You’ve arrived at KTT Files, an extension of the website of Karen T. Taylor. Here you’ll find Karen’s personal posts about her work as a sculptor, forensic artist, author/educator and facial identification specialist.
If you have an interest in learning more about faces, check out Face Facts for informational tidbits on a wide range of face-related topics. There is always something new and different to explore. Thanks for your interest!
This drawing workshop provides an intensive five days of advanced 2D techniques to facilitate identification of unknown deceased persons. Two primary methods will be covered: postmortem depiction based on deceased facial photos and 2D craniofacial reconstruction based on skull photos. The first part of the workshop addresses postmortem changes in physical remains as they effect an artist’s ability to accurately depict the face. The remainder of the week will be devoted to facial reconstruction drawing from the skull. Each class exercise is designed to simulate actual case experience in a compressed time frame. Cases will vary regarding cause and manner of death and there will be individuals of various ancestries and ages. Life photos of the deceased person will be seen upon completion of each drawing which is the most significant learning opportunity for this experience-based work.
This unique forensic art training is unavailable in any other drawing course. The FACTS venue is one of the world’s premier locations for taphonomic research and skeletal assessment and identification.
TOPICS:
-Taphonomic changes that affect the face
-Drawing from morgue or crime scene photos
-Skull photography tips for 2D reconstruction
-Morphological relationships between skull and face
Barbara and me
The entire process of creating a sculpted portrait of Barbara Benton was a joy for me. She is a lovely woman, inside and out. An Oklahoma native of Choctaw heritage, Barbara spent years as a professional dance instructor. She has devoted five decades of dedicated service to the Order of the Eastern Star. From 2006-2009, she served as Most Worthy Grand Matron. In that role, she travelled many miles and enjoyed meeting people all over the world. During her tenure, she visited 16 countries, 10 Canadian Provinces, all 50 United States and 2 U.S. Possessions. The commission for the portrait, commemorative of her Eastern Star service, came from her husband Tom Benton who is the nephew of famed American artist Thomas Hart Benton. It is easy to see the strong family resemblance between uncle and nephew.
Tom Benton and me in front of images of his late uncle. The upper center one is the well-known 1922 “Self Portrait with Rita” from the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Barbara Benton and Betty Pat. Gatliff
A special aspect of this project was that Barbara and I first became acquainted through our mutual friend, Betty Pat. Gatliff. Barbara and Betty Pat. were college roommates at the Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha and have remained close ever since. Several issues had to be worked out during the planning stages of the portrait. Barbara has amazing knee-length hair reflective of her Native American heritage. However, she normally wears it in an elaborately twisted style of bun.
Barbara in Native American dress
Her husband wanted the sculpture to be done with her hair down while wearing her Native American deer skin costume, headband and jewelry. Barbara felt that more people who knew her would expect to see her characteristic day to day bun hairstyle. Another consideration was the fact that Barbara is well known for her beautiful presentations of the Lord’s Prayer in Choctaw sign language, which she has performed all over the world. I suggested a solution that might appeal to everyone. We decided to create the bust itself with an up-do hairstyle, but also add four panels around the base to show Barbara in Native attire and hairstyle. Each of the four bas relief panels around the base depict one on the postures from Barbara’s rendition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Bas relief panels that surround the base and show 4 postures of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven”, “Hallowed be thy name”, “Forever and ever”, “Amen
Barbara travels extensively and has a constantly busy schedule. I was fortunate to have two sittings with her for a total of only a few hours. I was able to supplement those sittings with photographs to complete the sculpted bust.
Belmont Mansion in Washington, D.C.
The completed bust was cast in bronze and is now placed at the International Headquarters of the Order of the Eastern Star, General Grand Chapter in Washington, D.C. I had the privilege of visiting and staying as a guest at the amazing headquarters building on New Hampshire Avenue NW in the Embassy Row area. Formerly the Perry Belmont Mansion, the building was constructed between 1906-1909. I am so delighted that my work is now a part of the estate.
