On My Drawing Board: January 2014

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

7th PA Cavalry commission piece

Another interesting commission piece I did in the latter portion of 2013 was this monochrome drawing (French gray dolored pencil on Canson Mi-Teintes paper) featuring a portion of the bronze monument to the 7th PA Cavalry located at Chickamauga National Battlefield in Georgia. This piece was commissioned by Larry Fryer of Woodstock, MD, and also includes an inset portrait of his ancestor, Isaac Marks, who served in Co. I of the 7th PA Cavalry. While I've done numerous commissioned portraits over the years, and even portions of three-dimensional monuments, I'd never tried to capture the raised surface of a bronze relief panel as seen here. I discovered that the key was in precisely rendering the varying depths and crispness of the shadows and highlights. It really gave me a thorough appreciation of the skill level of the original sculptor!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Price of Freedom Diorama at Gettysburg College Library

My other BIG commission for last year:

In the late summer/early fall I was contacted by a client of mine from California; his son attends Gettysburg College and my client is a frequent donor to the school. He had the idea of creating a diorama which would become a permanent installation in the college library, depicting the college campus in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, focusing on "Old Dorm" and the surrounding grounds which became -- like so many other places -- a hospital. My client hired an excellent diorama builder from Maryland, Don Griffin, to do the work. It was decided that they would close one end of the diorama -- the end behind the recreation of "Old Dorm" -- and needed a backdrop of the sky and surrounding landscape. In addition, they wanted the reverse side of that panel to contain a montage of significant players in that event, members of the college community, nurses, etc. My client hired me to produce both of these panels -- "30 x 52" each -- to be completed in time for installation and unveiling to coincide with Dedication day events (week of November 19).

Below is the finished montage panel, along with two close-up views of the diorama itself, prior to the installation with the acrylic cover, and two more photos that show the back and front views (front view also shows my scenic backdrop panel) of the diorama as it now appears, located just inside the main entrance to Musselman Library on the Gettysburg College campus.

While I truly believe Mr. Griffin's diorama is by far the "star" of this installation, I was honored and thrilled to be asked to play a role and have my name on the plaque along with his, as co-creator.

What is the "Civil War Chronology Project"?

(formerly called The Civil War 150 Project)

The commemoration of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), which was held in October of 2009, is widely considered to mark the beginning of the Sesquicentennial -- or 150th -- anniversary of the Civil War era. Over the next five years, many states and local communities will be marking the 150th anniversary of battles and important events that occurred in their areas during that era, and state and local commissions are being established to bring attention to those events.

Since I first began developing my series of images inspired by Civil War-era America and its people, my goal has always been to provide a complement to the images of battle scenes and famous generals focused on by most other Civil War artists. My approach has been to get to know these people in their pre-war identities and culture, and try to move through the War era in a chronological fashion, hoping to gain some sense of what they experienced as the War unfolded and engulfed them. My work can essentially be described as homage to life in the midst of war, but it carries a contemporary sensibility in hopes of encouraging viewers to see parallels between their lives and the lives of Americans gone before us.

The Civil War Chronology Project is the title I have given to the ongoing project I have developed for myself, to chronicle the lesser-known people and events of the Civil War era beginning with the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 and continuing through the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in April of 1865. I currently have created more than twenty pieces which were inspired by the incidents and people in the years leading up to, and then including, the First Battle of Manassas (also known as First Bull Run). To view the works created prior to 2010, please visit my website, http://www.civilwarfineart.com/, and specifically, my Beyond the Battlefield gallery page. Since helping viewers establish a more personal connection with the people of the Civil War era is a primary goal of mine, I welcome feedback from my audience. Thank you for viewing! ~~Amy V. Lindenberger