Nashville Reformed Temple

“The Call of the Shofar,” a wall mosaic designed by Ben Shahn in 1959 and executed by Foscati, was installed in 1960 at the entrance to the Temple. Eventually cracks developed through the tesserae and mortar bed, and grout loosened. Our second-opinion conservation strategy for the mosaic saved the Temple thousands of dollars in unnecessary structural work, enabling the Building Committee to proceed with treatment.

EverGreene conservators developed a program of investigation, documentation, stabilization, testing of consolidants, consolidation of voids using injected adhesives and fillers, cleaning and crack monitoring. The final phase of treatment was completed in 2001 following construction in the Temple: removing protective facing paper, regrouting and further consolidation as necessary, replacing missing tesserae, and presentation of a final treatment report and maintenance guidelines.