The image that I am reproducing shows the intricacies of insects and other living bodies. It is from a book titled The Naturalist Library, which states that its purpose is to provide “ample details of external structure, of the anatomy and physiology of the class insects, [and] of the modes of systematic arrangement” (Duncan), implying that it is focused on detail as a means of understanding orders and families. It was made as an engraving into copper, and then later painted to be accurate to the color. My final product should be sturdy in a similar manner to the metal plate, have approximately the same dimensions, have a similar perspective on the insects and background behind them, and most of all, maintain most of the detail from the original image. Tools that are necessary for this representation include a pencil and paper to trace the details of the insects, canvas to provide for a thicker medium to substitute for the metal, a knife to recreate some of the etchings that would be present in the original image, and colored pencils in attempt to recreate the color with as much detail as possible. I think that the best way to replicate inaccessible tools is to individually decide which mediums will be best for each purpose (detail, texture, etc) and then work on combining them together. Technological changes affect our expectation of the image because we now have photographs that can reproduce images almost perfectly, and as a result, we expect for representations to remain almost unchanged from the original version.
2/7/20
People involved: me
Location: Martel 226 common room
Environmental Factors: It is bright outside, which helps for me to have light so I can more accurately trace against the window.
Time and duration of Reconstruction: 2pm-5:30 pm
Equipment and tools used: mechanical paper, pencil, window, eraser
Subjective Factors: Because I did not have tracing paper, placing the paper on the window before tracing over it made it a lot easier to see. I listened to indie music while I worked which I found to be relaxing. I tried to make strong lines on the paper to be sure they were very visible after I took it off. My arms got tired a lot from holding the paper up high on the window so that the sun was behind it. I also had a very difficult time seeing the outline of the details on the flowers behind the insects, so I traced it as best as I could and filled in the rest afterward.
Prior Knowledge: From tracing things before, such as in previous art classes, I was aware that it is sometimes better to focus on the individual aspects of the piece rather than what the piece is making. Because the etchings were made to show detail, tracing as carefully as possible was one of my main focuses during this section. I was aware that the texture of paper is very different from that of metal, but because paper is the easiest medium to trace on, I wanted to first focus on representing the lines to the best of my ability.
Reflection: the hardest part for me was outlining the shading in the flowers behind the insects. Although the vertical lines that were used for shading were one of the first things that stuck out to me, I did not realize how meticulously they were placed until I was comparing my representation to the photograph side by side. Thankfully, I was penciling in lightly, so I was able to erase and do it again, creating a much neater outline. I also had difficulty with ensuring the paper stayed aligned and attempted to remedy that through tape. It worked to an extent, but I am confident that because of it, my proportions are not perfectly exact. I am also concerned specifically about the detail on the wings. The cell-like structure seems too small to outline with pencil, but I am worried about how to get the same size with any other medium. I also wonder about recreating the dimensionality of the image, and will hopefully resolve this using several different mediums, even if I don’t have metal. I am also concerned about the lightness of the outline of the flowers behind the insects, because they are done so lightly, my first instinct is to do them completely in pencil, but I am worried about smudging that results from it.
Questions that arise: While questioning these methods of representation, I also wonder how the concept of mechanical objectivity, specifically as Daston and Galiston describe, is influencing my work. Through tracing, I have been attempting to recreate the image as objectively as possible, when subjectivity is inherent to art. Should I be leaning into how I perceive the image as a whole rather than analyzing the individual aspects and attempt to relate my perception through means that might not be found in the actual image? I seem to be striving for “accuracy,” even though I know that any image that I produce will not look exactly like the original. Therefore, I think that, in order to create a better representation, I need to shift my focus from being “accurate” to representing the image and the individuality of how I experience it, although that is difficult to quantify. Clarke and Ambrosio’s description of Bell’s watercolors help in understanding how this artistic subjectivity can be expressed and be useful in its expression, as the watercolors are an example of personal expression within anatomical drawings. Bell’s argument that natural beauty is essential to accurate representations seems relevant to my process here. As a result, I hope to integrate ideas of knowledge and artistic appreciation further in my next attempts and separate myself from the idea that tracing is the only way to be “accurate.”
2/11/20
People involved: me
Location: my room
Environmental factors: it is dark outside, which makes the lighting in my room worse because there is only one LED bulb in the room. My side of the room is very messy, which makes it difficult to move around.
Time and duration of Reconstruction: 6pm-9 pm
Equipment and tools used: mechanical pencil, paper, eraser, colored pencils
Subjective Factors: I once again listened to music as I colored the drawing. I am colorblind (tritanopia) so I knew that that might pose an issue when matching colors to the original. I had a wax burner on which made the room smell like pumpkin. I really like the feeling of the sweater I was wearing for this session because it is very fuzzy.
Prior Knowledge: In this session, I planned to recreate the colors of the image to the best of my ability using my prior tracing. My main focus during this section was getting the details on the wings of the insects to be as close to the original as possible. To do so, I decided that colored pencil would be the best medium, because of the variations in pressure that it allows for and the hard point that allows for more control than paint. Because there is shading on the wings of the insects, I also decided that colored pencil would be useful for the easy overlap of colors that it allows for. The white lines on the wings, too, will be easiest to create using colored pencil, as they are extremely thin. For most of the wings, I decided to do small, quick lines using black colored pencil to create the small linear gaps as seen in the photo.
