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Wednesday 21 September 2022

The Archaeologist and The Artist

The blog post for this week has been written by Isobel Jackson-Scibona, who is currently undertaking a three-month paid placement at the Egypt Centre funded by Swansea University’s Graduate Support Programme. During this placement, Isobel will be producing illustrations of objects in the collection, with a particular focus on the unpublished material from Armant.

My childhood was spent surrounded by art. With both parents either teaching art or making it themselves, I grew up eagerly entering every Eisteddfod competition with my creations and was even awarded the title of Art Honours Student in sixth form. Having decided early on that I would follow in my parents’ footsteps and do my teacher training after A-levels, this all changed when I discovered my passion for Ancient History. However, I still had a deep love for art, finding that my particular style lent itself best to detailed analytical studies of objects rather than emotive and expressive pieces. This was much to the frustration of my poor teacher Mrs Eddy, who spent countless hours trying to help me loosen up, giving me nothing but A2 pieces of paper, a chunk of charcoal and my floundering imagination. Despite her best efforts, and later amazing tutelage by the lecturers at Coleg y Cymoedd during my Foundation Diploma, I knew that teaching art in a school was just not in my cards (fig. 1).

 

Fig. 1: 2007 to 2022: An ongoing love of drawing and art but luckily a visible improvement!


Having been able to explore Latin in school and been lucky enough to study Classical Civilisation at A-level, I was introduced to the ancient world through Homer’s epics. I distinctly remember sitting in the Classics classroom at Howells School, being surrounded by the smell of old tomes, the gentle creaking of the building’s 1860s wooden panelling from the warmth of the old school radiators and a particularly heated discussion of how much we hated Jason in Euripides’ Medea. Despite there being only two of us taking the A-level, the infectious passion Miss Jenkins displayed and the way she could paint vivid images of rich history from Greece to Rome and beyond made me realise that I had become completely and utterly ensnared in the study of ancient worlds. It was all I wanted to do.

It was at Swansea University that my dream came to fruition, I pursued my degree in Egyptology and Classical Civilisation whilst eagerly absorbing any bits of information I could, even going as far as to attend extra classes that I had not enrolled in. Upon completing my BA Honours with a first-class degree, I decided that it was time for a new challenge, an MSc in Archaeological Science. This opportunity would allow me to study the areas of Osteoarchaeology and Zooarchaeology at Cardiff University, from some of the best in the field. As I’m pretty sure my old GCSE teachers would agree, I do not have a scientific bone in my body (pun intended). When plunging head first into the MSc, with a rather nagging sense of imposter syndrome and irrational fear of spilling a can of Pepsi on some very expensive lab equipment, I was comforted to see that one of my optional modules was Artefact Illustration. My heart leapt as I realised that no matter how much of an outsider I felt, being surrounded by so many incredible minds in white coats, this would be my chance to shine (fig. 2).

Fig. 2: I often like to share photographs of my work in progress, explaining the process of drawing artefacts by hand and the techniques I use.


Having gone on to achieve a distinction in the illustration module, I began sharing some of my work online hoping to find opportunities to practise my new skill. I was then contacted by Ken Griffin at the Egypt Centre who has very kindly hired me as an intern to illustrate some of the collection. Ken has also put his trust in me to render a number of flints from Egypt Exploration Society’s unpublished excavations at Armant during the 1930s, hopefully culminating with them being published alongside accurate illustrations that would further enrich their study (fig. 3). My deepest thanks go out to Ken for this experience and for listening to my excited ramblings on flint, pens and permatrace paper!

Fig. 3: Flint flake from the unpublished excavations at Armant


The question I most often get asked is, “with all the technology we have today, why do we still draw artefacts?”. The best answer I can give is that there are simple details that can be conveyed more easily through illustration than through photography. This is especially relevant to flints and metals that contain purposeful surface marks that can’t all be shown simultaneously in a single photograph, such as the directional strikes of the knapping process for stone tools (fig. 4).

 

Fig. 4: Whilst the photographs are very high quality and great for analysing W1370, the inclusion of accompanying illustrations allows for additional information to be conveyed (such as the direction of flaking/knapping).

When illustrating artefacts, the main principle is that you as an artist, are simply translating the object into another form. There is no room for an artistic license or attempts to make something appear more aesthetically pleasing, your job is to document the piece in a way that is accurate and interpretable by all. In order to do this, there are certain rules that must be adhered to in order to make sure that any scholar who sees the drawing is able to gain the information needed (such as material, scale and texture) and even use multiple artefact images to cross-reference details. To put it very simply:

1.         There is no global light—if you are right-handed you draw as if the light is coming from the top left (and vice versa). You use this rule and not the actual light source you are working with.

