Collections : [UNF Library Special Collections and University Archives]

In Spring 2008, a University of North Florida (UNF) Common Boundary class, Art 3930 - Medieval Manuscript Workshop, collaborated on designing and creating an illuminated manuscript featuring UNF, in the tradition of medieval illuminated manuscripts. Under the direction of UNF Dept. of Art and Design professors Raymond Gaddy and Peter Scott Brown, the students explored the art and techniques of medieval painting, using medieval materials and techniques to depict contemporary stories and narratives in a medieval pictorial idiom. The class worked together in a workshop fashion, each making their own ink, paint and conceiving of and executing their assigned pages of the manuscript. A list of participating students is provided on p. 92: Jonathan Atkins, Mary Brady, Nancy Bruno, Gina Fogle, Kei Horiuchi, Katelin Hughes, Lauren McLuckie, Matthew Mendillo. The UNF manuscript is a largely pictorial history "in celebration of the twenty fifth anniversary of the University of North Florida." It primarily depicts themes and symbols relating to the founding and history of the University. Subjects featured include the University's groundbreaking and names of founding faculty; animals, birds, mammals, and reptiles seen on campus, including alligators, armadillos, black bears, deer, egrets, geese, rabbits, gopher tortoise; flora and fauna indigenous to the area; monthly calendar; and the school's logo and alma mater. The pages are bovine parchment (produced by U.S. parchmentor Jesse Meyer) and the binding was made by professor Gaddy from oak boards and covered in hand-stitched leather. Materials also include five mounted photographs of students working on the manuscript and the design materials used to create the volume, as well as fourteen mounted photocopies of selected manuscript pages. These items were displayed in a Special Collections exhibit, The Art of Medieval Manuscript Painting: a UNF Manuscript, in December 2008 - January 2009.