Death by Shakespeare Illustrations

My linocut chapter illustration for Chapter 1 of ‘Death by Shakespeare’ by Kathryn Harkup

In early March, like everyone else I guess, my attention was taken by current events and the impending pandemic. Sure enough, once schools closed as the lock-down set in, I found I had little time and less energy. Blogging is one of the things I neglected. I managed to keep posting art to Instagram and made a point to post women in science daily for Women's History Month, trying to avoid the all-too-common physicist's mistake of playing arm-chair epidemiologist (and assuming if you've mastered numerical modelling that you know what to do) or since I share a lot of science communication, I wanted to avoid talking about Covid-19, because I have no pertinent expertise (being a scientist doesn't qualify you to talk about all subjects and this one in particular needed I think, fewer self-appointed experts muddying the waters). Also, since "doomscrolling" is now a recognized fixation of people, I wanted to break up people's mounting tension with art. So I have been sharing a lot of art and making art when not amateur homeschooling our son... but not much else. Today, I'm playing catch up.

My linocut chapter illustration for Chapters 2, 3 and 4 of ‘Death by Shakespeare’ by Kathryn Harkup

I neglected to share this here, though I am excited to be able to share. Last fall I made the chapter illustrations for ‘Death by Shakespeare’ by Kathryn Harkup! I just got my copies in the mail right before the lock-down. Such a fun project researching, planning and carving linocut chapter headings for 11 chapters about how Shakespeare offed his characters (see handy pie chart here). The illustrations are supposed to be reminiscent of the engravings you would see in old books, and set the scene for each chapter. I made the linocuts at 4 times the scale that they appear to get the details I wanted. I spent October reading about Shakespeare, his plays and life, poisons, weapons, Renaissance medicine and various awful corporal and capital punishment techniques. And the language of flowers.

My linocut chapter illustration for Chapters 5, 6 and 7 of ‘Death by Shakespeare’ by Kathryn Harkup

The first chapter was fairly straightforward, about the bard himself. So in conversation with author and publisher I choose plume, inkwell, drama masks and the spear from Shakespeare’s coat of arms.
The 2nd chapter is about Shakespeare’s world. Since he wrote “all the world’s a stage” and literally named his theatre The Globe, I thought of illustrating the Globe and its neighbourhood. The 3rd chapter is about medicine and what could be treated in Shakepear's day. My first thought was William Harvey who discovered the circulation of blood in Shakespeare’s day, but we opted for some more general images of contemporary medicine (rather than referencing specific experiments of Harvey which aren’t mentioned in the text). The urology flask was used as a sign for a doctor, as testing urine was a vital diagnostic tool. I was able to find a lot of reference prints for Renaissance surgical tools. Medicinal plants included the poppy and mandrake root - a fun thing to research! In the centre is a specific allusion to Shakespeare’s ‘Pericles’ where a medical chest was thrown overboard. I researched antique medical chests and first imagined it viewed through a round porthole window. Then I decided I had better check if 16th century vessels had round porthole windows and wasn’t able to find any hard evidence that they did. So I went for some nautical looking rope to frame that part of the image instead to avoid any anachronism.⠀

My linocut chapter illustration for Chapters 8, 9 and 10 of ‘Death by Shakespeare’ by Kathryn Harkup

Chapter 4 was a little grim for me, to be honest, spending a few days thinking about execution. This print includes heads on spikes, noose, executioner’s mask, block and axe, as well as a Gibbet. If you aren’t familiar, don’t look them up. There’s a lot of murder in Shakespeare and most of them, in fact most deaths in the plays, are stabbings. So for Chapter 5 I researched Renaissance weapons, knives, swords and daggers. We’ve also got Clarence in the butt of malmsey and Desdemona with the pillow. A butt is a specific type of barrel or even a unit of volume of the time and I now know a bunch of barrel and cask facts! Chapter 6 is the “dogs of war.” When I was younger I read all the history plays and I have a great illustrated collection of the plays. They cover centuries of history so there were variations in arms and armour over that time but the majority of stories of war in Shakespeare are about England and the War of the Roses, so I wanted to include the lions and fleur de lys shield and the white and red roses of Lancaster and York. The phrase “the dogs of war” made me think of an inexorable march so I wanted spears, pikes, halberds and pennants to suggest advancing armies. Chapter 7 is “A Plague O’both Your Houses” about disease. The plague itself and a plague doctor’s mask were clearly needed! Rats, suspected plague carriers also make an appearance. I looked into the history of plague doctor masks which varied in different times and places. The other imagery is more subtle: roses are geese were associated with syphillis! I keep thinking about the Untitled Goose Game and giggling to myself. I wanted the geese to be aggressive looking.⠀The plague mask feels more topical now than I could ever imagine.

