Original Artwork Research Articles

The Last Word Is: Imagination—A Study of the Spatial Aspects of Edgard Varèse’s Work, Part II: Visual Evidence

Edgard Varèse was one of the singular musical innovators of the 20th century. Central to his thinking was an informed yet uniquely imaginative position regarding metaphoric “space.” Through contacts with science, he developed an idiosyncratic vocabulary involving “rotating planes,” “beams,” “projection” and “penetration.” His outlook was both conceptually and musically (especially in Intégrales) manifested. The first part of a two-part article, “The Last Word Is: Imagination, Part I: The Visual Evidence” (published in Perspectives of New Music), references Varèse’s writings and lectures. The second part, published here, is concerned with the visual evidence, a context within which his spatial ideas could be directly manifested without the distortions of electroacoustic sound projection or vagaries of instrumental and vocal performance. In original artworks, marginalia, doodles and an array of spiral diagrams, Varèse directly portrayed his concepts with remarkable lucidity.

TDWG 2017 Collections Description Interest Group Meeting

The Collections Description Interest Group is dedicated to developing and supporting the Natural Collections Description (NCD) data standard for describing entire collections of natural history materials. Examples include collections of specimens, observation data, original artwork, photographs, and materials from the many voyages of discovery that have been conducted. The standard was brought up to the draft stage in 2008, and we are re-forming the interest group to attempt to finish it. Collection description records contain information about the collection, access and usage of the collection and where to get more detailed information. The meeting this year will focus on the formation of the Task Group to work on the standard itself, with the goal of leaving the meeting with a working draft of the task group charter, including an outline of goals and deadlines.

From the artwork to the “demo” artwork. Case Study on the conservation and degradation of new media artworks

This paper describes the study case of the conservation of a new media artwork, Cannula, by Daniel Canogar (2016). This artwork combines and distorts videos downloaded from YouTube in order to create an oil-like live painting. Main new media conservation strategies are first introduced and discussed. Following, “re-creation” is presented as the best option to deal with the conservation of the elements that compose the artwork, such as its hardware –display, computer- and its software –custom made applications that combine and distort videos-. This paper focuses on a key element to the artwork that cannot be conserved by any of the exposed means: the Internet. YouTube is used to provide the videos to be used. If the service is not reachable –the connection is lost or YouTube is no longer available- the artwork will cease to exist as the artists conceived it. Storing in the memory of the computer the contents previously used provide a mean to re-use them if needed. In that case, the artwork will no longer be such –according to the artists, the live connection to the Internet defines the artwork- but a “demonstration”. A self-documentation state defined as “demo”, which, according to the authors, represents the closest possible experience to the original artwork.

Interrelations in the Development of Primary School Learners’ Creative Imagination and Creative Activity When Depicting a Portrait in Visual Art Lessons

Abstract Creative imagination is a psychic process of creating a new original image, idea or art work based on the acquired knowledge, skills, and abilities as well as on the experience of creative activity. The best of all primary school learners’ creative imagination develops at the lessons of visual art, aimed at teaching them to understand what is beautiful in art, as well as through their being involved in the creative process and creating art works themselves. This paper provides the characterization of the psychological process of imagination, and deals with the importance and dynamics of the development of primary school learners’ creative imagination in lessons of visual art when depicting a portrait, and it also looks at a visual art teacher’s role in organizing the educational process of developing learners’ creative imagination in a sustainable education process.

Review of After Art by David Joselit (Princeton)

David Joselit’s slim volume "After Art" offers multiple intriguing frameworks to analyze art in the present-day globalized art world. After Art backs away from the traditional approach of artist intent and production and looks at what happens to images once they are attached to the networks that circulate them. Instead of proselytizing individual or even original artworks, Joselit champions images that are constantly reproduced and remediated by artists and architects such as Tania Bruguera, Ai Weiwei, Sherrie Levine, Matthew Barney, Le Corbusier, and Rem Koolhaus.

Culture jamming and Brandalism for the environment: The logic of appropriation

ABSTRACTThis article explores creative activism for environmentalism through an examination of culture jamming. Specifically, it looks to the action of the Brandalism project during COP21. This was the replacement of bus stop advertising with original artworks. This form of creative activism is unique in that it addresses the advertising industry as a key battlefield over cultural meaning and environmental sustainability. Through its use of the logic of appropriation inherent in culture jamming, this case challenges critiques about the incorporation of culture jamming within consumer culture. This work theorizes the case through the new politics of consumption, political consumerism, and culture jamming. It argues for the logic of appropriation, before it introduces the case study and explores the visual narratives of environmentalism: corporate greed, inadequate politicians, consumer saturation, Earth in mourning, and public commitment to the environment. Finally, it evaluates the contribution of Brandalism as a form of creative activism for environmentalism.

