STEAMplant Application Project Title “Time traveling through art, materials and technology: Replicating the Garden Fresco of the House of the Golden Bracelet, Pompeii “ Name and contact information of residents Gary Cullen, MFA, Painting Pratt Institute 2005 71-41 8th Street, Ridgewood, New York 11385 [email protected], (330) 704-4879 Katelin Fallon, MS, History of Art and Design: Pratt Institute 2013 1012 Urban Avenue 919.451.0690 Durham, NC 27701 [email protected] (919)-451-0690 Name and contact information of the faculty member from Pratt Institute’s Mathematics and Science and time commitment Prof. Eleonora Del Federico , [email protected] Committed to 10 hours per week. Prof. Del Federico main responsibilities will involve coordinating the project, exhibit and publication and advising the residents along with Prof. Diana Gisolfi from History of Art and Design, with whom she has collaborated on teaching and research about artists’ materials for the last 15 years. Name and contact information of the faculty member from the other department at Pratt Institute and time commitment Prof. Diana Gisolfi, History of Art and Design, [email protected] Committed to 10 hours per week, Prof. Gisolfi along with Prof Del Federico will coordinate the project and will also advise the residents in the Art Historical context of the project. Describe the type of interdisciplinary work to be carried out including the roles and responsibilities of each project member In this project we will replicate, on a wall at Pratt Institute, a fresco painting found at the house of the Gold Bracelet, in Pompeii. The house, which receives its name from the body of a woman wearing a gold bracelet found at the house, was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. The twenty feet of lava, which covered the house for almost 2000 years, ensured its preservation and today we can still see the painting in great detail and in bright colors (See figure 1). However, this specific fresco painting has been removed from its original setting: an outdoor dining room (triclinium) and it is now glued to a canvas and travelling the world in exhibits. We would like to return the fresco painting to its original framework, context and function: “A wall in an outdoor room which provided the illusion of the extended garden with life-size flowers, plants and birds. It was customary for the Romans to paint outdoor frescoes some of which would give the illusion of a larger garden, creating a peaceful and cool atmosphere to rest and share with family and friends during hot summer days. The interdisciplinary work lies then in the following: 1) The Chemistry of the materials of fresco painting a (directed by Prof. Del Federico, a chemist) 2) The artist’s technique and execution of the painting, executed by Gary Cullen, a painter experienced in Fresco painting 3) The art history of the painting, its relationship to its architecture and the everyday life of their dwellers (directed by Katelin Fallon, an Art Historian with field experience in the study and analysis of Roman Frescoes under the supervision of Art History Professor, Diana Gisolfi) The fresco painting technique involves the “cementation” of the pigment particles into the wall through the chemical reaction between the “fresh” lime plaster and carbon dioxide in the air. Because the pigment particles are trapped within the wall, the fresco technique is one of the most durable and resilient. Mock samples will be prepared to test pigments and expose them to the outdoors to test durability before the fresco painting is performed. Fresco paintings have an intimate relationship to their architecture, it imparts a specific objective or function to a room. In Roman times, the house dwellers had their rooms decorated with scenes they were found of, and would choose the quality of the materials and pigments depending on their financial possibilities. For example, this specific fresco not only creates the illusion of a larger garden but also it shows that the house dwellers were fond of theater because of the presence of theater masks in the painting itself. The fresco was also executed with expensive pigments such as cinnabar, and high quality Egyptian Blue which means that they had commissioned the artist to use the best quality materials. Figure 1: Portion of the Garden Fresco painting we will reproduce 2. Identify a target audience and explain how, as part of the project’s output, the project will engage that audience Our target audience is two fold a) The academic audience interested in how Materials and Art History connect with each other and how replicating fresco paintings from scratch using the pigments and mortars dating to 2000 years ago can teach us more about the artist, how he/she worked and the people who commissioned it. In addition, monitoring the fresco through time will allow us to understand and follow up its degradation b) The public who will learn how materials and art techniques teach us about ancient cultures and their technology. Moreover, focusing in Ancient Pompeii, frozen in time due to the volcanic eruption and the specific house of the Gold Bracelet adds a touch of time-traveling feeling to the audience as we can still find, not only the house itself as it was in its original setting but also its dwellers: women, men and children. The project will include an exhibit of the work showing the materials used, chemical composition but will also the include the history of Pompeii, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, maps and images of the house, the location of the fresco reproduced and introduce the audience to the people who were found in the house at the time of excavation, some of who still are on site, like the body of the child who perished going down the stairs seen if figure 2. Figure 2: Cast of the body of a child who died while trying to escape to the lower floors down the stairs Define the outcomes you would like to realize, including how these outcomes relate to working at the interface between art/design and math/science Final product is three fold: o Creating a replica of a fresco painting prepared as it looked 2000 years ago with its original materials— o An exhibit describing the chemistry of fresco painting and its materials, how it degrades with time, history of Pompeii and this specific house and their people, the function of the painting within the room and the house, why the actual pigments chosen- (expensive ones)— o A publication targeted to the general public about how the art history and the chemistry of artists’ materials, techniques, and a natural disaster which froze a city for 2000 years, can teach us something about the people every-day lives, their social status and their preferences in terms of arts and culture (theater masks show that the owners were interested in theater) 3. Outline a method to assess the success of your project 1. Have we attracted a larger number of students interested in Chemistry of Artists’ Materials? 2. Have we attracted the Pratt community and the general public and made them aware the importance of materials in the understanding of art and art history and how materials can teach us about people and their society? A questionnaire will be handed in during the exhibit that will allow us to assess this in a measurable way. 4. Develop a timeline of your project. 1. January 2019- February 2019-Ordering of the materials and research about the house of the golden bracelet and Pompeii 2. March 2019-April 2019 setting up scaffolding and preparing the wall with several layers of lime mortar 3. May 2019- August 2019- painting of the wall 4. August-October 2019-Article writing and preparation of Exhibit 5. November 2019- Opening of the exhibit: “Time traveling through Art, Materials and Technology: Pratt’s Replica of the garden fresco at the house of the Golden Bracelet, Pompeii” 5. Project budget 1. Materials (pigments, lime mortar) $ 1000 We already have many of the materials required (scaffolding, chisels, trowels, etc) because of the class Chemistry of Fresco painting which has been running for more than a decade. Our fresco wall can be seen in the main building near the PI coffee shop. 2. Gary Cullen’s compensation: 2,000 3. Katelin Fallon’s compensation: 2000 4. Travel for Katelin: 1000 (Katelin has housing in NYC, we are providing her with travel funds) 5. Exhibit and publication $1500 6. CVs/resumes of all project participants Gary F. Cullen 71-41 68th Street, Ridgewood, New York 11385 [email protected] (330) 704-4879 ________________________________________________________________________ Education: 2003-2005 MFA, Pratt Institute 1998-2003 BFA, Kent State University _______________________________________________________________________ Professional Experience: 2018-present Fresco Painting Consultant,, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY 2017-present Director of Technician Services, Atelier 4 inc., Long Island City, NY 2011-2016 Lead Technician, Atelier 4 inc. Long Island City, NY 2006-2011 Art Handler. Atelier 4 Inc,, Long Island City, NY 2005-2009 Visiting Professor of Chemistry in Art, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY 2005 Cabinet Building Assistant, MBDA, Brooklyn, NY 2004-2005 Graduate Assistant / Laboratory Assistant Chemistry in Art, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY 2003 Graduate Assistant Art History II, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY 2003 Office Assistant, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY 1999-2000 Lab Assistant, Computer Based Art, Kent State University Canton, OH _._____________________________________________________________________