Aidan Black

Mitchell explains the three fold effect of landscape paintings as “emancipation, naturalization, and unification,”  demonstrating the strong effect that they can have on western society.  Mitchell even goes on to say that landscape is a medium for “cultural expression” responsible for historical shifts in western society.  Thus making it a medium of modernism as well, based on the definition of modernism as an aesthetic and cultural response to modernity.  But is it the landscape that acts as the medium for shaping “cultural expression” and modernism, or is it the way the landscape is depicted in art?  Mitchell seemed to refer to landscape and landscape paintings as if they were synonymous.  Landscape is certainly a visual experience, but I would differentiate it from artwork in the sense that it is natural scene where as the painting of the landscape is a man-made scene.  In a similar sense, a landscape could remain relatively the same over the course of a century, but the way man depicts it through his artwork could change greatly.  The cultural and societal changes that occur are connected to the change in artistic expression of the landscape, not the landscape itself.  Therefore landscape in the natural sense is not directly acting as a medium for “cultural expression,” rather it has the ability to (indirectly) effect a society through the way it is expressed through various art forms.

Betsy Wyeth’s reconstruction of the sail loft makes Allen Island especially unique with regard to its spacetime.  In a way the building seems to defy the rules of spacetime altogether.  The original sail loft has rich historical roots in Port Clyde that Betsy Wyeth attempted to maintain in its reconstruction, but can the spacetime of the building truly be preserved?  Much of the design and even boards that make up the sail loft on Allen Island today are the same as the ones that were used to create it in 1822.  So in a physical sense Betsy has preserved much of the historic value of the loft.  However, spacetime relies on the flow of ideas and experiences.  Despite her good intentions and attempt to recreate the sail loft the way it once was, Betsy Wyeth cannot fabricate past memories with this building that would enrich the its spacetime.  Perhaps the spacetime of the building could have been enriched though if David Morey, the man who dismantled the loft because he considered it a “valuable building,”  reassembled it.  Nevertheless the historical significance of the building, whether she experienced it or not, makes the loft all that more valuable to Betsy Wyeth.  Furthermore, I think this adds to the attraction of the museum because of its marine and fisherman themes.  Ultimately she may not be able to preserve the spacetime of the building, but in creating the museum in the reconstructed loft she is establishing a new, historically rich spacetime open to the public.

Harley is critical of the evolution of cartography toward GIS and away from traditional maps influenced by culture. This relates to our discussions on Allen Island spacetime because while the Island may not be physically changing over time (or at least minimally), how it is presented through maps has certainly changed over time.  In many ways this comes down to the perspective of the mapper.  Today, a computer will use satellite imagery or GIS coordinates to precisely determine the shape and geographic features of Allen Island.  However, if Gideon or Alexander Allen were to map the island when they first laid claim to it, a very different map would be produced.  Not just in terms of the  accuracy of the shape of the island, but more notably in the features described.  A hand drawn map by one of the Allen brothers would likely have incorporated significant landmarks that it would be important to know the location of on the island.  For example, their houses and property lines would likely have been marked because those were the most important features of the island to them at the time.  As the Island developed though, grazing land, ports and boat launches also could have been mapped.  Although GIS mapping could identify these same features (and probably more accurately), it does not provide the same ability for a historian to “read between the lines” of the cartographer’s work (Harley 6). Harley’s criticism of modern mapping solely using GIS makes sense is understandable, but for the project that my timeline JS group will be tackling (ownership/use) I think the ability to combine modern GIS mapping with older maps could be a major asset to creating a successful digital humanities project.

Harvey’s point that “an event, process, or thing cannot be understood by appeal to what exists only at some point” is very applicable to Goat Island, as Stella’s experiencing in trekking across the reach is a perfect example of spacetime.  Her illusions represent how space and time are never separate or stationary, but rather always moving and entangled.  While her reminiscences appear to be simply of the past, they seem to defy the rules of space and time altogether.  In terms of space, her venture is not only from the island to the mainland, but also from living to the afterlife.  In relation to time, Bull tells her it is time to go to the afterlife and she replies “yes I will, yes I did, yes I do.”  The use of different tenses here shows how she is not simply stuck in one dimension of time, rather as Harvey would put it: in a “field of flows.”  Although this can all be seen as a fantastical story, it does show how our perception of reality ties together all of our memories and experiences.  For someone like Stella living so secluded on an Island, it makes sense that the people she was close with in the tight knit island community are those who come to her at such an emotional moment in her life.