Non-destructive Investigation of Paintings on Canvas by Continuous Wave Terahertz Imaging and Flash Thermography

Terahertz (THz) imaging is increasingly used in the cultural heritage field. In particular, continuous wave (CW) and low frequency THz is attracting more attention. The first application of the THz technique inherent to the cultural heritage field dates back 10 years ago. Since 2006, tangible improvements have been conducted in the refinement of the technique, with the aim to produce clear maps useful for any art restorer. In this paper, a CW THz (0.1 THz) imaging system was used to inspect paintings on canvas both in reflection and in transmission modes. In particular, two paintings were analyzed: in the first one, similar materials and painting execution of the original artwork were used, while in the second one, the canvas layer is slightly different. Flash thermography was used herein together with the THz method in order to observe the differences in results for the textile support materials. A possible application of this method for the detection of artwork forgery requires some parameterization and analysis of various materials or thickness influence which will be addressed in a future study. In this work, advanced image processing techniques including principal component thermography (PCT) and partial least squares thermography (PLST) were used to process the infrared data. Finally, a comparison of CW THz and thermographic results was conducted.

Pulled through Time: Art and the Indian Labour Migrant

This paper discusses the processes through which historical research, visual archives, and artistic production have interacted to produce a series of original artworks capturing some of the complexities of Indian indentured migrants’ experiences and identities. The images from the ‘Coolitude’ series by award-winning artist Danny Flynn apply modern screen-printing techniques to archival photographs of Indian indentured labourers. The artistic reimagining of these historical images was inspired by the ideas of Mauritian poet Khal Torabully and the work of the historical research project, ‘Becoming Coolies: Rethinking the Origins of the Indian Ocean Labour Diaspora’. The latter attempts to reinterpret the colonial Indian labour diaspora by drawing upon accounts of migrants themselves to reassess the mechanisms of migration and reassign subjectivity and agency to Indian labour migrants’ experiences. The artworks themselves seek to interrogate and challenge the stereotypical image of the so-called ‘coolie’, presenting a more nuanced view of the Indian labour migrant. This paper discusses the creation of the visual archive from which the original images are drawn, as well as the conceptual and creative processes that underpin their reimagining as original works of art.

Koncepcja czasu cyklicznego w Maju Karela Hynka Máchy wobec koncepcji czasu linearnego w Konradzie Wallenrodzie Adama Mickiewicza

In the article I analyze the concept of cyclical time as it appears in Maj by Karel Hynek Macha. This type of time, described as “Holy time” according to Eliade’s definition, is compared with the linear (historical) time created by Adam Mickiewicz in one of his most influential works, namely Konrad Wallenrod. The different creation of time in the text of the Czech romantic prove that May is an original work of art, not only a compilation of themes and motifs borrowed from Polish romantic literature, as it is often claimed.

The Attribution of Works of Russian Stonecutting Factories: Object, Design, and Issues of Authorship in the Context of Cross-Cultural Exchange

This article focuses on the study of the decorative and applied art of the 19 th century — the issue of attribution of authorship in the conditions of borrowing and transfer of taste, active cross-cultural contacts, the cosmopolitan art of the neostyle period, and the establishment of the industrial reproduction of decorative objects based on the principle of replication of a sample. This paper considers a specific source of borrowing (L’art industriel, an engraved album of Leon Feuchère’s drawings, 1839) and the interpretation of three samples from this illustrated edition by Russian masters of stonecutting of the second half of the 19 th century. The authors compare the approach towards the original in the works of the Malachite factory of the Demidov family (1847–1851) and the Imperial Kolyvan Polishing Factory, carried out in the 1870s according to the designs of Ivan A. Zlobin. The pieces of art analysed in this article are kept in the Royal Collection of Great Britain (for the first time in history, the authors provide information about two works of Russian masters in the collection), in the Mineralogical Museum of Alexander E. Fersman of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), and Hotêl de Ville (Paris). Additionally, the authors consider sources from the library of Institut national de l’histoire de l’art (Paris, Doucet collection) and the collection of the Ministry of the Imperial Court of the Russian State Historical Archive (St Petersburg). Having analysed the aforementioned sources and compared them with graphic prototypes, the authors conclude that it is necessary to complete the existing attribution of the authors of stonecutting works with data about the original artworks. Referring to particular examples, the authors prove that it is impossible to only rely on a narrowly national approach to the history of Russian stonecutting art and that this art should be studied in the European context.

