Decorative Plasterwork

Minerva advises on the conservation and repair of historic plasterwork and render.

We have successfully the conserved historic plasterwork to many private houses and churches, such as at St James Priory, Bristol (below) where we conserved the collapsing Jacobean strapwork ceiling within the Church House.

(Left, below) St James priory, Bristol after complete replastering to walls and ceiling. (Right, below) This shows the newly applied dub and scratch lime plaster coats. The marble corbel was fixed into a new position and ready to take the rest of the monument of 1728 (which due to re-ordering was moved to new position) prior to topcoat.

Clare Venables is Minerva's plasterwork specialist and has worked as an ornamental sculptor since 1993 and specialises in creating fine, hand modelled stucco duro. She began her career in the restoration of decorative plasterwork. This culminated in the award of a Royal Victorian Medal in the 1998 New Year’s Honours list for her work in re-creating fire-damaged ceilings at Windsor Castle. Most commissions are now for new schemes of decorative plasterwork, usually in a historic context, which include ceilings, overmantels, friezes, wall panels and tiny details.

Clare holds a Master’s degree in Architectural History (Courtauld Institute 2001), a diploma in conservation (1993) and a first degree in Fine Art (1988). Her draftsmanship is particularly strong following time as an archaeological illustrator (1988-1992) and forty years of drawing.