Reflection: I am certainly concerned about the matching of the colors, especially because yellow/pink seems to be prominent in the image and those are the colors I have the hardest time differentiating between. Although I would normally ask my roommates for assistance, because this project is based on our experiences of sensation, I decided to match the colors to the best of my ability by choosing several shades and then coloring with them over the image to determine which is the closest. However, one of the limitations with this process is that I was unable to mix the colors and was limited to the selection of 24 provided. Furthermore, the detail on the wings is not as exact as I would like it to be. On the top insect, specifically, I overlapped lines on the tips of the wings without realizing that they were spaced particularly in the image. To remedy this, I attempted to redefine certain aspects of the lines more so that they looked closer to linear. The small, white lines on the top insect also proved very difficult, as white colored pencil is not always particularly useful, however, through careful outlining with pencil, I am fairly satisfied with the result. Although I attempted to create solid colors through using several layers of colored pencil, I wonder about my ability to recreate the consistent nature of the color. I am also concerned with the color on the background of the paper. To recreate the fading that happens on the plates, I think that paint might be best suited, but that would involve transferring the insects on to a canvas of some sort, and likely redoing the flowers behind them without the ability to trace.
Questions that arise: Although I want to combine elements of knowledge and artistic expression, I wonder to what extent I am limited through coloring while looking at the image as a whole and knowing that I am creating insects. This question relates back to the Barwich reading, which focuses on how we perceive vision to be object based, when we might be able to form a better understanding of the sense using a process-based understanding. Although I have been focused on recreating the objects to the best of my ability, recreating the process that makes the objects could be more beneficial in representing the image. However, there are barriers when using the process-based approach in this method because I am looking at a drawing of an engraving and trying to recreate an engraving that I don’t have but somewhat know the process of creating. Furthermore, my colorblindness prompts questions of normalcy in vision. Should I have gone to such lengths to attempt to match the colors, sometimes against my first instinct? Would have coloring immediately created a product truer to how I experience sensation? I feel like the concept of the “supernormal” that MacLehose depicts as an unrealistic standard of the senses is relevant here, as I am imagining a more universal experience of color and attempting to cater to it. I have also worn my glasses during all the sessions, which is something that manipulates how I experience sensation that I did not even think about until now. Going forward, I plan on being less concerned with how I am representing color as long as it looks accurate to me.
2/14/20
Time: 6pm-10pm
People involved: me
Place: my dorm room
Environmental factors: it is once again dark outside, but I have more lamps on in my room today so the lighting is softer. It is cold in my room.
Equipment and tools used: mechanical paper, pencil, eraser, canvas, acrylic paint, paintbrush, I makeup brush I chose to sacrifice, pocket knife.
Subjective Factors: I was hungry during this session, and I listened to music for about half the time. At times I sat on the floor under the lamp for the better lighting in our common room which was uncomfortable and cold. Shadows sometimes made it difficult for me to see what I was doing, which I attempted to remedy by moving around a lot. Our common room smells very musty, which is unpleasant.
Prior Knowledge: For this session, I intended to etch into a background to place the insects I had colored onto. I also hoped to capture the color and fading of the plate on whichever medium I used. Because I have etched into metal before, I thought that that might help me recreate the texture on the canvas. Although I had to freehand most of the leaves behind the insects on the canvas, because I had done it a time before, I found it to be easier.
Reflection: Before deciding exactly what medium I wanted to transfer the insects onto, I first tested out lightly carving into both the cardboard and a canvas with my pocket knife. Although the cardboard was likely dented easier, I found that the indentions created on the canvas were able to be thinner because of the finer material. I also tried carving completely through the canvas, which went horribly because the paper was so floppy. So, to avoid breaking the canvas, I cut out a piece of cardboard and placed it between the canvas and the board that was holding it in place. Then, I experimented with paint. I first thought I was going to do watercolor so that the fading at the edges would look more natural, but I could not get the color dark enough to justify the technique. Instead, I used acrylic paint, mixing it to be darker towards the edges. After the paint dried, I traced the insects that I had cut out onto the canvas, using markings on a piece of cardboard as spatial reference, and I drew in the leaves with pencil behind them. After I drew the leaves in, I etched over the pencil with the (semi-dull) pocket knife to give them an indented texture. This was more difficult than I anticipated, because I had lots of curved lines, so the results were not as lined up as I would have liked them to be. Then, I glued the insects onto their spots. Although I outlined where the insects would be placed with the knife, the contrast between the insects and the leaves are not as noticeable as intended.
Questions that arise: Although I plan to use a gloss varnish to make the final product shiner, it is undeniable that the final product will not look at all like metal or have the same weight. However, I also wonder about the roles of the other senses that I have not been as focused on, as I have primarily been interested in how the results measure up visually and textually. For example, the sound of the canvas will be far different from the sound of metal. I also have little idea what metal smells like, although the varnish will likely give it a more industrial smell. I wonder if I focused on these senses because it was easier to judge, or because we give object-based senses like vision more priority? This question relates to the value cultures have placed on sight throughout history, such as how Jay describes that “Greek philosophy could elevate a visually defined notion of disinterested, monologic, epistemic truth over mere opinion or doxa” (Jay 26). After almost finishing my project, I feel like I have fallen into the trap of viewing sight as more truthful than other senses, which is a flawed approach. If I could redo parts of the project, I would attempt to also focus on recreating the sounds and smells that would have been present in the copper used for the etching.
Bibliography
Barwich, A.-S. (2018). “A Sense So Rare.”
Brendan Clarke, Chiara Ambrosio. (2018). “The nervous system and the anatomy of expression:
Sir Charles Bell’s anatomical watercolors.” Imagining the Brain, 109-138.
Daston, L., & Galison, P. (2010). “Mechanical Objectivity.” Objectivity, 115-138.
Duncan, James. The Naturalist’s Library. 1840.
Jay, M. (1993). “The Noblest of Senses.” Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-Century French Thought.
MacLehose, William. (2018) “The pathological and the normal: Mapping the brain in medieval medicine.” Imagining the Brain, 23-54.