Artist continues State Theatre restoration
OROVILLE » Things may look quiet from the outside but inside the State Theatre construction and refurbishment activity continue.
Bay Area restoration artist Beate Brühl has been working to restore the original decorative paint scheme in the mezzanine including the large intricate medallions on the ceiling above the five chandeliers.
Brühl, who studied art and design at San Francisco State and Syracuse University, where she received her master’s of fine arts degree, has been the woman behind the restoration since 2019 when she restored the theater’s lobby mural. After extensive work, Brühl uncovered the original mural which she estimates was first painted in the late 1930s, and depicts a waterfall flowing into a pool, a lady sitting with a basket of fruit and an olive branch. In the center is another figure of a woman with her arms lifted and three doves flying above. In the bottom right hand corner is a miner panning for gold and restored it to its original glory.
In 2020 Brühl returned to Oroville to restore the original intricate paint scheme on the lobby ceiling as well as medallions that separate the lobby columns.
This fall, Brühl is back on scaffolding painting the medallions around the mezzanine light fixtures and the rosettes above the mezzanine doorways as well as other decorative details.
“I had to first uncover the pattern, the medallions, that were originally there and painted over many times. It was difficult to uncover and piece together the pattern but I stayed historic to the pattern, nothing is invented. It’s true to the original design,” she explained.
In addition to meticulously uncovering the patterns Brühl also looked
at old photographs and took small flecks of paint from the first medallions and looked at them under a microscope so that she could match the colors for restoration. In addition to paint, she is also using aluminum leaf and a copper and zinc composition leaf.
“I’m staying as close as possible to the original,” she said.
To outline the original pattern of the medallions on the ceiling the artist used both a “pounce pattern” and a stencil. The pounce pattern allowed her to gently trace the outline of the design on the ceiling so she could hand paint it.
A resident of Benicia, Brühl has done restoration work in theaters, churches hotels, and civic buildings around the country.
“While waiting for the finishing construction and painting work to be done here, I worked in Michigan for five weeks for a former colleague, on the restoration of the Ruthven Hall on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor,” she said.
Together with an architecture team Brühl has also received the Governor’s Preservation Award, and the California Preservation Foundation Award for the California Theatre in Pittsburg, California, and the New Mission Theater in San Francisco.
Brühl is spending long days working on the mezzanine with the intent that it be complete for the theater’s Oct. 15 Neil Diamond tribute concert.
“If I lived here, in this community, I would be involved with the theater. It’s a beautiful historic building,” she said.