"Images of Iberville: Place Embodied in Art"
Interactive, Multi-media Program
For Iberville Parish Students
Aaron James Tuley
Center for Landscape Interpretation
Port Allen, Louisiana
Program Description
Context
Iberville Parish is located in the southeastern portion of Louisiana and flanks the eastern edge of the Atchafalaya Basin, a vast freshwater swamp rich in abundant wildlife and wetland habitat, aquacultural and petroleum resources, a haven for outdoor recreation enthusiasts; a major tourist attraction and heritage resource. Another very important landscape element is the Mississippi River, which forms much of the Parish's eastern boundary. For several thousand years the Mississippi has been the principal land-building element within the Delta region. The River's broad western natural levee forms a six to ten mile wide green ribbon of sugar cane fields, spotted with small settlements at the River's bends. Since the explorations of Pierre LeMoyne d'Iberville in 1699 to the current petro-chemical industries that now line the River's edge, the Mississippi has played a powerful role in the cultural development of Iberville Parish. One of the River's northernmost distributaries, the Bayou Plaquemine, also in Iberville Parish, opened the Atchafalaya Basin and Bayou Teche region to explorers and settlers from America's northern and eastern regions. Indeed, Iberville Parish has a rich multi-cultural and natural heritage of national significance.
But Iberville Parish is not without its problems. An impoverished member of America's Deep South, located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Iberville Parish has its share of societal burdens. Extreme racial polarity, abject poverty, social injustice and political corruption have left their scars. Resources have been squandered. The environment has been neglected or damaged. People have become disconnected with the land.
In seeking a new paradigm, the people of Iberville Parish must turn to their heritage; to remember the shared values and land ethics that sustained the cultural landscape for so long. This is the mission and message of the Images of Iberville program: to reactivate the collective cultural memory, in order to foster and inspire a comprehensive and sustainable vision for the future.
Process
The Images of Iberville has been designed to assist students in developing a heightened awareness of Iberville Parish's sense of place. In this virtual setting students will experience an array of spaces, places and elements depicted and communicated through multiple forms of artistic media indigenous to the area. Paintings, watercolors, and etchings, such as the famous mud paintings of Henry Neubig, a native of Plaquemine, explores the richness of natural earth tones and hues found in the region. Indigenous material culture of artistic merit, such as wildlife carving and taxidermy, found in settlements bordering the Atchafalaya Basin; costumes, made for the lavish local Mardi Gras balls, traditional quilts and baskets, will be presented. The work of famous local photographers such as Dr. L.O. Cazes and Mr. Anthony Fama, and nationally known photographers, like Fonville Wynans (who spent a great deal of time photographing people and places within Iberville Parish) are also featured in the program.
Accompanying the visual presentation is a compilation of narrated poetry and prose, such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's description of Evangeline's voyage down Bayou Plaquemine into the Atchafalaya Basin. Music, like the rich gospel traditions found within the communities of Bayou Goula and Dorseyville; oral histories regarding peoples' descriptions of places and things within Iberville Parish; sounds depicting the natural environment each add breadth and depth and richness of human experience to the program.
The program focuses on the Parish's current context; living places that can be experienced, not only through artistic media, but physically visited, and contemplated. Together, images and sounds will evoke within the audience a heightened awareness of living in and belonging to a place rich in cultural and artistic traditions.
Synthesis
In order to synthesize what has been learned / experienced from the Images of Iberville program students will be requested to develop creative representations of outdoors places, that are important in their lives, where they spend time playing, where they go with their family during holidays, hunting and fishing season, etc. These representations may be a painting, a collage of pictures, a poem, any medium that will entice students to creatively explore and depict place sensations and experiences, so they may develop a greater appreciation of those components that make up a their regional frame of reference. Students may ask someone about a place they recollect, that still exists. After visiting the place, the student can draw a picture of how the place has changed. Engaging a cluster of students, to pool their resources and work together with a common goal in mind, such as a "favorite place mural," would be an effective way to elicit a response based on a particular environment that holds meaning for them.
Images Of Iberville Student Exhibit
After the program has been reviewed by Iberville Parish students, and they will have had time to develop creative representations of meaningful places, and an exhibit will be produced for display within the libraries and schools of Iberville Parish. At the time of the grand opening of the expected exhibit, people will be presented with the Images of Iberville program, which will represent first interpretive iteration, and then review the student work, the second iteration. After touring Iberville Parish and elsewhere, the program and student exhibit may be housed in either the Plaquemine Lock Museum or the old Iberville Parish Court House, also in Plaquemine, which is currently being restored for use as the Iberville Parish Resources Center.
Representing the second iteration of the interpretive process, the student exhibit, with renewed funding support, will be digitized and merged with the Images of Iberville program. Themes, sub-themes and topical areas will be (hypertext) linked to original chapters, thus providing additional perspectives about important subject areas. The new information will be loaded onto the hard drives of schools' and libraries' computers throughout Iberville Parish in midyear, 1998.
