Blog Archives

Archaeologists Discover What May Be the World’s Oldest Crayon

11/24/2019

Archaeologists working on a site near an ancient lake in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK say they may have discovered one of the earliest examples of a crayon. The reddish-brown piece of ochre is thought to have been used 10,000 years ago to color animal skins or produce artwork during the Mesolithic period. The oblong discovery is just 22 mm long and 7 mm wide, yet shows a heavily striated surface where it was most likely scraped to create red pigment. One side of the tool is sharpened, another hint that the piece was used to draw or color. Dr. Andy Needham from the University of York’s Department of Archaeology explained the discovery helps archaeologists understand how significant color might have been to the hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic period.
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2018/03/archaeologists-discover-oldest-crayon/

Drawing Conversations 3: Drawing Talking to the Sciences

A one day conference bringing together practice and perspectives on drawing used as an investigative tool in a range of research areas outside the arts.

Drawing Conversations 3: Drawing Talking to Sciences assesses the potential for drawing to make meaningful contributions to knowledge outside the arts by bringing together examples of drawing used investigate. The event is hosted by The Ruskin Museum of the Near Future in collaboration with Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA). The conference theme builds on John Ruskin’s advocacy of drawing as a way of seeing and understating the world. For Ruskin, it was drawing that facilitated close and careful examination of subjects that sensitised the drawer to notice. In more recent years, there has been increasing investment in developing relationships between art and the sciences through collaborative projects. Residencies, publications and exhibitions are bringing artists and scientists together to look for cross-disciplinary solutions to complex shared problems. Alongside prominent work in digital and media arts, there are a growing number of artists and scientists forging such relationships around graphic practices. Drawing is historically associated with knowledge generation and critical investigation. Today drawing continues to work across the porous boundary between observation and expression, empiricism and invention in a range of investigative practices. This event provides an opportunity to share and reflect on examples, alongside a related conference exhibition.
Details
Date :17th January 2020
Time: 9.30 – 17.00
Location :The Ruskin, Lancaster University campus, LA1 4YB
Image: Emma Stibbon RA, 'Glacier Terminus, Antarctica'. (2013). Courtesy of the artist.

0 Comments