Historical/medieval art and The book of Miracles

As our explorations and research into materials has increased and deepened, so has the interest and connection to how certain materials have been used in the past. A time period of particular interest is the medieval era, a huge span of time from around 500Ad to the late 1400's.

In a recent workshop last November we included working from medieval sources and this formed part of the creative aspect for participants. We found this to be an inspiring addition to what we offer and this year plan to incorporate painting from historical imagery more of a part of what we do. There is something so beguiling and captivating about artwork from so long ago. It makes for a fantastic starting point in which to create new versions and interpretations while also using authentic colours from the time. This becomes a very connecting experience to art practitioners in the past, a time in the world so very different from our own. We find this to be a centring and grounding exercise, reducing the pressure of creative original art, while at the same time, celebrating and thinking about people in the past.

A book that we are currently enthralled by is a German manuscript from the 1500's called the 'Book of Miracles.' It is an account of all manner of miraculous signs and apparitions over the course of history starting with scenes described in the Old Testament, continuing through into antiquity, the middle ages and to the time in which it was created. In terms of the artwork, although technically made during the renaissance, the paintings have a very medieval quality to them and could very easily be from earlier times.

The book includes all manner of celestial signs, weather phenomena, calamities, and peculiar creatures. The design and style is relatively simple so as an initial inspiration, or a direct copy, creating new versions of the illustrations isn't particularly complicated.

We will be running a workshop in March which will involve preparing authentic pigments from the time, mixing them with historical binders before creating a painting of choice from the book. By preparing a medium and then painting from such source material we find that each enhances the other, making for a more involved and enhanced overall experience. This theme of using historical artworks as a beginning point is something we plan to do more of in the future.