Page 16 - Southern Magazine-Winter/Spring 2013

14 / ’southern
ichelangelo made it look easy, but how many people
give any real thought to the process of creating paints and
pigments? Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Scott
Dorman taught students the lost art of how to
chemically mix their own paint in his E-Term course
“Paint, Glaze, Ink.” In the classroom, students studied the philosophy
and history and chemistry of the materials used in paint (pigments,
dyes, binders, etc.). In the lab, they examined the molecular interactions
involved in procedures performed by artists and compared the atomic
structure of metals, glasses, and clays. Here, Abdalaziz Kahil, a
sophomore biology major, tries his hand at painting a fresco (painting
onto wet lime plaster) with an ultramarine pigment. “Now I can look
at a painting and appreciate the work it took to make it,” said Kahil. “It
was really fun to take the class with several chemistry majors who knew
a lot more than I did about the technical side,” added Missy McIntyre, a
junior art major.
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