Nick Seraphim visited East Berlin and felt sad when he first saw the Berlin Wall — the Cold War obstacle to freedom.
Like Germans and people around the world, he was thrilled to see the wall fall.
More than 30 years later on a sunny Monday morning, Seraphim is helping restore a portion of the wall at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley. This time, he was looking at the side that faced West Berlin. Before the wall came down in 1989, graffiti artists painted a butterfly — a symbol of freedom — on the fragment now standing more than 9 feet high at the Simi Valley site.
President Ronald Reagan welcomed the segment of the wall when it arrived in April 1991, seven months before the opening of the library. Since then, the Berlin Wall fragment has stood behind the facility.
“Because it’s been sitting out in the sun for many years, obviously it faded,” said Melissa Giller, chief marketing officer of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. “Nov. 9, 1989, was when the wall fell. We chose to have the wall restored this week in honor of the anniversary of the fall of the wall.”
Artists in Soviet-controlled East Berlin didn’t have the freedom to paint anything on the other side, and visitors walking around the 6,338-pound Reagan Library fragment will see that side is just unadorned concrete.
“For so long, it (the wall) stood there, dividing the (German) people. It was depressing,” said Seraphim, who grew up in Soviet-controlled Sofia, Bulgaria and emigrated to the U.S. more than 30 years ago.
“I’m forever grateful it was dismantled,” the Bulgarian native and artist said before he and lead artist Carolyn MacLeod of Gardena-based KC Restoration started their work to restore the wall fragment to its former brilliance.
Seraphim and MacLeod said they planned to be finished with the restoration before the anniversary. The public is invited to watch them work between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. through Wednesday.
Even without restoration work going on, the Berlin Wall segment is popular with visitors.
“People love seeing the wall. It represents the end of the Cold War,” Giller said. “Everyday, people come out here. It’s one of the main attractions at the Reagan Library.”
Giller said Reagan wanted as many people to see the wall fragment and think about what the dismantling of the wall meant to freedom. “Over 8 million people have come up to the library and been able to touch the wall.”
Seraphim said it’s appropriate that the wall fragment stands at the Reagan library.
“President Ronald Reagan was the one who worked for the wall to come down,” he said.
Seraphim also stressed the importance of preserving historical structures for the next generation.
“We learn from history,” he added.
MacLeod said she and Seraphim will use a special type of acrylic paint, with ultraviolet stabilizers to prevent them from fading again for a long time, to restore the colors to their original brilliance. When it was first painted, that part of the wall boasted vibrant blue, green and lavender.
MacLeod noted the artists won’t change design elements such as the fragment’s drawings of a butterfly and flowers.
“It’s just getting the colors accurate and respecting the image and working with the image, rather than inventing an image,” said MacLeod, who earned her master’s in conservation of art with a specialization in painted services in 1992 at the University of Canberra in Australia.
“It’s challenging, but it’s something we do everyday,” she said. MacLeod operates KC Restoration with her brother Steve Lehne. Their mother, Katherine Lehne, is the company’s emeritus president and founder.
Heat and changes in sunlight can make outdoor restoration tricky, MacLeod said. “Fluctuations during the day can be challenging sometimes when the paint is drying too fast or you have wind.
“But it should be nice today,” she said on a sunny, mild morning before she and Seraphim started to clean the Berlin Wall fragment before painting it.
MacLeod said the family business’ first project was restoration of the exterior and interior of the historic Bradbury Building, the downtown Los Angeles site featured in movies such as “Blade Runner.” The company has also worked on paintings at the Queen Mary in Long Beach and the masonry at the Huntington Library in San Marino.
“We’re helping to retain the historic image and the artistic intent of various buildings,” MacLeod said.
Dave Mason covers East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached atdave.mason@vcstar.com or 805-437-0232.
