At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the Decorative Finishes and Restoration Program at AB Tech was honored with a mayoral proclamation (text below).
WHEREAS, the Decorative Restoration
program at A-B Technical Community College
was founded in 1988 as a cooperative venture with the Biltmore Estate. Students
have come from as far away as Alaska and Vermont to take advantage of the only
full-time program of its kind in the country, which graduated its final class
this year; and
WHEREAS, the program has graduated
nearly 300 students, all skilled artisans, a number of whom have begun thriving
restoration businesses all across the country and have worked on the
restoration of historic artifacts and buildings, churches and cathedrals; and
WHEREAS, two passionate and
visionary teachers have guided the Decorative Restoration program during its 23
years: Derick Tickle, a master craftsman who previously taught for London’s
distinguished City & Guilds, arrived from England in 1989 and directed the
program until his retirement in 2005 when Tim Hanlon, a 1997 graduate of the
program, took over its leadership; and
WHEREAS, we have these two
instructors and their students to thank for the beautifully restored ceiling of
the County Courthouse, which took six years to complete, and for the uniquely
decorative foyer and Council Chamber of City Hall; and
WHEREAS,
we appreciate the program’s philosophy that the greenest building is the one
already built. The Decorative Restoration program has helped keep Asheville’s heritage
intact for today and tomorrow. Through its contributions, Asheville’s citizens learn to appreciate our
historic buildings, their decoration and construction, and to preserve them for
future generations.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Terry Bellamy, Mayor of the City of Asheville,
do hereby recognize the
Decorative Restoration
Program
at
A-B Technical
College as an exemplary program, which
has made a significant contribution in the preservation of historic buildings
inAsheville.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
set my hand and caused the Seal of the City of Asheville, North Carolina, to be
affixed this 28th day of June, 2011.
___________________________
TERRY M. BELLAMY
MAYOR
