Historical perspectives: portraits from civil war america

Over the course of two semesters, working with Professor Maureen O'Hara Ure of the Department of Art and Art History, I developed a series of historical portraits in latex paint and collage elements culled from various magazines. I began each subject's portrait with a charcoal sketch and a latex under-painting, mapping out shades of light and shadow, later adding color and fine detail with hundreds of cut pieces of magazine adhered to the painted surface. This time-intensive process required each piece of collage be selected to match the color and tone needed to achieve a likeness. For this project, I focused on pivotal figures from the American Civil War. I completed portraits of abolitionists John Brown, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth as well as designs for portraits of Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William T. Sherman and Abraham Lincoln. These portraits, combined with symbolic elements and text, address both the historical impact and modern interpretation of each figure. As this project was conducted, in part, under the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, I have also worked with Professor O'Hara Ure to prepare several of her works for display in upcoming gallery shows and constructed painting surfaces and hand-bound sketchbooks for her use in the coming months.