New American Paintings artist and Civil War reenactor William Blake will embody the artist-correspondent Winslow Homer as he documents the American Civil War by performing a figurative painting demonstration. Like Blake, reenactor Jon Austin will perform a live preservation of the past. An Illinois Humanities Council Road’s Scholar, Austin will describe the process of preserving soldiers’ bodies during the war by reenacting a Civil War embalming (with a live actor).  Both performances rely on the impact of the visual and use of the body as a document through time.

The event is being produced in part by Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau, a program that provides organizations statewide with affordable, entertaining, and thought-provoking humanities events for their communities.