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Painting the past vs. painting the future by L. H. Barker I am often asked if there is a difference between creating traditional architectural illustrations (depicting what will be or what is) and creating interpretive historical illustrations (depicting what was). In my experience, the answer is a definite YES. They are much more demanding, time consuming and harder/more picky. Briefly, here are some of the more obvious differences I encounter: Detail of the L.H.Barker Lewger Parlor during an important meeting with Governor Calvert St John's Site Museum: various support references courtesy of History St. Mary's City, MD, which made their way into the final illustration. (Every item in the composition has supported historical evidence, I just showed a few.)

Reference Material: nearly every item shown in a piece is based on archaeological fact, scholastic conjecture and typically years or decades of research. If there is no research available to answer a particular question, the team archaeologists use scholastic conjecture to deduce a scenario. Information is gathered from archaeological digs and artifacts, written material such as inventories and diaries, oral history, similar or related period sites and period artwork/culture. From the resource packet, St John's Site Museum: decorative window design, courtesy of History St. Mary's City, MD (Note the glass fragments unearthed were used to piece together the decorative Lewger windows design) From the resource packet, St John's Site Museum: Lewger Era Site Plan, courtesy of History St. Mary's City, MD (Note all the excavation holes, notes and coordinates) Entourage: following the logic of the previous statement, one cannot randomly place props (people, trees etc.) in a composition simply for balance, to make it more interesting, or add more color/texture. Entourage must come from a pool of historically correct or known artifacts such as glasses, architectural hardware/detailing, shoe buckles, buttons on clothing and even plant/tree species. People included in a piece are documented to have lived or been at that historical site and during that historical period. I am given an amazing amount of detailed research such as fragments of found pottery, historical paintings done in that era, mold tracks of trees/fence/buildings that existed, sketch elevations/floor plans/site plans the archaeologists have put together. The shoe buckles are as important as the period carved joists, posts and laid brick patterns! Clothing: the fabric, color, and embellishment depict social status and wealth, as do the number of animals shown, glass patterns in the window and style of wine goblet or quill pen. Every element these must be reviewed carefully for scholastic correctness and educational content. Need a deep blue coat on the man in the corner for color balance? Not possible, as he was too poor to afford that. His location in the composition may also indicate his social status. Composition: since these are primarily teaching tools for an audience that ranges in age from toddlers to seniors, they must be compelling and easily understood for this large age and educationally diverse audience. The goal is to pack in as much of the extensive research and material provided into each piece and develop as balanced and pleasing a composition as possible in the time available to turn around a piece. Illustrations are designed to be used with one another, over one another (perfect registration), blown up as detail sections to stand on their own, reduced, and used in a wide variety of venues from lectures, to print/articles and exhibit panels. You are telling a story of a site and the lives of its inhabitants, as opposed to showing a structure with some site and scale references. It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to get from rough concept sketch to the finished pieces. There are many back and forth sessions between client and myself. Input comes from my immediate team members, and occasionally from experts worldwide when the team feels additional scholastic assistance should be sought to maintain historical accuracy. One example is a loaf of bread on a kitchen table in a scene done several years ago. Would the top crust be braided or embellished? All these minute details have to be checked for historical accuracy. Two chimney construction details with house x-ray construction, same building, different periods and owners. Originally the two pieces were supposed to just include chimneys. I brought up that I felt they were being shown out of context, so we doubled the workload to show the chimneys as they were constructed and their relationship to the building system. This is one example of how historical projects can run so much longer than the established budget. The team has to decide whether to stay within the budget or do what is actually required for a clear presentation. Left: 1638 Chimney, right:1978 chimney. St John's Site Museum, L.H.Barker © 2007. All rights reserved. Communication, visualization and methodology: because I am working with scientists rather than