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Virginia Commonwealth University

Naturalis Historia, Reconstructed

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

When Pliny the Elder wrote Naturalis Historia around 70 A.D., the idea of natural history contained and connected biology, geology, and mineralogy with the history of painting and sculpture. Art was an extension of the natural world as its materials were extracted from plants, animals, and, particularly, mined and quarried pigments, stone, and metals. In my developing body of work, Incidents of Naturalis Historia, Reconstructed, I combine wasps’ nests, architectural fragments, and other found objects excavated from my surrounding environment with elements of glass that resemble lichen, crystallization, and geologic specimens. These works simulate artifacts of an alternative history; one in which the divergent histories of art, craft, biology, and geology are again united.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Fine Arts
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Fine Arts - Glassworking
Year dc:date.available
2013

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Briland, Sarah
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Jack Wax

Subjects

dc:subject × 2

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • © The Author

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-1515

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Commonwealth University
Base URL
scholarscompass.vcu.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Briland, Sarah. Naturalis Historia, Reconstructed. Thesis thesis, 2013. https://doi.org/10.25772/9FZC-BN45