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jackiebrackettt · 2 years

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Prime Defenders Timeline (as of s2ep15)

before we start - this is using Southern Hemisphere seasons specifically Australian timing wrt schooling - this was likely not intended but makes the most sense with what we've been given. ALSO this is all speculation and headcanon - which is why i specify as of s2ep15 because it could be decanonised later. i also might be missing out on some information that ruins this because my memory is shit lol

under the cut bc it's a little long!

Pre-Canon:

December 2141--February 2142 -> Dakota dies and gets his powers

it's mentioned that he died sometime during summer and this is southern hemisphere summer. due to the fact he spent time training (and likely could've been in some kind of coma wrt the procedure) it makes sense that he's had his powers for roughly a year rather than only a month

there's the issue of his disappearance from school and people not really pointing that out but that's just something we'll have to take as he gave an explanation for it. idk how it works in american, but in australia schools are generally not split up as middle school versus high school (although some schools split secondary and senior-secondary but that's generally diff campuses rather than diff schools) which explains why people are already familiar with him and why he's well-known as the captain of the soccer team despite potentially missing a year

July 2142--October 2142 -> William dies and gets his powers

seems to be general consensus that william hasn't had his powers for as long by the start of the season - based on the fact he's not very used to them and likely had to get out of Deadwood fairly quickly due to the monster attacks. since he mentioned dying at 16 and that he turned 18 during the ten month gap, he couldn't have died past october (more on this later, but essentially he would've been 17 by october) and anywhere earlier than july seems too soon

issue of this is i'm not sure whether it was mentioned that he also died during summer or if i'm mixing that information up with something else - but we can always say it took them a while before they realised the monster attacks where connected to the wisps and that since he doesn't like his powers he never tried to get used to them -> putting his death sometime around February but as early as December

December 2142--Early January 2143 -> The Prime Defenders is created

Dakota's first death anniversary is either during this time or about to pass! also his 17th birthday :]! Vyncent arrives in Prime (and apparently joins the prime defenders later than william and dakota but it was definitely somewhere around this time)

Dakota mentions a couple of times in season 1 that they have "only known each other for a couple of weeks". this makes me more likely to assume that they met sometime around late december, but he also could be minimising the time to prove a point because he usually says this when he wants to know more about them shrug. either way - it likely wasn't any earlier than december or late november. dakota has had his powers for roughly a year and william has had his for roughly three months

Canon: (set in the year 2143 - source)

Late January 2143 -> Season 1 Starts + They Start School

it's mentioned that this is the start of the school year and pretty much all australian schools start their school year sometime in late-january. the events of season one take place over one-two weeks. dakota's death anniversary has likely passed, but could still be in the next month

Late January/Early February 2143--October 2143 -> Ten Month Time Gap

during this time william turns 18 - which is why his death couldn't be anytime after october, as that is the latest possible point that his birthday would be and he died before his 17th birthday. which also means his death anniversary was during this time

the ten month time gap was specifically mentioned to end in october (/november?) because grizzly didn't want dakota to turn 18. this is why season 1 is likely set in january. i think his birthday is canonically december 31st (at the very least, sometime in december) and he didn't age during season one or the ten month time gap which is why i don't believe season one could've been set anytime earlier

this is why i'm using australian/southern hemisphere time measurements - not only do the seasons line up, but the school year start time with the ten month gap does as well (plus the legal drinking age is canonically 18 lol)

October 2143--November 2143 -> season 2 starts + where we are now

william's been dead for just over a year! dakota's 2nd death anniversary is also likely coming up! william is 18, dakota is still 17 with his birthday in roughly two months. vyncent's age is funky because elf years + prime and fauna have different calendars i'm fairly certain. i imagine he celebrates his bday whenever the new year starts OR based on when they went to fauna he found out how much time passed there and tries to work out when his bday would be in prime

Final Notes:

again - this is all speculation and headcanon, and based on the council's history of just saying shit it could all be thrown out of wack - especially as we get more info on william and dakota's backstories. BUT if anyone has any sources for the above information could you please send it to me and i'll edit the post with a link to it (which also means please check the original post to see if there's any updates on that - idk how readmores work and whether edits will carry over regardless of reblog version)

also please please ignore any typos or missed words i am trying my best but i am typing this very late at night for me

