timeline, an advisory that the street might be closed at times, and my name and direct phone number in case concerns arose.
I walked from house to house on the crowded Hyde Street and sometimes talked to residents as I left flyers on doors of the apartment building, the former Chai Adam Synagogue. This enabled the neighbors to feel included and informed.
I related this to the conservator, who had worked on projects as diverse as museums in New York City, archeological digs in the Middle East, and federal preservation projects in the southwestern United States.
Her reaction? A look of surprise, a smile, and then she rolled her eyes and said "Only in Vermont!"
A Helping Hand
One result of the flyer walkabout was that a neighbor across the street offered us parking on their property for the duration of the project, which was a huge help. On another occasion one winter night, a neighbor saw someone "helping themselves" to our outdoor lumber pile. Unabashed, she opened her door, shouted at him, and the culprit skulked away. That's how neighbors helped each other in this Old North End Burlington neighborhood!
The Weekend Barbecue
Working extra hours is not uncommon for construction projects and on occasion I had to work extra hours to keep the project going smoothly. One Saturday afternoon in early spring, I came out of the building to the delicious smells of a barbecue! There in the parking lot was a Vietnamese immigrant family who lived in the building. A tiny barbecue had been set up, Mom and Dad watched the kids play, and they invited me to eat with them (which I happily did). It was a delightful interlude. We talked about the father's job as a local mechanic, their dreams to own a house, and enjoyed the beautiful day. But by far the most important thing I learned was seeing the art of how to make a happy life, even in the little corner of a crowded parking lot!
You Missed a Spot!
The teenagers who lived across the street were very friendly and inquisitive about the project. Sometimes they would bring over freshly baked cookies or other goodies. One day when I was working on the outside of the project building, I heard one of them shout "you missed a spot!" with great amusement. It became a running joke that when I was working on the outside of the building, regardless of what I was doing, I would hear "you missed a spot!" to the tune of a lot of laughter.
A few years later, I ran into one of the young men, who told me that after the project was over, the property owner hired painters to work on the building. With great enjoyment the teenagers also shouted "you missed a spot". Whoops! Turns out the painters were not amused! That was the end of the "you missed a spot!" saga.
The Unknown Heroes
There was a vast array of Vermont trades people involved in this project. Everyone knew this was a special project and good will and cooperation prevailed. Participants included everything from teenage workers from the YouthBuild Program who deconstructed the temporary roof structure, to a master carpenter in his seventies who worked on the project and gave invaluable advice throughout. There were the friendly contractor brothers with large excavators who built the temporary road on the destination site; the welders who painstakingly built the complicated steel "exo-skeleton" that still supports the Lost Mural to this day; plumbers who installed temporary heat for the long winter preparation phase; the masons who created beam pockets in the synagogue brick walls; the tremendously skilled carpenters who built the building enclosure, the mural's protective support assembly, the "landing deck", and who then rebuilt the original buildings after the mural was moved; the painters who did gymnastics to paint the final steel framework; and the crane operators and truck drivers who transported the mural assembly, These and other trades and service persons worked hand in hand with the engineer, architect, general contractor, conservators, art preservation advisor, and of course the Lost Mural Project directors and project committee. All of these participants worked cooperatively in a massive effort to preserve this significant part of Vermont's heritage.
Finally, among the unsung heroes of this project were the neighbors, and the resident tenants in the project building. Without any complaint for months and months, they endured the noise and disruption from workers, cranes, delivery trucks, hammering, sawing, drilling, welding, parking and other associated activities. They were all friendly and interested in the project. One tenant worked at night and slept in the day, so we tried whenever possible to wait until afternoons for really noisy processes. He never complained, nor did anyone else. We all knew this was a special project and this was an unforgettable experience for all involved.
Thank you for reaching out and for your interest in this amazing project. I hope these descriptions may be of some value for your own work. Please accept my best wishes for your organization's mission.
Ray
Ray OConnor LLC
Burlington VT
During the 2022 year, the Lost Mural was successfully restored.
After the mural was cleaned, the conservators then filled in the missing paint losses prior to restoring the Lost Mural. The Lost Mural's vibrant final colors and glazing are established by the conservators after reviewing the 1986 Archival Slides and consultations with historical art paint experts. The restoration is completed by conservators from the Williamstown Art Conservation Center.
During the 2021 year, the Lost Mural was successfully cleaned.
All harmful varnish, charcoal particles and dirt was removed by two conservators, Constance Silver & Jennifer Baker.The varnish which had been applied when the mural was painted was hardening over time and darkening the mural's colors and visual depth of field. If the two varnish layers had not been removed, the ability to restore the Lost Mural's original colors would have been lost.
Zoom Program with Rick Kerschner - December 7th, 2021
Join us on December 7 at 7:00 pm for a presentation by our Coordinating Conservator Rick Kerschner, who will share the details of the recently completed cleaning of the Lost Mural. Conservators worked from April to August 2021 and the results are truly dazzling! Paint sampling, testing, color palette determination and cleaning of harmful varnishes, charcoal dust, and grime have all been achieved. Register here.
This program is free and open to the public.
August 2021 - Cleaning Phase of Conservation Complete!
After four and a half months of work by our conservation team, the cleaning of the Lost Mural was completed at the end of August, 2021. This process involved removing layers of darkened varnish, dirt, and grime from the mural’s surface. Today, the mural more closely resembles the artwork created by Ben Zion Black in 1910 than it has in decades.
Explore the images below to see how the mural has changed since it was documented through archival photographs in 1986. Click on each image for a detailed description.
Make a contribution to help us complete the final stage of conservation: the restoration of the mural’s damaged areas.
