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"The greatest flower artists have been those who have found beauty in truth; who have understood plants scientifically, but who have yet seen and described them with the eye and hand of the artist."
-Wilred Blunt, "The Art of Botanical Illustration"
As you are exploring the many physical and digitalized specimens in our course this week, reflect on one or more pieces that have made the biggest impact on you. How might these pieces be used in your teaching practice? How might these pieces serve as gateways to foster student engagement/examination/reflection? Using these ideas as your guided inspiration, use your inquiry-driven investigation to explore the many resources found in the Library of Congress Free to Use and Reuse / Primary Source Sets / Digital Collections. Also, consider using our on-site visits to local collections - the Library Company of Philadelphia, the College of Physicians Medical Library, and the Benjamin Rush Medicinal Plant Garden to hone in on selections that you find compelling or could inspire your teaching practice. In your discussion response, be sure to include the links to the found images/sets/collections that you are referencing. How might you use these in your classrooms and/or in your respective areas of work?
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Yes. The Botanical Illustrator does not deviate from the true Beauty of the specimen.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2013646201/
I found this image inspiring for use in my teaching this fall.
It's beatiful! What do you think you might do with it?
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The dandelions discussed in yesterday’s (July 11, 2022) opening lecture gave me pause. Children often pick dandelions and offer them to adults as presents. I’m not sure I gave them as presents, but I am almost positive I picked them because it was fun to pick flowers. Now that I have a lawn, the dandelion and other weeds are, speaking hyperbolically, the bane of my existence.
Then, yesterday, we saw this (slide #17 in Cate’s lecture, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.completeherbali00brow/?sp=192&r=-0.265,-0.173,1.289,1.834,90), which is from: Brown, O. Phelps. The complete herbalist, or, The people their own physicians by the use of nature's remedies. Jersey City, N.J., The author, 1865. Image. https://www.loc.gov/item/07016103/.
In order, the drawings are of a dandelion, a daisy, and an elecampane. According to some sources, all have medicinal properties. For example, the following is from The Library Company of Philadelphia: http://pacscl.exlibrisgroup.com:48992/F?func=direct&doc_number=000280659&solr_nav%5Bid%5D=ef3a3a81270377e4718b&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=5
The description is “Dr. Chipman’s Vegetable Blood Purifier and Liver Pills. These mild and efficient remedies have been fully tested in a daily practice, by the proprietor and many respectable physicians, and the efficacy acknowledged by hundred of thousands of respectable persons who have taken them. ... Dr. C.W. Chipman’s Dandelion Pills. ... Dr. C.W. Chipman’s Tonic Mixture, for dyspepsia, general debility, sick headache, and all cases requiring a pure corroborant. …”
While I love science and am intrigued by its connection to botany, what I really like about the piece is how all the flowers are yellow (and I am not normally a yellow-flower person). I could envision the three, with their erect posture and green leaves, in an arrangement together in a vase. It might look nice with some chamomile flowers (available at Trader Joe’s). All of this makes me think about Eric’s reminding us to channel the power of observation. I would actually give the students three images and complete the similarities/differences/common thread.
This collection of nature prints has had the greatest impact on me because of the beauty and detail they present to the viewer. This past spring, I took my 3rd grade students outside for art class and taught them about leaf rubbings. This was a spontaneous class where students simply explored rubbings of various plants in our outdoor space. This class came at a point in the year where student engagement was low and I started feeling burnt out. Student responses to the leaf rubbing process was, “How does it do that?!”, and “Wow, it’s so beautiful!”. We spent a full period exploring this process, but I didn’t take the lesson further. Breintall’s Nature Prints inspired me to think of ways to build out a unit on texture and printmaking. Many of the prints we saw at the Library Company were done using a variety of printmaking techniques and yielded different results. Relief and intaglio (additive and reductive) methods can be taught to students through the use of crayon and paper rubbings, styrofoam engravings, and relief prints. When students are provided multiple means of art-making techniques within the same artistic process, they can choose techniques they’re drawn to and can build on their knowledge for future projects.
Breintnall's prints were really amazing. I recall that someone at our session asked about the inks he used for his impressions. That question came to mind while we were making our own nature prints at the arboretum yesterday afternoon. What did you think of working with the two processes we used, rubbings (frontage) and relief printing?