#jrwi prime defenders #jrwi pd #pls reblog this i spent a stupid amount of time on it o(-(

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quicksiluers · 2 years

Photo

Blaze at the Bliss Farm by Dale Gallon - Gettysburg, PA July 3, 1863 – The marching columns of two Union army corps were hurrying to the north and west of Gettysburg. Called to engage Confederates descending on the town, these soldiers passed the farmstead of William and Adaline Bliss. The Bliss Farm included a Pennsylvania bank barn with walls of mortared stone and brick. “Expensively and elaborately built… a citadel in itself.” The farm’s two story frame and log house of weatherboard siding “stood 90 paces to the north”.

Moving quickly up from Taneytown was the 2nd Army Corps. Tested and proven formidable, it hurried to support Union remnants forming a defense line on Cemetery Hill and Ridge. Among the marching columns were the men of the 14th Connecticut. Assigned to Alexander Hays’ division, its 160 soldiers soon took their place in the west facing line. Fatefully located equidistant between the opposing forces, the farmstead was soon contested. Its barn, first occupied by Rebels, had numerous eastward facing windows and doors. The many ventilation openings and its 20 foot height were ideal for sharpshooters, who “busied themselves with picking off our battery men, officers and skirmishers”.

Pawns in a deadly back and forth, the barn and house had seen Union men stream repeatedly off Cemetery Ridge and successfully evict the Southern tenants; only to watch the men in blue pushed back in their turn. By midmorning on July 3rd, the combative Hays dispatched elements of the 14th Connecticut who briskly covered the 600 yard distance to the farm and soon controlled the barn. But with the farmhouse still occupied, and Long Lane on the northern flank bristling with Southern skirmishers, another reversal loomed. So in went the last four companies of Connecticut men to seize the “damned white house”. It was soon taken but its captors found it no place for defense, with “bullets piercing the thin siding and windows”.

With growing Confederate pressure presaging another costly reversal, Hays sent orders to burn the buildings and “wisps of hay and straw were soon on fire in the barn and in the house a straw bed was emptied on the floor” and set alight. Recovering their dead and wounded the fighting New Englanders again crossed open field; and looked back at the all-consuming flames (x)

#american civil war #civil war #us civil war #dale gallon #history #unconditional queue

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 7 months

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Hubble's multi-wavelength view of recently released Webb image

Patches of bright pink and wisps of dark red paint the foreground of this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. NGC 5068 is a barred spiral galaxy with thousands of star-forming regions and large quantities of interstellar dust. First discovered by British astronomer William Herschel in 1785, NGC 5068 sits in the southern region of the constellation Virgo and is around 20 million light-years away. Astronomers estimate the galaxy is 45,000 light-years in diameter.

At the top center of this image lies NGC 5068's bright central bar, a densely packed region of mature stars. A black hole lurks behind the bar, tugging the stars together with its intense gravitational pull. The bright pinkish-red splotches along the bottom and sides of the image are regions of ionized hydrogen gas where young star clusters lie. Though not very clear from this angle, these splotches are along the galaxy's spiral arms, where new stars typically form.

Astronomers also found at least 110 Wolf-Rayet stars in NGC 5068. Wolf-Rayet stars are a type of old, massive star that loses mass at a very high rate. They are typically more than 25 times the mass of our sun and up to a million times more luminous. There are about 220 Wolf-Rayet stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

NGC 5068 is difficult to see with human eyes because it has relatively low surface brightness. Luckily, Hubble's ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared capabilities helped capture the beauty and intrigue of this galaxy. Different cosmic objects emit different wavelengths of light; young and hot stars emit ultraviolet light, so Hubble uses ultraviolet observations to find them.

In June of 2023, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope released its own infrared image of NGC 5068 as part of a science campaign to learn more about star formation in gaseous regions of nearby galaxies. Many of Webb's observations are building on earlier Hubble observations, specifically a collection of 10,000 images of star clusters.

