Blog Post #8: Curation Team Processing
Alex Forbes
For this project, we digitized Japanese prints and cataloged them in JSTOR, under the University of New Hampshire. We collaborated with the Art & Art History department to access the prints, take photos, and photoshop them to make them accurate in color and size for uploading. We posted and cataloged the prints in JSTOR, making sure to give credit to the photographer, artist, the time period it was created, what the art depicts, what type of art it is, and what culture/country it comes from. To create these prints, the artists used a unique process of carving a negative image into a block of wood and then painting it. Each part of the design is carved onto a separate block, and then those blocks are stamped onto a page, thus creating a distinctive painting.
Each of us chose an artist to photograph and catalog their art. I chose Utagawa Tokoyuni. Tokoyuni's work is celebrated for its intricate detail, vibrant colors, and unique compositions. He was part of the Utagawa school and specialized in portraits of beautiful women (bijin-ga), theater scenes, and landscapes. His prints are highly sought after by collectors and remain significant in the study of Japanese art history. Since these prints are at least a couple hundred years old, we had to be very careful when handling them so as not to damage the delicate paper and paint.
This project relates to digital humanities because it involves database design processes. In chapter 5 of Drucker’s coursebook, “Database Design”, she delves into the importance of being able to digitize art and media as well as to organize it and credit it so that the public can access it and analyze it for their own use. Drucker highlights, “Content management systems and collections management systems are both common in the management of cultural heritage materials,” (Drucker, 75). Thus, database designs that are easy to navigate and contribute the proper credit to the materials are essential, especially in the digital humanities field since they put equal emphasis on credibility and cataloging as they do design and navigability.
The artist I chose was Hiroshige and his artwork from 1862. I chose his less famous pieces but still popular and beautiful. For my portion of the project, I also had to take my own pictures, help to edit and learn that process, and finally upload the information about each print onto jstor forum for them to then be published the next class period. Jstor is an excellent example of a DH project as it has many different forms of information being pictures, journals, and more. For this specific project we are using unstructured data which includes pictures along with structured data like the facts/information about each print. This provides all the information necessary to get the full details on the artist and their prints.
ReplyDeleteFrom Gabby: I specifically love the quote she picked out from Drucker’s textbook, “Content management systems and collections management systems are both common in the management of cultural heritage materials,” (Drucker, 75), because it is very specific to our group's goal for this project. Being able to digitize cultural artwork from our permanent collection at UNH, and use these management systems to make this work accessible in our case, to the public domain- which is something we cataloged. Overall, Alex’s process was accurate when describing firsthand what our group did in PCAC as a team and individually with the help from Otto and his team.
ReplyDeleteI chose the artist Yoshitoshi. I also helped along with both gathering high definition photos of the prints and color grading them for accuracy. We then began cataloging them in JSTOR as well. We have implemented many aspects of DH thus far during this process. Mainly the digitization of these physical pieces of art. Theres a lot to also say about the the long-term preservation of these prints. In uploaded them we as a group are also protecting them from physical deterioration, as they now don't need to be taken out of their storage to "prove" we have them. We are also creating data about the prints, including titles, artist names, dates, etc.
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