I was intrigued by the double-sided leaf prints that we saw at the Library Company. I would like my students to create a book of prints of leaves from our area. This would also be an opportunity to collaborate with a grade-level teacher. We would begin with an examination of the leaf prints and possibly compare and contrast them with other representations of leaves (drawings, rubbings, sketches, etc). I love the this process adds a greater degree of depth and holistic understanding than the way I've taught this type of lesson it in the past.
I especially enjoyed that we got to make our own rubbings and impressions at Morris arboretum yesterday. It made me appreciate Brientnall's clean, precise impressions even more!
In browsing through the illustrations of flowers from the Library of congress, I came across this “flower” that reminded me a lot of the purple “weed” I spotted along the rail line I traveled this morning! I think they are both lovely and I plan to do more research on the loc site for examples to show my student this fall. Showing them the variations in plants and “weed” we all come across in our travels is a good lead in to art classes where I encourage careful looking, as well as, creating art.
I've heard it said that a weed is simply a plant that's growing where you don't want it. I liked that when we visited the medicinal plant garden at the College of Physicians, some of the common plants from my garden became elevated in my mind as sources of medicine (in the right dose!) Context matters.
The primary source that struck me the most yesterday was Thorton's The Temple of Flora.
I'm drawn to the weird, almost unsettling quality of these illustrations. There's a contrast between the bright colors of the flowers and the more muted (sometime stormy) backgrounds.
I would use these illustrations with my Video Discussion classes to discuss the composition and color selections (with an emphasis on contrast) for shots. The illustrations remind me of the carefully-composed shots of directors like Wed Anderson, Sam Raimi, and Tim Burton:
I love this comparison! I think you got to what's unsettling about Thornton's images: the settings are so odd, and the flowers are placed in the extreme foreground. We're so close to the tulips, we can't see the leaves, and yet we can make out a church steeple in the far reaches of the background.
Art & Education: Why THESE flowers? To be honest, exploring the LOC website is the ultimate rabbit hole experience. The most practical hint from yesterday would have to be narrowing a search to only the published materials. I also found your presentation on exploring the resources to be super helpful...I'll use much of that when I share info with the Igniting Inquiry course next week. And touching those beautiful, historic books at the Library Company was thrilling. Some of the images that are embedded in my mind are the water lilies in that ginormous book and the Passion flower images. The opportunity to look closely and explore slowwwwwwlyyyy is the gift of the UArts/TPS courses. It is this spirit of exploration that I will take back to my classroom.
I am glad you found that tip helpful. And yes, close looking and taking time with the sources helps us ask more meaningful questions.
Yesterday, when Kate said something along the lines of staying focused on the process and not getting caught up in the final product, I was hooked. Although I often reference this philosophy while making my art or as a tool to stave my students from frustration, it is truly applicable in all areas of life. To keep it simple, I will base my reflections on embracing this in our class. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to reread the syllabus and welcome the creative process into my soul for lesson ideas. To be honest, I felt kind of closed to it yesterday since I was taking this class "just for fun" and had already dedicated much time pre-pandemic in developing this course when I thought I was teaching it and thought I was tapped. However, as ideas tend to be stifled when actively seeking them out and flow when I let them just happen, I was grateful I became open to it last night.
I processed what I saw at the library yesterday and wondered about possible applications. I thought about the simplicity of the leaf prints and how I marveled at the intricate negative space they were able to capture. This led me to think about the Elements of Art and Principles of Design and how......
Hmmmm...I cannot figure out how to edit my above comment so I will just end my comments with there is a lot to process as I embrace the process this week. Today I purchased books to supplement the myriad of ideas floating around my head. I am not quite ready to solidify any one product yet, be patient with me, I feel something solid coming through!
Loved the Morris Arboretum and College of Physicians today - so much to learn and apply across the curriculum. I look forward to seeing what tomorrow brings to my process. Some things that stand out for me are the "Wicked Garden" developed by the students in Philadelphia and the way the nature prints captured negative space so beautifully when done "correctly."
Moira Messick
, you can edit just about everything you write here by clicking on the gear icon. In this case, it's right above your comment. Let me know if you have any questions. Cate can help you, too, because she's pretty much a whiz at the TPS Teachers Network!
Thanks Mary!
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These show the right amount of ink and pressure - #goals!
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