IMAGE....This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image (upper-right) includes ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. The Webb image (lower-right) is in infrared. The lower-left, wide-field image of NGC 5068 places the locations of the Hubble and Webb images within the context of the entire galaxy and to each other. Credit: NASA, ESA, R. Chandar (University of Toledo), and J. Lee (STScI); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America), DECam, Victor M. Blanco/CTIO, CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #nasa #esa #astrophysics

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reflectionsinbeauty · 4 years

Video

flickr

Anything But Disappointed At The Cape by William McIntosh Via Flickr: Roughly about 20 minutes after the prior photo was taken the sky lit up in all directions at once. In my earlier shot, you can see a bit of color beginning to creep into the sky. I had actually made a trip out to the same spot the night before and was disappointed with the light went off directly behind me and then promptly died. And if you have been following me on flickr for any length of time, you have probably seen me bemoan the fact that my batting average for good light is horrendously low. Several times on this trip last December I set off at 4:30 AM and drove over 2 hours just to find that the promise of high clouds had evaporated, or that the gap to the East had disappeared leaving a wall of unbroken gray. But every so often...you wake up and it's raining, and Skyfire says you only have a 50% shot of a sunrise, and you're thinking it's more like zero because...well...it's raining...but you head out anyway. And you get out of the car and you're freezing, and you're tired and your fingers aren't working and there's too many clouds and you know in your gut that you're going to get skunked again....and despite the odds, a wisp of pink appears... and then another....and then everything explodes. THOSE are the mornings that keep you coming back. And so I shall. Thursday morning at 5 AM I'll be trying to beat the rush hour traffic up the 5 and out towards the grapevine...and then another 12 hour drive across the Oregon border for another week of shooting along that amazing coastline. As for this particular shot, I think it has a bit too much sky in it....but I just couldn't bring myself to crop out any more. We just don't get skies like this where I come from. I remember hearing a podcast not too long ago where Alex Noriega announced that he is done with sunsets and sunrises. They hold no interest for him. I remember thinking...that must be nice. To be so inundated with skies that you don't jump up and down anymore when the light goes off. As for me...I live here in Southern California in an unbroken cesspool of brown weeds, power lines, and pavement. We see MAYBE one sky like this a year. We can go months without seeing a cloud. So when the sky lights up along the coast of Oregon and Washington, I have to remind myself to keep shooting because I'm generally standing there with my mouth hanging open. We are STARVED for skies like this in my neighborhood, but I imagine this sort of thing might become rather routine for photographers in the Pacific Northwest. I doubt if it will ever become routine for me. -------------- Thank you so much for your views and comments! If you have specific questions or need to get in touch with me, please be sure to send me a message via flickr mail, or feel free to contact me via one of the following: Instagram | Blog | Website | Facebook | 500px | Twitter

#Cape Disappointment #Sunrise #Washington #Pacific Coast

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peterpanquotes1 · 5 years

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Theatre Magazine, 1905

Page viii: H.S. Hartfield, Conn. — Q. Will you publish a picture of Maude Adams in “The Little Minister”? — A. See our February, 1905, issue. — Q. What is her summer address? — A. Lake Roakonkoma, on Long Island. — Q. In what will she play next season? — A. Barrie’s new comedy, “Peter Pan.”

Page 184: Reader. — Q. What is Maude Adams going to play next year? A. Barrie’s new play, “Peter Pan.” — Q. What has been her greatest success? A. Probably “The Little Minister.” — Q. Who is the most popular actress in America? A. It is entirely a matter of opinion. — Q. When will Maude Adams play in New York again? A. She plays at the Empire in September. She will visit Mr. and Mrs. James Barrie in England this summer.

Page 200: Some of the Scenes in “Peter Pan,” the New Play by James M. Barrie in which Maude Adams will be seen next season.

Maude Adams will be seen this coming season in a new play by James M. Barrie, called “Peter Pan,” or “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up.” This piece was first produced at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, on December 27, 1904, and had a most successful run. The popular author of “The Little Minister” designed it as a Christmas entertainment, and in addition to amusing children by introducing all kinds of whimsical incidents the author had a serious object in view. He has tried, with the usual delightful Barrie touch, to uphold the principle of “loving respect for ladies,” and inculcate a high ideal of one’s coming mother, who, in the course of a long definition, is described as “one who does a child’s work when it is tired and sings it to sleep.” Mr. Barrie has also endeavored to revive the love of children for fairies, who are referred to in an exquisitely written passage as being created by the first laughter of babies.

