• August 01, 2023

1. What is the name of your profession (position)? My profession is a restorer. Or rather, even a restorer of tempera painting, that is, icons. 2. What is your job and what are your responsibilities? I work from home, on private commissions. Many of my colleagues work in private workshops, artels. Someone is in the museum. My work is painstaking work on the restoration of ancient icons. This process includes the repair of a crumbling board, and the hunt for grinder bugs, and the investigation of the signature on the reverse side and the restoration of painting on lost sections. I know how to work with a scalpel and dental instruments, I need to be able to extract fluoroplastic and alcohol for myself, I understand demethyl sulfoxides and brands of binocular microscopes. 3. What education is required to get your position? A restorer is a chemist, a techie, an artist, a historian, and an art historian. To comprehend this delicate craft, bordering on art, you need to study for a long time. You can enter one of the art universities, such as, say, Surikov. Ideally, undergo training and practice at the Grabar Center. You can go as an apprentice and learn "by doing". I studied to be a restorer after art university. A bad restorer occupies not the last place among the pests of icons (more mold, mice, the mentioned grinder bugs, etc.). Therefore, the restorer's mistakes are very difficult to correct, and sometimes even impossible. As our teacher liked to say: “If, as a result of your restoration, part of the icon was lost…”. Emergency "first aid" measures are also an inapplicable attribute of training. But you will be kicked out of the museum in no time. 4. Describe your working day The work of a restorer is not hurried, and you can't be distracted by something else either (in case you don't have time to remove the compress). That is why restorers tend to have tea parties, a contemplative course of life and long conversations at the workplace. And the daily routine for the artist is generally an unfamiliar word. I can work two hours a day, or I can work twenty-four. 5. How comfortable are your working conditions (all day outside, or in the office with a cup of coffee)? Apart from harmful solvents, poisonous paints and sleepless nights, the atmosphere of the workshop... artists will understand me 6. What do you like most about your work? I love the smell of white spirit, paints, old faces, when snow falls outside the window, when steps creak, under black drying oil I find bright colors and fine writing of ancient masters. And the most pleasant thing is when the work is done in such a way that its traces are completely invisible. And when the customer can't believe his eyes. 7. What do you dislike most about your job? Greedy customers… 8. If it's not a secret, what is your salary level (is it enough to write whether you are satisfied or not)? …But there are not many of them. Restoration is a labor-intensive, time-consuming, material-consuming process that requires professionalism. A good master gets what he deserves. I worked for free, there were cases. But I don't complain about life. The artist will always find "hack" if there is no order. 9. Describe yourteam, what kind of people work with you? The people are creative. Sometimes comes across critical and abusive, sometimes - tea-spilling, but on the whole - amicably, cheerfully, intelligently. And you can play snowballs, and go to a scientific conference. The main thing is to be a good person. 10. What human qualities, in your opinion, are most important in your business? Faith, taste, patience, literacy, striving for improvement, creativity, talent, once again patience, accuracy, accuracy, passion. 11. Work gives me additional opportunities (everything that work gives you except money, from self-expression and communication with interesting people to the opportunity to visit different countries). My profession is not an eight to eight job. This is a way of life. And practices in different cities, and artist friends... 12. Do you have the opportunity to rate your work on a five-point scale, what grade would you give? Of course, 5. This is not an easy job for those who do not like it. For others, it's almost a passion. 13. Why did you choose this job? I am a very lazy artist 14. What do you think we did not include in the plan and what else would you like to share with us? To understand our work, you need to see it. 0