artists/architects/engineers, sometimes there is a terminology/language learning curve for team members. I need to help them visualize where a piece is heading graphically and they need to expand on the meaning/intent of some of their terminology and composition elements. The process is much more fluid than architectural illustration. Things can change hourly about what must go in, what should come out and what details need revision as a piece progresses. Sometimes, a word that means one thing to me graphically has a completely different meaning to an archaeologist. I have had to learn a second language to work efficiently on these. Garbage is garbage to me. Garbage is midden to them! The practice of tossing it out into the yard or streets was common in the 1600’s. Unearthed old midden sites are where so many of the answers lay for a given culture/site such as what was eaten, if it was imported from Europe, toys, tools and yes, shoe buckles. Someone who is an expert in period culture may not be an expert in period building methods and materials so a team approach is mandatory. These are collaborative efforts in every sense of the phrase. Constructive criticism: not from one client, but from the historical industry as well as the media people and general public! My clients will often send a piece in progress to fellow historians/archaeologists for feedback. I will often send to friends and family as a random cross section of “lay people”. Between the two types of reviews, we cover most of the intended audience. Historical illustrations get minute details studied for years and future research will most likely reference earlier illustrations, whereas an architectural illustration may be used for a week of press releases. No one I know counts the number or spacing of nails/fasteners used in contemporary construction, but will in a historical work! Shelf life: essentially forever or until it gets rewritten by new research and discoveries. Challenge/intensity: very high. Turnaround time: much too short for the work involved! Compensation/rewards: : most are funded through federal, state or local grants, appropriations, or endowments and are seriously underfunded for the actual work required. Depending on which standard governmental contract is used, one can do several months of work before payment is issued for the first month. As we like to say-we do it because we love it. For every hour I have been compensated for, there have been nearly as many pro bono hours. Part of my reward is the satisfaction of working on such intellectually stimulating projects. They challenge me to consider how people perceive and learn in ways I never considered before and I feel the experience has brought an extra dimension of understanding to my traditional architectural illustrations. ABOUT LES BARKER... Les Barker provides fine hand and digitally painted interpretive illustration for architects, engineers, marketing/advertising, real estate/developers/construction firms and museums. L.H.Barker's mediums include computer-painted, gouache, mixed media, pencil/charcoal/colored pencil, pen & ink and digital pieces. Services include expert traditional interior/exterior illustration, historical illustration, and technical/photographic image alteration illustration. AWARDS Award of Excellence, Architecture in Perspective 17 EXHIBITIONS Architecture in Perspective 17 (AIP17) National Endowment for the Humanities funded Van Sweringen Suite of 6 pieces, Historic St Mary's City, MD, a decade long exhibit. St. John's Site Museum MD. Permanent exhibit of of 26 historical pieces. PUBLICATIONS American Artist/ Drawing magazine, Summer 2005 issue, "Dreams of Construction" George Washington's Boyhood home: National Geographic website 7/08-, Smithsonian Institute magazine (9/08 issue) and website Summer 08-, NY Times 7/08, LA Times 7/08, NBC evening news 7/2/08 To see more of Les Barker's work, go to www.lhbarkerstudio.com From the resource packet, St. John's Site Museum: Lewger Era Floor Plan, courtesy of History St.Mary's City, MD Aerial, Van Sweringen Site, Historic St Mary's City, MD. L.H.Barker ©2006 The Arrival, Van Sweringen Site, Historic St Mary's City, MD. L.H.Barker ©2006 Kitchen, Van Sweringen Site, Historic St Mary's City, MD. L.H.Barker ©2005 Historic St Mary's Chapel Exterior, St Mary's City, MD. L.H.Barker ©1997 Historic St Mary's Chapel Interior, St Mary's City, MD. L.H.Barker ©1997 Winner of ASAI Architecture in Perspective 17 Award of Excellence Detail of the Saratoga Museum interior. The building was on the National Registry for Historic Places as an old bottling plant when converted into the Auto Museum. All the cars shown are famous classics - some one of a kind. It was projects like these that initially got me involved doing very detailed historical illustrations. L.H.Barker ©2000. Al rights reserved. Detail of the State Comptroller's building illustration. The building is surrounded by buildings on the National Historic Registry for Historic Places. L.H. Barker © 1998. All rights reserved

Detail, St John's Museum, Indian Era Detail, St John's Museum, Overzee Era Detail, St John's Museum, Inkeeper Era