2.         Each material has its own marks—flint is directional line work, metal is stippling, pottery is a more organic mix of both etc. The marks you use act as a key to immediately identify an artefact and its material.

3.         A scale must always be included. Just as with object and excavation photography there should always be an appropriate scale included.

4.         Objects should be drawn with publication in mind—if you are drawing a 3cm long arrowhead at 1:1 scale, be aware of how the image may lose sharpness if blown up for an A2 poster presentation or display on a whiteboard. Equally, bigger drawings should avoid having areas of shading that are too heavy, as when the image is reduced for A4 printing in a book, the darker areas may condense down and bleed into nothing more than a blob of black ink.

5.         Whilst not necessarily a main principle, I prefer to draw the objects by hand with high-quality pens, only tidying up the linework digitally using Adobe packages. I find that physically drawing on paper gives you more control when recreating linework than using a digital tablet. However, this can differ between artists.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this short blog. I wanted it to serve as an introduction to not only myself, but some of the exciting work taking place at the Egypt Centre and the techniques behind it!

If you would like to know more about the illustration process or get in contact, feel free to email me at isobeljackson@hotmail.co.uk or on my Instagram blog @the_exhausted_historian.

Monday 5 September 2022

Revamping the House of Life

Exciting developments took place at the Egypt Centre during the final week of July. Thanks to income raised from donations and course fees over the past twelve months, we were able to purchase a new case for our House of Life gallery to replace the smaller one displaying our Writing, Maths, and Measuring exhibit. The new case was produced and installed by Glasshaus Displays, who had previously designed other cases for the Egypt Centre. It doubles the amount of display space compared to the previous case. The case will be divided into two parts: On the left, the theme of Writing, Maths, and Measuring will be maintained, with the objects previously on display already having been redisplayed (fig. 1). On the right, the additional space will allow us to put on temporary exhibitions for the first time. To coincide with the Sixth EES Congress, which is being hosted by Swansea University, the first display will be of objects in the Egypt Centre originating from the excavations undertaken by the Egypt Exploration Society. The exhibition will be installed over the next three weeks ready for the in-person element of the conference taking place at the university over the weekend of the 1st–2nd October. At the conclusion of this exhibition, the case will be used by students enrolled on the CL-M77 module (Reaching the Public: Museums and Object Handling), who will have the opportunity to curate their own display!

Fig. 1: Redisplay of the Writing, Maths, and Writing case


Additionally, we also retrofitted eleven cases previously installed by Glasshaus in the House of Life over the past fifteen years. New LED lights have now replaced the fibre optic lighting. This has several benefits: long lifespan; energy efficiency; improved environmental performance; no heat of UV emissions; and instant lighting with the ability to withstand frequent switching on and off. The most noticeable difference, however, has been the greatly enhanced lighting conditions. Since the fibre optics were fed by a single 100-watt bulb, this meant that the amount of light dispersed throughout the larger cases was particularly low. This was most evident in our Stone case, which made it difficult for visitors to adequately see the objects on display. The new LED lights have suddenly improved the visitor experience with vibrant lighting throughout. A comparison to the Stone case before and after really highlights the difference (figs. 2–3).

Fig. 2: Stone case with fire optic case lighting

Fig. 3: Stone case with new LED lighting


New ERCO track lighting was also purchased and installed in both galleries, which is a great improvement. The previous track lighting used halogen bulbs, which consumed a lot of energy and generated considerable heat, the latter being particularly harmful to many objects. The new track lighting use LED lights (fig. 4), which reduce the heat, while also cutting energy consumption by up to 80% compared to the previous system.

Fig. 4: Lintel and stelae illuminated by new LED spotlights


Interpretation panels were added in each of the cases in the House of Life, a practice first introduced to our Metals and Predynastic cases. As is the policy in Wales, the panels are bilingual (Welsh and English), which means that the text is rather limited by the space available. However, the panels help to give the displays more context (fig. 5). Over the coming months, bilingual labels will be added for each of the objects, which will further enhance the displays for visitors.

Fig. 5: Pottery case with a new interpretation panel


The feedback we have received from staff, volunteers, and visitors has been very positive. Many have remarked how the new lighting and interpretation panels have enhanced their experience. Thank you to everyone who has supported the Egypt Centre over the past twelve months. These improvements could not have been made without you!