Recently, we have had a young volunteer called Kimberley working with us from Downs Park Community Special School in Brighton & Hove. The daughter of a regular volunteer, Kimberley has assisted us with various tasks and been very helpful indeed. Set out below is an entry written by Kimberley for our blog, explaining some of the things she learnt about silhouettes during the week she spent with us.
'Shadows are created by an object blocking the path of the sun or a light source. In order to see the shadow the light has to travle to the back of the eye.
Shadows and profiles are early names given to what we now call silhouettes. They are a form [of portraiture] used to document odenery people and their familys, The silhouettes were cheper then pantings and photos ( photos were newer so thay were more expencive.) Silhouette artists would also do rich people, like roylety, so that odinery people culed buy them. There are diffrant ways of doing a silhouette some of the silhouette artists used a silhouette machene and some cut them free hand with scissors and some were drawn and painted.'