In the portrait, I opted to give Barbara an expression of contemplative dignity yet tried to hint at the grin that is always very close to the surface. Her calm spiritual nature always shows in her face, as does her sense of fun. I’m told that the expression changes as you walk around the piece…which I hope is true. The forms of the earrings are meant to echo the shoulder forms and they are curved to better integrate them with the sculpture overall. I chose to make her hair clip in the form of an eagle feather, a sacred symbol in her tribal heritage.
A particular surprise for me came when this portrait was chosen for an online exhibition by the National Sculpture Society, a first for me. Having this piece displayed in conjunction with artists whose work I have admired for years was an incredible honor for me.
Occasionally, I enjoy doing a portrait sketch in a profile view. My friend Hajime Utsuno has a handsome profile, so I opted to portray his features from this angle. Dr. Utsuno is a lecturer in the Department of Oral Anatomy at Matsumoto Dental University in Japan. We met while at the University of Dundee in Scotland at a meeting of the International Association for Craniofacial Identification hosted by Professor Caroline Wilkinson and Professor Sue Black. We share a mutual interest in facial and dental anatomy as well as forensic facial reconstruction. Though Hajime often wears a very “professional face”, he is actually quite a character. When I first told him I lived in Austin, he flashed a wide grin and said “Oh, I LOVE Stevie Ray Vaughan and played a little air guitar!”
I have enjoyed my role as forensic art consultant for the CSI: television franchise for many years. I have always viewed it as an opportunity to encourage accurate presentation of forensic art to the viewing public. Though “Hollywood” considerations have sometimes over-ridden my advice, my experience with the shows has always been a positive one. For the CSI:NY episode “American Dreamers”, I was asked to consult with writers, prepare sculptural props and travel to Los Angeles to act as an on-set consultant for the actors. This can be a demanding and stressful task but I have always embraced it.
Storyboard for writers and producers
The earliest step was to consult with writer Eli Talbert about how he hoped to utilize forensic art as an integral part of the plot he was crafting for the episode. I prepared a storyboard of sketches to give an idea of the various stages of the props I could develop. This allowed insight so that the director and producers could more precisely plan a shooting schedule for the facial reconstruction action, once the time crunch of filming actually began.
In advance of my travel to California, I created the prop facial reconstructions in multiple steps, sort of like it is done for cooking shows. It would be far too slow for me to do a finished sculpture while the actual filming was taking place. Instead, the plan was that one step would be filmed, then the next and so on. Once edited together, the viewer would get the sense that it all happened as a smoothly flowing process. The multiple steps I made were then shipped ahead before my arrival for filming.
Three of the five steps of the prop facial reconstructions
For this particular episode, actress Vanessa Ferlito portrayed CSI “Aiden Burn” who was doing the sculpted facial reconstruction. She listened carefully to my guidance and worked very hard to accurately achieve the impression that she was doing the sculpture. Once shots of my hands working were interwoven with shots of hers as part of a “process shot”, the effect was totally realistic. They kindly allowed my book, Forensic Art and Illustration, to appear in the shot on Aiden’s work table.
Actress Vanessa Ferlito doing “work” on the prop facial reconstruction
My time on the set is always challenging yet fun. I enjoy the interaction with writers and production staff as well as the actors.
With lovely actress Vanessa Ferlito while on a break from filming
With writer Eli Talbert on the set of CSI:NY
KTT and Eli reviewing some of the shots of the facial reconstruction process
All in all, this episode was loads of hard work and I feel that it turned out well. It boggles my mind a bit that the work I did was viewed by so many millions of people. I do particularly like the fact that fictional police procedural television shows have great power to generate interest in real-life crime issues. Over the years, I have come to truly admire actor Gary Sinise and the tireless work he has done for American military personnel and veterans. Though he is “Detective Mac Taylor” on CSI:NY, he will forever be Lieutenant Dan!
Karen T. Taylor, Facial Images 