PROGRAMMATIC OBJECTIVES / FEATURES
The Images of Iberville program tests a mode of interpretation that is living, interactive and cyclic, as compared to a more traditional, linear model that might follow events and historical themes through chronological time. The result is an interpretive process that is iterative, multi-dimensional, and ongoing, unfolding over time with increasing layers of richness and understanding; where citizenship and stewardship values imbedded in the cultural landscape can be expressed in poetic terms, recorded, and handed down for future generations to consider (and compare to their own land and community ethics). Through this iterative, interpretive process people will begin to perceive the interconnectedness between the individual, the community, the land and the traditional place meanings, values and lifeways unique to Iberville Parish and the landscape of south Louisiana.
The majority of people, stories and places that make up the Images of Iberville program are generally not recognized by local people for their heritage value and tourism potential. Tourism in Iberville Parish has been confined to the few remaining historically significant artifacts, sites and structures scattered across the landscape. In developing the program we have attempted to define Iberville Parish's heritage in broad, encompassing terms so as to include the often obscure and everyday heritage of ordinary people. Given that some places may be more easily associated with particular historically significant events or may be better endowed with past cultural artifacts, all places have a past, whether currently recorded in history or not, and all peoples a heritage, whether currently presented as distinctive or not (Ashworth, 1997). The Images of Iberville attempts to construct an authentic heritage context within which historic sites and objects can be more fully understood and appreciated.
As new chapters are developed and added to the Images of Iberville program, sub-themes will continue to be identified and (hypertext) linked to previous chapters. In time, patterns will begin to emerge, commonly held perceptions and values, shared methods of visualizing and depicting the natural and built environment, will become apparent. From this universal understanding will sprout forth a common heritage, the first step toward a shared vision for the future. An important objective, because ultimately, the stewardship responsibilities of preserving, managing, interpreting and sustaining a place's unique natural and cultural heritage belongs to its people.
Another objective that directed the design of the Images of Iberville was the program's focus on the arts and humanities as the main interpretive vehicle. There is a general lack of emphasis on arts-related programs within Iberville Parish. Art studios or art appreciation classes are not part of the curriculum in the school system. The result is a reduction in artistic heritage and a diminished ability to interpret our built environment and cultural landscape in perspectives other than strictly utilitarian. By providing a virtual laboratory within which children can learn about Iberville's unique places and peoples, through the eyes and ears and creations of multiple generations, including their own, students will develop the vocabulary to think and create and express, in aesthetic terms, how Iberville Parish embodies a unique sense of place.
Interactive features were built into the program to provide manageability and navigational flexibility in an academic setting. An initial design principle was to design / format the program to function within an academic time frame. Given the vast amount of visual, auditory (over three hours of sound) and other information, plus anticipated needed analytical and reflective time, it was determined that it would not be possible to pack the entire program into one or two forty-five minute class periods. So the program was designed to be as "web-like" as possible, so that one can begin anywhere in the program, move from chapter to chapter, or from subject to subject within chapters. This navigational freedom allows the viewer to chart his or her own thematic trip through the Images of Iberville.
In that the target audience were 5th and 8th grade students, we were interested in presenting information in a ways that would stimulate and maintain young peoples' interest. By enabling the viewer to make choices on how to proceed, and through taking advantage of a novel technological medium and interactive process, similar to the video games currently consumed by young people, it was believed that children might remain focused on the subject matter for longer periods of time.
Anatomy
Each screen page within the program contains several interactive features (see Figure 1):
Navigational Panel and Chapter Icon (located in the upper right corner of the screen)
The "next" and "previous" buttons provide movement within each chapter, while the "home" button takes the viewer to the main Table of Contents Map and Directory.
Volume Control (located in the lower left corner)
Allows one to control the volume for individual or group viewing.
USGS Quad Map Icon (located beneath the narrator's photograph in the left column)
Click on the icon for an expanded map featuring physical geographic information (topography, features, land cover, political and other boundaries) for the general area where the oral history was recorded.
Scroll Bars (vertical and horizontal)
Used for movement within the screen.
Miscellaneous Hypertext Linkages.
Within the transcripts and in the image captions are keywords and / or phrases that are shaded in blue or purple and refer to a common subject matter found in other places in the program. By clicking on the hypertext words or phrases the viewer can navigate to other pages within other chapters where the subject matter is discussed.
Expandable Images
For detailed viewing.
The program format includes several other non-interactive features that contribute to the informational content of the program. These features include:
Program / Chapter Title Information
Oral History Transcript
Text version of the audio files. For the most part, text has been transcribed verbatim, including dialect and grammatical idiosyncrasies, place names and nicknames. Hypertext links are found within the transcript.
Wallpaper
Each chapter has its own unique wallpaper (background image / texture), which has been either conceptually or graphically abstracted from the chapter's subject matter.
Narrator Information
Each chapter has a different narrator. A picture of the narrator as well as occupational and residential information is provided.
Copyright Information
At the bottom of each screen page is copyright information, restrictions, and business addresses where one can obtain additional information. There are also links to the Louisiana Page Locale web site and the Center for Landscape Interpretation's Mission Statement web site.
