Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: Okanogan, Washington

Copyright © 2022 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

On January 28, 2022, I received a short email from John Madill in Canada:

In case you hadn’t seen this (nice tranquil images and palette)
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/couple-discover-murals-during-renovation-trnd/index.html 

Cheers,  J

He shared a CNN link from Jan. 27, 2022, that reported, “A couple renovating a 115-year-old building discovered two 60-foot-long hidden murals.” Below the heading was a photograph of a lovely landscape painting above construction debris. The color palette and stencil reminded me of several backdrops that I had encountered over the years, and my first thought was, “A scenic artist painted that.”

John was just the first of many friends who shared the link that day, and each time I thought, “Looks like fun, but nothing I can deal with right now.” I had already cancelled my trips to teach at Cobalt in February and attend USITT in March. Familial obligations were pressing, and I was trying to stick close to home this spring.

However, the story was intriguing. After serving in the military, a young couple had returned home to take care of dying parent. In the midst of grieving and settling the estate, they decided to put down roots in the town. They purchased and began the renovation of an old movie theater. It was to be a bar and restaurant; a gathering place for locals. Early in January of this year, they decided to break through a section of plaster, just to see what was behind the wall.  No one could have anticipated that there would be a huge landscape mural; one of two. Despite punctures from furring strips and water damage from plaster oozing between strips of lathe, the paintings were in great shape. 

The very next day I received a FB message from Lisa Timm. I opened it and read:

“Hi, Wendy! My husband and I recently uncovered a 60ft mural from 1915 and are hoping to conserve it. I was wondering if you could offer any advice or expertise as it looks like a theatre backdrop. There are videos and pictures on our Facebook group (mural restoration at the historic Timm building.” Thanks so much.”

I scheduled a time to chat with her about the murals.

In the meantime, I decided to do a little research on my own. I started with the simple query: “Where in the heck is Okanogan, Washington?”  After opening a Maps app, I started to peruse nearby towns.  Okanogan was due north of Chelan, Washington.  At that moment, half of the main curtain from Chelan’s Ruby Theatre was laid out on my paint frame. I had just started the process of bidding out a replica.

Although I was swamped with work and had no intention of traveling out of state for the next few months, I began to contemplate the feasibility of a very quick trip west. After realizing that the same scenic studio decorated both the Okanogan and Chelan theaters, I booked a flight. There were too many signs pointing me in the direction of Washington.

Over the course of the next two weeks, Lisa and Nick Timm sent detail pictures of the murals and we began a series of discussions about possible options. I was still hesitant to take on another project yet fielded their questions. I also did my best to educate them about the painting process and options for removal, storage, repair, and restoration. We even scheduled a WhatsApp video chat so they could walk me through the space, and I could clearly examine how the mural was attached to the wall.  We were in luck as the mural was the last of three layers.

Initially cotton sheeting was tacked to the wall with a thick wallpaper layer pasted on top.  When the theatre was renovated in 1915, a second layer of cotton sheeting was tacked on top of the wallpaper and primed.  This effectively glued the fabric to the wallpaper, creating a backing for the mural.  The mural was only visible for three years before a plaster wall concealed it for a century.

In 1918 the venue changed hands, the building was renovated, and the theatre was renamed the Paramount. During the renovation, furring strips were tacked to the murals. Then lathe and plaster entombed the landscape paintings.  In the dark they patiently waited for another renovation; one that would not happen until early January 2022.

I flew into Spokane and drove three hours west to Chelan where I stayed for the remainder of the trip. In Chelan I met explored the Ruby Theatre space and gave a community presentation about their theatre. When I ventured north to Okanogan, I was accompanied by Larry Hibbard, local architect and Ruby Theatre owner. I could not have asked for a better host. It is an absolutely beautiful area, home to miles and miles of fruit orchards. Their biggest export remains apples. Hibbard operated an apple orchard for decades.

My plan was to only take pictures and leave with memories.  This was not a project that I could drop everything else and take on in March. I was in the midst of several restoration projects, an opera design, and recognized that I was already overextended. Little did I know that everything was about to change.

The old Hub Theater in Okanogan is easy to miss. There is not a fly tower nor ornate façade to announce that it was once featured movies. The building looks more like an old hardware store than any temple of entertainment. If the Timms had not been standing outside, shouting and waving their hands, we would have missed it entirely.

Upon entering the building my heart sank and I knew that there was very little time to save these murals. The relentless drip of water accentuated the dampness of the space.  The drips both hit and missed a series of buckets lined up on the floor between the two murals. In previous conversations, the Timms had mentioned their concern of snow melt and a leaking roof. I had no idea it was this bad.  I knew that it was just a matter of weeks before the murals would be entirely destroyed. That was when I began to game plan about their immediate removal. There would be plenty of time to plan the conservation of each painting, but there was minimal time to remove the murals from a leaking building.

I could not extend my stay but could return within the week.  In the meantime, the space needed to be cleared, prepped and necessary supplies ordered. 

The first mural came down in two hours, the second in less than an hour.  Nick, Lisa and their crew of four helped stabilize the painting as I separated the wallpaper from the first layer of cotton sheeting.

I am breathing a bit easier today, and happy to report that both murals have been successfully removed from the walls. In the end, the thick wallpaper backing helped support the long artworks throughout the process. Each mural will be transferred to a climate-controlled storage room until I am able to restore them.

These murals come with their own artistic provenance and shed a little light on American Theatre in the Pacific Northwest.  J. M. Deeds Scenic Studio, of Spokane, secured the contract to paint the murals in 1915. By this time his firm had already decorated Chelan’s Ruby Theatre and the Wenatchee Theatre, located south of Chelan. I’ll share the story of J. M. Deeds tomorrow.

To be continued…