Painting By Numbers: the story of Ferdinand Bauer

On Arts Wednesday 22 November 2017, Sylvia’s guests in the studio were curator, Alison Wishart and leader of the creative DXLab at the State Library of NSW. A new exhibition about the life of Ferdinand Bauer has just opened, along with a most creative new website.

The exhibition examines the work of natural history illustrator, Ferdinand Bauer, who was the illustrator who sailed with Mathew Flinders in the Investigator. He developed an unusual techniques of marking colours on his sketches by numbers and his palette comprised some 1000 numbers, which he had committed to memory. With numbers on his drawings, he was able to complete the pictures – sometimes years  – later. Professor David Mabberley cracked the colour code and has just  published a book called Painting By Numbers. This is also the name of the  website that goes with the exhibition.

Listen to this absorbing conversation here:

That was Part 1 of the conversation and here is Part 2:

And now for Part 3:

Paula Bray

Paula Bray

DX Lab Leader, State Library of NSW 

Paula heads up the State Library’s innovation lab which utilises emerging web technologies to deliver new ways to explore the Library’s vast collections and its data. Paula has shaped the Lab up to be an incubator for creative ideas and a partner for innovation.

Paula has worked in the cultural sector for many years including at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, and is passionate about how digital content integrates online experiences with onsite exhibitions.

Alison Wishart

Alison Wishart

Senior Curator, State Library of NSW

A curator and historian, Alison is passionate about public history and has curated social history exhibitions on a diverse range of topics from football, to long-distance love, to the stolen generations. Before coming to the State Library of NSW in 2015, Alison held positions at the National Museum of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, the State Library of Queensland, and Museum of Tropical Queensland (Townsville). She has a BA (Hons), University of Queensland and Masters in Cultural Heritage (majoring in Museum Studies), Deakin University.