PRODUCTION
The Images of Iberville: Place Embodied in Art multi-media program has been produced entirely through the in-house facilities of the Center for Landscape Interpretation. Equipment included computers, high-resolution scanner, "SoundBlaster" type audio card, tape recorder designed specifically for conducting oral histories, and an optical, single-lens reflex camera. The actual presentation was designed and constructed through an HTML (hypertext markup language) encoding process, and can be experienced using standard Web browsing software, such as Netscape 3.0.
In addition to the hard drive version of the Images of Iberville program there is an on-line version, located on the Iberville Parish web site, at www.parish.iberville.la.us. Because of the length of time it takes to download audio files there is a version with sound and one without sound. The version with sound is located at the same address although stored on Louisiana State University's Internet / World Wide Web server.
The presentation has been designed to be expandable, to include those places that have been loaded with meaning by peoples not yet represented in this program.
Technical Specifications:
Size: Approx. 95 megabytes
Format: 100 megabyte zip disk
Length: Over 85 screen pages, each with sound, images, maps and text
Images: Over 200 high resolution, expandable images, 90% of which have never been previously documented or reproduced. Including the expandable images, there are over 400 images available within the program.
Sound: Over 80 sound files of varying length, one file per page.
Text: Oral histories have been accurately transcribed 9including dialectic patterns) into text for easy reading. Hypertext linkages connect together discussions of places outside the main topical areas.
Schedule: Resource identification, collection, documentation: approx. 300 hours
Program design, development and implementation: approx. 300 hours
Budget: $15,000 (1996 US dollars) and much in-kind / contributed support. A realistic estimate would be twice this amount.
CONCLUSION
This program is by no means a definitive interpretation of the places that compose Iberville Parish. Much more work needs to be done to develop the ideal of a shared heritage. Through the use of multi-media technology interpretation can become much more interactive and participatory, to the point where the audience can also become the performers, thus perpetuating the interpretive process.
Another aspect of this technology that is particularly appealing is juxtaposition between the subject matter and the medium of communication. The process being tested with the Images of Iberville program merges multiple layers of meaning, within multiple time frames. The high-tech medium provides grounding in the reality of the present landscape and structure to the space / time continuum, and the multiple dimensions of heritage embodied in the cultural landscape. With each iteration traditional lifeways, perspectives and place meanings will be extended to the next group of young people who will both confirm and assimilate, yet also interpret the information in their own way, for the next group. With each iteration will also come new and improved technological means of receiving and inputting information.
The Images of Iberville program also illustrates the importance and urgency of documenting a place's human resources, especially those who are advanced in years. It is the human character that animates and gives meaning to the places that are special to us. Since this program was developed we have lost two of our dear participants: Father Eugene R. Engels, Pastor of the St. John the Evangelist Church in Plaquemine; and Mr. George Wilbert, also a resident of Plaquemine, whose chapter on the cypress lumber industry in Iberville Parish is still under development. Both men died in the Spring of 1998. They will be sorely missed yet their character and values live on in our hearts and in the Images of Iberville: Place Embodied in Art program.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ashworth, G. J. How to Manage the Heritage City for Tourism. A Paper Submitted at the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 51st National Preservation Conference. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 1997: 8.
THE CENTER FOR LANDSCAPE INTERPRETATION
AARON JAMES TULEY is partner of the Center for Landscape Interpretation (CLI), an environmental planning, design and management, research and interpretation consulting group with offices in Port Allen, Louisiana. Tuley brings to the research and development process critical thinking and experience in design, planning, and cultural/heritage resource enhancement, management and interpretation. Tuley received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Kentucky, and later, his Master of Science in Architecture, with an emphasis in historic preservation and cultural landscape interpretation, from Louisiana State University. Practice within several of the Nation's unique cultural pockets such as New Mexico, Maryland's Chesapeake Bay and throughout south Louisiana has conditioned Tuley to employ a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to studying the multiple natural and cultural dimensions of landscape.
Together Tuley and his partner Rodney A. Cobi are committed to helping people enhance the quality of their lives and improve the economic well-being of their families, businesses, institutions and communities. Those at CLI pursue this mission through the shaping of humane and coherent physical surroundings and the creation of more livable, sustainable and equitable futures. Toward this purpose the firm's multi-dimensional practice is dedicated to undertaking assignments of unusual scope and the practical demonstration of breakthrough ideas. Of enduring concern is how people perceive, use and feel about the ordinary as well as special places and spaces where they live, work, learn, shop and play and the travelways and other linkages that connect them. Central is the sympathetic understanding of traditional culture and the protection and interpretation of heritage patterns and values. Equally vital is an appreciation of how man interacts with the landscape and the sense of community between people, the land and the resources of life. This critical relationship encompasses the stewardship of nature and the management of natural systems for their aesthetic and spiritual values as well as their environmental services and useful products.
For further information, please contact the Center for Landscape Interpretation:
Address: 2413 Ernest Wilson Drive
Port of Greater Baton Rouge
PO Box 50
Port Allen, Louisiana 70767-0050
Telephone No.: 504.383.0066
Fax: 504.383.0086
Email: TuleyCLI@lapage.com