photographs by Michael Ahearn
Wells Vissar
Scagliola Artists
Next time you're in Washington D.C.'s Union Station, check out the marble columns in the gift vendors' area. What you're looking at is scagliola, a colored and polished plaster almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Dating back to the 17th century, scagliola (skal-yo-la) graces many of Europe's historic buildings and, for a couple of centuries, it was all the rage among the elite. Here, scagliola's popularity peaked at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th centuries. When it fell out of vogue, techniques were forgotten, and the craft more of less vanished. Today, there's renewed interest in scagliola, and at the vanguard are local artists Kathleen Vissar and Amy Weston Wells.
The Wells Vissar story starts back in the late '70's, when the future business partners met at Moore College of Art (Vissar majored in ceramics; Wells in sculpture). After a stint making prototypes for a lamp company in North Philadelphia, the pair discovered scagliola on a moonlighting job in which they assisted in the fabrication of 32 12-foot scagliola columns for the State Department's Benjamin Franklin Dining Room in Washington, D.C.
"We mostly did finish work," says Wells, but they gleaned enough to be curious, and before long Wells was "messing around with scag" in her basement. "We were starting to find out what the ingredients were and how to get the supplies," says Vissar. "We went to the Library of Congress and looked up every scagliola article we could find." Once they had the technique down, they approached a shortlist of top designers. "We were real brazen," chuckles Vissar. In just a few years, business had taken off, with orders from such prestigious firms as Robert A.M. Stern and Mark Hampton.
So why would a customer choose scagliola over faux painting or real marble? "We can make scag in any color," explains Wells. "The nuances we get in casting would take forever to paint. And it doesn't wear away, it doesn't fade. Also, you can't get marble to conform to such intricate forms." Colors in the Wells Vissar line range from deep red to subtle celadon and white on white, as well as a warm salmon color they call "rustic." The line includes 27 moldings that can be combined in thousands of different ways.
As pioneers in the use of the scagliola tile format, Wells Vissar subjected it to exhaustive testing. "If someone's spending $6,000 on a backsplash, it can't get stained," explains Vissar. The only place where scagliola is not recommended is inside a shower stall below the shower head.
Will they ever tire of scagliola? "We love the product. We have so many ideas," says Wells. "We're working on panels now - wainscoting with rope moldings. We're getting out of the kitchen and bathroom. There is no limit."
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