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The Artificial Flowers Project: Reconstructing 18th-Century Flower Making Practices
April 16 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Join Tianna Uchacz, Ph.D., assistant professor in Visualization, and Sophie Pitman, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, in a discussion about their work with a curious 18th-century French-Flemish manuscript in UW-Madison’s Special Collections. The translation of the manuscript reveals instructions for how to dye textiles and paper to create artificial flowers.
Compiled by the Benedictine nuns of the St. Godelieve Abbey in Bruges, Belgium, the manuscript’s recipes, notes, hand-painted designs and cut patterns tell us about the botanical knowledge, craft skills, dyestuffs and material culture of the women who made artificial flowers.
The Artificial Flowers Project, co-led by Uchacz and Pitman, is creating a digital edition of the manuscript and reconstructing its premodern recipes in the modern lab.
