Black History Month

George Washington Carver (1864-1945)
Carver is mostly known for his work with agriculture, a botanist and inventor. Created the design for the Jessop wagon and conducted experiments to find out the multiple uses for peanuts. Such uses include shampoo to paint, Carver spent most of childhood analysing the different kinds of plants that grew around the Carver house, which helped shape his passion for botanical science at a later date. Known in his neighbourhood as the 'plant doctor' he spent most of his time pursuing education and expanding his knowledge on plants. Most notably in 1886 he settled on a farm where he would carry out his most important experiments. Carver became a legend, becoming a role model to a generation of African American scientists after him.

These designs are possible final outcomes for my visual response to Carvers work. The first panel shows a Jessop wheel and a combination of the peanut botanical plants wrapped around it to become symbols of his great work. The curve of the wheel mimics the organic forms from the plants which softens the rigidity of the spokes. In the second panel, I decided to focus on the sweet potato plant, which is another vegetable Carver worked closely with, focusing on a more central composition , with a large object in the middle, the small roots on either side balances it out. The third panel was inspired by one of Carvers floral paintings, where his compositions of the flowers seemed to be layering over each other. The forth panel is a much more traditional botanical representation of the illustrations Carver would have worked with, the composition is very structured and clear.


The final outcome featured the botanical representation of the golden rod plant, which Carver used to extract rubber material. I chose to create a more scientific visual response to pay homage to the man who was known as the 'plant doctor', the presentation appears much more methodical and less chaotic. Representing several key characteristics of the golden rod plant, showing various components and growing stages.