Evan LeGrande Wilson

Evan LeGrande Wilson and his award-winning company Le Grande Studios, Inc. possess nearly thirty years of achievement in painting, design, historic colour designation, and the conservation and restoration of most historic surfaces.

The studio's work sits deliberately across two disciplines that are usually kept apart. On one side is original work: mural commissions, hand-painted ornament, gilding, plaster and illusionistic painting for private houses and new schemes. On the other is conservation: paint investigation, historic colour designation, consolidation and in-painting for buildings whose decoration is part of the public record.

Practising both changes what can be offered. A conservator who cannot paint is limited to stabilising what survives. A decorator who has never done investigation will confidently cover evidence that cannot be recovered. Working across both means a room can be returned to its documented scheme, extended in keeping with it, or given something entirely new — and the recommendation can be made honestly, because the studio is not selling only one of those outcomes.

The firm maintains an active presence in restoring aesthetic environments while protecting historic pieces for future generations. To that end it also offers consultation services — useful and affordable — for those whose good intentions are not matched or supported by their level of expertise.

Evan is one of three founding directors of the award-winning Crescenta Valley Arts Council, a non-profit arts advocacy organisation established in January 2007 to promote and support the arts in all of its forms throughout the Crescenta Valley.