The play contains among other features, a burlesque of the sanguinary deeds of the old time pirates, sailing beneath skull and cross bones. There are buccaneers and redskins, all painted with vivid colors, and though the case of steel, says an English critic, there plays a lambent humor, more subdued in tone than the flickering light resembling that of a Will o’ the Wisp, which indicates the presence of Peter Pan’s watchful but jealous Fairy attendant, Tinker Bell.

Peter Pan was a child who left his home the day after he was born on hearing his parents form plans as to his future. Wishing never to grow up, or to be anything more than a child, Peter has taken refuge with the fairies, although one attempt to return had led to his finding the window shut and another child in his place. So, refusing any longer to trouble about a Mother’s Love, Peter, attired in a primitive dress of furs, spends his time obtaining recruits for his band, composed of lost children, whose dwelling place is the Never-Never-Never Land, with Indians and buccaneers for neighbors. On several of his expeditions Peter has reached the Darling house, to the alarm of Mrs. Darling and to the loudly expressed indignation of the children’s faithful nurse, Nana, who is no ordinary nurse, but a large Newfoundland. This remarkable animal carries the three Darling children to the bathroom, whether they wish it or not, gives them medicine, turns on the electric light and generally behaves like the average Jane or Susan. For her persistent barking as a sign that danger is near, poor Nana is dragged off by her master from her kennel in the children’s bedroom and is chained up in disgrace in the yard, the consequence being that the children have no one to protect them when Peter Pan pays a visit. A friendship is struck up between them, and Peter Pan gives the Darling children lessons in dying, which enables them to come to the Never-Never-Never Land.

Page 201: There, Peter’s band, comprising Tootles, Nibs, Slightly, Curly and the Twins, are shown as issuing from the hollows in the trunks of trees, which conduct them to a comfortable underground dwelling. One of the children shoots the Flying Wendy by mistake, thinking her to be a Great White Bird, and the girl is appointed “collective” Mother of them all, Peter also assuming the position of Father. Peter, however, also wishes to regard Wendy as Mother rather than as “titular” wife. His paternal responsibilities oppress him with a sense of growing years and he is also puzzled by the desire of an Indian amazon to become his squaw. A coalition is formed between the band of Indians against the pirates, whose leader is Peter’s particular foe. The Indians, keeping watch over the subterraneous dwelling, are attacked in the hight by the pirates, who take captive all the members of the band except Peter. Then follows a finely presented ship scene in which the lads are all but made to walk the plank, ending in the defeat of the pirates who are all thrown overboard. Then Peter is left behind in fairyland and a following scene shows the return of the children to their disconsolate parents to the great joy of the mother — particularly of the father, who had taken to sleeping at nights in the kennel by way of penance, and to the high delight of the once more happy Nana, who is said to be the most lovable character in a play rather heterogeneous and unevenly balanced. “Peter Pan” was a great success during its run in London, where it was beautifully staged with splendid scenery, and the effect of the piece was greatly aided by various well performed dances by music which is by turns plaintive, barbaric and nautical.

The stage sets are as follows: Act one — Our Early Days. Scene one, Outside the House; scene two, Inside the House. Act two — The Never-Never-Neer Land. Scene one, The House We Built for Wendy; scene two, The Redskins’ Camp; scene three, Our Home Under the Ground. Act three — We Return to Our Distracted Mothers. Scene one, The Pirate Ship; scene two, A Last Glimpse of the Redskins; scene three, Home.

Page 212: An Admirer of Maude Adams. — Q. Will Maude Adams play “Peter Pan” and “Alice, Sit-by-the-Fire” next season? A. She will commence next season at the Empire Theatre, this city, in “Peter Pan”; Ethel Barrymore plays “Alice, Sit-by-the-Fire.”

