A year ago, Toronto firefighters responded to the four-alarm fire on Gladstone Avenue that left St. Anne’s Anglican Church in ruins.
Extensive damage to the national historic site in Toronto’s Little Portugal extended well beyond the walls – many paintings were damaged or destroyed, including early works by Group of Seven members.
Now, the team at Toronto Art Restoration is working to revitalize some of those pieces.
“It’s like restoring a piece of their story, a piece of their history, a piece of their memory in a way,” said Toronto Art Restoration Director Alicia Coutts.
It’s a slow process – the art pieces include three murals: Christ in the Garden, The Tempest and Healing of the Palsied Man.
Coutts said these works are an example of Canadian classical art, integrating the evolution of Canadian cultural history into sacred spaces.
“There was definitely some loss, I mean there are some parts of this canvas that are completely charred,” Coutts said. “But, for the most part, you can see a lot of the imagery still and a lot of the colours — even some of the original gold leaf that was on it, I was able to maintain.”
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Coutts said she managed to take massive amounts of soot off the surface of the works, as well as a burnt layer on some areas.
“It took quite some time, but I’ve gotten through all of the cleaning of the murals, ” she said.
The next stage of her work will be visual reintegration — but how much of each piece should be recreated?
That’s a decision she plans to bring to the church and community.
“Should we be remembering this part of history?” asked Coutts. “Is there a middle ground in between completely doing full visual re-integration and getting it seamlessly blended in with the original paint, or do we — you know — sometimes what we do is use muted colours.”
The original church remains boarded up as discussions about the rebuild continue.
The congregation has been meeting at the Parish Hall on Dufferin Street in the meantime.
The cause of the fire remains unknown. The investigation by the Office of the Fire Marshal is ongoing.
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