Sun and central panel
Left-hand Panel/Blue Curtains
Red Curtains
July 2021 - Rick Kerschner Explains how the Mural is Cleaned.
Watch the video below for an in-depth discussion with Coordinating Conservator Rick Kerschner about the techniques being used to clean the Lost Mural, as well as amazing up-close images of the mural as it undergoes this incredible transformation. This program took place on Zoom on July 29th, 2021.
June 2021 - Conservation Underway!
This spring, the Lost Mural Project began the first of two phases of conservation work aimed at fully restoring the mural. On April 19th, 2021, conservators Constance Silver and Jennifer Baker began carefully cleaning the entire surface of the mural. This process involves removing several layers of varnish and dirt from the mural’s surface. The varnish, which has a yellowish tinge, has been slowly reacting to a chemical which was applied to the mural’s surface to protect it during the 2015 move; it is getting harder to remove as time passes. Removing it now is an essential and urgent part of restoring the mural to how it looked when it was painted.
While removing the varnish is important for the preservation of the mural, it is also a visually stunning process. As the yellowed varnish and layers of grime are cleared away from the mural, exquisite colors are appearing beneath!
On the left, the bright yellow paint of the mural’s central sun motif paint is visible.To the right, the paint is partially obscured by a layer of varnish and dirt which has accumulated over more than a century. On the far right, a poultice containing specially selected solvents helps to soften the varnish for removal while leaving the paint beneath unharmed. Photo by Rick Kerschner.
Several experts, including Peter Manseau, Lilly Endowment Curator of Religion at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, have voiced their support for this conservation work: “the Lost Mural is a symbol that crosses generations and validates the universal story of communities built by refugees and immigrants... The ability of future generations to learn from this important piece of American history depends on actions taken today.”
Phase one, the cleaning of the mural is scheduled to conclude at the end of the summer, and will be followed by a second phase, in which areas of the mural which were damaged when paint flaked away will be restored. To learn how you can help support this restoration phase, which is currently in planning stages, click here.
September 2020 - Conservation Assessment Complete!
On September 18th, our conservator completed a month-long assessment of the Lost Mural, during which she cleaned and partially restored two small areas of the mural. During this project, she also made several discoveries about the work of the mural’s painter, Ben Zion Black.
While we have known for several years that the mural was originally much more vibrant than it appears today, It was still astonishing when grime cleaned away from one of the mural’s two Lions of Judah revealed the striking contrast between the brilliant gold highlighting the lion’s musculature and the dark shadows which make it pop off the plaster. This discovery illuminates Ben Zion Black’s full artistic skill in creating depth and dimensionality. The conservator explained that when the mural is fully cleaned, the expansive three-dimensional effects created by the tromp l’oeil pillars, tent, and curtains will usher the viewer into the scene, welcoming all who stand directly under the mural into the biblical Tent of the Tabernacle.
Right-hand Lion of Judah before cleaning
Right-hand Lion of Judah after cleaning
Another discovery made
was the existence of underdrawings - preparatory drawings done directly on the plaster prior to painting, which sketched out the mural’s design.
Along the edge of the curtains, faint lines show that Black didn’t perfectly follow his sketch when he painted in the tasseled edging.
This provides another tantalizing clue to his artistic process.
The final area where our conservator worked was a 2’x3’ rectangle on the right-hand panel, containing the bottom of the large drape and a portion of one column. Here she not only removed varnish and grime, but also carefully in-painted areas where the original paint layer had flaked off prior to 2012. This small section is now fully restored and gives us a stirring glimpse how the entire Lost Mural will look once conservation is completed!
This 2’x3’ section of the mural’s right panel is shown here before restoration.
This 2’x3’ section of the mural’s right panel is shown here after restoration.
We are now at the cusp of revealing the full majesty and scale of Ben Zion Black’s technical artistry. At this juncture, we are raising funds to complete the conservation of the mural.
Please contribute to our Celebrate L’Chaim Campaign and help bring the Lost Mural fully back to life!
Previous Updates:
August 2020 - Conservation Underway on the Lost Mural.
On August 17th 2020, a conservator began cleaning 110 years of varnish and grime away from a small section of the Lost Mural’s surface. This marked the beginning of a month-long project in which we will explore ways to clean and restore the mural, in preparation for a full-scale effort to complete the mural’s conservation.
The current conservation effort aims to further bring the mural’s vibrant original colors back to life. Those colors were originally discovered during conservation work carried out in 2012 to 2015. The lost colors range from the rich blues of the drapery which forms the Tent of the Tabernacle to the deep red of the tablets and the warm butter yellow of the mural’s central sunburst. Restoring their original vibrancy is a key aspect of giving voice to the immigrant community of Burlington’s Old North End neighborhood, where the mural was painted in 1910.
For this project, work is being done on a previously untouched portion of the mural, which includes an area of significant paint loss. The assessment will include both cleaning this portion of the mural and developing techniques for restoring the damaged area. The findings will allow the Lost Mural Project to finalize plans for how the entire mural will be restored.
To learn more about the conservation of the Lost Mural, please email friends@lostmural.org.
To contribute to our conservation fund, please visit: https://www.lostmural.org/support
Between 2012 and 2015, art conservators worked extensively to save the painted surface of the Lost Mural.
That work involved both painstakingly re-attaching flaking paint to the plaster the mural was painted on, and beginning the task of cleaning the mural's surface.
In this 2014 video, art conservator Constance Silver explains her work restoring the Lost Mural and shows the dramatic results of early cleaning tests which reveal the mural’s original vibrant hues.
In 2020 and 2021 the Friends of the Lost Mural are raising funds to complete the task of revealing the mural’s original colors.