I was very fortunate to be the subject of an article that appeared in American Artist: Drawing magazine. This piece was done by New York writer Edith Zimmerman and appeared in the Summer, 2006 issue. The title is “Understanding Faces From the Inside Out”.
Here’s the full article.
My old friend, the consummate forensic anthropologist, Dr. Clyde Snow, first approached me with a request to work on this case. Partnered with the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Chicago Police Department and America’s Most Wanted, we were able to get this unfortunate murdered girl identified.
Two homeless men found a large keyboard box in a quiet Chicago alleyway. It contained the decomposed body of a young woman. Though her face was unrecognizable, her general hairstyle and clothing details were intact.
She remained unidentified for over a year. Dr. Snow contacted me and asked that I attempt to help with the identification process. I was sent the cleaned skull. Interesting dental details included orthodontic cement and bands on some molars. There was also a chipped maxillary lateral incisor, which would be visible from the front in life.
I developed frontal and lateral facial reconstruction drawings using all available information from the pathologist and the anthropologist, including a hair specimen. In this case, I considered the 2D work as a sort of architectural study for the 3D version that I also planned to do.
Using an acetate overlay, I did a version of the frontal drawing with darker eyes and braces.
A colorful striped ponytail elastic was found with the body, so her hairstyle reflected that in the lateral view.
Frontal sculpted facial reconstruction with lips parted to show the chipped tooth.
Lateral sculpted facial reconstruction showing a ponytail elastic similar to the one found with the body.
The reconstructions were aired on America’s Most Wanted and also appeared on their website.
An employee in a dental office saw the reconstructions and contacted authorities, which ultimately led to the identification of this young woman.
I was asked by ABC Television and Disney Studios to do a “forensic” skull-to-face reconstruction sculpture for use as a prop on the television series Body of Proof with actresses Dana Delany and Jeri Ryan. These photos were taken on the set of the show in Los Angeles. This particular episode, called “Occupational Hazards”, was written by Corey Miller (veteran of CSI:, CSI: Miami) and produced by Matthew Gross.
This is my finished facial reconstruction sculpture on the set on Body of Proof.
Actresses Dana Delany and Jeri Ryan posing with the reconstructed murder “victim” in dramatic lighting on the set. How fun!
Before flying from Texas to Los Angeles, I prepared the reconstruction in several phases to facilitate filming…sort of like they do it for cooking shows! The action for the first stage could be filmed, then the next and so on. This allowed for the simulation of a sculptural process that would actually take far too long to film in real time.
Actress Jeri Ryan was tasked with “creating” the sculpture and it was my job to coach her so that her hand actions would appear authentic. She was a very attentive student and worked hard to do the procedure “just so”. I was appreciative of her diligence and attention to detail to perfect her craft…and we had a lot of fun together.
In between takes…and with dozens of people swirling around us…Jeri and I would practice the next step for her to sculpt.
As we worked, we were under the constant guidance of Producer Matthew Gross…in red. He’s a real pro and was also a pleasure to work with.
Jeri was so good at mimicking the sculptural manipulations I showed her, we were able to use her hands for filming. With some other shows like CSI:, my hands have been intercut with the actress’s hands. Here Jeri is holding my favorite handmade sculpture tool. She got SO excited about sculpting those lips herself and did a great job!
Jeri is adding some finishing colorization here.
This is the young actress Jessica Raimondi who portrayed the “murder victim” who became skeletonized as part of the script. I actually gave input for the casting of Jessica. I wanted to choose an actress whose face had bony structural elements that could be reflected in the reconstruction sculpture, just as it would happen with an actual forensic case. Of course, a real case includes the victim’s actual skull forms. The difficulty here was to make a generic skull turn into Jessica’s bony facial structure, in effect doing a simplified portrait sculpture of her.
On the set with writer Corey Miller
With producer Matthew Gross and Jeri Ryan on her phone photo-bombing us in the background!
Actresses Jeri Ryan and Dana Delany with my sculpture on the set.
Immediately following the airing of the “Occupational Hazards” episode, Jeri Ryan did a Twitter session. It was fun to get her perspective on the work we did as she responded to the tweets. All in all, the entire experience was really enjoyable for me. The writers, actors, producers and crew were all super.
The Decrypters is a series produced by Shine Television of London which aired on the National Geographic Channel in the US. For each episode the “Texas Team”, composed of anthropologists from the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University (FACTS) and other specialists, examined historically interesting skeletal cases using modern investigative methods. It was my task to assess each of the various skulls and artistically determine how the individual might have looked in life.
The episode called “The Last Mohican?” centered around a skeleton found at Fort William Henry in Lake George, New York. The fort was active during the French and Indian War, 1754-1763, a conflict between France and Great Britain. Both sides had Native American allies from multiple tribal groups. The violent siege and massacre in 1757 were later memorialized in the 1826 novel by James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans.
This early book edition includes cover art by renowned illustrator N. C. Wyeth.
The skull was in excellent condition despite the fact that it was more than 250 years old. An assessment of the skeleton by the team’s anthropologists determined it to be Native American of unknown tribal affiliation. This strong male had been buried in an honored and revered manner along side British soldiers. Indications were that he was held to be an important and respected person by the occupants of the fort.
The right lateral view of the skull shows where I applied a bit of clay to stabilize the mandible for photography. There was slight damage to the zygomatic arch or cheekbone.
This eye area detail shows how I believe the structure of the bony brow ridges would determine the look of the brow area on the surface of the face. Similarly, the crooked bridge of the bony nose would dictate the appearance of the soft tissue bridge of the nose.
Detail of the chin, showing how the mounded form on the surface is determined by the skull beneath.
This is a photo taken on the set while I was “in the zone” working and oblivious to the camera.
This skull-face comparison will hopefully reveal my efforts to depict as accurate a face as possible. It was a privilege to be a part of this project to help restore the humanity of this long-ago hero.
Karen T. Taylor, Facial Images 