Page 212: If we may judge from the announcements made by the managers the new theatrical season now fairly begun will not be lacking in abundant material. Including Arthur Wing Pinero, all the leading English and American dramatists are well represented, and some of the pieces to be done here, such as Barrie’s fairy play, “Peter Pan,” Alfred Sutro’s “Walls of Jericho,” and André Messager’s “Véronique,” have enjoyed successful runs abroad. “The Pearl and the Pumpkin,” a musical piece by Paul West and John W. Bretton, presented by Klaw & Erlanger at the Broadway, was the first offering of the season in New York, and this was quickly followed at Wallack’s by “Easy Dawson,” the new piece written or Raymond Hitchcock by Edward E. Kidder. …… Maude Adams, as already announced, will be seen this season as the heroine in James M. Barrie’s whimsical play, “Peter Pan.” Blanche Walsh will continue presenting Fitch’s play “The Woman in the Case,” and William Gillette will be seen in his own play, called “Clarice,” the title role being taken by Marie Doro, Edward H. Southern and Julia Marlowe will continue their theatrical partnership, making at least three new Shakepearian revivals, including “The Taming of the Shrew,” “The Merchant of Venice” and “Twelfth Night.“ W.H. Crane has a new play by George H. Broadhurst and C.T. Davey, entitled “An American Lord,” and will be seen here in it some time in January.

Page viii: Q. When is Maude Adams going to begin her season and is she doing to play “The Little Minister” next year? A. Maude Adams comes to the Empire in November to play “Peter Pan.”

Page v: M.S.S. Boston, Mass. — Q. Will Maud Adams play “The Little Minister” next year? A. No. she has a new play called “Peter Pan.”

Page viii: J.W.M. Weekapaug, R.I. — Q. Can I obtain the orginal Maude Adams’ edition of “The Little Minister”? A. Write to Meyer Bros. & Co., 26 West 33rd St., City. — Q. Will Maud Adams be included in your “Chats with Players”? A. See our September 1903 issue. — Q. Who is to be Miss Adams’ leading man? A. It is not yet announced. — Q. What photographs have you of Maude Adams? A. We cannot enumerate them all. — Q. Will you publish her picture soon? A. See our May, 1905, issue. — Q. Is the report true that she will again be co-star with Mr. Drew? A. No. — Q. Where could I get some pictures of her in “Rosemary” or “The Masked Ball”? A. AT this office. — Q. Will she play both “The Masked Ball” and “Peter Pan” this season? A. Only “Peter Pan.”

Page ix: N.W.D., New York — Q. Will you reproduce other posters of current plays in the same way as you reproduced the English poster of “Peter Pan”? A. We may do so. Thanks for your kind remarks. — Inquirer, New York: Q. Will you publish a short sketch of Edna May’s career? A. See this issue. — Dana Hall, Boston: Q. Where could I procure a “Peter Pan” poster? A. We are trying to secure some. When we do we will announce it.

Page 285: Baltimore, Nov. 9. — From a theatrical standpoint, Baltimore has fared very well so far, the second month of the season being rich in good attractions. At the Academy, Viola Allen in “The Toast of the Town” was followed by Maude Adams in the new Barrie play, “Peter Pan.” Both of these actresses are favorite here and were welcomed by large and fashionable audiences. Another engagement of note was that of Henrietta Croeman in “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary,” which did very well at Ford’s. …. …… Buffalo, N.Y., Nov. 11. — The all-star cast in “The Heart of Maryland” opened the Lyceum Theatre this week under the Shubert-Belasco-Fiske combination. Buffalonians are delighted with the prospects of seeing Mrs. Fiske in “Leah Kleschna,” as we have been deprived of this pleasure on account of having no place for her to appear. We are also to have Sarah Bernhardt, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Miss Alice Nielsen, DeWolf Hopper, and many others whom we could not have seen had not this theatre been opened as an independent house. We have seen Maude Adams in “Peter Pan,” Thomas Jefferson in “Rip Van Winkle,” Alice Fischer in “School for Husbands,” and next week comes Blanche Walsh in “The Woman in the Case.” After hovering around Buffalo for two years, the “Babes in Toyland” landed this week. While not the original cast, the company was satisfactory.

Page 290: EMPIRE. “Peter Pan.” Play in 3 as by James M. Barrie. Produced Nov. 6 with this cast: Peter Pan, Maude Adams; Mr. Darling, Ernest Lawford; Mrs. Darling, Grace Henderson; Wendy, Mildred Norris; John, Walter Robinson; Michael, Martha McGraw; Nana, Charles H. Weston; Tinker Bell, Jane Wren; James Hook, Ernest Lawford; Smee, Thomas McGrath; Starkey, Wallace Jackson; Great Big Little Panther, Lloyd Carleton; Tiger Lily, Margaret Gordon; Lisa, Anna Wheaton.

