Asche, Monica

Monica Asche
Artist
Long Island Artist Restores Color To Faces of Saints
by Debbie Tuma
You could easily say that Monica Asche, of Southampton, has "the golden touch." She has spent the past 25 years practicing the ancient art of "gilding" or goldleafing, numerous antiques at posh estates from Southampton to Palm Beach. She has put the finishing gold touches on mirrors, picture frames, tables and chairs, from Gin Lane to Worth Avenue.
But most recently, she has brightened up the religious statues in the Our Lady of Poland Church, a small, intimate church located near the railroad station in Southampton. Her latest creations were the result of a "deal" she made with God when her mother became ill, during the 1980s.
"At the time, I was working out of my former studio, located in the red brick building near the railroad station. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer," said Asche. "I used to walk to the Our Lady of Poland Church on my lunch hours to pray for my Mom, and one day I noticed that all their statues seemed dull and lifeless. They were just coated with gold paint, and they really needed the brilliance of real gold, to bring out their beauty."
Asche said she made a deal with God, praying that if He let her mother live, she would volunteer her time to touch up the statues in this church. "My mother lived another eight years, so after she died, I decided it was time to pay back my vow to repair these lovely statues," she explained. "I couldn't do it during the hot summer months, so I waited until this fall when the weather was a better temperature to gold-leaf these statues." She collaborated with Pastor Stanley Kondeja, of the Our Lady of Poland Church, who had first commissioned Asche in 2001 to gold-leaf and restore a framed picture in the church, which was used in a processional ceremony. It is a picture of the Lady of Czestochowa, or "Black Madonna," and it is installed in the back of the church, glazed with 23-karat gold leaf that Asche took a month to restore back to its original shine.
Over the past few months, Asche has now restored and touched up about ten other religious statues in the church, most¸y around the altar. She gold-leafed the staffs and trim of two angels that flank the church altar, which were formerly done in copper. She also gold-leafed the Blessed Mother and Baby Jesus statues, which were the ones she prayed to when her mother was sick. "I added 23-karat gold-leaf to the Blessed Mother's crown, staff, shoes and also to the trim on Baby Jesus's robe,"she explained, "just touching up this gold makes these statues look richer," she said.
Asche gold-leafed the crosses and trim on the Tabernacle doors, and on the rosary beads of St. Theresa. She gold-leafed the trim on the orb held by the Infant of Prague, another statue. She touched up the trim on the robe of St. Joseph, who is holding the Christ Child. She gold-leafed the Sacred Heart of Jesus Statue, and the statue of St. Anthony, holding the Christ Child. From a distance, all these gold touches give a shine, brightness, and even a glow to these statues in the church.
Father Stanley Kondeja, of Central Poland, who has been pastor of Our Lady of Poland Church for 12 years, said, "Monica is a treasure. We are so happy she has volunteered her time to help us make our statues more beautiful. Her attention to every detail, like the shoes, belts and stripes, have given these ordinary statues a nobility. She uplifted them to more beauty by these small, but meticulously done touches of gold." Father Kondeja was busy putting white and red flowers in his church in honor of Polish Independence Day, last Saturday, November 11.
Looking around at her finished collection of religious statues, Asche commented, "I came from a Polish family in Pennsylvania, and my mother would have adored this church."
Asche's interest in art, buildings and beautiful furnishings began during her early years in the airline industry, when she frequently traveled to Italy. "I adored Florence, and I loved the colors and textures of the frescoes," she recalled. "I decided to study handpainted furniture and decoration, at Isabel 0'Neil Studios in New York City during the 1970s. It was all the kinds of decorative arts that I had seen in Europe, including 18th Century hand-painted furniture and murals." She learned several different faux finishes, such as, faux tortoise shell, marbleizing, wood graining, lapis lazuli, malachite, and bamboo, as well as wall glazing, murals and painted floor designs.
"We were taught to do these so professionally, that it is hard to tell the faux from the real thing," she said. "It is a rather rare and specialized art form that not a lot of artists do."
After finishing that school, Asche moved to San Francisco, California, where she helped a friend open a painting studio called Day Studio. She landed important commissions and worked in concert with other famous artists such as Donald La Bash, professor of Fine Arts at the University of San Francisco. In 1988, Asche opened her studio in Southampton, called Patina, on Powell Avenue. She eventually moved her business, now called, Monica Asche Studio, to its current location, in the Southampton artists' colony on Tuckahoe Lane.
Over the past 20 years, she has designed, consulted, and performed high-end and diverse work for private clients around the country. She has perfected her skills at the art of gilding, and is one of only a few artists still practicing this ancient technique. She also specializes in wall glazing, mural and historical painted restoration, and furniture design and painting.
Source: Polish-American World, Jan. 12, 2007.