Poison was my favourite chapter to illustrate for ‘Death by Shakespeare’ - bottles, pots, and vials of fluids and powder. Renaissance apothecary jars are delightfully imperfect. Cleopatra’s venomous asp also makes an appearance as well as poisonous plants and mushroom known and used at the time: aconite, hellbane, deadly nightshade, yew and fly agaric. Chapter 9 is about Shakespeare’s characters who take their own lives, so we wanted to treat this sensitively and symbolically, so we have Ophelia’s flowers. There is a long tradition of the language of flowers and Ophelia herself specifies what several mean. She mentions rosemary, pansies, fennel, violets, columbines and daisies.⠀Chapter 10 is about the effects grief and broken-heartedness . A conceptual chapter is a bit less obvious but what came to mind was memento mori, symbolic reminders of our mortality which have long played a part of art history. The symbolism runs deep, but I tried to incorporate and stick to symbols common in Shakespeare’s day. The skull is common of course- and famously used precisely as a reminder of our mortality in Hamlet. The hourglass and candle (which could be snuffed out) represent our finite lifetimes. The live flowers contrast with the skull but wilting flowers again suggest our lives are finite. Butterflies are also common and can be a symbol of the soul. I enjoyed carving this one.

My linocut chapter illustration for Chapter 11, how it appeared in the book and the cover (cover art not by me) of ‘Death by Shakespeare’ by Kathryn Harkup

The strange misfit Shakespearean deaths chapter includes “Exit, pursued by a bear,” baked in a pie, an ounce of flesh, lightening and um, severed hands. I worried about getting the bear species right. There are a lot of poorly identified bears on the internet, let me tell you. ⠀
This is the first time I have done all the illustrations for a book, something I've long wanted to do and it was a real treat to have a fascinating and rich topic like this.

last long-weekend of the summer

Friday, I went out for lunch with my brother (the DJ) and Mom. I duct taped the level I bought him to my bike and rode to Queen and Niagara, because I'm crazy, but it did work. When I crossed Roncesvalles, I stopped to plug my ears, since it appeared that the street was being buzzed by a vintage jet. The girl on a bike behind me said, "I hate the airshow! It feels like we're under attack." After lunch we went to the White Squirrel for ice cream, which we ate in Trinity-Bellwoods park. The DJ got annoyed, when five bike cops rode leisurely by, since he overheard one say, "Check out the girl in the bikini." The DJ does not think this is what we pay the cops to do; I thought it was sweet that he was irked by this.










I rode home from the park, stopping to buy jeans at ShopGirls and batting at the workroom. Ok, I also got some more fabric... wouldn't you?






On Saturday, I ventured out and wandered down poor, torn up Roncesvalles. I decided to try the southern Polish postal outlet, because the people at the northern one, frankly, drive me up the wall. You have to plead with them to get postal rates, or they just eyeball your package and make up an estimate, which is generally wrong. The young woman at the counter, not only was polite, she had mastered the use of her computer and was fluent in English. I have found a new postal outlet. (As an aside, can someone explain to me why it costs more to send things to BC than it does to Australia, which costs no more than sending something to the US? What is wrong with Canada Post?)

The ease of my one errand seemed auspicious. I continued south, and found a fabulous brooch by Jen Ham at Frock, at greatly reduced in price. Check out her site. My pin reads, "Desperado". I got a screenprinted tee at Mrs. H, which shows the Roncesvalles streetcar. Then I continued onto Queen St and poked in all the antique shops. I found a vintage circular frame, for which I have an idea. I wandered home, stopping for juice on the way.

Sunday, I continued to work on my Unicorn Amongst Umbrellas, this time with fabric. Then discussing our picnic with reynardin, and considering the things in the fridge and pantry, I made peach cobbler. Then I carted my dessert, paper plates, and a warm jacket, I wandered into High Park and walked straight to the outdoor theatre. Proximity to the park has its advantages. I staked out places front and centre.

reynardin, faunalia and beccatree joined me in the nick of time. Still very early for the play, it was becoming difficult to guard these prime seats from the growing audience. We enjoyed our picnic of garlic-maple chicken wings, heirloom tomatoes, carrots, string beans, hummus, Russian bread, potato chips and peach cobbler, and settled in. We all enjoyed The Tempest. There's something magical about seeing Shakespeare in the park. Even though the theatre was packed, it was the final performance of the summer and the large number of children in the audience for Family Day, they garnered full attention of the audience. Passing the boat through the crowd during the storm scene at the beginning was very clever. R. said it made us complicit in the performance. The sets were simple and elegant, suggesting trees and water, and casting fabulous shadows. I particularly liked the giant face masks employed by spirits. The decision to cast a female lead as 'Prospera' was a success, as it was largely transparent and unnoticed. Further, making Gonzalo into Gonzala seemed to add to the humour, as a matronly, loquacious, optimistic and dutiful woman, loyal to the Duke of Milan, changed the dynamic and made his comments requesting peace more pointed. Casting Antonia, as the usurper, made for a different, more lustful, interaction with Sebastian. The balance of power between the genders seemed more modern. Stand-out performances by the creepy Caliban, humourous Gonzala, ebullient Ariel, enthusiastic Miranda and of course, our sorceress Prospera.

Today, I completed the U block for my alphabet quilt (unicorn, umbrellas & underwater), tidyied and generally completed tasks.
Tomorrow, the new term begins.