Science Applied for the Investigation of Imperial Gate from Eighteenth Century Wooden Church of Nicula Monastery

Part of an indestructible component of any orthodox church, the Imperial Gates represent an important symbol in our cultural heritage. But in many cases the Imperial Gates from the wooden churches were damaged. In order to preserve and restore them, the scientific investigations of the Imperial Gate belonging to Nicula Monastery wooden church were performed by employing nondestructive and destructive methods. The wood essence was established, with its “health” status being investigated by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectroscopy and DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) thermal analysis. The painting materials employed by popular artists were determined by FTIR and XRF (X-ray fluorescence) spectroscopy as gypsum, calcite (rear background), lead white (Archangel Clothes), lead-minium (Archangel Clothes, leaf), iron oxide (Imperial Gate frame), malachite (green), Prussian blue (blue), orpiment (yellow), aliphatic, ester, and protein (probably egg yolk degradation products). Using similar colors as in the original artwork (resulting from the scientific investigation of the pigments) a 3D reconstruction has been performed. The restored Imperial Gates are placed in the old Nicula wooden church, being included into a tourist and religious circuit.

“CREATIVE ETHNOMUSICOLOGY” AND AFRICAN ART MUSIC: A CLOSE MUSICAL READING OF WOOD AND CLAY, KUNDI DREAMS AND UMRHUBHE GEESTE BY ANTHONY CAPLAN

This article deals with Anthony Caplan’s application of African art music through the lens of three works whose instrumentation and compositional processes result in pieces that transcend conventional boundaries. These works emerge as integrated artistic products exceeding the limitations of conventional musical expression. Through close musical readings of Wood and Clay, Kundi Dreams and Umrhubhe Geeste, Caplan’s employment of “creative ethnomusicology” (term first used by Akin Euba) becomes evident as his knowledge, experience and familiarity with a wide range of musical styles and cultures coalesce in the creation of original works of musical art. Combining either the udu, Kundi harp or umrhubhe with the oboe Caplan’s compositional amalgam merges sonic qualities from African and Western musical domains, including aspects of Eastern musicmaking. Evincing the attributes of African art music—labelled by Euba as African-European art music—Caplan’s three works represent a growing body of repertoire from South Africa (a relative latecomer to this style of writing) embodying the essence of African art music.

OregonScape

“FIND THE WORDS BELOW which are closeted in the puzzle. They are trapped vertically, horizontally diagonally , backwards and forwards . Circle them so they can come out and be blatant!” This sentence accompanied the pictured word search in the May 1981 issue of Matrix Magazine. There are fifty-one words total, including: separatist , self-defense, tickle, quest, monogamous, parthenogenesis , fuzzy, gay, play, femme, blood, closet, talk, goddess, and womyn. Matrix magazine, a feminist/ lesbian magazine located in Olympia, Washington, was published monthly between 1979 and 1983. It included original artwork, poems, letters, and text by and for women. Subjects covered — many particular to the Northwest — include incarceration, Native rights, reproductive health, and police violence. Matrix is a part of the Gay and Lesbian Periodicals Collection (MSS 2988-7) at the Oregon Historical Society (OHS). It is part of the larger Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN), which was founded in the early 1990s by Tom Cook and continues to collect archival materials and oral histories from organizations and individuals active in LGBTQ issues. This collection is available to researchers and interested members of the community during normal library hours. To find a list of all fifty-one words, please visit the OHS Research Library and request to take a look at back issues of Matrix. Many thanks to Joceile Moore for allowing us to reproduce her Word Search. — Matthew Cowan, OHS Moving Images and Photography Archivist OREGONSCAPE View online at: http://www.ohs.org/research-and-library/oregon-historical-quarterly/oregonscape.cfm LESBIAN WORD SEARCH by Joceile Moore was published in Matrix Magazine (vol. 2, no. 11, p. 33) in May 1981. Many thanks to Joceile Moore for allowing us to reproduce her word search. OHS Research Library, Gay and Lesbian Periodicals Collection, MSS 2988-7 ...

Information for authors

Information for authors

Identification of cellulose ethers in cultural heritage by means of MALDI-TOF-MS

Abstract Cellulose ethers used as adhesives in heritage conservation treatments have been successfully identified by means of MALDI-TOF-MS, a technique non-previously applied for this purpose in cultural assets. This is of relevant importance for long-term conservation, as discrimination among the diverse types of cellulose ethers that may have been applied to an asset during conservation treatments is essential in order to guarantee stability of artworks. The proposed method also allows discrimination among these adhesives spread on paper-based artworks, where cellulose ethers have been extensively utilized for many years, overcoming interferences usually occurred due to the cellulosic nature of both adhesive and support. Successful results have been obtained from mock-ups and small samples of paper-based original artworks with usual low concentrations of adhesive. FTIR and NMR have been used as complementary analytical techniques.

Creative art and medical student development: a qualitative study.

