Fellman Studio Blog

Find this story on Science Friday’s new Art + Science blog!

Location, Location, Location
One of the most popular pieces of real estate in the Paleolithic has a buried treasure trove of art. It’s the Hohle Fels, a cave in southwest Germany, one of the largest along the Danube corridor. Placed high above the river with superb views, it’s not surprising such amenities attracted our ancestors. The cave shows evidence of long prehistoric occupation by humans just like us.

Cro-Magnons knew how to party
Nicholas Conard, archaeologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany, has found over many years of digging, thousands of small objects scattered through deep layers in the cave floor. Just recently, nine feet down, he found this object in small pieces (shown below). When carefully assembled and dated, it turned out to be the earliest example of figurative art. It’s been named the Venus of Hohle Fels.

Even more amazing, Conard found another object in the same cave, a beautiful flute made of bone. Not only were Cro-Magnons enjoying amazing views from their cliff top villa, they were making art and playing music — about 40,000 years ago. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with that fun group?

Shown above is a front and side view of The Hohle Fels Venus. Carved from a mammoth tusk, it is the oldest known example of figurative art to date. Below is one of many small bone and ivory flutes found in the same cave. Both items are 40,000 BCE (about). Photos courtesy of H. Jensen, University of Tübingen and Nature Magazine.

Art says we’re smart.
When anthropologists look for examples of modern human behavior, objects like these are considered significant — a big shift to smarter. They infer complex social interactions, rituals, or what a good party does for us today. Anthropologists especially like figurative art, for it is viewed as a cultural innovation showing advanced symbolic communication. The artistry by these early Europeans are tangible evidence of our humanity, something we admire for beauty as well as the ancient story they tell.

Who were these creative types?
The Cro-Magnons and their distinctive Aurignacian culture were the first humans to settle what we know as Europe. PZ Myers is Cro-Magnon and proud of it. I’m haplogroup H (mtDNA), so I’m Cro-Magnon, too. A gulf of 40,000 years hasn’t made that big a difference on how I think about form, stylization, shape — all aspects of the visual language I share with my pre-historic ancestors. Since they are handmade objects, I respond to them as a “maker”, as one artist would to another.

Shown above is a portion of A DNA Portrait I created for Professor PZ Myers, evolutionary developmental biologist at the University of Minnesota, Morris Campus. PZ is Cro-Magnon on both the male Y chromosome (Hapgroup R1B1) and female mtDNA (Hapgroup H) lines.

Famous Cro-Magnon artists
Shown below are three artists who may have Cro-Magnon lineages. I selected them for the compact, sturdy shape of the female form they depicted, much like the ancient Venus of Hohle Fels. Matisse’s abstracted woman is reduced to the most simple shapes, resembling a prehistoric object. On the left is “Baboon and Young” by Picasso (Spanish). In the middle is a third panel from “The Back”, a sculpture by Matisse (French). On the right is “the Moon and the Earth”, by Paul Gaugin (French).  Photos courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art.

What about fertility?
Of course the most obvious and well-known aspect of the Venus of Hohle Fels is that she’s considered an ancient fertility figure. Pre-historic female fertility figures are very rare and unusual. How artists in all ages work with themes of fertility is a topic for another discussion. Come back soon to read about it.

This story also appears on Science Friday’s Art + Science blog

It’s mid-November in Minnesota and 60 degrees. A golden day for one more ride before the snow and ice descend. I keep my bike in my Minneapolis Warehouse District art studio, three blocks from the 45th parallel and the mighty Mississippi River. An amazing biking path follows the river for miles and miles and I’m on it heading downstream to an interesting part of town.

Designing a better healing environment
My destination is Dr. Jon Hallberg’s new Mill City Clinic across from the nationally known Guthrie Theater. As physician on call for visiting performers at the theater, the clinic is in the historic Milling District near the Stone Arch Bridge that crosses the big river. A beautiful part of town recently revitalized to highlight the arts.

Shown above is a view from my favorite bike path along the Mississippi River with a view of the old Mills, the Stone Arch Bridge, and the Weisman Museum. Does it look like a watercolor painting? It’s not. I created the image with my digital drawing tools with many transparent layers to get the effect.