“Peter Pan” is a delightful play — for the elect! This may mean you and it may not. “Every time a baby laughs a fairy is born.” If you agree with this you will find much to enjoy in Mr. Barrie’s charming idyll of child life. If, on the contrary, it conveys to you no meaning, you had better avoid the Empire Theatre and go instead to see — the Rogers Brothers.

“Peter Pan” is an epic of childish joy and fancy; it is the apotheosis of youth and all its high-colored fictions, and Barrie is probably the only writer in English letters today capable of giving this whimsical conception dramatic form. Everything that surges, unreasoning, though the childish brain, all the extravaganzas, unrealities, terrifying dangers, delights, enthusiasms — all these infantile emotions are woven by the dramatist into a spectacular entertainment that is full of exquisite tenderness, sentiment and poetry, and in the lovable, elfish Peter Pan, the boy who did not want to grow up and ran away from home rather than become President, the English poet has given Maude Adams a part that suits her better than anything she has done since Lady Babbie.

No man who does not love children could have written this play, which is redolent of the nursery, and which has the miraculous effect of rejuvenating all who witness it. some of our superannuated, dyspeptic critics profess they are unable to comprehend this exquisite fantasy. Pity them! They could never have been young themselves. They were born old with all their teeth cut.

Mothers will like “Peter Pan” because it symbolizes Mother Love. The only regret that Peter feels when he runs away from home is because he leaves his dear mother behind, and when he induces the Darling children to fly away with him to the Never-Never-Never Land, he insists that Wendy, the eldest girl, shall act as Little Mother to them all.

A detailed account of the plot of this unique piece appeared in a recent issue of this magazine. It has had a long run in London, and this success should be repeated here if American theatre-goers care for dainty dramatic fare of this sort. Judging by the rapt attention with which the play was followed on the opening night, New York audiences, sophisticated as they may be, still have a corner in their hearts for the time when the sun was always smiling and the birds were always singing, and when the life of Tinker Bell — the invisible fairy whose presence throughout the play is indicated only by a dancing light — is in peril, and Peter Pan in keen distress comes down to the footlights and explains that Tinker Bell must die unless they (the audience) believe in fairies, the whole house responded to the appeal with “We do! We do!” expressed in applause. And so Tinker Bell’s life is saved!

The coming of Peter Pan to the Darling’s nursery after the children have been put to bed by the faithful St. Bernard dog Nana, who officiates as nurse, the lessons in flying and subsequent flight of the children thought he window to the Never-Never-Never Land; the arrival in the Magic Country, infested with strange animals — the Monster Ostrich, the Man-Eating Crocodile, with a cock ticking in its stomach, and the Fierce Wolves, driven away by the children looking Through Their Legs — the building of the House in the Woods with a Silk Hat for a chimney and a Lady’s Slipper for a door-knocker, the attack by the Savage Redskins and by the Bloodthirsty Pirates, the retreat to the Underground Cavern, the Capture of the Children, who are taken Prisoners to the Pirate Ship and sentenced to Walk the Plank; the Rescue by Peter Pan, the worsting of the pirates and the return of the Darling Children to their Anxious Mother — these are the …..

Page xxii: Washington, D.C., Nov. 9. — The acquisition of the Lafayette Opera House by the Belasco and Shubert forces has revolutionized theatrical conditions here. We are to have one new theater this month to play the popular-priced combinations formerly seen at the Lafayette, and the impetus given to theatrical affairs has caused negotiations to be opened which may lead to the construction of two more playhouses by next season. The Belasco opened Oct. 23 to a fashionable audience with Blanche Bates in “A Girl of the Golden West,” followed in weekly successsion by “Mrs. Temple’s Telegram,” “Darling of the Gods,” “Loveland,” and “Heart of Maryland.” Business has been uniformly large. “Peter Pan,” with Maude Adams, was presented at the National on Ct. 17. The audience heartily approved the piece. On the ensuing week, Herviern’s powerful drama, “The Labyrinth,” was seen for the first time in America, with Olga Nethersole as the star.

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esprit-de-corps-magazine · 6 years

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CAF War Artists Lead In Evolving The Genre

By Ruthanne Urquhart

When we think of “war art” today, many of us think of photographs.