Although many medical schools include arts-based activities in their curricula, empirical evidence is lacking regarding how the creation of art might impact medical students and their professional development. We used a qualitative research design in order to understand this process. We conducted and analysed interviews with 16 medical students who had created and presented original artwork in the context of a required narrative-based undergraduate medical education programme. Teams of students collaborated to create interpretive projects based on common themes arising from conversations with individuals with chronic illness and their families. Open-ended questions were utilised to explore the conceptualisation and presentation of the projects, the dynamics of teamwork and the meaning(s) they might have for the students' professional development. We identified themes using repeated contextual reading of the transcripts, which also enhanced accuracy of the interpretations and ensured saturation of themes. Several major themes and sub-themes were identified. The creation of art led to a sense of personal growth and development, including reflection on past life experiences, self-discovery and an awareness of art as a creative outlet. Students also reported an enhanced sense of community and the development of skills in collaboration. Lastly, students reflected on the human dimensions of illness and medical care and identified an enhanced awareness of the experience of those with illness. A programme involving the creation of art based on stories of illness encouraged students' explorations of conceptions of the self, family and society, as well as illness and medical care, while enhancing the development of a collaborative and patient-centred worldview. Creative art can be a novel educational tool to promote a reflective, humanistic medical practice.

Joshua C. Taylor, the 1965 Seminar, and the Emergence of Contemporary Creative Looking

Abstract In this paper, we provide a brief description of the 1965 Penn State Seminar, consider the ways in which art museums and original works of art were (and were not) positioned at the seminar, and argue that art historian Joshua C. Taylor and art education professor June King McFee elucidated ideas that influenced and changed the trajectory of art museum education, a related field that was concurrently emerging as an area of study and research as well as a profession. In particular, Taylor’s presentation at the Penn State Seminar, “The History of Art in Education,” provides rich ground to cultivate pedagogical implications of creative looking and knowing based on art history as a component of the art curriculum, and also suggests important aspects to consider in relation to current art museum education practices. We also outline Taylor’s subsequent writings that specifically address art museums and art museum education and suggest that his work provides evidence of an evolving understanding of art history and interpretation that opened up a space for contemporary practices of creative looking in the art museum. While education practitioners in art museums and art museum education were not explicitly included in the seminar, Taylor’s presentation suggested multiple points of entry to locate the implications of art museum education within the field. Using Taylor’s presentation as a springboard, we identify the implicit threads that associate ways of creative looking with contemporary educational practices and possibilities in the art museum.

Benjamin’s KISS: A Perspective on Music, Spectacle and Aura

This article explores the ontological significance of spectacle and imagery in rock music. The examination illuminates how the construct of a larger-than-life fantasy and a live performance spectacle creates a sense of auratic presence; in other words, how live performance creates a present-moment experience and a sense of being in the here and now with an authentic and original work of art. Such characteristics, as encapsulated in Walter Benjamin’s concept of “aura”, have been considered problematic or even no longer relevant. However, I will argue here that in our age of digital reproduction the aura persists and is not irrevocably lost in reproduction. Moreover, the aura is transportable and present in the 21st century live music economy, as the case of the American rock group KISS will illustrate. By analysing KISS’ marketing strategy in the 1970s and how it evolved from there into the branding, licensing, and merchandising franchise that it became during the late 1990s, this article will show what a music group can do to auratically appeal to an audience by using (and leveraging) media strategy, mysticism, and the appearance of success. Keywords: KISS, Benjamin, aura, liveness, spectacle, live performance

Application of microemulsions for the removal of synthetic resins from paintings on canvas

Traditional cleaning methods with organic solvents often are not suitable for removal of aged resin so researchers have to find new formulations. In this work, a case study is reported in which new microemulsions were applied on the surface of a painting covered by some aged resin layers used during a previous restoration. Based on the quality of the intervention and the analysis of a sample of the varnish carried out with both MALDI-TOF and ATR-IR spectrometers, it was conjectured that this undesired material could be an acrylic polymer. So it was chosen to use xylene, ethyl acetate and propylene carbonate (XYL and EAPC) microemulsions (O/W oil in water). The first is able to solubilise only acrylic polymers, the second may solve both acrylic and vinyl resins. The first has had the greatest effect allowing complete varnish removal and original artwork restoration.

Some Thoughts on Contemporary Graphic Print

<p align="center">The production requirements of original graphic works of art have changed since 1980. The development of digital printing using lightfast colors now rivals traditional techniques such as wood cut, screen print, lithography, etching etc. Today, with respect to artistic legitimacy, original graphics using traditional printing techniques compete with original graphics produced by digital printing techniques on the art market. What criteria distinguish traditional printing techniques from those of digital printing in the production and acquisition of original graphics? What consequences is the serious artist faced with when deciding to implement digital print production? How does digital print change original graphic acquisition decisions?</p>