July_August 2004 web

Volume III, Issue 1 July/August 2004

we'd like to thank the academy... The Canning Chronicles resumes publishing this month sharing with our colleagues and readers the great honors that have been recently awarded to our company, John Canning & Co. Painting & Conservation Studios, and its namesake, John Canning.

And we do mean share. Ours is a collaborative business in which the quality of the teams working together determines the success of a project's outcome. With that in mind, we thank all of you with whom we've had the pleasure of working over the years, and happily share these honors with you.

In this issue

2004 Arthur Ross Award for Artisanship
2004 Governor's Arts Award for Artistic Excellence
Metropolitan Chapter of Victorian Society in America 2004 Awards
One of the I.D. Fifty

2004 Arthur Ross Award for Artisanship


Sarah and John Canning with daughter Joanne at the St. Regis ballroom

The Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America held its 22nd annual dinner and ceremony for the winners of the 2004 Arthur Ross Awards for Excellence in the Classical Tradition, on Monday May 3 at the St. Regis Hotel ballroom in New York City. The following remarks are from the award presentation that evening by Gilbert Schafer and Jaquelin T. Robertson.

"When Mr. Canning arrived in America in the early 1970s the preservation movement was in full force, but what was missing was the input of artisans with expertise in old world techniques. It was a time when someone with Mr. Canning's practical knowledge of finishes, materials, and the ability to interpret scholarly studies and research would have a unique impact.

Mr. Canning's company has grown with the times and with the complexity of their projects. This talented and energetic group of 25 has in fact restored or replicated virtually every form of decorative surface treatment applied in American buildings. No project is too big or too complex. The gilding alone at Radio City Music Hall would cover a football field, the grand Central's ceiling constellations were dabbed clean star-by-star.

This year's jury salutes the work of John Canning Painting & Conservation Studios for their unparalleled excellence over the last 35 years in bringing back to life for a whole new generation the glories of ornament and decoration in some of our country's greatest civic buildings." - Gilbert Schafer

"The Cannings are a national resource, valued design colleagues in the protection and glorious rebirth of the Western Classical Tradition." - Jaquelin T. Robertson

Writing about The Institute for Classical Architecture & Classical America, Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts said, "The Institute for Classical Architecture & Classical America is one of the premier architecture organizations in the nation, as the only organization dedicated to traditional design style and pedagogy. By engaging and educating students and professional practitioners of architecture, the Institute plays a significant role in architecture nationwide."

About the Arthur Ross Awards
The Arthur Ross Awards honor achievement in a wide spectrum of categories within classical architecture and design. Each honoree is selected for excellence over the course of a career, rather than in an individual project.

These awards acknowledge not just architecture, but also the craftsmanship and artistry that make great classical buildings. The founders also sought to recognize historians, patrons, and publishers who have contributed significantly to the preservation of the classical language of architecture and design as a living tradition.

2004 Arthur Ross Award Recipients
Architecture: Merrill and Pastor Architects
Artisanship: John Canning and John Canning Painting & Conservation Studios
History: Charles Peterson
Rendering: Michael McCann
Patronage and Stewardship: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

For more information on the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America go to: http://www.classicist.org

For more information on the Arthur Ross Awards, go to: http://www.classicist.org/awards.html

2004 Governor's Arts Award for Artistic Achievement


Connecticut State Capitol House of Representatives chamber

On June 15th, The Connecticut Commission on Arts, Tourism, Culture, History & Film held its annual Governor's Arts Awards ceremony at the historic Shubert Theater in New Haven, CT. Governor John G. Rowland presented an award for Artistic Achievement to John Canning, and to six other honorees in the areas of Literary, Visual and Performance Arts, Tourism, Historic Preservation and Film.

Architect Herbert S. Newman introduced John prior to the showing of a short film featuring Canning on location at the Connecticut State Capitol, one of his first restoration projects. John was credited with giving "new life to many Connecticut landmarks," by using traditional 18th and 19th century painting techniques to restore or replicate decorative surfaces found in historic American buildings.

"The arts in Connecticut are world class treasures...These awards continue to raise the bar on the quality of artistic venues, exhibits and artists in our state," said Governor Roland.

Other Connecticut projects noted in the presentation remarks were Charter Oak Temple, Hartford; Most Holy Trinity Church, Pomfret; Sterling Memorial Library and Battell Chapel at Yale University; and the Lockwood-Matthews Mansion, Norwalk.

Metropolitan Chapter of Victorian Society in America 2004 Awards

St. Michael's Episcopal Church is the oldest continuing institution on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Its history reflects not only a legacy of service to the community but also a rich heritage in art, architecture and music. It has been chosen as a recipient of one of the Metropolitan Chapter 2004 awards for preservation.

The current church building is the third on this site. It was designed by architect Robert W. Gibson and completed in 1891. It is made of Indiana limestone in the Northern Italian renaissance or Romanesque-Byzantine style - a daring departure in church architecture at the time. Chancel decorations by Louis Comfort Tiffany include the impressive lancet windows in the apse, depicting St. Michael's victory in heaven. The interior is, in fact, one of the world's largest extant Tiffany ecclesiastical installations in its original setting. Over more than three decades, Tiffany and Tiffany Studios provided furnishings, decoration, leaded glass windows, light fixtures, and mosaic decorations for the church, and two more leaded glass windows located in the chapel.

For most of its first 100 years, the sanctuary had been painted in neutral colors. In celebration of its centennial, the church was repainted using colors in the palette of the Tiffany decorations. This decoration suffered extensive water damage shortly thereafter. Canning Studios was selected to repair and stabilize the plaster walls and reinstate the ornate, high Victorian style decoration for which they were selected to receive the Victorian Society honor.

Sharing in this honor are: St. Michael's Congregation and Rector Rev. George W. Brandt, Jr.; Hans Rolf, Rohlf's Stained & Leaded Glass, Inc.; Tom Garcia, the Gil Studio, Inc.(window conservation); and, Richard Renfro and Steve Heuss, Renfro Design Group, Inc. (lighting design).

One of the I.D. Fifty


January/February 2004 50th birthday issue

"50 Designers/50 States" was published in the January/February edition of I.D. The International Design Magazine and John Canning was selected as Connecticut's designer. In the article titled "Friend of Faux," author Eve M. Kahn writes, "…John Canning Painting & Conservation Studios has restored or replicated virtually every form of decorative surface treatment applied to American buildings. The studio has yet to be flummoxed by any obscure historical formulas for aniline dyes or beer-based paints, expanses of gauzy allegorical murals, or utilitarian translucent-glazed concrete specified by Frank Lloyd Wright."

For the complete list of designers and their states, or to order your own back issue, go to http://idonline.com/backissues_toc.asp?id=1547