Cracked yellowed photos of Canada’s First World War aviators standing with pride beside the machines of wood and wire and cloth that would carry them into battle on high. Their jaunty white scarves and neat jodhpurs tucked into polished boots belie the mud and blood and soot to come. And, also from this era, the enormous paintings of heroes and generals and battles that cover walls in high-ceilinged museums and galleries.

Black-and-white and coloured photographs from the Second World War and later, of Canadian aircraft lined up on runways in England and southern France, South Korea and Italy. Agile fighters and lumbering bombers, repaired and readied by round-the-clock groundcrew so that the waving pilots and aircrew can carry the fight across the Channel, through North Africa, to the enemy in the North, over the Balkans.

Digital images, this time yellowed not by age but by blowing sand and dirt in Afghanistan, of coalition airfields where Canadians come under attack from above and from “outside the wire”, where befouled engines challenge groundcrew and aircrew alike. Where lowered ramps of cargo decks offer shelter and transport to the flag-draped coffins of Canadian warriors.

These are the pictures in our heads. Each one captures a single moment in time, as clearly as if we’d been there. Every detail in each photo ties it—and us—to that moment.

War art may be less clear, may not capture any one moment in time. But it captures something bigger, something that transcends that moment, that war. War art has the potential to reach wider and farther and longer than a photograph. And, interestingly, today’s war artists are working in mediums beyond—in fact, certainly from before—photographs.

Ottawa native Mark Thompson, one of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s embedded war artists, creates glass-based paintings and sculpture. Under the auspices of the Canadian Forces Artists Program (CFAP), he travelled to Kuwait, where the night missions of Canada’s young CF-18 Hornet pilots stirred his imagination and impressed him profoundly. One of his first experiences in Kuwait involved a night flight over flaming oil wells, which he has described as being “life-altering”.

Mr. Thompson’s work entitled “Book of War” is a tabletop installation on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, in its current exhibition of contemporary war art. A row of five open books encased in glass lie side by side along the tabletop; within the glass of each book is a video of a CF-18 fighter aircraft in various states: day, infrared, night, etc.

The Museum chose his “Hard Rain” to be the signature work for its exhibition. It comprises three rows of five falling bombs in shades of blue, encased in glass. The white swirls through the glass emulate wisps of clouds through which the bombs are falling, and the black background is a video loop that moves up and down.

Nancy Cole is the other of this year’s RCAF-embedded war artists. She was born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, and grew up on military bases. An experienced textile artist, Ms Cole was placed with Canadian Forces Base/19 Wing Comox, British Columbia, courtesy of the CFAP. The war art that she subsequently produced comprises two large, hand-quilted textiles.

Ms Cole’s installation at the Canadian War Museum is entitled “Night and Day”. One textile is all black, with a grouping of small red dots in the upper right quadrant, representing the dark war-work carried out by CF-18s deployed on Operation Impact in Syria. Each red dot has a fine red, crooked or looping line radiating out from it, signifying people on the ground fleeing as the CF-18s pass overhead. The other textile is white, with a similar grouping of dots, also in the upper right quadrant. This textile signifies the other end of the spectrum of CF-18 taskings: the airshows, the flypasts, the lighthearted crowd pleasing. These dots have no red lines; we imagine these people standing in groups, looking up, watching the aircraft with smiles.

In ancient times, war art was, in fact, a multi-media undertaking. It was mosaic floors with clay, glass and gemstone elements in public and government buildings; it was sculpture and bas relief work for the homes and gardens of the wealthy. And it was intricately woven floor-coverings that warmed the stone underfoot, and wall-mounted tapestries that held drafts at bay.

During archaeological excavations today, one of the finest treasures to be unearthed is often a mosaic floor composed of tesserae, small blocks of ceramic, glass and stone. A good example is the Alexander Mosaic, dating from circa 100 BC. Measuring 2.72 by 5.13 metres, this floor mosaic from Pompeii depicts a battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia.

The Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidery of wool yarn on woven linen, was created in the 11th Century. It is almost 70 metres long and 50 centimetres high, and portrays the conquest of England completed in October 1066 under the leadership of William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy.

War art.

Mark Thompson, glass artist, and Nancy Cole, textile artist, are reviving ancient traditions and mediums in war art. The RCAF is honoured that these artists have chosen to incorporate within their works the CF-18 Hornet aircraft, in image and in spirit.

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