If you were sitting on a plane and you noticed rivets being removed from the wing, would you be alarmed? How many rivets can the wing lose before its integrity is compromised? This classic analogy-proposed more than 25 years ago by noted scientists Paul and Anne Ehrlich-parallels the phenomenon of species loss in our natural systems. One species, two species-at what point is the integrity of the system compromised? At which point does it no longer function?
Riveting Inferences, an interactive installation, represents a collaboration that bridges the Arts and Sciences through the use of historic documentation: preserved museum specimens, photography, papermaking, and the cyanotype process. One might think of no two disciplines more disparate. However, the methods by which each approaches a problem-through questioning, development of appropriate methods, and careful presentation of outcomes-run exactly parallel.
Underneath the collaboration lies purity of form, materials, and imagery. At the center of the piece is a large-scale artist book comprised of cyanotype images of extant and extinct birds photographed at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. These images and their counterparts mounted on the gallery walls, representing rivets lost, loose, and intact, were photographed using a view camera with large-format sheet film. Lightweight floating panels that surround the book are formed by individual cyanotype prints riveted together to represent the global network of interdependent species. These panels consist of handmade denim paper salvaged from jeans worn by ornithologists in the field during various research activities.
The installation presents the birds in two contrasting ways-as a sea of images that go largely unnoticed and unrecognized on a daily basis and as portraits with exceptional detail and clarity-challenging the viewer to consider the beauty of nature that is often unseen, always underappreciated, and inherently fragile. The arrangement of the suspended structures and large-format book puts the viewer at the hub of the system, symbolizing the human impacts on species around the world. Entering into the visual environment, one is encouraged to interact with images and connect with the piece.
The following Longwood University undergraduate students participated in this year-long research project: Alex Grabiec, Kristen Herndon, Michael McAteer, Laura Nodtvedt, Kari Wilson
This effort was funded in part by the Cook-Cole College of Arts and Sciences and the Faculty Research Grant program. Additional thanks go to the Academy of Natural Sciences and Dr. Nathan Rice for access to the ornithology collection and invaluable assistance.
Kerri L. Cushman is a sculptural book artist and avid papermaker with an affinity for letterpress. She holds a MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College in Chicago. Known for her artist books, she has exhibited her exquisitely crafted works internationally. Reformulating everyday objects, her narrative works--layered by surprise and sprinkled with humor--continually challenge the book arts realm. Currently, she resides in Virginia and is an Assistant Professor of Art at Longwood University.
Alix D. Dowling Fink is an avian ecologist with a keen interest in the other volant vertebrates, namely bats. She holds a Ph.D. in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences from the University of Missouri. Her active research program,<
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