You may know Jon Hallberg from his radio show. He’s a medical analyst for Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), on the air every week discussing the art of science and medicine. As a GP physician, Jon says he needs to think creatively to find solutions for his patients’ health but also to design a better healing environment. I step into the clinic and wow… take a breath… decompress. Ah! Chopin is being played on a piano, as it turns out, by a young student from the music school down the street. The waiting area is light and open like the music in the air, reflecting the aesthetic of the outside view.

Shown above on the left is The Guthrie Theater and on the right, a view of Mill Ruins Park and the Stone Arch Bridge crossing the Mississippi River. Below is the interior of Dr. Hallberg’s clinic.

Music and science are in his DNA
Jon has thought a lot about creating a soothing place to enable healing. His ideas began in his first year of medical school where he played alto sax in the college orchestra. While reading an article about an injured violinist trying to play in a restrictive neck brace, he wondered if medicine could focus on the needs of creative people. Now years later, he’s known for his medical specialty for actors, musicians, and opera singers.

Jon has found that caring for creative types and respecting medicine as an art compliment each other. Of course, all kinds of regular people attend the clinic and respond to the serenity and beauty of the space. From the art on the walls to music in the air, Jon’s Mill City Clinic is a healthy convergence of art and medicine.

Shown above is the waiting room of Dr. Hallberg’s clinic.

Linking theater and medicine in innovative ways
Another way Jon connects the arts to healing is through his new endeavor, the Hippocrates Cafe. Working with professional actors from the Guthrie Theater, Jon explores medical themes through spoken word and music. The very first Cafe at the clinic will preview this week to an already signed up audience. The hour-long event is about influenza in its historical and social contexts. I’m one of the lucky ones to see the first presentation. I’ll leave my bike at my studio and bring my sketch book instead to better enjoy an innovative evening of science and art. More about the Hippocrates Cafe, upcoming events and a link to Cafe’s new web site coming soon.

Find this story on Science Friday’s new Art + Science blog

If you’ve been following Frans de Waal’s work you know that he is a respected primatologist and best selling author with a new book, “The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society”. Listen to Joe Palca’s engaging conversation with de Waal on Science Friday as he weaves endearing stories with evolutionary concepts.

Empathy is our evolutionary heritage
Evidence shows that empathy engages brain areas that are more than a hundred million years old. It’s part of a heritage as ancient as the mammalian line. He reminds us that through a common ancestor, we share traits with the chimpanzee and the bonobo — a complex mix of both aggression and cooperation.

First we feel it, then we think it
One example that links humans to other primates is de Waal’s “emotion first theory”. Although we often focus on the face, our entire bodies convey emotion. In fact, we trust postures more than facial expressions. Our bodies show how we feel in a language that is immediate and honest.

Art can create an emotional response
The emotional power of line and shape is appreciated by artists. I had an illustration assignment to depict moods with figure drawings with this challenge: show fear, sadness, despair — without showing faces. My approach was to use brush and ink on paper to get the right shapes. Shown below are examples of my drawings from the project. See how the varied line weight describes the shape of the figure, curved and hunched in despair? Using thick and thin lines to convey a mood is called gestural drawing. An artistic way to capture emotional energy with marks on a page.

Watch out! Like a yawn, it’s catchy
Another aspect of “emotion first theory” is “emotional contagion”. You smile, I smile, and we both get happy. Yes, you guessed it — the drawing assignment was a depressing affair. As I drew, I started to feel sad. My drawings became more expressive, though — a surprising bonus for the project.

De Waal speculates that empathy started with maternal care. Perhaps there is a strong pressure to select for females that respond to their baby quickly. For example, his research shows that women are more in touch with facial expression. Gender doesn’t always trump, though. Shown below on the right is a compelling image of suffering and loss from the artist that also painted “The Scream”. An example of art by a man (like Frans de Waal) who had a double dose of genetic empathy.

The two black and white illustrations above are from the illustration assignment referred to. The cover of Frans de Waal’s book is shown above. Edvard Munch’s painting titled “The Sick Child” is on the right.